I remember making this date smoothie the day before I gave birth to Sidney. Tony and I were bored out of our freaking minds and I wanted to make something with dates because I had heard that they were a great way to naturally induce labor and shorten labor time. Not sure if that’s an old wives tale because my labor was 36 hours, but I digress.
I whipped up this date smoothie and immediately knew it had to go on the blog. It’s OUTRAGEOUSLY DELICIOUS, slightly nutty thanks to tahini, and reminded me of my brown butter snickerdoodle cookies that are infused with sweet vanilla and cinnamon flavor. I couldn’t get enough!
Wanna know the crazy part though? There’s a secret veggie hiding inside that you won’t even taste or see. I promise! This smoothie is nut free and packed with fruit and veggies–making it perfect for you OR the kiddos!
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Ingredients in this date smoothie recipe
While I’m a big fan of bananas in smoothies, this tahini date smoothie recipe is made without banana and is still perfectly sweet and delicious thanks to dates. It’s easy, creamy and a great breakfast or afternoon snack to make. You’ll need is:
- Medjool dates: you can purchased already pitted dates, or just take out the pit yourself.
- Non-dairy milk: this will keep the smoothie dairy free and vegan while giving it the perfect consistency. Start with 1 cup and add more to thin out the smoothie, if necessary. I prefer almond milk in this recipe but light coconut milk would also be delicious.
- Frozen cauliflower: you read that right! The frozen cauliflower gives this date smoothie the perfect, thick texture plus a boost of veggies. You will not be able to taste it – promise!
- Tahini: a wonderful nut-free option that adds a delicious creaminess to the smoothie. I love this brand!
- Vanilla & cinnamon: this combo gives the smoothie that true snickerdoodle cookie flavor. So good.
- Toppings: make a yummy smoothie bowl or just top your glass with a drizzle of tahini, sprinkle of cinnamon and your fav granola (or try my best-ever homemade granola recipe!)
Optional date smoothie additions
Feel free to truly make this smoothie your own! Here are a few nutritional suggestions for this date smoothie recipe:
- Flaxseed meal: this is one of my favorite ingredients to add to smoothies for a little boost of fiber and minerals. It’s especially great for nursing mamas as flaxseed can help increase milk supply. Usually a tablespoon is plenty! Here’s a brand I love.
- Chia seeds: add in a tablespoon of chia seeds to your smoothie for a boost of healthy fats and fiber.
- Hemp seeds: feel free to throw in those hemp seeds lurking in your cupboard for a boost of healthy fats, omegas and minerals.
- Oats: add about 1/3 cup oats to your smoothie for an additional thickness & heartiness. Do not use steel cut oats as they will not blend well.
- Organic spinach: if you’re looking to get more greens in your smoothie, try adding a few cups of spinach. It may turn the smoothie a slightly off-putting color, but you won’t be able to taste the spinach at all.
- Greek yogurt: add a boost of protein with a scoop of Greek yogurt (or your favorite dairy free yogurt). You may have to reduce the almond milk to 3/4 cup in this smoothie when adding yogurt.
- Protein powder or collagen peptides: another great way to add some protein. I recommend a plain or vanilla flavored protein powder in this recipe. Here is a great plant-based option.
- Cacao powder: this would add a delicious, chocolate-y flavor to the smoothie along with a great source of antioxidants. I recommend 1/2 tablespoon to start.
Tips for making this date smoothie recipe
Here are a few of my favorite tips for making this date smoothie creamy and delicious:
- Using frozen cauliflower as it helps keep the smoothie cold and thick. Sometimes ice doesn’t blend as well, so it’s best to skip unless absolutely necessary.
- Don’t be afraid to add more liquid if your smoothie is too thick or won’t fully blend. High powered blenders tend to blend frozen ingredients much better, so if you have a regular or personal size blender, you may need to add more milk.
- Start the blender on low speed, then gradually increase the speed to high to help blend all ingredients. End with the blender on low speed.
How do you soften dates for smoothies?
You’ll simply soak your pitted dates in 1 cup of warm water for at least 5 minutes. This will help them soften up and make sure that you can easily blend them.
