How To Make It
Unlike baking recipes, for instance, smoothie recipes do not have to use exact measurements. You can adjust according to taste. The only difference in choosing between fresh or frozen fruit is how thick you want it to be. Frozen will make for a more milkshake-thick smoothie, whereas fresh will get thickened up slightly by the ice, but have a more liquidy texture. Or you can combine frozen and fresh fruit.
You can use any kind of soft fruit you want, such as berries, bananas, peeled peaches or nectarines, melons, even grapes, and puree, and know you can always add a bit more fruit or ice to thicken it or a bit more milk to thin it out.
Use A Blend Of Fruits :
An assortment of textures from different fruits can help make for a smoother texture and richer flavor. Thats why I like using a combination of frozen mixed berries along with fresh ripe bananas.
Just remember, theres NO wrong way to make a smoothie! Feel free to use whatever you have on hand or whatever combination of fruits that you and your family enjoy.
Why You Should Make This Banana Smoothie
Ive made a version of this easy banana smoothie recipe more times than I can count. Its perfect on its own and is the best base recipe for adding more ingredients like fruit, nut butter, and veggies.
Here are a few more reasons we love it:
- You need less than 5 minutes to make it.
- You can use fresh or frozen bananas.
- Its easy to adapt to what you have in the kitchen.
- This smoothie is perfect for breakfast or a snack.
- Kids love it!
- You can even make the smoothie ahead of time, freeze it, and save it for later.
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Nutrition And Calories In Fruit Smoothies
Most fruit smoothies use flavored yogurt and apple or orange juice. Packing your homemade smoothie full of sugar and excess calories.
Weve cut the calories by using unsweetened yogurt and by using water to thin the smoothie. You wont even notice the difference! Plus, weve given you tips to naturally sweeten these smoothies so you dont ruin your diet having a calorie bomb smoothie.
You can find more low calorie smoothies in my 10 Healthy Breakfast Smoothie Recipes article and in my best selling cookbook Lose Weight By Eating Detox Week.
How To Freeze Fruit For Smoothies
To make smoothies even easier, freeze fresh fruit into portions. You can even prepare smoothie packs and freeze them for a grab-and-blend smoothie option.
To freeze fruit for smoothies, rinse and chop fresh fruit into small pieces. Pat them dry then arrange, in one layer, on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Slide the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until hard .
When the fruit is hard, divide it between freezer-safe bags and keep it in the freezer for your next smoothie.
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Best Fruit And Vegetable Smoothie Recipes
If youre looking to add more veggies to your diet, youll want to check out this list of the 15 Best Fruit and Vegetable Smoothies! All of these recipes includes at least one serving of vegetables, but youd never believe it. These recipes are all vegetarian with vegan and dairy-free options.
What Are Some Great Smoothie Recipes
Alright, now that youre fully versed on how to make a great smoothie, let me share with you some of our absolute favorite combos! Click on any image to jump over to that specific smoothie recipe.
Classic Simple Smoothies
These smoothies are a great place to start. No weird ingredients that you have to special order, just fresh, real food that you can find at any typical supermarket.
Wild Blueberry Lemon No Banana Smoothie
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Pineapple Spinach Green Smoothie
You wont even know youre drinking your greens in this ultra creamy and pineapple-flavored Green Spinach Smoothie made with healthy, simple ingredients! Frozen mango and pineapple are blended with baby spinach, milk, and yogurt for an easy detox drink. Make up this quick and creamy smoothie for a refreshing breakfast or snack for the whole family!
Who knew getting your fruit and veggies in could taste so good?!
Blend up spinach, mango, pineapple, milk and yogurt into a filling smoothie that even the kiddos will slurp up.
Honestly, with the sweetness from the fruit, you dont even know the spinach is in there.
This healthy smoothie is a great way to detox, or even just to sneak in extra greens for breakfast or a snack.
Mix it up in just 5 minutes, or prepare in advance to save even more time on busy mornings!
My Green Smoothie Journey
Ive been making green smoothies for over a decade now. I was first introduced to them back in my nutritarian days. Even though I dont follow any strict diets anymore, the green smoothies stuck! I find them to be a great way and easy way to get my daily intake of green leafy vegetables .
On almost every morning, youll find me making a green smoothie first thing.
But vegetable smoothies can go beyond green smoothies with leafy greens like kale or spinach. The veggie smoothie recipes Im including below as my list of the best fruit and vegetables smoothies recipes include vegetables such as cauliflower, beets, sweet potatoes, broccoli sprouts, squash, and more!
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How To Make Smoothies More Interesting
You don’t have to stick to the basic smoothie recipe for all of your smoothies. There are lots of ways to jazz up smoothies. Consider adding nuts, honey, flaxseeds, coconut, oatmeal, dried fruits, chocolate chips, cookies, and spices to make your smoothies more interesting. For example, if you want to make a smoothie taste like a certain dessert, such as pumpkin smoothies, you might add graham crackers and cinnamon.
