Vegan Dark Chocolate Mousse – All Natural Recipe, Dairy-Free Dessert. Sugar Free Option. Healthy and Delicious.
This chocolate mousse has a secret ingredient that I’m sure will make some of you cringe, but you’re going to have to trust me here. Have I ever steered you wrong? The secret to creamy, delectable mousse without a hint of dairy is… wait for it… ripe avocados! Have I completely lost it? Perhaps, but look at that luscious mousse. It’s really quite delicious. Why shouldn’t the noble avocado’s usefulness stretch beyond the occasional bowl of guacamole?
Avocados are considered fruit, although they are quite different from their sweeter tree fruit relatives. Of all fruits avocados are the highest in oil and protein, making them a great energy source. They are native to areas of Central and South America and according to archaeological evidence have been around for nearly 7,000 years. Historian and writer Fernández de Oviedo was one of the first Europeans to try an avocado. He saw a similarity between the shape of avocados and pears; because of this, he ate his avocado with cheese. Today avocados are eaten in a variety of recipes and preparations, from savory to spicy to sweet.
I’ve used this avocado mousse-making method for a few years now; I can’t remember where I first learned to substitute avocado for cream and egg, but I was quickly hooked by the ease and simplicity of it. The results are incredibly tasty, especially after chilling. Avocado gives a creamy richness without dairy. I use an ample amount of cocoa as well as melted chocolate to give it a rich dark chocolate flavor, and I add some cinnamon for a touch of spice. Some studies suggest that cinnamon may help to regulate blood sugar levels, although more study is needed to confirm this association. That said, there is no doubt that this is healthier than the average chocolate mousse. Avocados, which are high in healthy fat and protein, give this mousse a boost of nutrition that makes it even more irresistible.
I usually make this mousse with regular white sugar, but after receiving many requests for lower-glycemic dessert recipes I decided to test it with agave. It worked out great. You can also try stevia or another sugar-free sweetener to make it diabetic friendly. However you decide to sweeten it, remember that chilling in the refrigerator will mellow the flavor a bit, so be sure to add a little more sweetener than you think you need to get the flavor just right for serving.
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Vegan Dark Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
- 4 whole ripe avocados peeled and pitted (weighing about 1 1/2 lbs unpeeled)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 4 ounces dairy free dark chocolate, melted double check to make sure it is dairy free
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon Ceylon cinnamon is best
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup agave or 3/4 cup granulated white sugar or natural sweetener of your choice (add more or less to taste if desired)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Raspberries and fresh mint leaves (optional garnish)
NOTES
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until smooth.
- Divide into bowls or dessert dishes and chill until ready to serve, at least 2 hours. Garnish with raspberries and fresh mint leaves, if desired.
Nutrition
Easy to make . Great texture and color but tasted like avocados. I thought the chocolate would avoid the taste of avocados but it didn’t. I love chocolate mousse but would not make this again.
This was so yummy! I’m surprised to read the comment above. My husband and I loved this recipe. I didn’t tell him it was avocado though until after the fact, so maybe that’s part of the problem. If you know it’s made from avocados it might be kind of hard to get that image out of your mind LOL
Glad you enjoyed it Amy!
So I tried it…. Not a fan. This is the very very first recipe I have made of yours that I didn’t care for. It was the avocados. I could still taste them. After following your initial recipe and not caring for the results I tried everything I could to make it taste better. In the end the mousse had to die. LOL. But it was fun to make anyhow. Thanks for making me adventurous. On the plus side I did make a Potato Keugal yesterday and it went quick! We LOVED it!
Aww, sorry to hear that Stephanie! It’s gone over really well with many guests in my home. Better luck next time. 🙂 Glad you liked the kugel!
First of all – CRAZY! I love avocado’s, but never considered adding them to a dessert.
Second – your featured picture is remarkable. Very nice work!
I’ve had it a few times and it is decadently delicious
Is this 1/2 cup agave plus 3/4 cup sugar or do you mean to choose one of the other??
Choose one or the other.
MMMYUM!
I assume only the flesh is used, not the avocado peel, correct?
Anxious to try this, sounds great!
Yes, only the flesh. Enjoy!