Meal prep this healthy date smoothie
Yes, you can make this easy smoothie ahead of time to enjoy later! I have three amazing methods for prepping and storing smoothies right in your freezer. You’ll learn the ice cube tray method, the mason jar method and the freezer pack method. Get all of my tips and tricks here!
I know you guys are going to love this tahini date smoothie recipe! It makes the perfect breakfast or quick afternoon pick-me-up. Enjoy! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Snickerdoodle Tahini Date Smoothie
Ingredients
- For the date smoothie:
- 3 pitted large Medjool dates (¼ cup packed pitted Medjool dates)
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or sub light coconut milk), plus more to thin smoothie if necessary
- ¾ cup frozen cauliflower
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Optional smoothie add-ins:
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 1 scoop your favorite protein powder
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- ¼ cup gluten free rolled oats
Instructions
- First soak your pitted dates in 1 cup of very warm water for at least 5 minutes. This will help them soften up and perfect for blending. While the dates are soaking you can get all your other ingredients out, measured and ready.
- Next add all ingredients to a high powered blender: pitted dates, almond milk, cauliflower, tahini, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Feel free to add any optional add-ins to your smoothie if you’d like. Blend until smooth, adding more almond milk to thin, if necessary. Pour into a glass and enjoy! Serves 1. Feel free to double the recipe to serve 2.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
104 comments
monique you have OUTDONE yourself!!!!
Haha I try! 😉
Loved this! It really does taste like a snickerdoodle.
I love sneaking veggies into smoothies!
It’s the best!
Can you taste the cauliflower? I’m not a great fan!
So happy to hear that! One of my new favs 🙂
YUMMMM! never have added or would have thought to add tahini to a smoothie! IDK why not! I add it to everything else!
It’s a game changer! So delicious!
wow, this is quite an exotic smoothie! Great set of ingredients, thank you for sharing it!
The combo is delicious! Hope you get a chance to try it!
I made it this morning after my workout and its amazing! I dont know how these cookies taste like cause I have never eat it,but would love to try it now 😁 Till now sweet potato smoothie was my fav but now the winner is snickerdoodle!
So happy you loved this one! Try out these snickerdoodle cookies next 🙂 https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/brown-butter-snickerdoodle-cookies/
I never leave reviews because, frankly, I’m lazy… but this deserves one. This recipe is phenomenal!! I saw the post on Instagram and went to the store for tahini and dates (two ingredients I have never used before). Tahinis scared me, frozen cauli in a smoothie scared me, dates scared me. But it was well worth it. This tastes EXACTLY like snickerdoodle cookie dough. I added in a scoop or Orgain vanilla protein powder (my fav!) because I just worked out. I will definitely be making this again.
I’m so glad you gave this one a try! So delicious 🙂 thanks so much for your review!
Sooo yummy! I substituted the cauliflower with frozen spinach because I didn’t have any at the moment. Delicious and filling with my hemp seed protein powder!
Glad that swap worked out well! Such a great breakfast 🙂
The entire family loves this from my husband, to the one year old. We have it for dessert sometimes. So so good. 😍😍😍😍
Love it! So happy to hear that 🙂
Is the frozen coulifloweer raw or cooked?
Thank you 2😊
Usually it’s blanched and then frozen 🙂
Delicious! I found that 3/4 cup of milk and 1 cup of frozen cauliflower worked better for the consistency I prefer (a little on the thicker side). Tasted fantastic and was quick/easy to make!
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing. Glad you enjoyed!
This is so delicious! My blender isn’t quite strong enough and it was a little chunky but still the flavour was amazing.
Glad you enjoyed regardless!
I’m always so thankful for smoothie recipes that use frozen cauliflower and this one is incredible! It’s the perfect blend of flavors.
Absolutely! Glad you love this one!
This is the most.amazing.smoothie. Thank you so much!!
So happy you loved it!
Monique, this is WONDERFUL! I’ve never used frozen cauliflower in a smoothie before, but I love that idea! This will be on repeat at our house! Thank you!!
It’s a gamechanger! So glad you enjoyed!
