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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mmm! i wonder if adding some cocoa powder could make the original version? have you tested this at all? im curious! i cannot have regular ice cream but i used to be able to as a kid and i LOVED the chocolate flavor :p
Sorry, I haven’t… yet 🙂
swiss miss packets! try it!
Hmm I should read other comments before I reask the same question lol..looks like this was already discussed! My bad 😡
I’ve tried a couple of your recipes and love them… Thank you for sharing them!
Hey Katie! Looks delish. Wanted to tell you I voted for you in the VegNews veggie awards! Love your blog, visit it every day.
Thank you! I can’t even tell you how much that means to me :).
One word – DELICIOUS! Katie, this frosty recipe is brilliant and so east to make! It is my new favorite. I’ll be eating this a lot! Thanks for the vegan frosty thar is protein packed!!!
So I was trying to type a reply while eating my frosty, but decided it could wait a couple minutes. Seriously, you are a genius Katie! I don’t understand how or why you would think to put lemon juice in this, or what the purpose of it is (I was nervous about that part) but this is really AMAZING!! My husband just asked me if there was spinach in it cause he knows by now there is something healthy about my desserts. I am now stocking up with 4-6 mori-nu’s when I make my Whole Foods excursion because i know you are going to have something I want to make!
The lemon juice was part of the mistake- it was in there because the experiment was supposed to become Tiramisu! 😉
The Wendy’s we have over here in Aus is different from your American wendys I think- so no I haven’t had one before. But I have had a flake shake mmmm and I love soft serve ice-cream so if thats what a vanilla frosty tastes like then I’m sure I’ll like it!
mmm… yum.
I dip my fries in my frostys. Ultimate calorie bomb but so worth it! I will have to try this recipe.looks delish!
I also love that this has no Banana…. I mean, I really like banana. I just don’t want every shake to taste like banana!
Yum! I used to love Frosty’s. It’s been a while since I had one though. I love your idea for a healthier version!
If you’re ever looking for a new roommate, hit me up…because I would LOVE to be your guinea pig. 😀
Oh my gosh!! Yes!!!!!!
I think it is great that you can make Frosty’s at home and healthy too! 😀
I have had Frosty’s every once in a while growing up. It was fun for me, us all having chocolate Frosty’s and then whatever else (if anything else) we ordered different… But everyone usually got a chocolate Frosty. 😀 I didn’t know that there were other flavors of Frosty, either.
I can’t wait to make this! Thank you! 😀
Hi, Katie! Wow…this is just another one of your recipes when I’m stumped as to how you came up with the idea! Which got me to wondering…a lot of your recipes are just your own creations (like your oatmeal recipes), but then there are others (like this one) that are healthier versions of already delicious treats. How do you come up with these substitutions? I never would’ve imagined that tofu would give a smoothie/milkshake the consistency as ice cream would. Also, how many tries does it usually take before a recipe is “post-ready?” I’m just curious, because once again you have amazed me! Thanks!
In this case, as I wrote in the post, it was by pure accident 🙂
And it definitely depends on the recipe- sometimes I get it on the first try, sometimes it takes two or three, sometimes it takes a LOT more… and there are some recipes I’ve just given up on because I got tired of making flops over and over!
I think I bought a bad tofu or something??? 🙁 I tried making this and it was disgusting!!!! I’m not sure what to do with it since I also hate throwing away food. Speaking of which, what do you do with recipes that are true flops? Do you just have to throw them out? Or maybe your doggies eat them?
I think this may be the recipe that finally gets my husband to quit moaning at me for buying tofu 🙂
Wow! Holy crickets indeed! I just tried this and it’s my favorite recipe ever!
This is really good!
I know some people don’t use tofu for various reasons, but I appreciate a milkshake that doesn’t use banana; we’re trying to buy less non-local foods. Thanks, Katie! 😀