Want to eat healthier in 2023? These 20 healthy vegan desserts taste so delicious you won't believe they're made with wholesome ingredients.
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Healthy certainly doesn’t mean bland and boring when it comes to these vegan desserts! Using a range of wholesome and nutritious ingredients, you can create deliciously indulgent sweet treats that are as good for you as they are tasty.
What’s not to love?!
Healthier vegan baking alternatives
While major supermarkets now stock vegan versions of animal-based baking ingredients such as butter, eggs and cream, they aren’t the healthiest things to use in your recipes.
Instead, you can harness the power of plants and use natural sweeteners, alternative flours, coconut oil and nuts for your vegan baking.
Healthy vegan sweeteners
Healthier vegan sweeteners include maple syrup, coconut nectar, agave syrup, dates and bananas. While vegan egg alternatives or ‘binders’ consist of nut butter, applesauce, aquafaba, silken tofu and chia seeds are all packed with a variety of vitamins and minerals for a nutritious spin.
Flour alternatives
In terms of flour, while standard flours are accidentally vegan they aren’t exactly healthy, especially refined white flour.
Therefore, our recipes use flour alternatives such as spelt, oats, cornmeal and nut-based flours as they provide added nutrition and are more gut-friendly than white flour.
Keep scrolling to see our favourite healthy vegan desserts you can make at home, and click through to the recipes!
1. Chocolate Orange Ganache Pots
These healthier chocolate ganache pots are made rich with coconut cream and sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar.
Chocolate orange is a classic Christmassy flavour combination, so whip up a batch of decadent ganache and wow your festive guests this holiday season.
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2. Nutty Vegan Chocolate Fudge
This vegan chocolate fudge topped with nuts couldn’t be simpler to make and uses just 3 main ingredients: chocolate, nuts and nut butter.
Moreover, you can experiment with the recipe to use a variety of different nuts or nut butter, and even try flavoured chocolate such as orange, caramel or raspberry. The world is your oyster!
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3. Pink Bounty Bars
These naturally-sweetened vegan-friendly pink bounty bars contain no food colouring because they get their vibrant colour from pitaya (dragon fruit) powder. This adds a delicious fruity flavour to the tropical coconut chocolate bars.
With just six natural ingredients, these pretty in pink dessert bars make the perfect afternoon treat – no occasion necessary!
4. Raspberry Ripple Protein Popsicles
These protein-packed vegan raspberry ripple popsicles are made with Lindwoods’ Hemp Protein+ powder, a powerful blend of flaxseed, chia seed, cocoa and beetroot powder, as well as a range of vitamins and minerals.
So when your sceptical family members ask you where you get your protein this festive season, you can tell them you get it from ice creams!
With a coconut and raspberry filling and rich dark chocolate coating, these protein popsicles will definitely hit the spot.
5. Carob and Fig Cake
Carob is a sweet alternative to cocoa powder and chocolate, and when paired with jammy figs it makes a deliciously rich and moreish combination.
This Carob and Fig Cake may not be the most traditional of desserts, but it will soon become a family favourite in any British household this holiday season.
Why not give it a try this weekend?
Want more vegan recipes? Try 3 issues of Vegan Food & Living magazine for just £3!
6. Mint Chocolate Avocado Mousse
This deliciously rich mint chocolate mousse uses nutritional powerhouse avocado instead of butter and oil to provide healthy fats. It also uses bananas, raw cacao, coconut yoghurt, and maple syrup to create a light and refreshingly minty dessert.
This makes it the perfect treat to satisfy your sweet tooth after a heavy meal.
And if you loved after eight mints before going vegan, this is the dessert for you!
7. Strawberry and Lime Superfood Cheesecake
This vibrant pink cheesecake is packed full of berries and superfoods to provide you with a wealth of nutritious benefits. But despite its excellent health advantages, it is still a deliciously indulgent dessert perfect for any special occasion.
It takes just 30 minutes to prepare and can then be frozen overnight, making it a fuss-free celebration centrepiece. Your guests won’t believe how healthy it is!
8. Hazelnut Caramel Squares
These decadent squares involve chewy hazelnut caramel on a crunchy biscuit base, all topped off with a thick layer of raw chocolate. It’s pure indulgence!
Using natural ingredients such as nuts, maple syrup and dates, this recipe is almost as healthy as it is delicious. So treat yourself to a square… or three!
9. Peach and Rosemary Crumble
This delicious dessert combines sweet peaches and minty-woody rosemary for a summery flavour explosion. And the best part is, any leftovers can be eaten for breakfast. No joke! Just add some almond milk and you have the perfect comforting breakfast.
If you’re wary about pairing herbs with your fruity desserts, this is definitely one to try as the flavours are satisfyingly complimentary.
