Banana Cacao Coconut Smoothie

This Banana Cacao Coconut Smoothie is as close as you can get to a healthy milkshake! It’s dairy free, gluten free, paleo, vegan, and it tastes like such a treat! The inside of the glass gets drizzled with a raw chocolate sauce made with just a few ingredients, and the smoothie is made with frozen banana, shredded coconut, dates, cacao powder, almond butter, and almond milk!

This smoothie is literally the closest thing to a chocolate milkshake – and it’s filled with so many good-for-us ingredients! It’s dairy free, gluten free, paleo, vegan, and it tastes like pure heaven. I don’t have any dietary restrictions but I know that many of you do – and regardless, it’s pretty awesome to feel like you’re drinking a chocolate milkshake, and in reality, you’re drinking tons of superfoods. Don’t you love when that happens?

And one of the best parts – is the raw chocolate sauce! Before I get into the amazingness of this smoothie – it was inspired by my favorite juice bar in Baltimore. Everything they create is incredible and it’s hands down my favorite place to get juices, smoothies, and healthy meals when I’m on the go.

I live kind of far away from it, so I knew I had to create my own version at home for when I can’t get there during the week!

The raw chocolate sauce is only four ingredients – well, five if you count a pinch of salt! It’s just coconut oil, maple syrup, cacao powder, and vanilla extract. Cacao powder is a less processed version of cocoa powder, but you can certainly sub cocoa powder if that’s what you have on hand!

And those ingredients turn into this deliciousness. It’s SO good, you’d literally have no idea it was a healthy chocolate sauce. Since it contains coconut oil, it hardens like a chocolate shell when it gets cold, so you should ABSOLUTELY make extra and pour it over ice cream!

I also love to drizzle it into the smoothie, not just around the glass, because then you get crunchy chocolate pieces throughout your smoothie drinking experience. It’s pretty amazing.

For the actual smoothie part – we’ve got frozen bananas (they make it SO creamy!), shredded coconut, medjool dates, cacao powder, almond butter, almond milk, and a pinch of salt to tie everything together and bring out all of the amazing flavors!

If you’re like me, these are all pantry staples. Which means you can have banana cacao coconut smoothies whenever the heck you want! I’ve been known to make this for dessert and add less almond milk so it’s like soft serve ice cream. SO GOOD OMG.

Especially with extra raw chocolate sauce, coconut, and granola on top!

It’s so creamy and dreamy. Craving this majorly right now!

Especially with all of the toppings – they really make it! And you can totally customize this to your tastes. Peanut butter instead of almond butter would be amazing, and instead of almond milk, I’ve made it with this toasted coconut milk and it’s AMAZING.

It’s basically dessert for breakfast!

5 from 1 vote

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Banana Cacao Coconut Smoothie

This Banana Cacao Coconut Smoothie is as close as you can get to a healthy milkshake! It's dairy free, gluten free, paleo, vegan, and it tastes like such a treat! The inside of the glass gets drizzled with a raw chocolate sauce made with just a few ingredients, and the smoothie is made with frozen banana, shredded coconut, dates, cacao powder, almond butter, and almond milk!

Course Breakfast, Breakfast/Snack, Dessert, Dessert/Snack, Snack

Cuisine Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegan

Keyword banana cacao coconut smoothie, chocolate smoothie recipe, dairy free milkshake, dairy free smoothie, easy smoothie recipe, vegan banana smoothie, vegan cacao smoothie

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 1 large smoothie

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the raw chocolate sauce

• 2 tablespoons cacao powder*
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

For the smoothie

• 2 bananas, previously sliced and frozen
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for topping
• 2 medjool dates, pitted
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder*
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 1 - 1 1/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk*
• pinch of salt
• raw chocolate sauce for drizzling
• granola for topping, optional

Instructions

For the raw chocolate sauce

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, cacao powder, and salt together until smooth. Sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

For the smoothie

1. Add the bananas, coconut, dates, cacao powder, almond butter, 1 cup of the almond milk, and salt to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth and creamy - if the smoothie seems too thick, add the additional 1/4 cup almond milk and blend again until decided consistency is reached.

2. Drizzle the raw chocolate sauce on the inside of your glass. Pour the smoothie in the glass and top with extra chocolate sauce, shredded coconut, and a sprinkle of granola. Enjoy immediately!

Recipe Notes

*Unsweetened cocoa powder can be subbed for the cacao powder.
*You can sub any kind of milk for the unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I love using the toasted coconut almond milk from Califia Farms.
*Raw chocolate sauce will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks, and will harden when it's refrigerated. To loosen up and get back to liquid consistency, just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.