Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Recipe
Today we are making a copycat Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Recipe with a twist! MOVE ASIDE STARBUCKS! A NEW frappuccino is in town! I actually used a mix of both a strawberry layer and a mocha layer in the photo, but the recipe card is only for the mocha frappuccino. The combo of coffee and chocolate make for a delicious mocha flavor in this homemade Starbucks beverage! The way Starbucks describes this recipe is a combination of mocha sauce, coffee milk and ice.
Make this iced coffee drink at home for a fraction of the cost (and fewer calories). If you need to get your coffee fix today, give this drink a go! A blend of both the frappe flavors, ones that I incredibly enjoyed during my undergrad years. Let me give you a little backstory of my Starbucks obsession …
Spending Big Bucks at Starbucks
*Cue me* Finally getting my first job job in college and feeling on top of the world to FINALLY have some amount of spending money that wasn’t a government loan. *Cue me, then getting my first paycheck* At this point, I was ready to buy every snack in sight. I would go into Starbucks – there were three of them on our campus alone – and I would try a new coffee drink every time.
Then I started going to the “secret menu” that’s online and started ordering those instead. This became a habit, with UP TO 3 frappuccinos A DAY. It was INSANE the amount of time, money, and sugar I ingested from SBs existence alone. So fast forward to now – years later. I stopped that SB obsession after a while. But now that I’m out of school, I don’t have a reason to be around a SB everyday (also working from home, so not really going out to get coffee a lot). SO I decided to make my own homemade mocha frappuccino – if I want to have it, may as well have the healthiest version I can make!
I was trying to figure out how to make a frappe creamy without adding ice cream or heavy cream, since vegan ice creams are also still loaded with sugar. So I froze coconut milk and used those coconut milk ice cubes as a base! It came out so creamy, I can’t recommend this highly enough. You can make all your favorite frappes with this base!
Milk Substitutions
Coconut Milk: Use full-fat canned coconut milk. I love using Thai Kitchen brand because it doesn’t have added ingredients in the coconut milk. I freeze the milk into ice cube trays before adding the fully frozen cubes to the blender jar. This is the little secret to making it creamy but also a pretty close clone to using whole milk or ice cream!
Oat Milk: I used oat milk because it doesn’t leave as strong of an aftertaste as other plant-based milks. Almond milk or cashew milk can be used as well, although they might not be as creamy and/or leave an aftertaste. This is analogous to using skim milk in a frappuccino recipe.
Other Substitutions
Sweetener: Use 100% pure maple syrup – the lighter the color, the less of a strong maple and molasses taste it will have. Agave syrup will work too. I don’t recommend any granulated sugar because it may leave the drink grainy. For a lower calorie option, try stevia drops.
Whipped Cream: I used Gay Lea brand of whipped cream. It uses a coconut milk base and whips great out of the can! There may also be soy milk based whipped creams, but I haven’t seem them at my local grocery store.
Coffee Powder: I used instant coffee powder without adding extra water to actually make coffee. You can also use an espresso machine, but that would be adding extra liquid into the drink and it won’t be as thick as it should be.
Cacao: I used cacao powder, which is a less refined, healthier form of the process cocoa powder that is found at the store (the one that’s commonly used in chocolate baked goods). Cacao tastes pretty much the same in terms of chocolate flavor, but has more benefits. You can also use regular cocoa powder (which is the unsweetened dark powder used for baking).
Starbucks Frappuccino Recipe Notes
- To elevate this drink, top with chocolate syrup and chocolate chips!
- To up the protein, add more coffee or espresso with chocolate protein powder (some wet ingredients to counteract the dry powder). This will make a mocha protein shake! If you are adding extra coffee in this case (not just the coffee powder, but liquid coffee), you’ll want to make sure you wait for the hot coffee to chill before using it in the drink.
More Starbucks Copycat Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this creamy Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Recipe, leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Recipe
Equipment
- High Speed Blender
Ingredients
For the Mocha Frappuccino
- 3-4 tbsp liquid sweetener eg. 100% pure maple syrup
- 1 cup oat milk
- 2 tsp instant coffee granules
- 12 coconut milk ice cubes an ice cube is 1-2 tbsp, depending on your tray size. add more as needed for texture
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Topping
- vegan whipped cream optional
Instructions
- Freeze the coconut milk ice cubes by shaking the can of coconut milk, then pouring it into an ice cube tray and freezing for 8 hours (or until frozen solid).
- Remove the ice cubes from the freezer and pop them out to get 12. Blend these, along with the rest of the frappe ingredients, in a high speed blender.
- Once it is creamy, pour it into a cup.
- Top with vegan whipped cream and drink right away!
