A green smoothie recipe that actually tastes good? Yep. If you're new or resistant to drinking things like this, this is the perfect green smoothie to break you in. It's loaded with healthy greens and three kinds of vegetables, and I swear it doesn't taste like compost.
I should probably preface this post by saying if you're one of those hard core "I use a beet to sweeten my all-greens smoothie" kinds of people, then this might not appeal to you.
Maybe forward this post to the person who always wrinkles their nose when they see your intense green smoothies.
For the rest of you, I'd like to admit that I'm not hard core with a green smoothie. Like, not even close.
I'm a fruit smoothie girl who would rather roast her vegetables than drink them.
Most mornings I have a basic smoothie with frozen berries, spinach, unsweetened almond milk, and some protein powder. It's a lovely purple color.
If I'm in the mood for switching things up, I like this one. I don't have a lot of green smoothie recipes in my repertoire, so I stick to a couple that I know I like. Or my kids like.
I recognize the value in blending vegetables, though, because I doubt I'd sit and eat all of this plain. Especially for breakfast.
Best Green Smoothie Ingredients
- Almond milk: Preferably unsweetened. Can also use any type of milk you prefer.
- Celery
- English cucumber
- Fresh greens (spinach, kale, or chard)
- Apple: Preferably tart
- Orange
- Coconut oil
- Frozen pineapple chunks
Best Greens for Smoothies
Fresh baby spinach is going to be your best bet if you want the flavor of the greens to be undetected. Other baby greens work well, too, as well as mild greens like sweet chard.
If you use bitter greens like kale, you’ll want to make sure there’s enough sweetness to balance it.
How to Make a Green Smoothie
- Put the liquid in the blender first, followed by the rest of the ingredients.
- Blend well until smooth.
- Taste, and adjust the ingredients to create the flavor/texture you prefer.
Tips for How to Make a Green Smoothie taste good
- Use at least one frozen element in a smoothie to dramatically improve the taste. I'm not a room-temperature smoothie girl either. (See note above. I'm not hard core.) Frozen fruit is usually my go-to, but I've heard of people using frozen spinach, zucchini, or cauliflower to add to smoothies since it their flavors are so mild.
- Pineapple tames the bitternes from leafy greens. We've started using frozen pineapple to replace the frozen strawberries in our morning smoothies. (And replaced the carrot with more spinach and added almond milk) It sweetens really well, and it covers up a lot of the bitterness from greens, if you happen to be using kale, dandelion, or mustard greens.
- Speaking of greens... if you're grossed out by more bitter greens use baby spinach. It has the most mild flavor of all greens.
- Adding an acidic element helps to brighten the flavors. Pineapple does a good job here, but a squirt of lime, a splash of pomegranate or orange juice would work, too!
- Add a creamy element. Using almond milk or coconut milk is enough for me. Bananas and mangoes create a creamy consistency, too, but they're high in sugar if you're wanting to avoid that. Avocados are great as well.
- Nuts & seeds add extra vitamins and minerals. Right now I'm seed cycling to help balance my hormones and PMS mood swings so I add sesame seeds, flaxmeal, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds, depending on where I am in my cycle. Chia seeds and hemp seeds are also great in smoothies!
Do the kids like it? Mostly.
A couple of the kids would still rather have a "smoothie store" smoothie (aka Jamba Juice) than anything we make here, but will still drink it if it isn't green.
They also used to dip pieces of ham in maple-sweetened yogurt, so I wouldn't trust their judgment.
Best Green Smoothie Recipe Variations
- Use mango instead of pineapple and coconut milk instead of almond milk for a tasty mango green smoothie!
- Use strawberries and bananas instead of apples & pineapple for a great strawberry banana smoothie.
- Once I used half of a pear instead of apple, lime instead of orange, and added an inch of fresh grated ginger. Loved it, too!
If you like this delicious green smoothie, try our favorite Morning Smoothie Recipe!
If you make one of my recipes, I'd love to see! Post it on social media and tag me at @perrysplate or #perrysplate so I can send you some love!
More Recipes on Perry's Plate
Best Fruit and Veggie Smoothie Recipe FAQs
YES! Of course.
In this particular recipe, I'd use a flavorless collagen powder or a vanilla flavored bone broth powder.
Other protein powders I like are any bone broth based powders and collagen protein. Vital Proteins sells a great collagen powder that comes in chocolate and flavorless.
Ancient Nutrition sells versions of both types of powders that I like as well.
If you're looking for a clean, dairy-free, grain-free protein poweder, Rootz is it. It's my favorite and one of the only types of supplemental protein I've tried that doesn't hurt my stomach. And you can get 10% off by using my code -- PERRYSPLATE.
Here are a few of the protein powders I like to use:
Vital Protein Powder: My favorite collagen powder! I get the unflavored and chocolate ones at Costco.
Ancient Nutrition: Another high quality collagen powder that I like using. They have other protein powders that are great, too.
Rootz Nutrition: Because I’m sensitive to whey protein and pea protein which eliminates most protein powders I can tolerate, I like using this one. It’s paleo friendly with an egg white/chia protein base. (Use the code “perrysplate” to get 10% off your whole purchase.)
Healthy is definitely a relative term. There are a lot of benefits in this kale smoothie, but there is a lot of fruit, so the sugar content might be a little high. But, hey -- it's definitly better than a milkshake.
Fruit does a great job of adding sweetness without using refined sugar. A splash of 100% fruit juice works well, too (I like pineapple and pomegranate juices for this). If you need a sweetener, I recommend a drizzle of honey or pure maple syrup. Or some stevia.
Not usually, but this depends the ingredient ratios in the recipe. If there are enough other flavors and ingredients, then the spinach will remain undetected.
It also helps if the smoothie is ice cold, like I mentioned earlier.
Green Fruit and Veggie Smoothie
A green smoothie recipe that actually tastes good? Yep. If you're new or resistant to drinking things like this, this is the perfect green smoothie to break you in. It's loaded with healthy greens and three kinds of vegetables, and I swear it doesn't taste like compost.
Ingredients
- ½ cup almond milk
- 4 stalks celery, cut into thirds
- ½ of an English cucumber, cut into thirds
- 2 large handfuls of fresh greens (spinach, kale, or chard)
- ½ of an apple (preferably tart)
- ¼ of an orange, peeled
- 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil
- 1 ½ cups frozen pineapple chunks
Instructions
Put everything in the blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth! If you don't have a power blender (like a Blendtec/Vita-mix), then add more almond milk if it gets stuck. Taste and add a few more pineapple chunks if you'd like it sweeter.
Serves two or one as a meal.
Adaptation: Once I used half of a pear instead of apple, lime instead of orange, and added an inch of fresh grated ginger. Loved it, too!
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