Looks good. Please tell me what chocolate you use. You say dark. Does that mean unsweetened?
Thanks. I enjoy receiving your newsletters.
Arlene
Hi Arlene, I use 70% dark, which is generally lightly sweetened. However you should double check that your chocolate is dairy free, if you are concerned about lactose. Enjoy!
In previous post about Passover rolls, they were Chala like not Chaka like. Oops!!
This is lovely.
On another issue, I was in Israel over Passover where they had the most wonderful gluten free, parve Passover rolls everywhere. Look and taste like real rolls, almost Chaka like. Despite asking everywhere I went and searching the Internet, I can’t find a recipe. Likely have potato starch. Do you know anything about these?
This looks really yummy
I can’t wait. I’m trying this tomorrow!!!! Thank you Tori for always posting delicious healthy recipes!!
I read all about your mousse recipe and can’t imagine making it with avocados. I love them but with chocolate! I just can’t wrap my mind around it.
Bev, it does take some getting used to the idea! It helps me to think of avocado as a fruit rather than a vegetable. 🙂 Also I’ve given this to a couple of friends without telling them what it’s made of (they have no food allergies so I could experiment like this) and they thought it was a traditional chocolate mousse. They were floored when I told them what it was made out of. If you can make the leap, it’s well worth trying!
I have seen recipes for avocado-based chocolate pudding on the web, but always cringed b/c avocado is so hi-fat (yes, I know it’s GOOD fat, but at 60, every calorie counts, LOL). Recently I came across using sweet potato puree in the same way. I’m going to try your recipe with that substitute. And saying 1 1/2 pounds of avocado will translate nicely into 1 1/2 pounds unpeeled sweet potato before cooking!
Interesting Melissa! I would think that sweet potato might turn out too watery here. I’d love to hear how it turns out, will you let me know?
Hi Torey,
Speaking as another dietitian–yes, cinnamon has an effect on blood sugar. But, the abstract doesn’t give the dosage, and it might be misleading for people with diabetes to think that cinnamon will offset the effect of carbohydrate intake (such as agave, etc) in raising blood sugar. The difference in blood glucose with cinnamon (in the research) translates to 10 mg/dL, significant and meaningful, but not huge. The dessert looks yummy, though, and we should enjoy our cinnamon in other ways too!
Thanks,
Myra
Got it Myra, thank you for the clarification! I will provide more details in the post.
Hi, I love your recipes and am definitely going to try this one. I have an off the subject question, why do some recipes say kosher for Passover, isn’t kosher an every day thing or is it just during holidays?
Hi Brenda, I categorize my recipes so that they are easily searchable in my recipe database. Passover is a particularly restrictive time of year for people who keep kosher, so whenever I post a recipe that will work for that holiday I also place it into the “Kosher for Passover” category. That way, Jewish readers know that they can enjoy it during the holiday period–if somebody is searching for a dessert recipe next year for Passover, this one will pop up as an option. That said, not every recipe on my website is kosher. I always list as many categories as possible for each recipe (all linked at the bottom of each post), so that these recipes can be enjoyed year-round by as many people as possible. This is why I have categorizations for vegan, gluten free and other holidays too!
How much volume should the avocados equal? They vary in size..if I buy organic they are usually quite small.
Hi Rachel– unpeeled, the avocados should weigh about 1 1/2 pounds. I will update the recipe with this info. 🙂
I am a registered dietitian and my specialty area is diabetes. It is not true that cinnamon controls blood glucoses. There are no studies which show this to be true. I know alot of people say it, but I suggest the website diabetes.org as a good source of nutrition information regarding diabetes. This is the site for the American Diabetes Association.
Chocolate pudding made with tofu is also very good. I got the recipe from a Bittman recipe in the NY Times many years ago.
Hi Meg– just linked to the study I read that cited this statistic. Has this study been proven wrong or incorrect? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Davis+Yokoyama+Cinnamon
I have not tried the tofu pudding, but I do like using silken tofu from time to time as a dairy-free thickener, so I’m guessing it would work great for this kind of thing.
The Vegan Chocolate Avocado Mousse looks so yummy. I am not Vegan only am trying to make healthy food. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome Kathleen, enjoy!