This naturally sweetened, dairy-free coffee creamer is a healthy alternative to store-bought creamers! It’s vegan, gluten-free, paleo-friendly, refined sugar-free, and only requires 4 simple ingredients. A quick and easy way to spruce up your morning coffee without the artificial flavours and preservatives!
Let’s talk about the mini panic attack I had at Costco the other day. Or rather, the three mini panic attacks I had at 3 different Costcos over the past week or so.
See, Costco is where I pick up my dates. My big, sweet, juicy, relatively inexpensive dates. And before your mind goes there, I should probably clarify that I’m talking about fruit here, not men.
Dates are my everything. Ev.ry.thing. After bananas, they’re easily my favourite thing to snack on, as well as one of my favourite ingredients to use in recipes. Bites, bars, smoothies, [soon-to-be] cookies, and now, coffee creamer… which brings me back to the panic attacks at Costco.
I promised you guys a recipe for my date-sweetened coffee creamer this week, and there I was out of dates. To say that I go through a lot of them is a bit of an understatement, and those suckers can be pricey. Fortunately, I found some good ones at Costco for a pretty decent price. Unfortunately, either everyone in Edmonton suddenly decided they loved dates or the truck carrying them took a wrong turn and ended up in Alaska, because I could.not.find a single tub at any of the three Costcos I went to.
Cue mini panic attack (x3)… made worse by the fact that I find shopping at Costco a little stressful to begin with. Lots of people, lots of stuff, lots of trying to decide if I really couldn’t use 12L of maple syrup, because I know it’s a lot but damn is that a good price. But I digress. The point is, I had to take my business elsewhere. But the next time I see my beloved dates in stock, I’m buying enough to last me through the Armageddon… especially now that I’m kind of addicted to adding them to my coffee. Not whole, obviously, but as a sweetener in the non-dairy coffee creamer I’ve been making lately…
I go through phases with my coffee. Sometimes I like it black. Sometimes with some foam. Sometimes with just a splash of almond milk. And sometimes with a splash of something a little more fancy.
That last one has been a bit of a rarity until now, though, because… have you ever taken a look at the ingredients list on those flavoured creamers? Hydrogenated oils, artificial flavours, colours, preservatives. Like… really?!? I don’t want that stuff in my coffee, much less in my body. So I made my own healthier coffee creamer at home…
Coconut milk, water, dates, and vanilla. That’s it. Only 4 ingredients in this ridiculously simple, healthy, and delicious dairy-free coffee creamer. Coconut milk for creaminess, dates for sweetness, and a splash of vanilla for a little extra flavour. Easy, peasy. And the best part is that it really is easy, peasy. All you have to do is toss all the ingredients in a blender or food processor, and voila! 5 minutes and you’ve got yourself a week’s plus supply of healthy coffee creamer.
No, no, wait. Scratch that. The best part is the fact that there’s something magical about the combination of these ingredients that adds the biggest kick to your cup of coffee. I kind of reached the point where my morning cup wasn’t having much of an effect on me anymore, but my morning cup with a splash of this creamer? Boom. I’m flying.
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Dairy-Free Coffee Creamer
- Total Time: 5 mins
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (90 g) of dates, pitted
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) hot water
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) light canned coconut milk*
- 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the dates and hot water to a high-speed blender or food processor. If your dates are a little dry, allow them to soak for 10 – 15 minutes so that they’ll be easier to blend. Otherwise, process oh high until the dates have broken down and turned into a smooth paste, scraping down the sides of your blender as necessary.
- Add the coconut milk and vanilla extract, and continue processing until everything is well combined and the mixture becomes smooth.
- Transfer to an airtight container. You can run the creamer through a fine mesh strainer to ensure no bigger pieces of dates remain, but it shouldn’t be necessary with a high-speed blender. Store in the fridge for up to a week. Creamer will thicken as it sits.
Notes
* Depending on how creamy you want your creamer, you can replace up to half of the canned coconut milk with a non-dairy milk of your choice. Or, you can sub it out entirely and add 1/4 tsp. of xanthan gum to thicken it up.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
Looking for a healthy snack to have with your coffee? Try one of these!
Strawberry Banana Oat Bars
Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
Soft and Chewy Protein Granola Bars
Blueberry Almond Oat Bars
Chocolate Banana Minute Muffin
So good!! A great clean substitute!!
