Heart Healthy Chocolate Date Sauce

One word: YUM! First and foremost, this Heart Healthy Chocolate Date Sauce is delicious! It’s chocolaty, and creamy, and sweet, and perfect for almost anything you’d use regular chocolate sauce for.

As a bonus, the sauce is nourishing for the body, and particularly for your heart!

Tips to make healthy chocolate sauce with dates

I started with dried dates. Get the whole ones that are pitted. Don’t get the little pieces that are rolled in oat or rice flour. Dates are naturally sweet, with a high sugar content. But don’t let that worry you. As a whole food, these little beauties pack a serious nutritional punch! Yes, they are a good source of fiber, but they are also very high in potassium. Remember that potassium helps lower your blood pressure, working as a check-and-balance for sodium. Few people consume enough potassium, so this is a great help! Dates are also a source of iron, magnesium, copper, and several B vitamins.

Soak the dates in hot water for 30 minutes or an hour. This will soften them up and make them easier to blend. I have made this before with unsoaked dates, straight out of the bag. If you have a Vitamix, you might be able to get away with it. But your sauce will be a bit more on the chunky side.

Once your dates are softened, they go in the blender (soaking water too!) with all the other ingredients and get blended into the most delectably healthy chocolate sauce you can imagine!

Watch it!

Is chocolate good for my heart?

Cocoa does have some antioxidant qualities. This has led the general public to sometimes justify over-consuming chocolate bars and other chocolate candy, believing the health benefits might outweigh, or at least equal, the unhealthiness. Sadly, that’s not true. While unprocessed cocoa is high in antioxidants, adding cocoa butter, sugar, and milk or cream to make chocolate candy cancels out health benefits.

In this chocolate sauce, however, I’m using none of those things! Only whole, minimally processed ingredients, so you feel good about pouring it on!

Try Heart Healthy Chocolate Date Sauce on Cinnamon Baked Pears – or any fruit for that matter! Don’t forget to let me know how you like it in the comments!

(Note that images have been updated on 5/20/2021, but the recipe remains unchanged – because it’s awesome the way it is!)

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Heart Healthy Chocolate Date Sauce

This is perfect drizzled over fruit, in oatmeal, or just about anywhere else you’d use chocolate sauce!

Course Condiment

Cuisine American

Diet DiabeticDiet, GlutenFreeDiet, LowCalorieDiet, LowFatDiet, LowLactoseDiet, LowSaltDiet, VeganDiet, VegetarianDiet

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 1 1/2 cups

Calories 45 kcal

Author Laura Yautz

Ingredients

• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup Dried Whole Dates
• 2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Add water and dates to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to soak for 30-60 minutes.

2. Add the dates with water and the rest of the ingredients to a high speed blender, and blend on high until smooth. If the sauce seems to thick, add more water, a tablespoon or two at a time, until it's a pourable consistency.

3. Pour on everything!

Nutrition Facts

Heart Healthy Chocolate Date Sauce

Amount Per Serving (0.25 cup)

Calories 45 Calories from Fat 2

% Daily Value*

Fat 0.2g0%

Saturated Fat 0.1g1%

Monounsaturated Fat 0.1g

Sodium 1.5mg0%

Potassium 124mg4%

Carbohydrates 11.7g4%

Fiber 1.5g6%

Sugar 9.4g10%

Protein 0.6g1%

Vitamin C 0.1mg0%

Calcium 7.7mg1%

Iron 0.3mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.