Dessert doesn’t have to be complicated. Leave the complex dairy-free soufflés, meringues, and macarons to the professionals—when it comes to preparing a sweet treat from scratch, you only need a little spare time and a handful of ingredients to make delicious ice creams, popsicles, and even truffles at home. Find some of our favorite easy, delectable, dairy-free dessert recipes below, all with five ingredients or less.
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Why you should make desserts from scratch
According to research from Crumbl Cookies, one in six Americans like to indulge in dessert every day. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, it can be tempting to stock up on candies and chocolate from the grocery store, but it’s also pretty simple to whip up your favorite treats from scratch, too.
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By making your own sweet treats at home, you know all of the ingredients that are in your food (often, store-bought ice creams and cookies are ultra-processed and laden with artificial flavors), and you can choose high-quality, nutritious ingredients, like fruits, healthy fats, and natural sweeteners. Plus, you can also adapt recipes to your individual needs and tastes.
8 easy dessert recipes with 5 ingredients or less
You don’t need a pantry chock full of ingredients to whip up a delicious dessert from scratch. Below, we’ve picked some of our favorite indulgences, all of which only require five ingredients or less.
Hannah Kaminsky
1 4-Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pops
Fudgesicle fans, listen up. You can make a delicious dairy-free version of this popular chocolatey sweet treat with just four ingredients: dark chocolate chips, silken tofu, vegan milk, and vanilla extract. That’s it—you just need a spare four hours to wait for it all to set, and then you’re good to go.
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2 Simple 5-Ingredient Vegan Banana Bread
Naturally gluten-free, this tasty vegan banana bread recipe from the Easy Allergy-Free Cooking cookbook is easy to whip up and makes for the perfect dessert, breakfast, or brunch treat. It’s easy to customize with nuts, chocolate chips, and raisins, too, depending on your personal preference.
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Hannah Kaminsky
3 4-Ingredient Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
Of course, it’s easy to find dairy-free vanilla ice cream in most stores, but if you’ve got the time, we recommend making it yourself from scratch. Not only is it healthier, but it tastes delicious, too. You just need four ingredients: vanilla beans, cashews, water, and maple syrup.
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Alleko
4 4-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Oat Milk Banana Ice Cream
If you prefer something a little more exciting (no shade to vanilla), this tasty vegan ice cream recipe keeps things simple while adding a little more flavor to the mix. The secret to the ultra-creamy texture is mashed bananas and oat milk. Chocolate chips add sweetness and texture, and if you like a little nuttiness, you can swirl in some peanut butter, too.
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Bailey Ruskus
5 Caramelly 5-Ingredient Vegan Flan
This tasty caramel vegan flan from the Cook. Heal. Go Vegan! cookbook is the perfect dessert to whip up next time you want to impress your loved ones without spending hours in the kitchen. It’s perfectly smooth and creamy and involves just a handful of ingredients, including cashew milk, coconut sugar, and coconut cream.
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Hannah Kaminsky
6 3-Ingredient Vegan Strawberry Banana Popsicles
Refreshing and packed with fruit, these deliciously sweet popsicles are perfect to keep in the freezer for kids (and adults). They’re as tasty as they are nutritious, thanks to the strawberries and bananas in the recipe.
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7 4-Ingredient Vegan Oreo Truffles
Dairy-free truffles might sound complicated to make, but this easy recipe proves they’re anything but. Combine Oreo-style cookies with vegan cream cheese, chocolate chips, and colored sprinkles, before melting together and then freezing. That’s it! They’re the perfect treat to keep on hand for a birthday party or festive celebration.
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Mixed & Measured
8 4-Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Banana Ice Cream
For a super creamy, soft serve-style vegan ice cream, check out this delicious recipe from Mixed & Measured blogger Riley Yahr. All you need are some frozen bananas, cocoa powder, cinnamon, peanut butter, and a powerful blender. You don’t even need to freeze—it’s ready to eat straight away.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England’s southern coast.
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