This Easy Protein Chai Latte is my go-to when I want something warm, cozy, and actually nourishing - not just sweet. It's naturally sweetened with Medjool dates, takes about 10 minutes, and gives you a gentle protein boost without refined sugar or syrups.
Save This Recipe!
Type your email & I'll send it to you!
🔍 Quick Look: Easy Protein Chai Latte
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🎛️ Cook Time: 4 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 1 to 2
- 📊 Calories: ~195 or 98 kcal per serving (based on number of servings)
- 👩🏽🍳 Flavor Profile: Creamy chai vibes, subtle spice, and real ingredients that support steady energy. You can keep it caffeine-free or turn it into a dirty chai with espresso or strong coffee.
- 💪🏼 Nutrition: 15 grams of protein, 8 grams of fiber, 346 mg calcium for one serving
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy-simple ingredients and minimal prep.
👩🏽⚕️ Nutritionist's Note
Why You'll Love This Chai Latte Recipe:
- Naturally sweetened with dates (no maple syrup or sugar needed). Dates provide fiber and minerals while giving a caramel-like sweetness that pairs beautifully with chai spices.
- Ground cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon add warmth and flavor without needing a long steeping process.
- Adding protein to warm drinks helps slow digestion and prevent blood sugar spikes - especially important when you're having something slightly sweet.
- Ready in minutes. It's perfect for busy mornings, afternoon slumps, or pre-workout when you want coffee but need something more substantial with protein and steady energy.
Jump to:
- 🔍 Quick Look: Easy Protein Chai Latte
- 👩🏽⚕️ Nutritionist's Note
- 👩🏼🌾 Ingredients
- 🥛 Substitutions
- 📝 How to Make Protein Chai Latte
- ✔️ Storage & Meal Prep Tips
- 🫖 More Healthy Tea Recipes
- 🙋🏽♀️ Recipe FAQs
- ☕️ More caffeinated recipes...
- 👩🏽🍳 Made this recipe?
- ⚖️ Convert the Recipe to Metric (g & mL)
- Protein Chai Latte Recipe
- 🛍️ Shop Recipe Cookware and Ingredients
- 💬 Comments
👩🏼🌾 Ingredients
Below, I share ingredient notes from both a nutrition expert's and trained chef's perspective.
- Nondairy milk creates a creamy base. Soy, oat, almond, hemp, pea or cashew all work.
- Medjool dates add natural sweetness plus fiber and trace minerals. Start with one if you prefer less sweet.
- Ground cardamom gives classic chai flavor and a subtle floral warmth.
- Ground ginger adds gentle heat and supports digestion.
- Ground cinnamon brings cozy sweetness and pairs perfectly with dates.
- Protein powder turns this into a satisfying, balanced drink. Use unflavored or vanilla.
- Water (or coffee/espresso) helps everything blend smoothly and controls thickness - swap in coffee or espresso to turn it into a dirty chai latte.
See the printable recipe card below for quantities.
🥛 Substitutions
This recipe is versatile and easy to adapt. Below are some simple ingredient substitutions.
- Dates: Swap in 2 to 3 teaspoons maple syrup, date syrup, or agave. Or use a splash of vanilla creamer for sweetness in a pinch.
- Milk: Use any creamy milk. Oat milk gives the most classic café-style texture, soy adds extra protein, almond keeps it lighter, and cashew makes it extra rich.
- Protein Powder: Skip the protein powder and use hemp hearts instead. (See the recipe card.)
- Spices: Skip the cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon and simmer with 2 chai tea bags instead.
- Spicier: Add a pinch of cloves or nutmeg, and black pepper.
- Dirty chai latte: Replace water with espresso or strong coffee.
- Iced version: Blend, chill, then pour over ice. Add more milk as needed after chilling.
- Caffeine-free: Skip the tea bag entirely and simply heat the blended date milk mixture - similar to Indian khajur doodh (warm date milk).
📝 How to Make Protein Chai Latte
The complete recipe with exact amounts is below. These additional tips will help you get the best results.
- Add everything to a blender. Always pit your dates before blending. If you don't have a high-speed blender, soak the dates in hot water for 5 minutes first to help them blend smoothly.
