Creating a healthy and tasty chocolate plant-based pudding recipe that was vegan, keto-friendly, and high protein was quite the challenge, let me tell you!
But I can confidently declare this one a winner … and it has very solid nutrition facts profile, as you’ll see below.
The highest percentage of calories in this recipe come from fat (29 grams). But don’t fret–it’s good fats (monounsatured and polyunsaturated)–the types that have a beneficial effect on your heart health.
These “good fats” in the recipe come from three nuts that pair surprisingly well together: cashews, macadamia, and peanut butter.
For all of you low carb / Paleo / Keto peeps, the carb count comes in at 17 with 4 grams of belly-filling fiber … for a grand total of 13 g net carbs and just 1 gram of sugar!
You could lower this even more by switching up your nut ratios and doing more macadamia/nut butter and less cashews.
Optional: If you like it sweeter, you can add a banana, 1-2 T sweetener like honey or maple syrup, or a tiny bit of monkfruit or stevia if you prefer lower sugar, which is what I used. Or try it with shaved dark chocolate and/or strawberries.
How to Make This Keto-friendly Chocolate Vegan Protein Pudding
Start by combining the macadamia nuts and cashews into a bowl. Cover and soak overnight or give them a “quick soak” by adding near-boiling-hot water and soaking for 1 hour. Overnight will get you a smoother consistency though. Drain the water once done.
Add the rest of your dry ingredients to a food processor or high powered blender (I used my Vitamix) and pulse. Slowly add the oat milk a little bit at a time until you get the consistency you’re looking for (taste frequently!). I blended mine for about 2-3 minutes on medium.
Scoop the pudding into a bowl. Cover and chill overnight, ideally (or at least a couple hours if you can wait that long). Serve as-is or with some fruit/dark chocolate and you have yourself a very tasty and healthy dessert!
This plant-powered protein pudding will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can probably freeze it too, but I haven’t tried so proceed at your own risk! 😉
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Per Serving:
Calories: 387
Fat: 29 grams
Carbs: 17 grams (4 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar)
Protein: 18 grams
Good
Better
Best 😉
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It’s not often you find a protein balls recipe that’s vegan, grain-free, Paleo / keto-friendly, has no added sugar, requires no baking, and still tastes delicious.
But that’s exactly what we’re bringing you with this new recipe. As you’ll see on our recipes page, we’ve made several variations of protein balls before but this one is quite unique.
It has a combo of several “superfood” nuts and seeds, including pistachios, walnuts, flax, chia, and coconut. Toss in some Pure Food Vanilla Protein Powder with Probiotics and you get a nutritious, guilt-free snack or dessert that kiddos will enjoy too (my 6-year-old had a blast preparing and eating these, as you’ll see in the pics that follow).
Health-wise, here are just a few of the perks:
Health Benefits:
Ingredient
Health Benefits
Walnuts
Walnuts can help you improve cognitive (brain) function and also reduce the risk of other diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, depression, and type 2 diabetes, which are risk factors for the development of dementia.
Pistachios have a high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential. Among nuts, pistachios also have a lower fat and energy content and the highest levels of K, γ-tocopherol, vitamin K, phytosterols, xanthophyll carotenoids, certain minerals (Cu, Fe and Mg), vitamin B₆ and thiamin.
Flaxseed is a rich source of the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha linolenic acid, the lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside and fiber. These compounds provide bioactivity of value to the health of animals and humans through their anti-inflammatory action, anti-oxidative capacity and lipid modulating properties.
Coconut meat contains MCT oil, or medium-chain triglycerides. That’s the extract that people put in smoothies and coffee. MCT oil has unique benefits. It seems to lower two key hunger hormones, cueing a person to eat less. And MCTs convert more easily into energy compared with other sources of fat, like animal meat, so athletes consider it workout fuel.
Chia seeds contain healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fiber, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Aside from this, the seeds are an excellent source of polyphenols and antioxidants, such as caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, myricetin, quercetin, and others.
