Best Real Food Healthy Frosting Recipes (2024)

We are complete and utter dessert lovers here at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition. It’s not unusual for us to whip up a batch of grain-free cookies, churn our owndairy-free ice cream or make our own chocolates. The world of gluten-free + dairy-free desserts is expansive, but one part of sweet treats that can be challenging to health-ify is frosting and icing. When you eliminate refined icing sugar, what can you use instead? Enter real food, healthy frosting recipes. Rather than relying on white sugars, artificial food colours orvegan margarinethat can damage our wellbeing, healthy frosting recipes incorporate nutritious, real and whole ingredients that won’t detract from our optimal health.

How to Colour Your Healthy Frosting Recipes Naturally

Artificial colours and preservatives are ubiquitous in manyproducts, but you don’t need them to make fun and colourful baked goods. Some all-natural colouring options include:

cacao powder or cocoa powder
turmeric
beet powder
chlorella or spirulina
fresh fruit (blueberries, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, blackberry, mango, etc.)

And so, without further ado, we’d like to share our Best Real Food Healthy Frosting recipes. Stock up on cashews, coconut cream and coconut milk and get blending!

Coconut Cream Vegan Frosting

Coconut Cream Vegan Frosting by Cotter Crunch

Start of your healthy frosting adventures with this basic tutorial about how to make coconut cream vegan frosting. This recipe is a great base and uses coconut cream, rather than coconut milk, for an extra thick consistency.

Salted Caramel Date Frosting

Salted Caramel Date Frosting by The Green Life

This dreamy healthy frosting recipe is so easy to make and because it primarily uses Medjool dates, it’s packed with fibre, B vitamins and potassium too.

Simple Blueberry Frosting

Simple Blueberry Frosting by Rainbow Nourishments

All you need are blueberries and coconut butter to make this beautifully coloured healthy frosting. Dig in!

Fluffy Tahini Chocolate Frosting

Fluffy Tahini Chocolate Frosting by Healthy Sweet Eats

This rich and thickchocolate frosting uses stevia instead of icing sugar for a lightly-sweetened yet decadent flavour.

Matcha Cashew Filling

Matcha Cashew Filling by The Baker Who Kerns

Matcha lovers will adore this matcha cashew filling for both its bright green colour and anti-oxidant benefits.

Easy Cashew Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Easy Cashew Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting by Paleo Running Momma

No need to choose between coconut and cashews for your healthy frosting – this option combines the best of both worlds and has a cream cheese vibe to boot. Yum!

Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Buttercream Frosting by Rhian’s Recipes

Sweet potatoes really are the gift that keeps on giving. It doesn’t get much better than this luxurious (and luxuriously health) sweet potato buttercream.

Dairy-Free Vanilla Frosting

Dairy-Free Vanilla Frosting by Macy Diulus (*Honorary CNE)

Macy is a teenage cooking superstar who is amazing at developing nutritious and delectable recipes. This vanilla frosting (and the sandwich cookies that go along with it) is just one example of her mad skills.

Paleo Raspberry Frosting

Paleo Raspberry Frosting by Perchance to Cook

Give your icing a fruity flavour and lightpink hue by blending in red fruits like raspberries and strawberries. With only 3 ingredients, this one is super easy to make too!

Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Chocolate Avocado Frosting by Making Thyme for Health

The rich and creamy texture of avocados make them the perfect central ingredient for the best chocolate healthy frosting. And don’t forget about the nutritious fats in avocado that will balance your blood sugar and keep you satiated – meaning you won’t be grabbing for one cupcake after another.

Mocha Frosting

Mocha Frosting by Only Taste Matters

Another delicious healthy frosting recipe that relies on avocados and amps up the flavour with coffee. If you’d like a coffee-free herbal alternative, try using Dandy Blend instead.

Dairy-Free Lemon Cream Frosting

Maple Frosting

Maple Frosting by What Molly Made

Don’t let your carrot cake or pumpkin-spiced baked goods go unadorned – usethis maple frosting that is packed with the health benefits of ghee.

Chocolate Cardamom Frosting

Chocolate Cardamom Frosting by Dishing Up The Dirt

Cardamom is an underratedyet highly aromatic spice that gets its chance to shine in this chocolate cardamom frosting that will add a unique spin to your treats.

2-Ingredient Healthy Frosting

2-Ingredient Healthy Frosting by Pure Wow

If you’re feeling lazy, this 2-ingredient frosting will save the day. All you need is sweet potato puree and dark chocolate and you’re set. Make sure you have a few extra spoons on hand so everyone can dig in!

Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting Shots

Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting Shots by Chocolate-Covered Katie

Who needs the cupcake or cookie when you can just knock back the frosting? Katie is the queen of frosting shotsand we just can’t resist the mint-chocolate combo. Of course, you can easily use this recipe to slather your baked goodies too!

Spiked Vanilla Cashew Cream Frosting

Spiked Vanilla Cashew Cream Frosting by Better with Cake

This sweet and buttery cashew healthy frosting is spiked with blood sugar balancing cinnamon and flecked with vanilla bean. Simple, healthful and delicious.

Nettle Frosting

Nettle Frosting by Nirvana Cakery

We thought we’d seen everything and then we caught a glimpse of this nettle-infused healthy frosting recipe. It’s definitely an original and you wouldn’t think it works, but nettle frosting is delish!

Blueberry White Chocolate Frosting

Blueberry White Chocolate Frosting by Luving Life

This recipe combines blueberries, dates, raw cacao butter and coconut yogurt to make the yummiest white chocolate frosting you’ve ever had.

Seven-Minute Maple Paleo Frosting

Seven-Minute Maple Paleo Frosting by Healthy Seasonal Recipes

We’ve all got seven minutes to spare to make frosting, right? This recipe whipsegg whites with maple syrup over a double boiler for pillowy peaks of frosting. We hope you have friends and family to help you lick the bowl.