- Blend until completely smooth, making sure there are no remaining pieces of dates.
- Transfer to a small saucepan - I like using a small saucepan with a pouring spout for easy serving (see mine under favorite cookware). Add water or coffee to thin.
- Add the tea bags, if using. Use stronger tea bags for more flavor.
- Heat over a low flame for about 5 minutes, or until warmed though, whisking frequently, and adding more milk or water as needed.
- Remove the tea bags. Serve topped with edible rose petals and chopped pistachios, or grate a little dark chocolate on top for a cozy finish.
✔️ Storage & Meal Prep Tips
These simple steps help preserve freshness and texture:
- Storage: Once heated, this chai latte is best fresh, but you can store leftovers in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
- To reheat: warm gently on the stove or microwave, stirring halfway.
- Meal prep option: After blending, transfer to a jar with a lid. Add the tea bags and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors infuse. Gently heat on the stove when ready to serve.
🫖 More Healthy Tea Recipes
I drink this high-antioxidant Sencha Japanese green tea daily!
Try my Hibiscus Tea, also known as roselle or Jamaica. It ranks number one of all the antioxidant-rich teas!
Learn how to make Fresh Chamomile Tea for longevity. Steeping chamomile flowers in hot water creates a soothing herbal infusion.
These immune-boosting Lemon & Ginger Tea ice cubes are a quick and easy way to pack in antioxidants.
🙋🏽♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yes - just omit the protein powder and water. Heat the blended ingredients with the tea bags, adding more milk or water as needed. Remove the tea bags and enjoy as a simple chai latte.
Unflavored or vanilla blends in most smoothly. Avoid heavily sweetened powders.
Yes - that's exactly what this recipe does. It skips whole spices and uses ground for speed.
Chai lattes are easy to make dairy-free. Just use any nondairy milk like oat, soy, almond, or cashew. This recipe is already vegan and naturally sweetened with dates.
You can if you'd like - collagen dissolves well in warm drinks. Just note it's not vegan, so if you want to keep this plant-based, stick with protein powder instead.
☕️ More caffeinated recipes...
👩🏽🍳 Made this recipe?
Let me know your thoughts on Protein Chai Latte by leaving a ⭐️ rating below or sharing it on Instagram.
⚖️ Convert the Recipe to Metric (g & mL)
Use these AI tools to do this:
Protein Chai Latte Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsweetened nondairy milk
- 1 to 2 Medjool dates
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ scoop unsweetened protein powder or 2 tablespoon hemp hearts
- 2 black tea bags (see notes)
Save This Recipe!
Type your email & I'll send it to you!
EQUIPMENT
- 1 Blender or immersion blender
- 1 small saucepan
Instructions
- Blend: Add the nondairy milk, dates, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, protein powder, and water to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, making sure there are no remaining pieces of dates.
- Heat: Transfer to a small saucepan (see notes). Add the water, espresso, or coffee, plus the tea bags. Gently heat over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, or until heated through, whisking frequently. Add more water or milk as needed. Do not boil.
- Remove the tea bags, pour into a mug, and serve warm.
Notes
- Servings: Makes 1 to 2 servings. Nutrition facts reflect the full recipe.
- Skip the protein powder: If you use hemp hearts instead of protein powder, the latte will have about 11-12 grams of protein when made with soy milk.
- Tea bags: Use a strong black tea like Assam, Darjeeling, or English breakfast (caffeinated or decaf both work). Tea bags or loose-leaf are fine - I use tea bags for convenience. If skipping the spices, use a chai tea bag instead.
- For a dirty chai latte: Replace the water with ¼ cup strong coffee or 1-2 shots espresso.
- Caffeine-Free: Skip the tea bags and coffee for warm date milk (khajur doodh) - a cozy, caffeine-free option.
- Protein: I used a one-ingredient unsweetened protein powder, linked here.
- Saucepan: I like using a small saucepan with a pouring spout for easy serving (see mine under favorite cookware).
- Substitutes: See the blog post for more substitutions and variations.
Nutrition
This information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate. Nutritional values may vary depending on factors such as product types and brands used.
🛍️ Shop Recipe Cookware and Ingredients
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nisha's Favorites
Get my tried-and-true products.
Comments
No Comments