What is it? Protein fluff is an awesome frozen, thick, “marshmallowy”, airy light, pudding-type, ice cream like substance. It’s delicious, quite high in volume and high in protein. It’s a calorie friendly recipe; rather low in both fat and carbohydrates – making it a satiating stand-alone dessert, breakfast or anytime snack. It’s also a great topping for stuff like pancakes or cheesecakes!
And the best part is you only need 3 main ingredients – frozen fruit, milk (or water if preferred), and protein powder to make it. With just these few ingredients, you can fill an entire salad bowl and find yourself sitting down with a soup spoon eating what looks like a calorific bomb of frozen decadence. It’s extremely customizable, quick, and simple. One bowl of strawberry or chocolate fluff is under 200 calories, yet it offers around 4 cups of pure volume – great for dieting macros or particularly hungry days! The texture is something around marshmallow fluff, and its like a giant bowl of light ice cream! It doesn’t keep very long, but I guarantee that you will want to finish it quickly anyways – it’s so good!
Warning: Once you try it, you can’t stop making it. Your taste buds will LOVE it. It’s a healthy meal or snack to die for!
And yet it’s a low-calorie snack.
Protein fluff’s filling and low-calorie nature is precisely what makes it a staple among many fitness people and dieters. It is also extremely easy to make and requires just three basic ingredients: milk or water, protein powder, vegetables or fruit – pretty much the same stuff you’d use in a protein shake or smoothie.
From Mush To Fluff
What makes protein fluff so special is that by blending just a few ingredients, you create what amounts to ice cream! In fact, if you were to stop right there, you could just eat it like ice cream inside a (protein) cone—I’ve done this and it’s delicious. To turn it into proper fluff though, whisk it for a good 5-8 minutes. That’s where the magic happens. Your ice cream turns into full-blown fluff.
I use whey protein powder for my recipe, but I’ve heard that casein works even better. You can swap different fruits, preferred liquids, and flavors of protein powder for countless possibilities! When using unflavored whey, I recommend adding a few drops of sweetener or flavoring. You could even top the bowl with fruits, cacao nibs, coconut flakes, chia seeds, or anything you prefer!
The longer you blend it, the fluffier it will be. On days that I feel more hungry, I will blend my protein fluff until it fills the entire capacity of my blender (I use a NutriNinja bullet-style blender).
Are you ready to give it a try?
Cauliflower Chocolate Protein Fluff
Sounds odd I know. But you will not taste the cauliflower, I promise. It will taste chocolatey and delicious.
Ingredients:
– 1 cup of steamed cauliflower, frozen
– ¼ cup of flavored whey protein (chocolate, vanilla or other flavor)
– 1 tablespoon cocoa or cacao powder
– ½ cup water
Directions
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend to a smooth, frozen mixture.
- Using an electric whisk, whisk mix for 5 or more minutes until it gains volume.
- Enjoy immediately.
I make the fluff using a handheld (stick) blender to mix the ingredients, then I switch to a handheld electric whisker to create the fluffy consistency.
A couple of things worth mentioning about the ingredients:
– The cauliflower has to be steamed until it’s well-cooked and tender.
– The cauliflower should be cut in small pieces before freezing. Small frozen pieces are easier to blend than big cauliflower florets.
– Although I do prefer protein powder without flavorings, you cannot really get away with a plain protein powder in this particular recipe.
It easier to make the fluff if the whey protein contains xantham gum (which flavored ones do). You do need a flavored protein powder and an extra tablespoon of cocoa to mask the cauliflower taste. Any flavored whey protein will work.
If you do wish to use an unflavoured protein powder you can add xantham gum – ½ teaspoon per serving which will make your protein fluff stay fluffier longer and gain a thicker consistency. Using xanthan gum is optional.
Using other frozen vegetables or fruit
You can’t make Protein Fluff with fresh vegetables or fruit, it HAS to be frozen. If they are not frozen, you’re in for a smoothie, not fluff.
What kind of vegetables can you use to make protein fluff? You can use frozen (cooked) cauliflower, frozen (cooked) sweet potato or butternut squash, or frozen carrots. You could also experiment with any other vegetable.
You can also make Protein Fluff with fruit as the base and the most popular recipe is:
Blueberry Protein Fluff
Ingredients
– 1 cup frozen blueberries (or any other berry)
– ¼ cup whey protein powder
– ½ cup nut milk or water
Directions
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend to a smooth, frozen mixture.
- Using an electric whisk, whisk mix for 5 or more minutes until it gains volume.
- Enjoy immediately.
Fluffy Tips and Tricks
- You can use various fruits, nuts, and spices for toppings. Try coconut, seeds, cocoa, or fresh fruit!
- Though berries are the best fruit to fluff, frozen banana slices come in at a close second. You can also use frozen pineapple, mango, peaches or frozen apples as your base.
- You will need to use a whey protein powder. Most vegetarian and vegan protein powders do not fluff, so please don’t try to fluff your pea protein, brown rice protein, or hemp protein.
- I make my protein fluff using a handheld (stick) blender to mix ingredients before switching to a handheld electric whisker. You can definitely use a blending stand (a Kitchenaid mixer), or a regular cake mixer, but I wouldn’t recommend using a blender like the one you’d use to make protein shakes because the mixture won’t fluff properly.
- You also cannot make Protein Fluff without an electric apparatus. In other words, you can NOT whip up protein fluff by hand. At the least you could use a blender to get it almost there, then use a spoon to hand beat the air and volume into it.
For more fabulous recipes like this one, check out my book called “Healthy Ice Cream – 50 Nutrient-Dense REAL Food Recipes For Superior Health” Its part of a collection of recipes.