Pure Food Plant-based Protein Powder contains a multi-source protein blend that’s just as effective as whey with the digestive side effects. And unlike other plant proteins, it’s 100% organic, high in fiber and contains no sugar.
1 T coconut oil (or other oil for greasing your pan)
1 tsp. vanilla powder or extract (optional)
Flaked salt (optional)
Directions:
If your dates are hard or dry, place them in a bowl of hot water and cover to rehydrate. Let ’em sit for 5-10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
Add the walnuts and pistachios to a food processor and pulse for a minute or two until the nuts reach a fine “meal” consistency (there should be no visible large chunks remaining).
Remove the seeds from the dates and add to the food processor. Pulse until they’re fully chopped (about a minute should do).
Add the remaining ingredients, along with 1-2 T of water. Note: add the water 1 Tablespoon at a time. You will only need a little bit to make your mixture nice and sticky for rolling.
Once all ingredients are thoroughly mixed and the mix feels slightly wet, grease your pan and start rolling into balls.
Refrigerate or freeze for at least 1-2 hours before serving.
These will last for 7-10 days if you keep them refrigerated.
Nutrition:
Assuming you make 10 protein balls with this recipe, here are the nutrition facts for each ball:
If you’re looking for a healthy brownie treat you don’t have to feel guilty about, you’ve come to the right place.
Now, my criteria for “healthy” is admittedly a bit more stringent than most.
So this is definitely not a sugar bomb like your typical brownie. But check out these impressive nutrition #s:
247 calories
10 g protein
6 g fiber
4 g sugar
And not only it is low in sugar, it’s free of dairy, gluten, and soy … perfect for vegan, vegetarians, and anyone with food intolerances!
Here’s the recipe:
Homemade Healthy High Protein Brownie Recipe
What’s In It:
1 cup applesauce 1 cup oat flour ~1 cup chocolate protein powder (I used 8 scoops of Pure Food Cacao Protein) 1 tsp. vanilla extract (or real vanilla bean powder if you can afford it) 1/4 tsp. salt 2 T coconut oil (divided into two 1 T servings) optional: 1/4 crushed nuts like walnuts or pecans (I used 1/4 cup walnuts) optional: dark chocolate chips (I chopped up 1/4 of an Alter Eco Blackout Bar for this recipe, which has 90% cacao content)**
How to Make It:
To make your own applesauce, blend the 2 peeled and cored apples with 1.5 cups of water.
Add the oat flour, protein, vanilla, salt, 1 T coconut oil (and nuts and dark chocolate if you go that route). Mix thoroughly.
Grease an 8″ x 8″ pan with the remaining T of coconut oil. Spread the mixture evenly onto pan.
Cook at 325 degrees F for 20-25 min.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours then cut into 9 bars.
Nutrition Facts (per brownie)*:
247 calories
9 g fat
31 g carbs (6 g fiber, 4 g sugar**)
10 g protein
**If you like yours a little sweeter, add a little honey, coconut sugar, maple syrup, or stevia to the recipe.
If you’re a clean eater, you know how hard it is to find a good healthy protein bar these days. Most contain some type of junk your body just doesn’t need: dairy, gluten, soy, sugar (in many cases, unfortunately, it’s all of the above).
My criteria for a “healthy” protein bar are quite simple. It should have:
1.) Only organic, real food ingredients, and
2.) No added sweeteners. Sugar should come from only real fruit sources like dried fruit … I don’t touch anything with over 10 grams.
If you want to make your own healthy protein bar, here’s one of my favorite recipes.
1 cup organic nut butter (I used peanut but any nut butter will work)*
1/4 cup organic pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup organic dates, chopped into small pieces.
1.5 cups organic coconut cream (or 1.5 cups coconut milk powder and 3/4 cup warm water)**
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Dark chocolate shavings (optional)***
*I recommend organic nut butters with a maximum of two ingredients: nuts and salt. If yours has other oils or added sugar, look for another brand.