The dr told me to lose weight. I had to give up store bought creamer. I came to this recipe in my quest to find my favorite vanilla creamer without all the sugars and fillers. I have never used dates. This was fun to make. I did to recipe but substituted half and half instead of coconut milk. It works wonderful. You do not have to strain the dates if using blender. Make sure you blend the dates and hot water a good while until it gets a little light brown and creamy texture then slowly add your milk. It will not curdle if you go slow. I have a new fruit to like. “dates” gotta find more recipes with these little gems.
Love this recipe. I use soymilk instead. Thank you!
Sorry my name is Anita not Anit lol 😃
Thank you so much for this recipe! I am new to the whole 30 eating plan so this creamer is a blessing! I will admit you were right about not comparing it to store bought creamers, not as sweet but definitely healthy thanks again!
Second time making this creamer and i’m addictive to this. I usually like to drink my cogffe black but somerimes i get tire of it. I dont really like all the ingredients in the creamers from the store so decided to look for something easy and tasty. This is my favorite coffee creamer. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I have been looking for a homemade coffee creamer to replace my store bought coconut coffee mate since I went paleo about 4 months ago. I have tried dozens of recipes, this one nailed it! Just the right amount of coconut to flavor in my coffee with no foreign ingredients I can’t even pronounce.
This looks so good, can’t wait to try it. Will it froth up?
Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! Ihave been looking forward to trying this recipe and finally finished up the last of my Coffemate creamer this morning 🙂 I purchased some dates @ my local Albertson’s for around 3.99/ 8 oz, bag, which I believe will make around 2 1/2 batches of this. I used Almondmilk which runs me around 3.99/ 96 oz. So, all in all it’s a little pricier but not by much and definitely worth it. The directions were easy to follow and my Nutri Bullet created a delicious, smooth creamer. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it, Heather! And thanks so much for sharing some details about the cost and where to grab ingredients 🙂
I have tried making creamer with coconut milk and dates but it always comes out gritty. Am I doing something wrong? I usually put the dates in boiling water for about a minute but I don’t add the water to the creamer. Thanks!!
This is great! I nade it for my mom to use in place of her dairy creamer and artificial sweeteners. She says it tastes just like cream and sugar! 😉
It doesn’t even taste like coconut to me. I love how canned coconut milk so magically does that. I used full fat coconut milk and medjool dates and it is thick, rich and delicious. Not too sweet, just right.
Thank you!
I’m so glad you and your mom liked it, Monique! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 😀
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been struggling to find a vegan, no sugar added coffee creamer that actually tastes good and this was way beyond what I had hoped for! Thank you, again!
Hi! I stumbled across this site after googling “non-dairy coffee creamer recipes”. I bought the stuff to try two recipes – this and another. I just made it and put it in my tea. It’s AMAZING. I didn’t even bother trying the other.
My stomach doesn’t love dairy, but I work at a coffee shop and couldn’t get through the day without an iced coffee with cream. The texture was necessary for me. This recipe NAILED the texture completely. I can now lead a more dairy free life. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Hi, i tried making this, and after i blended it all together, it was a curdled mess. was the hot water too hot?
A great recipe! I came across your site when searching for Nutpods copycat recipes, as my local stores do not sell that product yet.
When I remove the thickened coconut cream from a can of coconut milk for cooking, I use the clear liquid that remains and some of the cream and mix it with date paste and almond milk (as thick as I can make it – homemade almond milk is always thicker and creamer than store-bought). A good use for that leftover coconut liquid and this combination evens out the flavor so it does not taste strongly of coconut or almond.
Hi Amanda! Would you refrigerate this? I’m making it right know and am so excited!!!! =)
I hope you like it, Coralie! Definitely keep it in a bottle in the fridge 🙂
i loved the taste of it, but i thought it would be a good idea to freeze them in cubes and just plop one in my cup… i won’t try it again, it gives the creamer a ”curdy” texture so it’s not visually pretty… next time, i’ll do half a batch and keep it in the fridge as suggested 😉
Eek! Thanks for sharing that, Annie! I’m sure others will find it helpful.
