Proponents of clean eating will tell you that it isn’t just a diet; it’s a way of life. While clean eating can mean different things to different people, at its core it’s about eating foods in their natural form, choosing organic wherever possible and avoiding preservatives or anything processed.
While it’s relatively easy to think of clean-eating dinner and snack ideas, desserts are a bit trickier. Thankfully, delicious clean eating dessert recipes do exist, and we’ve gathered some of the best here for you to try.
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1. Healthy Apple Crisp
Clean desserts don’t get much better than this apple crisp recipe from HeandSheEatClean. All of the ingredients are clean: two organic apples, 1/4 cup oat flour, 1/4 cup rolled oats, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and a pinch of sea salt.
Preheat your oven to 375 F and peel and slice your apples. Melt the coconut oil, then mix it with the honey. Mix your apples with 1 tablespoon of the oil and honey and 2 tablespoons of oat flour, then place the new mixture in the bottom of a baking pan. Mix the remaining ingredients, spread over the apples and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Yum!
2. Mocha Banana Ice Cream
This recipe for mocha banana ice cream from Oxygen can easily be “clean-ified” by choosing organic ingredients wherever possible. Bonus? This is one of the easiest clean desserts to make! You’ll need 2 frozen bananas (in chunks), 1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 ounce of finely chopped dark chocolate.
Let the bananas sit out of the freezer for about 5 minutes, then put them in a food processor until smooth. Add the other ingredients and process until mixed.
3. Mango Mint Lime Sorbet
You can make a lot of great clean-eating dessert recipes if you have a good, high quality blender. This recipe from The Lean Clean Eating Machine has nothing but fruit and herbs in it. You’ll need 4 or 5 mint leaves (fresh), 1 lime and 3 cups of frozen organic mango.
Juice the lime into your blender, then add the mint and frozen mango to your blender and blend until it is smooth and sorbet-like in consistency.
4. Mango Colada Pops
If you liked the last dessert, The Lean Clean Eating Machine has some other great clean eating dessert recipes, like their delicious mango colada popsicles. They’re refreshing, and they only contain frozen fruit, coconut milk beverage, coconut milk, and raw honey.
5. Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes
Who doesn’t love red velvet? This recipe from OxygenMag utilizes pureed beets (!) to get that rich colour, while fat-free cream cheese and coconut cream make for a decadent frosting. Best of all? Your friends won’t even know they’re clean!
6. Espresso Creme Brulee
This recipe courtesy of Clean Eating only takes five ingredients: organic milk, espresso powder, organic eggs, vanilla extract and organic evaporated cane juice. Give it a go next time you want to impress your friends.
7. Pomegranates And Grapefruit With Honey-Yogurt Sauce
No cheats involved here — this is one of those pure, clean ingredients desserts. This fruit mixture from Clean Eating is great for winter because it features two of the season’s best fruits. You’ll need 1 pomegranate, 2 grapefruits, 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon raw yogurt and 2 tablespoons slivered nuts or pine nuts.
Seed the pomegranate. Peel the grapefruit, then cut it into segments, removing and discarding the pith. Combine the grapefruit segments with the pomegranate seeds. In a different bowl, mix the yogurt and honey. Then, toast the nuts in a skillet over medium heat until the nuts are fragrant and golden (about 1 to 3 minutes). Let the nuts cool for a minute, then spoon the sauce over the fruit, topping with a sprinkle of the nuts.
8. Homemade Nut Butter Frozen Yogurt
This simple yogurt recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie can be altered depending on whether you prefer peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter… you get the gist. All you need is plain, full-fat organic yogurt, a clean sweetener of your desiring, pure vanilla extract (optional) and the all-natural nutty butter of your choice. Mix the ingredients together, then add to your ice cream maker to process.
9. Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
How do you choose between cake or cookies? Now, you don’t even have to with this delicious carrot-cake-cookie combo. Clean desserts can be delicious, but they don’t always feel familiar, whereas this recipe from Amy’s Healthy Baking will feel both indulgent and nostalgic, all at once.