10. Freezer Tiramisu
Craving the luscious combination of coffee and cream? We know that feeling!
This vegan tiramisu is a fresh spin on the Italian classic, but instead of traditional sponge fingers, you’ll make a crust from oats, walnuts and dates. Trust us on this one!
Simple with only two delicious layers, this dessert can be made ahead and sat waiting in the freezer ready to whip out on demand!
What else could you want?
11. Triple Chocolate Mousse Tart with Hazelnut Crust
This rich vegan triple chocolate mousse tart with a crisp and buttery hazelnut crust filled with fluffy chocolate mousse is deliciously decadent.
With its creamy silken tofu and dark chocolate filling and toasted hazelnut topping, this surprisingly healthy dessert is packed with minerals and vitamins.
And it might just become your new favourite after-dinner treat!
12. Mocha Tart with Vanilla Crème
This mocha tart is an incredibly deep, rich, and indulgent dessert, and the combination of dark, decadent flavours from the mocha and light, mild sweetness of the crème, perfectly balance out each other to create pure food alchemy.
It requires no cooking – just a freezer to set, making it deceptively simple to whip up for a weekend treat or special occasion.
13. Gluten-Free Blackberry Coconut Bars
These blackberry coconut bars are satisfyingly sweet and creamy and make an excellent mid-afternoon snack or weeknight dessert.
As well as being delicious, these vegan and gluten-free bars are packed with nutrients including vitamins, minerals and healthy fats due to the berries and nuts. In particular, the hazelnuts are high in vitamin E and have a good amount of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids while the almonds are a good source of vegan calcium.
Moreover, you can substitute the blackberries for other soft fruit such as raspberries and make different combinations. Whichever fruit you choose to use, you’ll be making a heavenly vegan sweet treat that everyone will love!
14. Mint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream
This green-as-a-shamrock “nice cream” made with almond milk, coconut cream and bananas is the perfect St Patrick’s Day treat. Or for any time you fancy something minty and sweet (always for us!)
Just make sure your dark chocolate chips are dairy-free to ensure it’s vegan!
15. Black Bean Brownies
These fudgy black bean brownies are healthy, vegan, gluten-free, and delicious! They’re made with wholesome ingredients like black beans and oats but are also indulgent, gooey, and rich.
For an even more decadent result, top them with chopped hazelnuts, dark chocolate chunks and flaky sea salt.
16. Chocolate Beetroot Truffles
Made with just six main ingredients, these vegan Chocolate Beetroot Truffles are wholesome yet taste totally indulgent! They’re also gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free, and nut-free so great for those with allergies or intolerances.
With a perfect pink centre and melt-in-your-mouth texture, they make the ideal party treat or movie-night snack. And even better, they’re actually good for you! There’s simply no excuse not to make them…
17. Pink Lemonade Nice Cream
Bring a taste of summer to the winter months with this deliciously pink nice cream. Made with frozen bananas, it is ultra-creamy, so it tastes like a cross between sorbet and ice cream.
Made with just four natural ingredients you probably already have at home, it’s super easy to whip up. Give it a go today!
18. ‘Nutella’ Espresso Cheesecake Mousse
This dessert features a layer of creamy, chocolatey homemade vegan Nutella alternative and another layer of an espresso-flavoured cheesecake mousse. This means it’s doubly indulgent, but is also wholesome and 100% vegan and gluten-free!
The cheesecake mousse is made with cashews, coconut milk and maple syrup making it satiating as well as nutritious. Similarly, the ‘Nutella’ is packed with hazelnuts, dark chocolate and oat milk so you get all the benefits of the whole nuts while also feeling decadent.
Even if you don’t make the full dessert, you’ll definitely want to whip up the vegan ‘Nutella’ for when that chocolate craving hits!
19. Fig Tart with Coconut-Cashew Cream
This Vegan Fig Tart is made with a coconut-cashew cream filling that is rich and creamy and contrasts perfectly to the crunchy crust made with cornmeal and juicy figs. It’s a must-make during fig season!
It is a bit time consuming, but trust us, it’s worth it for the end result. Anything with figs and creamy coconut is a winner for us!
20. No-Bake Salted Chocolate Tart
With a gluten-free almond flour crust and a luxurious salted chocolate filling, this gluten-free and vegan Salted Chocolate Tart is one of the best desserts you’ll ever taste!
It’s rich and chocolatey but is made with wholesome ingredients and requires no baking. Make it for a special occasion and wow your guests, or save it all to yourself… we don’t judge!
We hope you loved this round-up of healthy vegan desserts and we proved that healthy doesn’t equal bland and boring!
For more healthy vegan recipes, see our favourite vegan Buddha bowls.
