Once you taste this strawberry cheesecake shake, you’ll be hooked – it’s dessert in a glass! This decadent smoothie is packed with protein from cottage cheese and bursting with strawberry flavor!
This strawberry cheesecake protein smoothie is keto friendly, low-carb and so nutritious and satisfying that you can even enjoy it as a meal replacement.
It tastes like a sweet treat, but it fills me up for hours, specially when adding a heaping scoop of protein powder for an extra boost!
This strawberry cheesecake smoothie can also be served as a sweet breakfast surprise for someone special on occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or a birthday. Quick to whip up, it’s a wonderful way to show your love!
Ingredients and substitutions
You’ll need 5 ingredients for this recipe, plus a couple optional ingredients! Here’s the complete list with the amounts (I also have the metric weights list in the recipe card at the bottom of the post):
- Frozen or fresh strawberries, 1/2 cup (keto) to 3/4 cup (low-carb)
- Cream cheese, 2 tablespoons
- Cottage cheese (or Greek yogurt / Skyr), 1/2 cup
- Low-carb milk (unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk or macadamia milk), 1/2 cup
- Vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon
- (Optional) protein powder, 1 scoop of your favorite (See tips for choosing the best protein powder for keto smoothies below!)
- Sweetener to taste, if needed
Without protein powder: To make a smoothie without protein powder, you can increase the amount of cottage cheese from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. This will bump up the protein content of the smoothie and make it creamier.
Cottage cheese alternative: You can substitute cottage cheese for natural Greek yogurt or Skyr. The protein content will be slightly lower and the smoothie will be a little less creamy. The strawberry protein smoothie will taste more tangy, which is cool for that classic cheesecake flavor.
Sweetener: It’s easy to make a sugar-free smoothie, just use a natural sweetener like monk fruit, stevia or erythritol instead of sugar. If you’re using a flavored protein powder, go ahead and mix the shake, give it a taste, and then tweak the sweetness to your liking. You might find it’s perfect as is!
As you probably noticed, this is a smoothie recipe without banana. Not only are bananas not keto-friendly or low-carb, I also can’t stand them! Why every smoothie recipe has banana in it 😭 I promise you, LikeHotKeto is a safe place, you’ll never find bananas in any recipe here!
How to make
To make the strawberry cheesecake protein smoothie, simply add all the ingredients to a blender—no specific order required, except for the protein powder if you’re using it.
To prevent it from sticking under the blades, add the protein powder after there’s already some liquid inside the blender.
Blend on high until smooth, then pour into a glass. Add toppings as desired, and enjoy!
Hot tips & FAQ
Smoothie topping ideas
You can top the keto strawberry cheesecake shake with whipped cream, fresh sliced strawberries and “graham cracker crumbs”. Use any crumbed keto / low-carb sweet crackers or cookies, like this easy keto 3-ingredient shortbread cookies, or just mix powdered keto sweetener with toasted almond flour.
I also have a recipe keto graham cracker crust, you can make a tiny batch of that to use as crumbs as well.
Protein powders for smoothies
A 100% micellar casein protein powder is hands-down the best is you like ultra-thick smoothies. I make this smoothie with casein and it’s as thick as soft serve!
I added the cute pink straws here for picture taking purposes only, this smoothie made with casein needs to be eaten with a spoon!
You can use unflavored micellar casein (add sweetener), vanilla micellar casein or strawberry micellar casein. These are sweetened with natural keto-friendly sweeteners, like monk fruit and stevia. All are great in this smoothie!
The next best protein powder for thick smoothies or shakes can be a whey and casein blend, egg white protein powder, or any plant protein you prefer.
I have not tried plant protein in this smoothie, but from my experience in baking and cooking with unflavored pea protein powder I strongly recommend that if you choose plant proteins (like pea or hemp), stick to vanilla or strawberry flavored versions. Unflavored plant protein taste is a bit strong and it will overpower the delicate strawberry and cheesecake flavor.
Carbs in strawberries
According to the USDA, 1 cup of whole strawberries (144 grams) contains 11 gams of net carbohydrates. Which is more carbs than most keto dieters would consume in one sitting.
If you are following a keto diet and tracking your macros to stay in ketosis, make this keto strawberry smoothie with 1/3 cup of strawberries (which will be 3.6 net carbs).
Each medium strawberry contains 0.9 net cars, so just under one carb. This makes easier to count!
One-third cup (about 4 medium strawberries) is a reasonable amount and enough to give this keto strawberry cheesecake smoothie delicious fresh strawberry flavor and hopefully fit in your daily carb allotment.
If you do low-carb, or not following any diet, feel free to increase the amount of strawberries to 1/2 or 3/4 cup.
Fresh vs frozen strawberries
I choose frozen strawberries in my smoothies because they serve a dual purpose – not only do they act as ice, imparting a chilly and thick consistency, but they’re also cost-effective, don’t spoil, and are a freezer staple!
Feel free to use fresh strawberries too, specially if they are in season and you have so many that you don’t know what to do with them. Smoothies are a great way to use up strawberries!
Best blender for smoothies and shakes
There’s no way to make a smoothie by hand, unfortunately, or to “whisk it into existence.” You’ll need some equipment. The good news is, you don’t need anything fancy to make this strawberry cheesecake smoothie.
A personal sized blender will do. I have a much larger and more powerful blender with a heavy glass jar, but I wouldn’t bother pulling it out for this recipe. The results with my Nutribullet are the same, and cleanup is a breeze!
If you don’t have a personal blender or a regular blender, an immersion blender (stick blender) will work. It takes longer, but even the most basic ones are powerful enough to process frozen strawberries and cottage cheese, although it will take a bit more time and some elbow grease.
Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie
Ingredients
- ⅓ to ½ cup (48 g) frozen strawberries or fresh (1/3 cup = about 4 medium strawberries)
- ½ cup (120 ml) low-carb milk unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk or macadamia milk
- ½ cup (106 g) cottage cheese or plain Greek yogurt / Skyr
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 scoop (30 g) casein protein powder, vanilla flavored optional, see notes
- keto sweetener optional, to taste
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
- (Optional) For an extra touch, top with whipped cream and crushed graham crackers before serving, if desired. Use any crumbed keto / low-carb sweet crackers or cookies, like this easy keto 3-ingredient shortbread cookies, or just mix powdered keto sweetener with toasted almond flour.
Notes
Nutrition
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