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These top healthy desserts are deliciously wholesome and easy to make. Fool everyone with healthy recipes that taste indulgent!

Heathy dessert recipes
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Want a sweet treat that’s not overly indulgent? You’ve come to the right place. For years we’ve been working to crack the code on healthy desserts that are deliciously wholesome. Now, to us any dessert recipe consumed in moderation can still be part of a healthy diet. In general, we try to avoid the word healthy since it’s subjective and can be used by diet culture to promote mindsets based on guilt and shame. However, sometimes we’re looking for a treat that’s light but satisfies a sweet tooth at the end of a meal.

So here’s a list of our top healthy dessert recipes that are lighter than most and still taste splurge-worthy! Our criteria for a “healthy” treat: a sweet recipe that’s based on wholesome ingredients like oats, nut butters, yogurts, fruits, and even vegetables, or one that has a smaller serving size than a standard dessert.

And now…20 healthy desserts!

A few more healthy dessert recipes…

We’ve got lots more ideas where these came from! Here are a few more dessert recipe runners-up:

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21 Healthy Dessert Recipes to Try

Peanut butter oatmeal bars
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4 from 1 review

These peanut butter oatmeal bars are the best trick! They’re no bake, easy and healthy; and the flavor is out of this world.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 20 bars (or 40 small bars) 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: No Bake
  • Cuisine: Healthy
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter (no sugar added, or sunflower butter for nut free)
  • ½ cup honey (or ½ cup agave syrup* for vegan)
  • 4 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 ounce dark chocolate (2 large squares)
  •  

Instructions

  1. Mix together the peanut butter, honey, oats, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add a sheet of parchment paper to a 9 x 9 pan. Place the ingredients in the pan and press it into an even layer. Use a small glass to roll over the top to get it smooth.
  2. Freeze the bars for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the freezer and use the parchment to lift it out of the pan. Cut into 20 rectangles (4 x 5 inches) or 40 small rectangles.
  3. In the microwave with short intervals or over a double boiler, melt the chocolate, stirring until it comes together into a glossy chocolate. If using the microwave, use short bursts of 10 seconds or so and stir after each: be careful not to overheat the chocolate or get any water in the chocolate, which will cause it to seize up. When melted, drizzle over the bars and allow to cool.  You can eat right away, or refrigerate for about 1 hour for a more solid texture. Store refrigerated for up to 2 weeks (or frozen for several months, placing wax paper between the layers).

Notes

*Maple syrup is generally our sweetener of choice, but the flavor and texture of honey really make these bars. Since maple syrup is not as sticky as honey, for vegan substitute we recommend agave syrup.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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2 Comments

  1. Jai McBride says:

    This advice is great but the only thing I don’t like is the most options are almost pure sugar






  2. Diane Biwman says:

    Would love for you to share more healthy deserts that would be of interest to myself and others. I’m sure😊