This protein eggnog is for my eggnog-loving friends who want a taste of the real deal while still keeping their health goals in mind. It blends in under a minute, has 25 grams of protein, and comes in at 240 calories a glass.

Confession: I’m not a huge eggnog fan myself. Every now and then I’ll partake for the festivities (it’s the holidays, after all), but I know a lot of people who wait all year for that first carton to hit the store shelves. So I played around with a more health-minded take on this classic holiday drink, and this is where I landed. My kids loved this one.

I use real eggnog here. There’s really no great workaround unless you want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen making your own, and a little of the real stuff goes a long way. Stretch it into a protein eggnog with fairlife skim milk and vanilla protein powder, and you still get that creamy, nutmeg-y flavor eggnog people love, with way more protein and fewer calories than a full glass of the straight stuff.

You’ll also notice there’s no banana. A lot of protein shake recipes lean on frozen banana for creaminess, but I personally don’t like it in most dessert recipes because they always end up tasting like… well, banana. I can’t seem to cover up that taste enough with any other ingredient, so I leave it out.

This protein eggnog is also super easy to make in bulk. Just double, triple or even quadruple the ingredients, blend and serve. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

This version tastes like real eggnog (because it has some in it!). Pour it over ice, tuck in a cinnamon stick if you’re feeling fancy, and you’ve got a protein eggnog that fits your macros and still feels like the holidays.

Protein Eggnog