Healthy, refreshing, this dry fruits milkshake recipe is the perfect beverage to give you a quick energy boost throughout the day! It includes dried fruits, nuts, and plant-based milk making it a great gluten-free and vegan option.
Table of Contents
About This Recipe
Dry fruits milkshake is very popular in Indian restaurants and in the juice centers found in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi.
It is delicious, packed with nutrients like protein, iron, calcium, and is great for boosting energy levels. You can also drink this milkshake during fasting or vrat seasons. This milkshake is very filling so I usually skip a meal after drinking it.
This dry fruits milkshake recipe includes almonds, pistachios, cashews, raisins, dates, dried figs, and a pinch of saffron.
Feel free to omit any nuts, dry fruits that you don’t fancy or have with you. Plus, you can increase or decrease the quantity of each nut or dry fruit to suit your tastebuds.
I add dates and figs to this milkshake simply because they are sweet and delicious. Bonus, I do not need to include any added sugar when I use dates and figs in the recipe. They also add body and little chewable tasty bits to this milkshake.
Here I have used soy milk. Feel free to add your preferred nut milk for a vegan option and to loosen the consistency of the milkshake. You can also use dairy milk or oats milk instead.
We enjoy a variety of Milkshakes quite often but if I had to choose a milkshake that gives us energy then I would choose this dry fruits milkshake recipe!
It is also ideal for growing kids and can be used to substitute energy drinks. Some more healthy drinks for kids are Badam Milk and Masala Milk.
How to Make Dry Fruits Milkshake
1. Soak 3 to 4 dried figs in hot water for 30 minutes or in water at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours or more until they soften. If you have dried figs that are soft, then there is no need to soak them.
If the dried figs are chewy and hard, then soak them. You can also soak dates if they are hard. If they are soft, then you don’t need to soak them either.
2. Add all of the remaining nuts and dry fruits listed below to a bowl or strainer except the saffron.
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup cashews
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup pistachios (shelled and unsalted)
- 7 to 8 dates
3. Optional step is to rinse them. I always rinse the nuts, dry fruits before using them in any recipe.
TIP: Optionally you could also soak these nuts and raisins in hot water for 30 minutes. If you prefer, you can peel the almonds. For small kids, I recommend to peel the almond and the pistachio skins.
4. Once the figs have softened roughly chop them. Then, roughly chop the dates and discard the seeds if any.
Making Dry Fruit Milkshake
5. Add the rinsed nuts, raisins, chopped figs and dates in a blender.
6. Add ½ cup chilled milk. I have used soy milk. You can choose to include coconut milk, oats milk, almond milk or dairy milk.
7. Add a pinch of saffron. Saffron gives a beautiful delicate aroma. But if you do not have it, simply skip it.
A few options for flavoring and to get a lovely aroma are to add ½ teaspoon ground cardamom or ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or a pinch of grated/ground nutmeg.
NOTE: Saffron and nutmeg are warm spices, so ideal to add them in your milkshake during winters or monsoons. Cardamom and cinnamon are cooling spices, so best to include them during summers or hot days.
8. Blend to a semi-fine paste. You can make a fine paste if you prefer. If making for small kids, then make a very fine paste.
9. Add the remaining 2 cups of milk. You can also add sugar if you like – about 1 to 2 tablespoons of raw sugar. In place of raw sugar, you can opt for coconut sugar or palm sugar.
10. Blend again well.
11. Pour the dry fruits milkshake into glasses and serve straightway. You can add some sliced nuts like almond or pistachios or a couple of saffron strands for garnishing if you like.
Store any leftovers in the refrigerate for a few hours, but try to drink the milkshake the same day.
Expert Tips
- Nuts: Include any nuts of your choice to make this milkshake as long as they are not rancid or bitter. I use almonds, cashews, and pistachios as they are easily available to me. However, you can add walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts. Use your preferred proportions and combinations.
- Dates: Use good quality dates for the best flavor. I would suggest pitted dates for this recipe as they are easier to chop and it will save you some time as you won’t have to deseed them before blending.
- Dried figs: It is best not to use figs that are too dry because you may have some trouble blending them. I suggest to soak the dried figs in hot water (to soften them) for at least 30 to 45 minutes before blending.
- Milk: I added soy milk to this milkshake because it is filled with nutrients and has a mild delicious creamy flavor. But, you can use any other plant-based milk such as almond milk, oats milk, lite coconut milk. You can also include dairy milk.
- Spices: You can choose to flavor the milkshake recipe with ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom or ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or 1 to 2 pinches of nutmeg. Adding rose water is another lovely option. Note that saffron and nutmeg are warm spices, so add them in your milkshake during cold seasons or monsoons. Cardamom and cinnamon are cooling spices, so ideal to include them during hot summers.
- When to drink? This milkshake is very filling as it contains nuts, dried fruits, and milk so I usually skip my meal when I drink it. It is also a great option during fasting or vrat seasons.
FAQs
To make this milkshake you will need to soak the dried figs. If the figs are hard then soak them in hot water for up-to 2 to 3 hours. If they are not too hard then you can soak them in hot water for 30 minutes.
You can combine sweet, ripe and buttery fruits with milk such as mangoes and avocados. Avoid bananas, acidic and citrus fruits.