Maybe my blender is terrible, but did not come together well. It was very grainy and slightly watered down.
That’s strange! If you have a high powered blender that should not happen at all. So sorry!
Thank you for creating a smoothie recipe that uses tahini! It’s genius! My husband has a nut allergy so I can never do a nut butter so this is a great alternative! Added spinach to make it green!
Absolutely! This one’s perfect for him 🙂 great idea to add some spinach!
I love this smoothie! There is definitely a lot of room to play around in the recipe – I just made it with oat milk and coffee and it was amazing! I never would have thought of tahini and cauliflower in a smoothie, but this is the perfect smoothie to add to your rotation and use when you’re out of bananas or frozen fruit.
Absolutely! This one’s great for customizing. Glad you enjoyed!
This was delicious!
Glad you enjoyed!
I admit it, I was skeptical about the cauliflower…but you couldn’t even taste it! This was so good! I added collagen powder and flax meal. I love that it uses dates as the sweetener. It was sweet and creamy and definitely reminded me of a snickerdoodle!
It’s such a game changer! Glad you loved this 🙂
HOLY MOLY! I could drink this every morning. It truly tastes like a snickerdoodle! I like my smoothies a little thicker so I reduced the milk to 3/4 cup and added a scoop of vanilla protein powder. DELICIOUS, thanks for the great recipe!
Amazing! So glad you loved it!
So delicious!!! You would never know there was Tahini or Dates in there! I soaked my dates for 10-15 minutes and cut them up before putting them in the blender. I also didn’t have Frozen Cauliflower on hand and instead used an Almond & Cashew milk blend. . I added in ice cubes, 1/2 tsp of chia seeds, 1/2 tsp of ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal from TJ’s) and 1/2 c plain nonfat greek yogurt – turned out great and yield was 2 servings. Thanks so much Monique! (as always!) Delicious!!!
This one’s great for customizing! So glad you enjoyed!
Really good and easy!! I used riced cauliflower and added in some spinach and some greek yogurt! Flavor is great!
Love it! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
This smoothie is absolutely to die for! I’ve been looking for fun and delicious recipes to incorporate more dates in my diet and this blew me away. So excited to have a healthy and tasty smoothie option! This legit tastes like a snickerdoodle by the way 👍🏼😍
Absolutely! The perfect breakfast or snack 🙂
I’m still trying to figure out how this combination of ingredients tastes SO good and EXACTLY like a snickerdoodle. My new fave smoothie!
Right?! It’s magic 🙂 Glad you love it!
I have to admit I’m a little confused by the rave reviews- this definitely tasted like a cauliflower smoothie to me. It wasn’t terrible, and I salvaged it by adding half a frozen banana to mask the cauliflower a bit, but it wasn’t a “hidden sneaky veggie” and I didn’t think it tasted much like snickerdoodle… I’m sorry! Like the idea of using tahini in a smoothie though!
Sorry to hear that, Laura! Many people have really loved this one, but I’m sure there are different sensitivities to the cauliflower taste. I’m glad you were able to salvage it!
I really wanted to like this too. Couldnt taste the cauliflower but it didn’t have much taste to it. Next time I think I’ll add maple syrup or honey to help bring out the sweetness and tie in the flavour more bc I found it quite bland.
Thank you for sharing! Did you change anything about the recipe?
I used soy milk bc that’s all I had. And I made the recipe 1.5x more but calibrated the other ingredients. I will try it again but I like smoothies a lil sweeter so will add honey. Thanks 😊
You are not actually supposed to taste the cauliflower. It is really just used to give the smoothie the perfect, thick texture plus a boost of veggies. Yes, you can definitely add in some honey, agave, Greek yogurt, or other natural sweetener to help boost the sweetness factor in this smoothie.
Hi
Do you freeze the cauliflower raw or you boil it before?
Thanks a lot!
Hi! Feel free to give it a quick blanch 🙂
good Lord this is delicious! I added a scoop of collagen and a tbsp of flax seed and it is just too good.
This smoothie is SO GOOD! I didn’t have cauliflower so I replaced it with frozen spinach and it was still fantastic. So helpful for this pregnant mama trying to eat her daily dates!
