Soylent Recipes

The lockdown has given me occasion to consume lots and lots of Soylent. As a result, I’ve gotten modestly creative with it, and thought I’d share my notes.

Powder is best prepared in a blender (I use one of the top-threads-into-blade-base deals because they’re easy to clean) with a goodly amount of ice, a banana, and a small amount of water. If no fruit is added, make sure you add extra water. I tend to prefer as thick a shake as possible, but if you don’t put in enough water the powder will clump around the blades and you won’t end up with an edible result. With those guidelines in mind, here are some fun things to mix in:

Peanuts – Why add peanut butter when your blender is going to turn them into paste anyway? This does a good job of thickening your shakes. Goes great with Banana and Chocolate. Almonds work but not quite as well. Cashews didn’t do a great job. You can use salted or unsalted peanuts, but I preferred unsalted.

Pistachios – These taste great and work well as a thickener. Didn’t try it with the shells still on though.

Chia Seeds – A somewhat finicky thickener. They seem to add a glassy, neutral quality when added in, but they do great things to the texture. Further mixing experiments are needed. A good option if you’re tired of peanuts.

Pudding powder – I tried pistachio and vanilla flavored, and it worked reasonably well as a thickener. If you add milk it might even turn into pudding.

Cocoa powder – This is the best way to give a chocolate flavor. Make sure you sweeten to compensate, and adding a something (banana, etc) to make it thicker is important – watery chocolate shakes don’t turn out well.

Sucralose – Generally only needed when you need to balance out something bitter or sour such as cocoa powder, and not needed if you’re adding a ripe banana or flavored syrup.

Flavored Syrup – This was my go-to sweetener. Vanilla Almond, Maple Burbon Pecan and caramel cheesecake where the ones used most frequently.

Milk – Use in place of water for turn the shake into a milkshake. Subtile difference but if you’re starved for variety it’s worth a shot.

Banana – You don’t really need anything else if you have one of these at perfect ripeness.

Apples – Make sure you remove the seeds because supposedly blender will make the poison in them bioavailable. Goes really well with nutmeg, allspice, and/or cinnamon.

Blueberries – but make sure you add a small amount of sweetener to compensate for the sourness.

Cherries – Make sure you remove the pits, which is rather time consuming.

Avocado – This will give the shake an almost ice-cream like texture, highly recommended.

Jackfruit – Adds a great flavor and sweetness but leaves an uncomfortable texture in your mouth.

Novelty ice tray ice – It appears that the closer an ice cube is to a sphere the more difficult it is for the blender to pulverize it. Novelty ice trays will produce ice that is more readily smashed to bits.

Bonus – if you have chocolate 2.0 and don’t like the texture but do have the blender bottles and a bunch of peanut butter powder, go ahead and shake the peanut butter powder into the chocolate 2.0 to make a far better drink.