Blended Iced Coffee – Healthy Iced Coffee {Dairy-Free, Whole30, Paleo, Keto}
A creamy cafe frappe, this Blended Ice Coffee is a quick and easy coffeeshop-quality drink that you can make at home. This healthy iced coffee is dairy-free, sugar-free, paleo, Whole30 compliant, and keto-friendly. An icy collagen coffee (vegan options included!) that is perfect for any time of the year, but especially refreshing as a summer drink.
When I looked at the coupon for a free coffee at my favorite locally owned place and thought “nah, I prefer my homemade iced blended coffee”, I knew I finally cracked the code. What code? Making the best dang homemade blended coffee recipe in my own little 1970’s kitchen. THAT code!
I’m not a huge coffee lover despite, creating recipes for sugar-free coffee creamer and chocolate coconut coffee creamer. But a frozen blended coffee? That is totally my jam.
What’s Blended Coffee
Simply put, it is coffee and some form of ice blended together into a creamy frappe. Think of it as a mix of an icee and a milkshake. It’s freaking delicious.
Unfortunately, most frozen coffee drinks you’ll buy at coffee shops are made super smooth because of excessive amounts of creamer, syrups, sugar, and proprietary powdered mixes that aren’t usually very nutritious.
What Ingredients Are In Blended Iced Coffee
- Coffee two ways – liquid cold brew and homemade cold brew ice cubes
- A little bit of milk – use your favorite
- Collagen (more about this in a bit)
You’ll notice there is no sugar listed in the ingredients. I was a die-hard “black coffee is gross” person, but this collagen coffee has changed my mind.
If you want to use a flavored creamer or a sweetener of your choice, go right ahead! Quick note: sweetener of any kind, even honey is not Whole30 compliant.
Sugar won’t dissolve during the blending process. So, you would need to heat your milk and combine it with the sugar and chill it prior to adding it to the coffee. You could always use some Honey Simple Syrup if want a more natural sweetener.
Is It Ok to Put Collagen in Your Coffee?
Yes! Powdered collagen will dissolve tastelessly into a hot or cold cup of coffee. Why would you add collagen to coffee? Powdered collagen is an easily digestible form of protein that is said have many beneficial effects (improved hair, nails, joint health, skin tone, etc.) when consumed regularly.
I’m not qualified to recommend collagen as a supplement, but I can tell you it makes iced blended coffee extremely smooth and creamy. One time in a rush to make my daily frozen coffee, I forgot to add the collagen. Within one sip I could immediately tell the texture was off. Just straight up wrong.
About 10 minutes later, the coffee iced up and I couldn’t drink it from the straw anymore. I ended up having to eat it with a spoon.
Collagen has an incredible amount of protein, with the Vital Proteins brand that I purchase (Costco has the best prices!) coming in at a whopping 18 grams of protein per serving. It took me about a week to get the timing right for when to drink this blended iced coffee.
If I drank it before breakfast, I wouldn’t have an “actual” food meal. If I drank it too late after eating, I wouldn’t be hungry for lunch. Just keep that in mind if you’re not interested in using this cafe frappe as a meal replacement (I don’t!).
How Can I Make This Plant-Based?
Collagen is essentially an unflavored powdered version of bone broth and therefore not vegetarian or vegan-friendly. If you eat a plant-based diet, you can sub in your favorite protein powder, OR use coconut cream and 1/4 tsp of xantham gum to mimic the creamy texture of the collagen coffee.
How to Make Collagen Coffee
*Detailed (i.e., measurements) and a printable recipe card is available at the bottom of this post.
This recipe is broken into three parts – making the cold brew concentrate, making coffee ice cubes, and actually making the blended coffee recipe. If pressed for time, you can use premade coffee concentrate like this one.
Cold Brew Concentrate
First, decide how strong you want your coffee. I’m a lightweight so I combine about 1/2 cup coarsely ground organic coffee with 30 oz of cold water. If you prefer your coffee so thick and dark that a fork can stand up in it, increase the amount of grounds to 1 cup.
