Starbucks Protein Drinks {Copycat Recipe}

You can now order some of your favorite drinks at Starbucks with extra protein! But they're also easy to make at home with these simple protein milk and protein cold foam recipes. Add them to your favorite copycat Starbucks drinks for a protein boost!

Jump to:

• 💪 What are Starbucks protein drinks?
• 🥛 How to make Starbucks protein milk at home
• 🥣 How to make dairy-free protein milk
• ☁️ How to turn milk into cold foam
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Starbucks has finally reintroduced protein back in to their menu lineup... This time in the form of lattes and cold foam!

There's nothing complicated about these new drinks, but they do pack a protein punch. Each grande drink contains about 26 grams of protein, which is great for anyone who's always trying to get more into their diet.

This guide gives you the copycat recipe for the protein milk base, and cold foam making process, so you can make any flavor protein drink at home.

💪 What are Starbucks protein drinks?

Starbucks' new protein drinks are their typical iced and hot lattes, but made with 2% milk that's been blended with unflavored protein powder and optionally topped with protein cold foam or froth.

Because the protein is in the milk, you can technically add protein to any milk-based latte or drink you order. And enjoy so many different protein cold foam flavors!

Unfortunately, the protein only comes in 2% milk, so there isn't a dairy-free option at this time. But, you can make it dairy-free when you make your own at home. The steps for this are a little different, so please be sure to view the notes on it.

🥛 How to make Starbucks protein milk at home

Once you have the protein milk, you can make any of Starbucks protein drinks at home! And it's really simple to make.

All you have to do is mix unflavored whey protein isolate with 2% milk.

When looking for a whey protein isolate powder, try to find one that also contains lecithin (sunflower or soy), but make sure it doesn't contain gums, creamers, sweeteners, or maltodextrin.

The lecithin helps the powder dissolve quickly in milk so your drink has the consistency of a latte, not a gym shake.

This is the whey protein isolate powder I use.

I like to make 3 cups of protein milk at a time, which is enough to make 2 grande sized lattes with both milk added to them and cold foam topping.

Here's what you need for the batch:

• 3 cups 2% milk (see next section if you want to use a dairy-free alternative)
• 7 tablespoon whey protein isolate (roughly 35 grams)

You have a few options for blending your protein milk:

• Immersion blender: add milk and whey protein isolate to a tall pitcher or jar and use an immersion blender for about 15 seconds, until the mixture is glossy and smooth. This is my preferred method as it's quick and easy.

• Countertop blender: add milk and whey protein isolate to your countertop blender and blend on low-medium power for 10-15, seconds until smooth.

• Mason jar: for maximum simplicity, add ¾ cup milk followed and 7 tablespoon whey protein isolate to a large mason jar, and shake vigorously for about 60 seconds. Let rest for for 60 seconds and then shake for another 30 seconds. Add remaining 2 ¼ cup milk and shake to combine. I recommend using a shaker ball (or 2-3 clean marbles) to help blending. If you're having trouble getting your powder to dissolve fully, you can heat about ½ cup of the milk to lukewarm and dissolve the powder in it before adding the rest of the cold milk.

Milk can be used right away, but for best results, I recommend chilling it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before using.

You can keep this protein milk in an airtight container in your fridge for about 4 days. Or by the milk's "use by" date, whichever is sooner.

When you're ready to use it, you'll want to be sure to give it a good shake.

🥣 How to make dairy-free protein milk

Though you can absolutely make this protein milk with alternative milks, like oat milk, soy milk, and almond milk, you need to make sure you're purchasing an isolate powder that doesn't contain whey (which is dairy) and instead look for a soy protein isolate (or pea protein isolate).

Also, the protein isolate won't blend quite as well as it does in dairy milk. This is generally due to the fact that dairy-free milks often have added oils and gums added to them.

To minimize issues, be sure not to purchase barista-style dairy-free milks (this is the opposite of the advice I usually give when making Starbucks copycats!) as those usually have more oils in them.

I recommend hydrating the powder first to prevent clumping.

To do this, mix together ¾ cup of the dairy alternative with your soy or pea protein isolate initially (use about a scoop of the isolate or however much equals about 25 grams of protein). Blend or whisk the mixture until smooth and then let rest for 60-90 seconds. Add the remaining 2 ¼ cups milk and blend again. Chill for 30 minutes before using.

If your milk seems clumpy, you can pre-slurry the powder with ¼ cup warm water (95-110 degrees) before whisking it into the milk. A little pinch of sunflower lecithin can also help dispersion.

☁️ How to turn milk into cold foam

If you've ever used my Starbucks cold foam recipe to make your own, this is the same exact one. Except you use the protein milk instead of plain 2% milk.

You can add any flavor of syrup or powder to your mixture to flavor the cold foam how you want.

Here's what you need:

• ¾ cup protein milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoon flavored syrup or 1 teaspoon flavored powder

You simply need to put the protein milk, heavy cream, and syrup and/or powder in a mason jar and shake to combine.

If you don't have a jar, you can can stir all ingredients together in a bowl.

If you're not making the cold foam right away, you can keep this jar of protein sweet cream in an airtight container in the fridge.

When you're ready to make the sweet cream into a protein cold foam, you can either use an electric frother, hand mixer, or blender.

Just add the protein sweet cream and froth, mix, or blend until the mixture turns into a foam.

If you don't have any of these devices, keep the mixture in the mason jar and shake vigorously until it's frothy.

Use the protein cold foam on top of any iced drinks you want. I'll be sharing recipes for a few of the specific Starbucks protein drinks soon, including the Iced Vanilla Cream Protein Latte. This one has vanilla syrup mixed into the cold foam.

And the Iced Banana Cream Protein Matcha. This one has banana powder mixed into the cold foam.

I'm excited to see how the new Starbucks protein drinks perform in-store and how they'll build upon them in the future.

📖 Recipe