**Most coconut creams have some type of gum or filler added. I prefer to buy organic coconut milk powder on Amazon and mix it with water. Native Forest coconut cream.
**I recommend an organic dark chocolate bar with 70% cacao content or higher, 5 grams of sugar or less, and no soy (you’d be surprised how many of them have it … check the ingredients list).
How to Make It:*
Whip the coconut cream until smooth.
Stir in the almond flour and let sit for 20 minutes.
Stir in almond/peanut butter, dates, salt, pumpkin seeds, and protein powder. Mix thoroughly by hand (or pulse in a food processor).
Spread the mixture evenly into a pan or baking dish lined with parchment paper.
Refrigerate overnight then cut into 8 bars.
*I used a mixer for steps 1-3 but you can do it by hand too.
Nutrition Facts (per bar)*:
299 calories
19 g fat
18 g carbs (4 g fiber, 6 g sugar**)
15 g protein
*I cut it into 8 bars. At ~300 calories a bar, you can cut it into 16 if you prefer something closer to 150 calories (it’s still filling too!)
**If you want to cut down the sugar content, cut back even more on the dates. To sweeten it up, add more dates or a dab of raw honey.
If you’re sensitive to dairy and/or gluten, it’s darn near impossible to find a healthy, low sugar protein bar without a million additives and so-called “natural” ingredients you can’t pronounce.
But this dairy free protein bar meets all those criteria and more.
First, let’s talk about what’s not in it. These DIY protein bars are free of:
Dairy and animal milk ingredients
Gluten
Soy
Added sugar
Junk ingredients and additives like “flavors“, gums, and other fillers
Each bar is just over 250 calories, with 10 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and just 3 grams of sugar.
Try this low sugar, high fiber treat that’s perfect for people of all ages (including kids … my toddler definitely approves)!
Healthy Dairy Free Protein Bars
Ingredients
2 cups oat flour
1/2 cup cashew or almond butter
1/2 cup cashew or almond milk
5 dried dates
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 dark chocolate bar (we used Alter Eco Blackout Chocolate)
Chocolate + peanut butter. The two were definitely made for one another. And today I’m going to show you how to create something magical with those ingredients that’s actually good for you.
This healthy no bake protein bites recipe is:
Dairy free
Gluten free
High in fiber
High in protein
Low in sugar
Delicious!
It’s perfect for those of us who can’t tolerate (or choose not to eat) dairy and gluten. And best off: no cooking or baking skills required, which means it’s really simple and nutritious.
Let’s get to the recipe!
No Bake Protein Bites Recipe Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter (I used plain organic peanut butter with no salt added. Any nut butter will work though.)
3/4 cup oats
1 T hemp seeds
1 T chia seeds
1/2 dark chocolate bar (chopped into chocolate chip-sized pieces). I used Alter Eco Blackout Chocolate. In general, the higher the % of cacao is, the lower the sugar content will be.
In this post, I’m going to show you how hundreds of others have used Pure Food to produce some pretty awesome results.
Whether you want to lose weight, put on some lean muscle, improve your energy levels, or most importantly, feel better, I’m confident the recipes and techniques I’m going to share below will help you.
There are lots of recipes in this post. I split them up between 1.) Smoothies and 2.) Food. I will continue to update it constantly, so bookmark it so you can come back if you need some inspiration!
Without further ado …
How to Use Pure Food Plant Protein Powder and Real Meal in Smoothies
First off, use a blender for best results. The powder will mix okay on its own but it’ll taste smoother coming out of the blender.
Since Pure Food has only clean, healthy ingredients without the fillers, so-called natural flavors, and sweeteners other plant protein brands use, the taste is earthy and natural and your taste buds and gut may need time to acclimate to the probiotics. If you’re new to plant-based proteins and/or probiotics, start with one serving and work your way up from there.
GIVE PURE FOOD TIME TO WORK Pure Food will help you feel better and you will experience noticeable improvements in your health if you give it time to work.
