Healthy Desserts You Can Enjoy Without Guilt

Last Updated on March 9, 2022 by Corinne Schmitt

If you have a demanding sweet tooth but want to be healthy, you’ll love these healthy desserts. It turns out you can have your guilt-free cake and eat it too!

Healthy Desserts Made with Fruit

Most fruit is naturally sweet so they’re the perfect base for a healthy dessert. Check out all of these tasty options made with fruit or fruit juice!

• Sorbet
• Popsicles made from fruit juice or fruit purees
• Angel food cake (topped with berries—I buy frozen berries and thaw them in the microwave which creates a nice syrup that soaks into the cake)
• Grilled pineapple topped with brown sugar
• Baked apples 
• Creamy fruit & yogurt parfait (combine low-fat cream cheese with vanilla yogurt and honey, layer in between berries)
• Brown-sugar sautéed bananas

Healthy Chocolate Dessert Choices

As a chocoholic, these are the first desserts I go to. Thankfully, if you choose the right chocolate desserts you’ll not only satisfy your sweet tooth, but give your health a boost too!

Dark chocolate is a wonderful dessert choice since it’s rich in antioxidants and helps lower blood pressure and the risk of heart disease. To get the full benefit of dark chocolate, avoid brands that say “processed with alkali” since this strips away helpful flavanols.

If you want some added sweetness, instead of adding refined sugar, pair your dark chocolate with fruit! Try dark chocolate covered strawberries or bananas.

Chocolate Chia Pudding add the nutritional punch of chia seeds to your dessert. Chia seeds are full of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber. You should also try this Chocolate Avocado Mousse.

In the summer, put the pudding in popsicle molds and freeze them for a healthy frozen treat!

If you want a chocolate dessert with more substance, you’ll love this Chocolate Skillet Brownie. It’s gluten-free and vegan!

When you’re craving a peanut butter cup, opt instead for these Healthy Peanut Butter Balls.

More Healthy Dessert Options

One of my favorite healthy dessert choices is to start with creamy Greek yogurt and add toppings based on my craving at the time. See these yogurt topping ideas for inspiration.

Gelatin is a wonderful dessert choice since it’s filled with amino acids. All gelatin bears health benefits, but your best choices are those made from grass-fed animals.

During warm weather, frozen yogurt is a great alternative to ice cream. You can make homemade strawberry frozen yogurt or buy a variety of flavors at the store. If you choose store-bought, try to choose one with ingredients you recognize and can pronounce.

Ricotta desserts (these are great if you are a cheesecake lover because you get the same texture and flavor but with far fewer calories)

• Chocolate: ½ c ricotta + ½ teaspoon cocoa powder + ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon honey + small handful of mini chocolate chips
• Vanilla: ½ c ricotta + ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon honey
• Lemon: ½ c ricotta + ¼ teaspoon lemon zest + ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 tsp honey

Mousse (chocolate, raspberry, lemon—whatever flavor you choose, you can enjoy it with far fewer calories than a cake or pie version)

Of course, what fun is life if you deprive yourself of the things you love most? So if you really want to enjoy a hot fudge brownie sundae or a slice of cheesecake, by all means indulge yourself ONCE IN AWHILE. But if you are like me and crave something sweet every day, try the options above to keep you on track towards good health. As always, if you have your own favorite that isn’t on my list, please share it in the comments.