Basic Fruit Smoothie Recipe Notes:
- If you want to use room-temp fruit instead of frozen, you can sub ice for water and get the same result.
- Try subbing other mild-tasting veggies for the carrot. You could try zucchini, squash, or cauliflower.
- The power-ups are entirely optional we just really like them and they add so much nutrition!
- Heres an amazing place to get your coconut oil, collagen powder and lots of other nutrient dense power ups: Perfect Supplements! They only use the highest-quality ingredients like organic, grass-fed, etc.
- Pro Tip: My favorite way to quickly include power-ups is to mix up a big batch of this awesome smoothie booster powder. It includes all the best nutritious power-ups in one big jar. Then, I just add one scoop to our daily smoothie!
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Repurpose Extra Smoothie Mixture:
If you have extra smoothie on hand after feeding your kiddos, there are a couple options you have to stretch out the uses of your smoothie mix.
If you have popsicle molds, you can simply pour out extra smoothie mixture into molds and stick in your freezer for a cold, refreshing treat to enjoy at a later time.
My kids love fruit smoothie popsicles so much, I sometimes just make the smoothie mix just to use for frozen fruit treats. Check out this post here for a recipe to make refreshing real fruit popsicles for kids
You can also just pour it into an empty ice cube tray for a frozen fruit snack that kids can enjoy too.
Any extra smoothie mixture can also be stored in your refrigerator if you or your kids want to drink it later in the day. Keep it stored in a thermos or pitcher in your fridge for 1-2 days, and just be sure to shake it well before drinking.
List Of Smoothie Ingredients To Stock At Home:
Instead of following a specific smoothie recipe, I like to experiment with the ingredients I have at home.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for something light, green and healthy, sometimes I want a post-workout protein smoothie, and sometimes I’m looking for a meal replacement or a mid-afternoon pick-me-up with a little bit of caffeine.
Here is a list of the best smoothie ingredients I like to keep on hand:
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S To Make A Perfect Fruit Smoothie
No matter what kind of fruit smoothie recipe you are making, you can follow these steps.
Now that you have a great idea of making any fruit smoothie let’s look at how to make some of the most popular fruit smoothies.
Layer Your Ingredients For A Smoother Smoothie:
When youre adding your ingredients to your blender, the way you add in your ingredients to your blender can help create a more consistent and creamy texture texture.
Try adding your ingredients in this order for a smoother smoothie:
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First add your frozen fruit, like the mixed berries, followed by the bananas
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Second, add any nut or seed butters, if youre using them
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Next, add in your dairy, like the greek yogurt
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Lastly, pour in your liquids on top of all the ingredients in the blender.
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How Do You Make A Frozen Fruit Smoothie
I personally have a blender meant just for smoothies but its not necessary any blending machine will work. Toss your blend of frozen fruit, juice, and Greek yogurt into the blender and mix until smooth. I chose to use blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and mango for a tart, yet sweet, blend of fruits.
This recipe makes two servings but can easily be adjusted to make only one serving, or more servings, whatever you desire. Simply cut the recipe in half for one serving. If you double the amount of ingredients called for, remember that it will bump it to four servings since this is enough to make two servings. Each serving is around 16 ounces each.
There are a lot of great juices out there that would work well in your fruit smoothie. I typically use apple juice because its readily available and a neutral flavor base, but other great options are
- White grape juice
- Pineapple juice
- Cranberry juice
You can even use milk, almond milk or coconut milk instead of juice for your smoothie.
I typically use whatever odds and ends of fruit I happen to have in my freezer. You can really mix and match however you like here, just use the same quantity of the fruits listed in the recipe. Some other great fruit options to use are
- Banana
- Strawberries
And Check Out Some Of Our Favorite Smoothie Hacks Too:
- How to Freeze Strawberries. There are lots of ways to use frozen strawberries, but smoothies are definitely one of my favorites!
- Smoothie Booster Packs. Never let spinach go bad again! Drop these frozen smoothie packs into your smoothies to boost the nutrition.
- 3 Ways to Meal Prep Smoothies. Yes, you can make ahead smoothies! And we have three ways to show you how.
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Minute Frozen Fruit Smoothie
This simple Frozen Fruit Smoothie is made with just three ingredients and so creamy and delicious! Its perfect for an on the go healthy breakfast or an easy snack.
There are affiliate links in this post please read my full disclosure policy.
Unlike my husband, Ive always been more of a milkshake/ice cream lover than a smoothie lover.
But that all changed one night when my mother-in-law made this easy fruit smoothie using frozen fruit and yogurt. I skeptically took a sip and much to my surprise found it quite delightful. It was thick, creamy and refreshing!