We recommend at least 14 days to allow the probiotics in our Plant Protein Powder products time to colonize in your gut. The probiotic strain we use, by the way, has been clinically shown to boost immunity, improve gut health, and help your body digest plant proteins better.
Like any good health or fitness product (and it should go without saying), you need to make a commitment to yourself by eating cleaner and exercising if you really want to see results fast.
Pure Food Smoothie / Juice / Liquid Recipes
First off, if you haven’t done so already, download these free recipe cards featuring 20 of my favorite recipes for Pure Food Cacao and Vanilla Protein (you can also use REAL MEAL with any of them…although that product mixes great on its own!).
Here are 7 of our most popular smoothie and juice recipes using both Pure Food Cacao and Vanilla Protein:
Simple Chocolate Banana Smoothie
1 scoop Pure Food Cacao Protein Powder or REAL MEAL
1 banana
Handful of ice
2 cups of water (or almond or coconut milk)
Cacao Chia Berry Blast
1 scoop Pure Food Cacao Protein Powder or REAL MEAL
1/2 cup frozen organic berries
1 T organic chia seeds (flax, hemp, or pumpkin seeds work too)
Handful of ice
2 cups of water (or almond or coconut milk)
Chocolate Fat Burning Smoothie
1 scoop Pure Food Cacao Protein Powder or REAL MEAL
1 cup coffee
1 T coconut oil
1 T cinnamon
Handful of ice
2 cups of water (or almond or coconut milk)
Chocolate Full Meal Replacement Smoothie
2-3 servings of Pure Food Cacao or Vanilla Protein Powder or REAL MEAL (note: with Real Meal, this shake is close to 500 calories so can definitely be split into two meals)
1/2 banana
2 T organic oat flour
1 T chia seed
1 T organic coconut oil
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of water
Ice (start with a small handful and add more depending on how thick you like it)
Some of these recipes were sent to us by customers and others were created by us. You’ll find tasty-yet-healthy overnight oats, protein balls, cookies, brownies … even bread for all you carb-lovers.
Some of these recipes require baking and some don’t. Cooking/high heat denatures some of the nutrients in any food, including Pure Food, so I cook with mine sparingly.
But these recipes are a nutritious way to satisfy your sweet tooth (disclaimer: they’re not going to taste the exact same as their “regular” sugar- and junk-filled counterpart). With that said, we think they’re pretty darn good.
If you have additional recipe ideas, questions, or comments about how you use Pure Food, please share them with me by emailing me directly at Scott@purefoodcompany.com
One of our awesome Pure Food customers Traci shared this Pure Food protein muffins recipe with me and it was too good not to share.
Traci hails from Naw’lens, Lousiana (I bet people from New Orleans get annoyed with that real quick). She says she whipped up these healthy muffins as a cleaner, healthier alternative to beignets.
I made a few modifications with the ingredients I had on hand that I noted below (I still included the original recipe though).
Best part is, this high protein muffin recipe is nutritious. It’s low in sugar, high in fiber, and is soy, dairy, and gluten free … pretty awesome!
Take muffin pan. Spray with coconut oil. Create little muffins by rolling dough in your palms. Drop in muffin pan. Bake 8-10 minutes at 380 degrees. (note: I added about 5 minutes of cooking time since my muffins were larger. If you do 8 smaller ones stick with 8-10 minutes and see if they’re done).**
Keep refrigerated after baked.
If you want them heated, heat them in microwave for 3 minutes at 20% power.
**I made 4 large muffins and ate one as a post-workout snack. As you’ll see below, if you go that route you get a solid 345 calories, 10 grams of fiber, and 19 grams of protein!
Here’s the final product …
Nutrition Facts
Calories: 345
Carbs: 46 grams
Fiber: 10 grams
Sugar: 6 grams
Protein: 19 grams
Fat: 11 grams
Check out my other high protein recipes for more inspiration. And if you have a Pure Food recipe you love, please share it with me by replying to this post or shooting me an email at Scott@purefoodcompany.com!
