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When your sweet tooth strikes at 3pm — or let’s be honest, at breakfast — this cinnamon date smoothie is your secret weapon. Medjool dates (nature’s caramel) bring rich, deep sweetness, warm cinnamon and vanilla turn it into a cinnamon roll in a glass, and blended rolled oats thicken it to a milkshake consistency. No added sugar, no banana needed, no sugar crash — just five ingredients and five minutes between you and the coziest sip of your day.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Date Smoothie
- It tastes like dessert, works like breakfast. Warm cinnamon, caramel-y medjool dates, and a splash of vanilla — basically a drinkable cinnamon roll that also happens to be a legitimately balanced morning meal.
- No banana needed. Almost every date smoothie out there leans on banana. Not this one — rolled oats do the thickening, so you get pure date-cinnamon flavor with a milkshake texture. (Banana skeptics, this is your smoothie.)
- Naturally sweet, zero added sugar. Dates bring caramel-like sweetness plus fiber — 11 grams in this glass — so the sweetness comes with staying power.
This one lives in my breakfast smoothies rotation — the blends built to actually carry you through a morning. If cozy-sweet is your flavor family, my warm chai smoothie is the spiced cousin of this recipe, my banana oatmeal smoothie is sippable oatmeal comfort, and my vanilla protein shake keeps it classic and creamy.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
This cinnamon date smoothie is simple, but knowing exactly what to grab makes it even better:
- Medjool dates: The soft, caramel-like variety — found in the produce section near the bananas or with the refrigerated dried fruit. They’re the star, so quality matters (more on picking the right dates in the questions below).
- Rolled oats: The thickening secret that replaces banana. Grab rolled oats (old-fashioned oats), not steel-cut or quick oats, for the creamiest blend.
- Ground cinnamon + vanilla extract: The cozy factor. Use pure vanilla (or vanilla bean powder), never imitation — it’s the difference between warm bakery flavor and candle-aisle flavor.
- Non-dairy milk: Cashew, almond, or oat all work. Check my favorite almond milk brands and oat milk brands — bonus points for “no added sugar” and 5+ grams of protein per serving. Or make almond milk at home.
Storage Tip
Store leftovers in an airtight jar in the fridge up to 24 hours. Shake well before drinking — natural separation happens — or re-blend for a few seconds to bring back the creamy texture. The oats will thicken it as it sits, so a splash of milk can loosen it back up.
How to Make a Date Smoothie
- Blend the oats first until powdery — this is the step that gives you milkshake-smooth instead of gritty. (You can also pre-soak the oats in your non-dairy milk for 10 minutes and blend them with the liquid.)
- Add the dates, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon and blend again until completely creamy. Pits out first — I learned that one the hard way.
- Pour over ice to chill it down. Since there’s no frozen fruit here, the ice does the cooling — and pouring over it (instead of blending it) keeps your blades sharp and your flavor undiluted.
Recipe Tips
- Soak dry dates. If your dates feel dry or brittle, soak them in warm water for 10-15 minutes before blending. Soft dates = silky smoothie; hard dates = sad little chunks. This one step is the difference-maker with a standard blender.
- Make it a protein smoothie. Add a serving of protein powder and this becomes a breakfast that holds you until lunch — the dates’ sweetness completely covers any protein powder taste.
- Dial the sweetness. Watching sugar? Start with one date, taste, and add from there. It’s much easier to sweeten up than to walk it back.
- Warm-spice upgrade: A pinch of nutmeg or cardamom alongside the cinnamon takes this from cinnamon roll to chai-bakery territory. Highly recommended on cold mornings.
Cinnamon Date Smoothie
Jen HansardVideo
Ingredients
- ½ cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 3 medjool dates pitted
- 1 ½ cup non-dairy milk ex: cashew, almond, or oat
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup ice optional
Instructions
- Blend the oats in a blender until powdery.
- Add the milk, dates, vanilla and cinnamon and blend until smooth, 45 to 60 seconds.
- Pour over ice, if using, and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- Prep Tip: If your dates are dry or firm, soak them in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes so they blend smoothly. Double-check that each one is pitted.
- Lower Sugar: Start with 1 date and add more to taste. An extra pinch of cinnamon adds warmth without more sweetness.
- Protein Boost: Blend in a serving of homemade protein powder with the milk and dates.
- Storing: Best fresh, but it keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours. The oats will thicken it, so shake and add a splash of milk before drinking.
Nutrition
Common Questions
Absolutely — dates are one of the best natural sweeteners for smoothies. They blend into a rich, caramel-like sweetness (no refined sugar needed) and bring fiber along for the ride, so the sweetness comes with staying power instead of a spike-and-crash.
Medjool dates, no contest. They’re naturally soft, moist, and caramel-flavored, so they blend beautifully — usually no soaking required. Drier varieties like Deglet Noor work in a pinch but need a 10-15 minute warm-water soak first, and their flavor is milder. Whatever you use, remove the pits!
One to three, depending on what else is in the blender and how sweet you like it. Start with one, blend, taste, and go from there. This recipe uses three because the dates are the star — there’s no other fruit competing.
You just found it — this recipe is banana-free by design. Blended rolled oats do the thickening instead, so you get a milkshake-thick smoothie with pure date-and-cinnamon flavor. If you want banana in there, half a frozen one adds extra creaminess and sweetness — just know it’ll taste banana-forward.
Yes — this is one of my favorite breakfast smoothies for sweet-tooth mornings. The oats and dates bring fiber and slow-burning energy, and with a scoop of protein powder it’s a complete, balanced breakfast that tastes like dessert. Sweet craving handled, morning fueled, everybody wins.
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Yum! I added frozen cauliflower instead of ice to give it that frozen coldness. Doesn’t change the flavour in the slightest! Thanks for a yummy recipe!
Ohhhh love that idea Megan! Also adds some awesome nutrients as well!
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.
Definitely a great tip, Nada!
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! 🙂