Today I’m sharing with you all a new recipe (and new favorite) alternative to yogurt sans dairy, Banana Yogurt! This may be the only yogurt recipe you’ll ever need… bold statement I know, but it’s that good. Living dairy free, yogurt has been one of the few things I’ve missed due to it’s versatility, taste, and texture. Sure there are other non-dairy yogurt alternatives out there, but none I’ve enjoyed as much. Banana Yogurt is filled with deliciously simple whole food ingredients and takes less than 10 minutes to make, which is perfect for a quick and nutrient dense breakfast in the morning.
Banana Yogurt contains healthy fats from creamy cashews, fiber and protein from ground chia seeds, and best of all the banana makes this yogurt thick, creamy, and naturally sweet just like most yogurts. My favorite way to enjoy this recipe is by adding crunchy granola on top such as staples in my pantry, Maple Banana Nut Granola and Nourishing Muesli.
I encourage you all to have fun with the toppings for Banana Yogurt, here are a couple ideas to get you started: fresh berries, sliced apple or pear, diced banana, crunchy banana chips, cacao nibs, goji berries, bee pollen, dried mulberries, Cinnamon Puffed Rice Cereal, or anything else your heart desires. I enjoy this yogurt best when it’s been chilled in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, another quick option is to add in a couple ice cubes while blending to chill the yogurt quickly. Before I share the recipe, I want to chat a bit about bananas and why I incorporate this fruit into my diet daily.
Something I do on a weekly basis is to buy extra bananas to keep my kitchen stocked full of ripe bananas! Next time you’re out grocery shopping, purchase one bunch that’s almost ripe (yellow, some spots), which can be eaten right away, and buy another bunch that’s green/yellow. The green/yellow bananas can sit on your countertop to ripen or put in a brown paper bag with an apple or other piece of ripe fruit to quicken the ripening process. This ensures you’ll always have ripe, spotted bananas for banana yogurt, smoothies, snacks, ice cream, etc.
Bananas are one of my staple foods in my kitchen, they’re essentially “nature’s fast food” with their portability, versatility and nutrition. I love these especially post-workout to refuel from an intense workout, as a quick snack, or for desserts. The balance of naturally occurring electrolytes + the simple and starchy carbohydrates makes it a perfect fruit for fitness enthusiasts everywhere. Even if you’re not an athlete, bananas still have been shown to help improve digestion (elimination!), contain cardiovascular benefits, may help reduce and sooth stomach ulcers, improve bone health and kidney health. If you’re watching your sugar or carbohydrate intake, simply use half of the banana at a time or balance it out with a quality protein/healthy fat.
Nutrient breakdown of BANANAS | *based on 1 medium banana ~118g
- Vitamin B6 } 25% DV
- Manganese } 16% DV
- Vitamin C } 14% DV
- Potassium } 12% DV
- Biotin } 10% DV
- Copper } 10% DV
- Magnesium } 8% DV
- Fiber } 1 medium banana contains 3g fiber
- Carbohydrates } 1 medium banana contains 27g carbohydrates
TIP // have too many ripe bananas? No worries! Simply peel the bananas, lay evenly on a cookie sheet or flat surface, freeze overnight, take each individual frozen banana and store in a freezer gallon size bag for your smoothies or BanaNO Cream.
- 1 spotted ripe banana
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tablespoons chia seed, ground
- 2 tablespoons of raw cashews
- squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)
- dash of cinnamon
- dash of sea salt
- stevia to sweeten (if needed, optional)
- Soak chia seeds for at least 20 minutes in 4 tablespoons of the almond milk.
- Set aside to gel.
- Soak cashews in water (and discard) for at least 20 minutes to soften.
- In a high speed blender or food processor, combine all ingredients until smooth.
- Adjust almond milk liquid to make thinner or thicker to your desired taste.
- Enjoy at room temperature or chill for 20 minutes.
- Serve as suggested in the blog post.
- Enjoy!
Remember this is a play on yogurt, it doesn’t contain probiotics or the fermentation process, it’s all about giving non-dairy lifestyles a similar texture and consistency of yogurt– have fun with it and don’t get caught up in technicalities of yogurt. I hope this will become one of your staples as I can’t seem to get enough of it lately! Please “share” if you love what you’re reading and seeing with my recipes! Also, what is it that you would like to see more of on Nutrition Stripped?
I have some big projects I CAN’T wait to share with you all soon!
xx McKel