Creating this no-bake chocolate protein balls recipe (that will please both vegan and paleo palettes, by the way) stirred up some hilarious mental images of the classic SNL Schweddy Balls skit.
All jokes aside, these protein balls are made for clean eaters. They contain 100% real food ingredients, no added sugar, and are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and paleo-friendly.
Best of all, there’s no baking required. You just mix all the ingredients together, roll the dough into balls, and refrigerate it.
My Schweddy balls (sorry, couldn’t resist) are a guilt-free dessert too. One ball will only set you back 122 calories, while delivering a healthy balance of carbs, good fats, and protein.
No Bake Chocolate Protein Balls Recipe (Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-free, Dairy-free)
Put the dates in a food processor and turn on for about a minute.
Add pecans and pulse 8-10 times.
Stir in the almond flour, protein powder, and coconut milk powder. Turn on food processor for 1-2 minutes.
Use a sharp knife to chop up dark chocolate into fine shavings and combine with slivered almonds in a bowl.
Roll the dough from the food processor into balls. Roll each chocolate protein ball in the bowl of slivered almonds/dark chocolate shavings.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread your protein balls into 5 rows of 3 (or however many you want).
Refrigerate overnight. They’ll be ready to eat the next day. They should keep in a tupperware in the fridge for about a week.
Here’s what the batter looks like.
Nutrition Facts (per ball … this recipes makes 15 balls):
122 calories
9 g fat
9 g carbs (2 g fiber, 5 g sugar)
5 g protein
Here’s the final product:
These chocolate protein balls would be a hit at any holiday party (and gives you a funny ice-breaker starter because someone is sure to mention the Schweddy balls skit). Or just make them as a healthy snack like I did. Either way, you’ll be happy you tried this awesome recipe.
See more recipes like this every day when you follow me on Instagram:
Before I get into my ingredients and nutrition facts reviews and analyses for Soylent’s protein products, let me say this … I love the idea of Soylent: a convenient, inexpensive way to get a full meal. If you take a closer look at the ingredients and nutrition panel though, there are a few red flags you need to be aware of if you care about the foods you put in your body.
In this Soylent review, you’ll find out exactly why.
Click/tap the links below to jump to each section …
What Is Soylent Made Of? Nutrition Facts and Ingredients Review
I’ve reviewed a lot of different protein powders. If there’s one single piece of advice I can offer when deciding for yourself whether a product is “healthy,” it’s this:
The nutrition facts and ingredients are the only objective sources of truth.
Let’s have a closer look at the nutrition facts for both Soylent bottle (liquid) and pouch (powder). We’ll start with Soylent Drink.
Soylent Drink 2.0 is the current version of their liquid ready-to-drink bottle, which is now available in three flavors: Original, Cacao, and Nectar. 1.8 is the current version of the powdered formula. Here are the nutrition facts labels for each:
Soylent 2.0 Drink Nutrition (Original):
Soylent 2.0 Drink Nutrition (Cacao):
Soylent 2.0 Drink Nutrition (Nectar):
Soylent 1.8 Powder Nutrition Facts:
Upon first glance, you might think these are healthy.
Here’s where this review gets a little ugly though if you’re a Soylent fan.
Each “meal” has between 9 and 15 grams of added sugar. Newly proposed recommendations provided by the WHO encourage limiting added sugar to less than 5% of your total energy intake each day. That’s just 100 calories’ worth of sugar (or around 25 grams) for someone who eats 2,000 calories per day!
So 60% of the sugar you’re supposed to eat in an entire day is in a single serving of Soylent Powder!
According to Soylent’s website:
The Soylent recipe is based on the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and is regulated as a food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Uh, call me crazy, but where does the IOM (or any other respectable health organization) recommend 15 grams of added sugar in a single meal?!
But this isn’t even the worst part.
