When your sweet tooth hits, blend this cinnamon date smoothie. It’s a delicious dessert without the guilt, thanks to the natural sweetness from medjool dates, protein from plant-based milk and complex carbs from the rolled oats.
Smoothies can be a great way to enjoy something sweet, while still reaping health benefits. I use my blender to make a variety of dessert smoothies like Banana Nice Cream, Red Velvet Smoothie and Mint Chocolate Smoothie. It’s amazing the delicious and nutritious treat you can create in a blender… just like this Cinnamon Date Smoothie.
Table of Contents
Cinnamon Date Smoothie Ingredients
- Medjool dates: I’m using Natural Delights pitted Medjool Dates, which are grown in the beautiful, sun-drenched Bard Valley, grown with the help of the Lower Colorado River. Dates are a natural sweetener, bringing sweetness and nutrients to the smoothie. Fun fact: dates pack in 16 essential vitamins, minerals and disease-fighting antioxidants.
- Rolled oats: Adds the fiber and whole grains to the date smoothie, which keeps you full. You can soak the oats ahead of time to remove the gritty texture of oats.
- Ground cinnamon and vanilla extract: These spices make it taste like a cinnamon roll without any artificial flavors.
- Non-dairy milk: I like to use oat milk or almond milk in this recipe. Read the labels to make sure they don’t contain added sugars. Some brands will even be higher in protein, which is a great option.
If you don’t like bananas in smoothies, try swapping one banana for 3 dates. You’ll still get the natural sweetness, but instead of a banana flavor, it’ll taste more like caramel. If you like both, do a little of each for an out-of-this-world treat.
Benefits of Blending Dates in Smoothies
Dates are a whole fruit whose delicious natural sugars are paired with good-for-you dietary fiber. This combination is metabolized by your body slowly, resulting in lasting, natural energy to help carry you through your day – in a healthy, yummy way. This date smoothie provides sustained energy, instead of the sugar high, then crash.
Dates aren’t just a healthier, natural smoothie sweetener, they harness the power of potassium! Dates can help my muscles recover faster, and provide nutrition needed to maximize the workout. Fun fact: dates have 50% more potassium by weight than bananas, making them an excellent pre and post workout snack.
How to Make Cinnamon Date Smoothie
- Blend rolled oats until powdery. I do this in my Vitamix blender. You can also pre-soak the oats in the non dairy milk to soften them up and blend them with the liquid first.
- Add dates, non dairy milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon to blender, and blend again. Make sure your dates have already been pitted, or pit them yourself before adding to the blender.
- Pour into a glass containing 1 cup ice. Since we’re not using any frozen fruit in this smoothie, it requires ice to chill it down a bit. On a cold day, you can also serve this warm.
Storage Tip
You can store leftover cinnamon date smoothie in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Make sure to shake it before drinking.
More Date Recipes to Enjoy
Starting to crave other desserts like this cinnamon smoothie? Look no further than these smoothies and snacks that use dates as a natural sweetener:
- Warm Chai Smoothie
- Chocolate Protein Shake
- Vegan Shamrock Shake
- Easy Flaxseed Smoothie
- Coffee Smoothie
- Carmel Apple Dip
- Chocolate Smoothie Cubes
Cinnamon Date Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 3 medjool dates pitted
- 1 ½ cups dairy-free milk ex: cashew, almond, or oat
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 serving homemade protein powder optional
- 1 cup ice optional
Instructions
- Blend oats until powdery.
- Add dates, non dairy milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon to blender, and blend again.
- Pour into a glass containing 1 cup ice, for an extra cold beverage.
Video
Notes
- Ice can be added to blender at blending stage, yet blades tend to dull over time when blending ice, so we like to add it to our drinking glass.
- If you prefer no ice in this smoothie, yet still want it to be cold, then place in freezer for 30 minutes before serving.
- Use the dairy-free milk of your choice.
Delicious! I’m 36 weeks pregnant and finding ways to eat more dates as instructed by my doctor to prepare for labor…this is by far the easiest and most tasty way to do that!
The smoothie is insanely high in carbs and sugars however, so to balance that out I used 1 scoop of Isopure zero carb cookies and cream protein powder, left out the oats and subbed 1 cup frozen cherries ( helped make it cold too) and used 1/2 unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 water, adding 4 medjool dates, lots of ice, cinnamon and vanilla extract to the blender and serving it over a glass of ice. Delicious and gives 28g protein to help with the overload of carbs.
Hi Ella! So glad you tried this and are getting those dates in. When I was pregnant, I tried dates but couldn’t get them down on their own. Wish I would have had this recipe! Love that you put your own twist on it as well!
Make sure you have taken pit out of dates. Some brands are not pitted. First time I blended them could not figure out why smoothie was “grainey”. My package of dates still had pits in them.
Can I make the cinnamon date smoothie with water as the base not milk?
Yes Deanne, that would work but it might not be as creamy. Sometimes I’ll add in 1/2 banana to add more creamy texture so you could give that a go as well.
So I saw a Cinnamon Cherry shake on your blog. I tapped the link which brought me to this Cinnamon Date one. Can you provide the link to the Cinnamon Cherry one please? Thank you.
Hi Kim – Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It keeps redirecting me, too. I have sent this over to our developers so that this error can be corrected.
But I am happy to provide the recipe for you:
Cherry Cinnamon Smoothie
1 cup spinach
1 cup almond milk
1 cup cherries, frozen
1 banana, fresh or frozen
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 TB almond butter
Directions:
1. Blend spinach and almond milk
2. Add remaining ingredients to blender, then blend until smooth.
3. Enjoy! 🙂
This was amazing!!
My husband and I love this smoothie for breakfast when no one feels like cooking, perfect for those lazy mornings. It’s so delicious. I used cashew milk and I added hemp seeds and ginger powder for a bit of a kick start for morning it’s so yummy.
This is one of my favorites. So delicious!
Love it. Maybe more of an autumn smoothie!
Delicious
I was not able to find dates at the grocery store I was at. I just did a fruit one. I will look at other stores and hopefully find them and do at the end of the challenge
Try nuts.com to find dates. They deliver within 48 hours.
Nice and filling.
I was so hoping to like this one. However, it was not a big hit in our house. Very chunky with the dates – couldn’t get them to smooth down.
Hey a trick for the dates are to let them sit in warm water for about 5 minutes before blending. I totally forgot to o so and they were chunky in my smoothie as well.
My ABSOLUTE MOST FAVORITE!!!
Taste like the first day of Fall not the first day of summer. Still a very very filling summer breakfast.
This was good, but I did tweak it a bit. I added 1 cup of frozen cauliflower rice instead of ice cubes, added 1/2 frozen banana, less oatmeal, and greens powder. As much as I enjoy this smoothie, it’s definitely not a summer smoothie, more of a fall/winter flavor for me and I’ll probably enjoy it more with cooler weather.
Oh my goodness! Thick creamy and tasty. Great for my breakfast!