Chocolate-Cherry Protein Shake

Enjoy dessert for breakfast or post-workout with our Chocolate-Cherry Protein Shake. It’s reminiscent of a Black Forest cake and made with ingredients you might already have on hand. The soymilk, peanut butter and yogurt pack this smoothie with filling, muscle-building protein, while the antioxidant-rich cherries and cocoa powder help with post-workout inflammation. Keep reading for our expert tips on how to blend your smoothie to get the creamiest consistency, plus prep ideas and more!

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too! 

• To achieve a smooth and creamy blend, add the ingredients in the order they are listed in the recipe.
• To save time, portion and freeze peeled bananas, cherries and peanut butter in zip-top bags.
• Gradually increasing the blending speed will help you achieve a smoother texture and prevent your blender from getting stuck on larger pieces of frozen fruit.
• This protein shake is also delicious when made with almond milk and almond butter or sunflower butter.

Nutrition Notes

• Unsweetened vanilla soymilk has about the same amount of protein as dairy milk, so even if you’re not plant-based, it’s a great choice. If you choose a fortified soymilk, you’ll also get vitamin B 12, additional calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D—all nutrients that you’ll find in dairy milk. 
• Frozen cherries are a fantastic alternative to fresh cherries, which are only in season for a short time in late spring and early summer. Cherries are packed with antioxidants that help lower inflammation, and since frozen cherries are packed shortly after harvest, you’re sure to get them with peak nutrition. 
• Bananas are a household fruit staple, and for good reason. They are a good source of potassium—great for heart health and muscle contraction, and they have fiber for digestion and to keep your immune system strong. The natural sugars in bananas increase as they ripen, so if you like your smoothies a little sweeter, let them ripen more. 
• Peanut butter is a delicious and budget-friendly plant-based protein source. It’s a good source of fiber—great for your gut health. Peanuts are also a source of the antioxidant resveratrol, which has been studied for its ability to help reduce the development of cancer.