Perfect! So glad you loved this one!
I love your website. You have great recipes!!!
This is such a great smoothie. I loved it. So delicious!
Wow, that’s really good!
What did you actually put in this one in the photo? Looks like it has chocolate or coffee in it cuz it’s brown.(?)
The tahini and cinnamon give it a tan color!
Made it for breakfast this morning. DELICIOUS!!!! The cauliflower made it so smooth and creamy! I added unsweetened cocoa powder and flaxseed meal and loved it!
So glad you loved it!!
So satisfying! I almost always have a banana in my smoothies so this was a nice change of pace. Can’t wait to make this again because it was such a treat.
So glad you enjoyed!
Perfect as always! The only item I added was flax seed. Can never go wrong with your recipes!
Amazing! So happy you loved it 🙂
Such a Great smoothie!! I added ground flax, plant based vanilla protein powder, nutmeg and cacao powder. So yummy and nice for change without banana.
All great additions! So glad you loved it 🙂
This smoothie was absolutely delicious! My family went crazy over it!
Yay!! So glad to hear! 🙂
Yummy. I opted for vanilla protein powder as an add-in.
Love adding protein powder to this one! Glad you enjoyed it!
One of the best smoothies I’ve had!
Yay!! I’m SO happy you loved it, Jinelle!
Literally one of the best, if not THE best, smoothie I’ve ever had. I have made it with vanilla and chocolate protein powder before, and I prefer the vanilla with the flavors in this smoothie.
I got so excited about this smoothie, I forgot I already commented last month! 🤣
HAHA love that! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
This is delicious – really tastes like a snickerdoodle and a fun morning treat. I love sneaking in more veggies to my morning
Delicious and easy! Made as is and was very happy. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Yay! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Jessica 🙂 Thanks!
THE BEST SMOOTHIE IVE EVER ENJOYED! My goodness, Monique! This was a knockout! I added primal kitchen vanilla protein, but otherwise kept the recipe the same. Fantastic!!!
Oh I’m SO GLAD! Thanks, Marisa!
Made this tonight! Did not have cauli though so had to use oats and chia for that creamy heft. It turned out good! I’m excited to try with the cauli next time.
Glad it came out great and that you enjoyed it, Julie! ☺️
Omg. I left out the cinnamon and added the cocoa powder. So. Good. I added a teeny pinch of sea salt. Delicious flavour and the texture is perfect. I don’t have a high powered blender so probably could have soaked the dates a bit longer to avoid a couple date chunks at the bottom.
I struggle getting veggies in in the first trimester and this smoothie was a great way to do that without causing my stomach to turn. Great use to shelf-stable things I tend to have on hand like dates, tahini, etc.
My fiancé and I have made this smoothie every day this week. It’s THAT good!!!
This is by far one of the best smoothie I’ve ever made in my life. I would say it ties with the “chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie” on the blog. This snickerdoodle smoothie is so, SO good, and one thing I especially love about it is that it is super filling. I love having it for breakfast for that reason. You won’t regret making it!!
I’m so thrilled you love both of them!! If you love those, you need to try my new Tahini Chocolate Coffee Date Shake, too 🙂
Drinking this smoothie now as I’m typing this and it is INCREDIBLE!!! I added vanilla protein powder and it really made it taste like a snickerdoodle.
Are you using cauliflower florets or rice?
You can use either, just make sure they are frozen! Enjoy!
I love this recipe as is, but today I replaced 1/2 of the milk with my cold unfinished coffee (mom life), added hemp seeds and truvani vanilla protein powder, and WOW – tastes just like a jamocha shake! It was SO delicious!
This smoothie is so good and tastes unlike any others I’ve tried! The cauliflower is surprisingly very creamy and the flavor is so tasty. Favorite smoothie ever.
Yay! I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and it turned out amazing for you!
Wow! Like it so much! So delicious and creamy. 😋
Glad you’re enjoying this recipe!
A delicious diversion from my usual morning, green smoothies. I used only two dates because that is all I had, and added extra cinnamon and a scoop of vanilla chai protein powder. Yum!!!