In fact, I became such a fan that this simple fruit smoothie has become a regular Sunday evening dinner staple, as you may have seen on my frugal menu plans.
Do I Need A High Powered Blender For Smoothies
For years, I made smoothies using a $20 basic blender that we’d received as a wedding gift. I thought it worked perfectly well for simple smoothie recipes using classic, soft ingredients such as bananas, yogurt, strawberries, mangoes and spinach.
But as I got more interested in using diverse ingredients, I found my old blender lacking. I wanted to use items such as blackberries and pomegranate seeds, and my cheap blender wasn’t able to puree the seeds properly.
In addition, I wanted to use hearty greens such as kale, which can sometimes taste gritty when pureed in a traditional blender.
For that reason, after much deliberation and research, I recently upgraded to a VitaMix 750 professional series blender. Note: I don’t think you need to make this investment unless you plan to make smoothies often, and you’re wanting to go beyond the basics.
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Faq Prepping + Storing
How to Prep Smoothies?I love having the ingredients prepped ahead of time and ready to go from the freezer to blender. You can either prep one smoothie or purchase enough ingredients to prep several smoothies.
Though smoothies are best eaten right away, you can STORE leftovers for later:
For other favorite smoothies, try:
Frozen Fruit Smoothie Recipe
Frozen fruit can always be found stocked in our freezer.
When that moment strikes and I have literally NOTHING else to make, a frozen fruit smoothie can always save the day.
It doesnt even matter what fresh or frozen fruits Im working with. They can ALL be turned into a creamy and delicious smoothie.
That is, if you have this basic formula on hand.
I would never leave you hanging, though. In addition to this simple guide, youll also find a few recipes you can start off with and then add in all of the nuts, seeds, milks, juices, yogurts, and protein powders your heart desires.
Because after you finish reading this post, youll never need me again. Well, at least not when it comes to making incredible frozen fruit smoothies!
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A Complete List Of Smoothie Ingredients
We all love our smoothies, but do you know which ingredients make the best smoothies? Choose the wrong ingredients and your lovingly prepared thirst quencher can quickly turn into a sugar-laden bomb.
We give you the low down on the best smoothie ingredients. What are the best fruits and vegetables? How do you choose the healthiest liquid base? What about sweeteners and other extras? All these and other questions will all be answered.
Does The Fruit Need To Be Frozen In A Fruit Smoothie
If you want to make a frozen fruit smoothie and dont have any frozen fruit on hand, add ice to your mixture. If you dont add frozen fruit or ice, your smoothie wont be thick and frosty. If you dont mind this, then youll be fine to continue. I highly recommend using frozen fruit because it tends to blend better than straight ice. Its not pleasant to bite down on chunks of ice in a smoothie!
This fruit smoothie recipe is so easy that we make them most days during the hot weather. You wont hear me complaining. Theyre a lot healthier than ice cream and if making them keeps the want for ice cream at bay, Im all for it!
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Easy Frozen Fruit Smoothie Recipe
We love making fruit smoothies. They are so delicious and I would eat them every day if I could. It is a great way to get your fruit servings in each day.
This is my basic recipe to create what I call the perfect fruit juice smoothie. It is such an easy smoothie recipe. You can do all water for your liquid, but I suggest you add some sweetener to it.
This recipe is so versatile and can be customized to what you like. It calls for a cup of frozen fruit and I typically use strawberries or blueberries. However, you could use banana, pineapple, mango or a combination!
This Spinach Pineapple Green Smoothie is another favorite plant based smoothie I absolutely love! Once you start making smoothies, you will be hooked!
Substitutions For Fruit Smoothie
Fruit Mixing in some pineapple or strawberries would be delicious in this fruit smoothie.
Yogurt Nonfat greek yogurt is a great way to add protein and richness to smoothies for a low amount of calories. You can substitute with dairy free yogurt or full fat yogurt. You can also skip the yogurt, but may need a little bit more milk.
Milk Any milk will work in this recipe. Almond, Dairy, or other non dairy milks will all work.
Protein Powder Protein powder isnt necessary but it is recommended for this recipe. The added protein will help keep you full, rather than this just being blended fruit . Any protein powder will work. We like this protein powder best.
Frozen Fruit You can substitute frozen fruit for fresh fruit. Substitute 1:1. Frozen fruit will result in a thicker smoothie. Fresh fruit will result in a thinner smoothie
Other Add Ins Feel free to add in other nuts or seeds to this recipe. Chia or flax seeds would make a great addition!
Greens We love to add a handful of spinach or kale to this recipe. You cant taste it and its delicious. You could also try this Apple Kale Green Smoothie or Immunity Smoothie
Frozen Cauliflower: Frozen cauliflower is relatively tasteless and helps thicken smoothies. Its also a great way to add in sneaky veggies. 1/4 cup cauliflower rice will blend nicely in this recipe.
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