I’m going to be using date syrup, so please advise the equivalent amount of syrup vs. dates for this recipe. I’ve never used coconut milk…should I use the entire contents of the can? I like my coffee creamer creamy, so I’m hoping coconut milk will provide that. I tried a recipe with oat milk, date syrup, pure vanilla extract and just couldn’t get it to be creamy. Trying to find alternatives to store-bought flavored creamers that don’t have carrageenan, etc. Not doing Keto or anything specific, but am on a weight-loss journey and eating less processed foods and opting for cleaner foods. Thanks for any tips to this newbie!
Yum, I’m going to try this! I shop at Costco and have purchased their dates, but I’ve found a local Indian store and they sell the freshest medjool dates for even less money than Costco!!
Simply amazing creamer! Just made this morning and it’s delish! I will admit I am the one who is addicted to a little bit of coffee with my cream and sugar and I was SUPER skeptical (especially after smelling just the dates and water in my blender). I absolutely love the hazelnut coffeemate liquid creamer, so I figured this was going to be a hard sell. Well not so much, I do tend to like my creamer on the sweet side so I added 2 tsp of sugar in the raw and it’s perfect. Excited to try with additional spices for fall!!!! I read on another blog about how bad the ingredients in liquid creamers are for the body and actually could have contributed to my leaky gut issue, to be honest I would have never figured my creamer was part of the problem. Well it is the one thing I never gave up, so here’s hoping I can finally heal my tummy!!! Thank you for this recipe!!
I’m so glad you liked it, April! Giving up our favourite foods is never easy, but it helps if we find things to replace them with. It’s pretty crazy how things we would never even consider can affect us!
How long is it good for? I would hate to make a ton and have to pour it down the drain after a week
Hi!
I’ve been wanting to make my own creamer ever since I read the ingredient list on my creamer. Such a sad day…my only question is will this “lighten” my coffee? I like my coffee sweet and creamy which is why I’ve always stuck with the “sugar free”processed stuff and added agave. Then shock of all shocks sugarfree=sucrolose=not good! I will be trying this recipe ASAP
I was so excited to find this. I had almonds and cashews soaking and have tried several recipes for creamer but I just couldn’t find what I was looking for until now. I LOVE the date paste. The sweetness is subtle and not overpowering like many things I have tried, including store bought creamers. Even the organic products end up being too sweet. I am more of tea connoisseur but I am sure this will be great for my occasional cup of coffee. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you like it, Pam! I totally agree about store-bought creamers being way too sweet. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
If you can’t find dates at Costco, try Aldi’s. That’s where I got mine. 🙂
Have you tried date crystals or date sugar? Both are also great substitutes for sugar!
Thank you my main concern isthe high fat content of coconut milk
P.S. Running with Scissors, what a book
can I use regular coconut milk off the shelf in a half gallon instead of canned?
You can, Kamal, it just might not be as creamy since coconut milk in a can tends to have a slightly higher fat content.
Hey! Just came across this recipe and it looks amazing. I’m incredibly guilty of using bad-for-me store-bought creamers.
I just have a question. I love flavoured coffee creamers. I was wondering if I could add different flavourings to this recipe, like pumpkin spice, cinnamon, or hazelnut?
This is genius! I will have to get some dates and try it very soon.
I am excited to make this today, looking forward to a dairy free option. I just wanted to share something I discovered about dates. I am in love with them and bake with them all the time. Some time back I looked up some information on the non organic dates and found that the conventional crops are sprayed with some nasty pesticides and fungicides. So if you can buy organic its better, they cost more about $9 a pound in the US, but keeping them in the fridge in a container helps them stay longer. Of course they will probably get eaten up before they go bad. Thanks again for the recipe.
i just made your recipe, and I was completely amazed! So delicious!! Thank you”
I’m so glad you liked it, Rachel! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
By far the best non-dairy creamer out there is a relatively new one on the block. Check it out: http://www.nutpods.com/
I just made this. I’m enjoying it with my coffee right now .One thing I would add make it with full cream coconut milk. It’s healthy and delicious! Thank
you for this pleasant experience!
I love in the middle of nowhere — the closest Costco is nearly 2 hours away! I’m seeing different types of dates in the store. Is there a difference???? What kind did you use? Gotta make me some cleaning creamer :- )
I used Medjool dates, but you could really use any kind!
Just curious if anyone else tried this recipe? I’m wondering if I did it incorrectly, as mine seemed to still come out slightly grainy, and not real sweet (which isn’t a terrible thing). Any suggestions?
I’m just betting if you subbed almond extract for the vanilla, this would be insanely good on berries. (Even if you didn’t!