This recipe tastes similar to a Wendy’s vanilla Frosty.
It’s like one of those thick vanilla milkshakes you’d find at a fast-food restaurant… but without all the empty calories and sugar to make you feel sluggish. The recipe actually came about by accident: I was working on a Tiramisu ice cream, and when I stopped to sample the unfinished mixture at one point, I discovered it tasted astoundingly like a real vanilla milkshake. Then, when my roommate came home from work and tried it, she proclaimed:
Holy crickets, it’s like a Wendy’s vanilla frosty!
Except, she didn’t really say “holy crickets” because, honestly, who talks like that? Holy crickets is just the PG version of her comment. In any case, I scrapped all plans for Tiramisu ice cream, and we poured ourselves ice-cold vanilla frosties instead.
Vanilla Frosty Recipe
(yields about 3 cups)
- 2 cups milk of choice (480g)
- 1 cup Morinu silken firm tofu (or 1 cup soaked cashews for a soy-free option. For other substitution options on this recipe, see nutrition link below.) (240g)
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, or more if you actually want a lemon-flavored frosty
- just under 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp xylitol or sugar of choice (23g)
- 1/16 tsp pure stevia, or 2 extra tbsp sugar
- don’t add any ice cubes, as this will dilute the flavor
In advance: Freeze the 2 cups of milk in ice cube trays or little dixie cups. (It might be a good idea to freeze multiple servings at once, so in the future you won’t have to wait before proceeding with the rest of the frosty recipe.) Pop the frozen milk into a blender or food processor with all other ingredients, and blend until desired consistency is reached. If your blender isn’t super-strong, you might have to thaw the milk a little before blending.
A note about the milk: Silk almondmilk works well in this recipe, and I’m sure many other types of milk will be good as well, but I can only vouch for the Silk because I haven’t tried the recipe with any others. I’d probably steer clear of the less-thick milks like ricemilk… then again, who knows: maybe it’ll work fine!
View Vanilla Frosty Nutrition Facts
And an aerial view, to show the thick frosty texture.
Have you ever had a Wendy’s Frosty?
After sports practices in middle school, my team used to go to Wendy’s. I wasn’t big on their strange square burgers, but I always looked forward to a broccoli baked potato and a Wendy’s chocolate frosty. Even before going vegetarian, I was a veggie lover! And a chocolate lover… I didn’t even know frosties came in other flavors until my roommate mentioned it yesterday.
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This is incredible! Thanks so much for sharing! x
omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! that looks delicious! and i basically have all those ingredients on hand! i gotta try this.
i <3 Wendy's frosties (especially the chocolate ones 😉 ) to pieces. they are sooooo good! yup, this is definitely on my agenda. along with basically every other recipe on your blog. and that tiramisu recipe still sounds really good…………..
This is brilliant! I really want to start experimenting with different uses for tofu. This looks like a great way to start.
I didn’t know the Frosties came in other flavors besides chocolate, either. So how to make this chocolate, then?
Hi there, this looks really good. I was just wondering if there is anything else i can use to replace the tofu? I was also thinking about adding orange extract and orange pieces for a dreamsicle taste or Orange Julius!! ;P Yum!
See right next to where tofu is listed in the ingredients :). There’s a link with many substitutions.
I tried it with raw cashews and it worked wonderfully! 🙂
I’m totally shocked how low cal this recipe is. It seems really easy, too.
-Grace Gilbert 🙂
When I was in high school and went to Wendy’s with my friends, I also got the baked potato.
I wasn’t a vegetarian at the time. But I kept kosher.
I just made it! It taste amazing! I halved the recipe so I could make a single serving in my magic bullet. I also didn’t put in the lemon juice and used silken soft refrigerated tofu instead of the Mori-nu since that’s the only kind I buy. I was surprised how powerful the magic bullet was to make this thick milkshake! I didn’t even have to thaw the milk!
Yum! I love a Wendy’s Frosty. I always order mine with a side of fries and dip the fries in the frosty. Weird, but tasty! I can’t wait to try your recipe.
I’ve never tried tofu before but this recipe seems like it would be worth a try. My husband is a meat and potatoes kinda guy so I’ll have to see if I can sneak this by him. I’ve been known to give him healthified recipes and he didn’t know the difference.
I’m writing this on my list for my next trip to the store!
Thanks.
I was just wondering if anyone knows if I can follow this from blogger?
Hoping someone else knows, because I don’t :(.
You can get emails or follow with google reader, but unfortunately I don’t know much about Blogger.
I’m on Blogger and I added this site to my Blogger Buzz. It works perfectly 🙂
Joanne, can you explain how to do that? Thanks you very much for the help.
I figured it out thank you again.
Sorry I’ve only just seen this. Glad you got it working 🙂
Drinking it now, after my milk finally froze solid. All I can say is Katie, you are a GENIUS! 🙂 🙂
Oh, and I used Mori Nu regular silken, not firm, because it’s all my store carries. Tastes like a thick shake, and you can’t taste the tofu at all!
Hi Katie,
We made these for an after dinner treat, in our new Vitamix blender that we got mostly so we could make your recipes! I asked my son if he liked it and he said MMMM oh yes! And my daughter wouldn’t even answer. She wouldn’t come up for air! Thanks for another winner, tomorrow we’re making the mint chocolate chip shakes :).
Just made a half recipe for myself and my ice cream loving 3yr old. I used Silk vanilla coconut milk,organic mori -number and Stevia in the raw and sugar. It was nice -definitely Frosty in spirit but I could still detect the tofu in the background. My toddler declared it too cold so I’m thinking she may have had her first brain freeze! Rest assured, her portion did not go to waste! I will try it again as I still have the rest of the tofu but add more vanilla and sweetener. Any thoughts on how to make this like the coffee toffee frosty? I had one once and loved the taste but hate the ingredients.
I don’t know about the toffee part, but you could probably use instant coffee granules for the coffee flavor!
Toffee bits maybe? I know this is kind of a late response but I was craving one of these tonight! I’m reading through the comments as I eagerly wait for the milk to freeze. 🙂
But yes, Skor makes toffee bits that you can find in any grocery store where they keep the chocolate chips. If you add them before blending, I would think they’d blend in quite nicely.
I’m so excited to try this! I happen to have a block of silken tofu in the fridge right now–I saw it in the grocery store the other day and figured I’d give it a try. Do you suppose it would be wrong of me to make this for breakfast? 😉
I did!
Agh! I am definitely going to have to try and hunt down silken tofu! My grocery store has some health food stuff, but they only carry firm or extra firm tofu. We don’t have a health food store as there’s not enough demand for it, but this recipe (and others of yours!) are making me think I’m going to have to try harder. I’ve been able to track down most things outside of silken tofu, vegan yogurt and cheese, and things like veganaise. (I feel like I might have said that last sentence before. Sorry if I did!)
Try looking at an Asian grocery store!