Avoid using fruits like apples in this milkshake if you plan to make it with dairy milk. Once in a while is fine but most fruits do not go well with dairy milk and can cause indigestion issues. With any other nut milk or vegan milk, apples are fine to add.
Yes, you can store it in the fridge but be aware that the dry fruit paste turns rancid very fast. I would refrigerate it for up to 2 days.
If you want to store the nuts for longer then soak the almonds, cashews, pistachios, in water for a few hours. Drain all the water and let them dry naturally. Make a powder by blending or crushing the dried nuts. You can then refrigerate or freeze the powder.
When making the milkshake, blend the ground nuts powder, dates, figs, raisins with the milk or you can make a simple drink by warming or heating the milk with the nuts powder adding a sweetener like raw sugar or maple syrup.
You can also make almond powder by blanching the almonds in hot water for 30 minutes, peeling their skins, drying them and later blending or crushing them. Blanching and peeling almonds help to aid their digestion.
More Tasty Milkshake Recipes To Try!
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Milkshake Recipes
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Dry Fruit Milkshake Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup pistachios unsalted, shelled
- ¼ cup cashews
- ¼ cup raisins
- 7 to 8 dates – chopped
- 3 to 4 dried figs
- 1 pinch saffron – optional
- 2.5 cups soy milk (chilled) or preferred vegan milk or dairy milk
- raw sugar – if needed, optional
- 1 tablespoon almonds or pistachios or cashews, chopped – for garnish
Instructions
Preparation
- Soak figs in hot water for 30 minutes or in water at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours or more until they soften.
- If you have dried figs which are soft, then no need to soak them. If the dried figs are chewy and hard, then do soak them.
- You can also soak dates if they are hard or chewy. If they are soft, then no need to soak dates. You can opt to soak the almonds, cashews and the remaining nuts.
- Rinse the remaining nuts, dates and raisins except the saffron in a strainer or bowl. This is an optional step.
- You could also choose to soak these nuts and raisins in hot water for 30 minutes. If you prefer, you can peel the almonds. For small kids, I recommend to peel the almond and the pistachio skins.
- Once the figs have softened, then roughly chop them. Also roughly chop the dates.
Making dry fruits milkshake
- Then add all of nuts, raisins, chopped dates, figs and saffron in a blender.
- Add ½ cup soy milk (or any nut milk or dairy milk). Blend to a semi fine or fine paste. If making for small kids, then make a very fine paste.
- Then add the remaining 2 cups of the soy milk. You can also add raw sugar if you prefer.
- Blend well again. Pour in glasses.
- Garnish with a few dry almond or pistachio slivers and serve dry fruits milkshake immediately.
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerate for a few hours, but try to drink the milkshake the same day.½
Notes
- Nuts: Add any nuts that you like to this milkshake as long as they are not rancid or bitter. I use almonds, cashews, and pistachios as I get them easily. However, you can add walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts. Use your preferred proportions and combinations.
- Dates: Use good quality dates for the best flavor. I would suggest pitted dates for this recipe as they are easier to chop and it will save you some time as you won’t have to deseed them before blending.
- Dried figs: It is best not to use figs that are too dry, chewy because you may have some trouble blending them. I suggest to soak the dried figs in hot water (to soften them) for at least 30 to 45 minutes before blending.
- Milk: I added soy milk to this milkshake because it is filled with nutrients and has a mild delicious creamy flavor. But, you can use any other plant-based milk such as almond milk, oats milk, coconut milk, or dairy milk.
- When to drink? This milkshake is very filling as it contains nuts, dried fruits, and milk so I usually skip my meal when I drink it. It is also a great option during fasting or vrat seasons.
- Spices: You can choose to flavor the milkshake with ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom or ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon or 1 to 2 pinches of nutmeg. Adding rose water is another option. Note that saffron and nutmeg are warm spices, so add them in your milkshake during winters or monsoons. Cardamom and cinnamon are cooling spices, so best to include them during summers or hot days.
Nutrition Info (Approximate values)
This dry fruit milkshake recipe from the blog archives (August 2013) has been republished and updated on 30 April 2021.
Very Nice Milkshake Recipe .Thanks For Sharing
welcome sharanya. thanks for this feedback.
Just a word of caution here..This drink/shake is very high in protein and calories.. If your intention is to reduce the weight don’t drink too much ..
Roughly the protein/calory calculation is given below
Milk one cup has ~150 calories and ~8 gms of protein in it
10 grams of cashew nuts is got 55 calories and 1.8 gms of protein. 10 grams of almonds may have 60 calories and 2 grams of protein..one medium dry fig has ~45 grams of cal and 0.5 gms of protein, one medium banana may have ~100 cals and 1.3 gms of protein. If you add walnuts ~30 grams, it goes with 40 gms of cals and ~1gram of protein. 50 grams of raisins has 150 calories and 1.5 grams of protein. 4 or 5 dates may have 280 cals and 2 grams of protein..and the list goes on with the other contents you add like oats etc..
So considering the calories here, this drink may lead to weight gain if you consume it regularly or not doing any workouts.
Considering the protein richness, this is the best natural protein drink after weight training ( post drink).
thanks for sharing this detailed info.