We haven’t gotten to the ingredients yet …
Soylent Ingredients
First, I’ll call your attention to this graphic from Soylent’s website:
Thanks, Soylent, for being “transparent” about your low standards for ingredients. Source: www.soylent.com
As you can see, the ingredients in Soylent are:
Notorganic (which means there’s a high likelihood there are chemical pesticides and herbicides in your meal replacement shake)
Here are the complete ingredient lists for Soylent’s current releases of their Drinks and Powder:
Soylent 2.0 Drink (Original):
Soylent 2.0 Drink (Cacao):
Soylent 2.0 Drink (Nectar):
Soylent 1.8 Powder Ingredients:
These sounds more like chemistry experiments than real food.
There’s a lot of cheap fillers and additives in those ingredients lists but I want to call your attention to a few, in particular, you might want to consider avoiding …
Click on the links below to read about the potential dangers and side effects of the following Soylent ingredients. I’ve summed up each in parentheses too.
Soy Protein Isolate (cheap protein source usually produced from GMO and chemical-ridden soybeans; derived using petroleum-based hexane; common allergen and cause of inflammation)
Natural Flavors (the 4th most common ingredient on food labels; consist of a “natural” extract combined with potentially hundreds of chemical compounds that food companies don’t have to disclose, thanks to the FDA)
Maltodextrin (GMO corn-based starch used to thicken processed foods)
Soy Lecithin (GMO soy-based thickener/emulsifier that may promote inflammation)
Sucralose (artificial sweetener that caused cancer in animal studies; still approved by the FDA for some crazy reason)
What Does Soylent Taste Like?
I didn’t case for the taste for either Soylent bottle (2.0) or pouch (1.8). It’s kind of like a thick, malty mush. Not gag-worthy by any means but not good either. The Cacao and Nectar Drinks tastes better but that’s because they use so-called “natural” flavors (see link above).
I’ve heard that earlier versions were too sweet so they reduced the sweetness level in the latest version. It’s still too sweet for my liking.
Its grey color is a little off-putting for me but this may not be an issue for others.
I realize this is only my opinion about how Soylent tastes and not a very objective answer. If you’d like to hear what others have to say, check out the answers to this question on Quora: What does Soylent taste like?
Soylent Price
One of Soylent’s biggest draws is its cost—it’s pretty cheap. This comes as no surprise when you look at their list of unhealthy, processed junk ingredients.
Here’s how much Soylent costs:
Soylent Drink 2.0 Original Price:
$34 for 12 bottles ($2.83 per 400 kcal serving) or $32.30 for 12 bottles with a monthly subscription ($2.42 per 400 kcal serving)
Soylent Drink 2.0 Cacao Price:
$39 for 12 bottles ($3.25 per 400 kcal serving) or $37.05 for 12 bottles with a monthly subscription ($3.09 per 400 kcal serving)
Soylent Drink 2.0 Nectar Price:
$39 for 12 bottles ($3.25 per 400 kcal serving) or $37.05 for 12 bottles with a monthly subscription ($3.09 per 400 kcal serving)
Soylent Powder 1.8 Price:
$64 for 35 meals ($1.83 per 400 kcal serving) or $154 for 35 meals with a monthly subscription ($1.54 per 400 kcal serving).
Soylent Recall
It seems like every time I blink, there’s another Soylent recall …
Then 1.7 was released after a messy dispute with one of their ingredient suppliers.
Just a month later, they released version 1.8, adding “soluble corn fiber,” which they claim is a “truer source of fiber to the consumer,” whatever that means.
Mistakes happen in the food industry, I get it. But that’s a lot of recalls in a short amount of time.
Soylent Review: The Final Verdict
My Soylent review can be summed up in three words:
Not. Real. Food.
Sure, it satisfies your daily calorie requirements—but it may do your body more harm than good because of all the artificial, processed, junk ingredients.
Look for a meal replacement powder with ingredients sourced from organic whole foods instead.
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