Vegan Orange Julius

♫ Listening to: Forget It by Blood Orange ♫

This vegan orange julius is ready in less than 5 minutes, and tastes like an orange creamsicle smoothie. If you remember the iconic beverage from malls in the 80s, this frozen fruity drink is basically a healthier version of the original orange julius (because it’s dairy-free and raw egg-free).

You know how buying your oranges by the 10 pound-bag at farmer’s market is cheaper? If you’re like me and can’t pass up a good deal, you might find yourself in situations where you have an overabundance of something…like oranges for just a hypothetical and not at all a real life example. All you have to do is peel, wedge, and freeze any oranges you don’t think you can eat before they start to ferment and compost themselves in your fruit bowl.

You can eat your frozen orange wedges as a summertime snack, or use them to make this super quick and easy milkshake that only requires 2 ingredients (the sugar and vanilla are optional, but if you like things that are delicious, I recommend including them). If you’re on a sugar-free diet, this drink tastes good without the sugar too.

For a healthy orange julius smoothie packed full of vitamin C, whip up a batch of these creamsicle smoothies today.

You can also pour your homemade orange julius into heart popsicle molds for orange creamsicle popsicles.

This recipe makes 1 large or 2 small glasses of vegan orange julius (or 5-6 orange creamsicle popsicles).

Vegan Orange Julius Ingredients

• 250 grams frozen oranges (around 2 oranges, peeled, broken into pieces, and frozen)
• ½ cup + ⅓ cup (200ml) plant-based milk
• 1 tablespoon (15g) vegan, organic, or raw sugar (optional)
• ½ teaspoon (2g) vanilla extract (optional)

Vegan Orange Julius Directions

Add the following ingredients to the blender in this order: 250 grams frozen oranges, ½ cup + ⅓ cup (200ml) non dairy milk, 1 tablespoon (15g) sugar (optional), and ½ teaspoon (2g) vanilla (optional).

Blend the ingredients until smooth, but don’t overblend because you want the shake to be thick. It’s better to add less milk than you think you’ll need than to add too much. Sometimes when I’m making a really thick shake, I have to stop the blender, take the lid off, stir the ingredients, and then reblend.

Pour into 1-2 glasses and serve.

Vegan Orange Julius Recipe Video

Here’s a video of a pre-covid live stream where we made these.

Substitutions

• You can use full-fat canned coconut milk for an even creamier orange julius.
• For a healthy orange julius, use almond milk as the non-dairy milk.
• For a sugar-free orange julius, omit the sugar in this recipe or replace it with maple syrup or agave syrup.
• If you avoid soy, using any non dairy milk that isn’t soy milk will keep this recipe soy-free.
• Add vanilla paste or the insides from a vanilla bean instead of the vanilla extract to make it extra fancy and delicious.

If you love shakes and other frosty beverages, check out my drinks recipes for other ideas.

If you make this dairy-free orange julius smoothie recipe and have a question or feedback, message me on Instagram or email me.