I use a Rumble Jar insert in a quart canning jar, but you can totally just add the grounds to the water, knowing you’ll have to filter it once it has finished steeping.
Let your coffee sit for 12-18 hours. The longer it sits, the stronger it gets.
Making Coffee Ice Cubes
This one is a bit of a no brainer…add your cold brew to an ice cube tray and freeze for 4-5 hours. This is the one I use and each ice cube is 3/4 of an oz.
How to Make Blended Iced Coffee
Combine coffee ice cubes, milk, cold brew concentrate, and collagen in a blender. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes or until the coffee is creamy and smooth.
Pro tip: if your blender has a death wish with actually blending ice, let the coffee cubes sit for 10 minutes with the milk and cold brew. This will soften them up a little bit to make for easier blending, while still giving the coffee an icy base.
Now, pour your amazing coffee into a big ol’ glass or travel cup and sip happily my friends. This healthy iced coffee really comes together in just about 5 minutes once everything is prepared and ready to go.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- You can use whatever milk works best for your dietary needs. Coconut will be lovely and creamy or use almond milk to make an iced coffee with almond milk.
- Once you’ve strained your cold brew, get another batch started and make more ice cubes. I transfer my concentrate to a half-gallon canning jar and keep that in the fridge.
Making this recipe or others?
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- 1/3 cup coffee concentrate chilled
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 8 coffee ice cubes about 1 oz each
- 1 scoop collagen
Combine 1/2 cup coarsely ground organic coffee with 30 oz of cold water. If you prefer your coffee dark, increase the amount of grounds to 1 cup.
Let your coffee sit for 12-18 hours. The longer it sits, the stronger it gets.
Add your cold brew to an ice cube tray and freeze for 4-5 hours.
Combine coffee ice cubes, milk, cold brew concentrate, and collagen in a blender. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes or until the coffee is creamy and smooth.
Each ice cube in the tray I used is 3/4 oz.
If your blender struggles with actually blending ice, let the coffee cubes sit for 10 minutes with the milk and cold brew. This will soften them up a little bit to make for easier blending, while still giving the coffee an icy base.
You can use whatever milk works best for your dietary needs. Coconut will be lovely and creamy or use almond milk to make an iced coffee with almond milk.
Once you've strained your cold brew, get another batch started and make more ice cubes.
More Healthy Drink Recipes Like This
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Oh, bless you! It’s in the 80s in Alabama and it’s time to switch from hot coffee to cold. I started putting collagen in my coffee this winter and I was just wondering if it would work in iced. Can’t wait to try this!!
I’m sorry…80’s in April? That should not be allowed!!
What brand of collagen are you using?
LOL, there’s no spring, only tornado season. It was in the 40s Saturday for our neighborhood egg hunt!
Currently using Sports Research collagen from Amazon but once it’s out I’ll be checking Costco for the Vital Proteins
Sorry I think I’m being a little dense. When you say: MAKING COFFEE ICE CUBES: Add your cold brew to an ice cube tray and freeze for 4-5 hours, do you mean that I should separate from the coffee concentrate make just a regular batch of coffee and chill it and then turn it into ice cubes. OR do you mean use the coffee concentrate to make ice cubes? Thanks!
Coffee concentrate and cold brew are the same thing. So, once you make the cold brew/concentrate, you’ll freeze some of it into ice cubes. Make sure to reserve some for the blending.
If you plan to just brew normal coffee and then chill it and freeze it, that totally works too! Hot brewed coffee tends to be more acidic than cold brew but it is totally up to you.
Let me know if that clears it up. I want the directions to be as clear as possible so I’ll edit it if needed!
Thanks so much! That makes a lot of sense. I’ve bought cold brew, but never made it before. Excited to try out this recipe!
Sooooo much cheaper to make it! Happy sipping.