On a typical weekday, we may not always have time to enjoy a satisfying breakfast. Busy schedules and on-the-go mornings can leave you without enough time to whip up a keto breakfast. Those are the days that I love having a simple but decadent shake that I can drink in the car or sip while I work on my early morning task list. Not to mention it’s unbelievably thick, rich, and dark chocolatey!

After years of being a smoothie fiend, I’ve found that the best way to add thickness and necessary fat to any blended concoction is coconut cream. You can purchase the pure coconut cream in grocery stores which makes measuring a breeze, but if you can’t find the pure cream, making it is simple. Just place a can of full-fat coconut milk in the refrigerator and let it chill for a full day. Then, flip the can upside down and carefully open with a can opener. The bottom of the can is where the liquid is, while the cream hardens on the top. Pour the liquid out to save for other recipes and you are left with the hardened cream which is a delicious, dairy-free substitute for whipped cream. I like to keep a few cans in the fridge at all times so they are ready to go when I need them!

The other creamy addition to this smoothie is avocado! As you know, avocado is a keto dieter’s best friend and can be even more useful to those of us who are dairy free and looking to bump up the fat content of our meals. The texture is smooth once blended and the flavor of avocado is completely hidden with two forms of dark chocolate! You won’t even notice the avocado in this shake because you’ll be too busy enjoying bits of chopped low carb chocolate.

One note on processing your shake for optimal texture: pulse your dry ingredients in the blender first, then add your other shake ingredients. This step is so important because it chops your chocolate into tiny pieces while pulverizing the hemp seeds and just smooths everything out. Once the dust settles, open your blender, and add the rest of the ingredients. It makes a world of difference!

Yields 2 one cup servings of Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Shake

The Preparation

1 ounce low-carb dark chocolate
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
2 tablespoons powdered erythritol, to taste
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup coconut cream, chilled
1/2 medium avocado
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup ice cubes
sea salt, flaked to garnish

The Execution

1. In a high-powered blender, pulse the dark chocolate cacao powder, sweetener, and hulled hemp seeds to chop the chocolate.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender cup and blend until smooth.

3. Divide into 1-cup servings and enjoy!

This makes a total of 2 servings of Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Shake. Each serving comes out to be 401 calories, 39.4g fats, 8.1g net carbs, and 7g protein.

NUTRITION	CALORIES	FAT	CARBS	FIBER	NET CARBS	PROTEIN
1 ounce low-carb dark chocolate	111	11.3	14.2	8.5	5.7	0
2 tablespoon hemp seeds	111	9.8	1.7	0.8	0.9	6.3
2 tablespoon powdered erythritol	1	0	0	0	0	0
1 tablespoon cocoa powder	21	0.5	3	1	2	1
1/2 cup coconut cream	396	42	8.4	2.6	5.8	4.3
1/2 medium avocado	150	13.9	7.8	6.1	1.7	1.8
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk	14	1.3	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.6
1 cup ice cubes	0	0	0	0	0	0
— sea salt	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	803	78.8	35.7	19.4	16.3	14
Per Serving (/2)	401	39.4	17.8	9.7	8.1	7