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When I want a creamy smoothie, I turn to cashews or bananas. Well, I went a little crazy with this banana smoothie recipe and added BOTH. Get ready for a super creamy, super protein-charged smoothie that can jumpstart your day.
Table of Contents
How to Make a Banana Smoothie Recipe
When making a green smoothie I recommend blending the leafy greens + liquid first. Yet for a non-green smoothie, feel free to blend all your ingredients at once!
If this smoothie is too thick for your blender blades to handle, try adding a bit more liquid, stirring up the ingredients, then blending again. This should help.
If cashew milk isn’t your thing, then use the plant based milk of your choice! Oat milk will produce an equally creamy smoothie, while almond milk will make this smoothie a bit thinner.
Health Benefits of Bananas
This easily accessible fruit is incredibly versatile and delicious. Use it to naturally sweeten baked goods, make that smoothie creamier or naturally more sweet-tasting, or as a simple healthy snack dipped in almond butter.
Bananas are great sources of fiber, antioxidants, potassium, vitamin B6, and manganese. Bananas, while sweet, are actually a lower glycemic (low sugar) fruit. Unripe bananas have a GI (glycemic index) score of 30, while ripe bananas have a GI score of around 60. So if you want your banana smoothie to be naturally lower in sugar, use a less ripe banana!
Tips for storing bananas
Living in Florida means my bananas ripen in two days tops. I love having them on hand for a quick snack or easy smoothie ingredient, yet they turn brown too quickly! So I’ve learned a great trick- freeze them.
I leave bananas on my counter until they are the perfect ripeness for me (which I’m finding is different for everyone). Then I line a baking sheet with parchment, peel the bananas, and line them up on the baking sheet. Freeze for 1-3 hours, then toss those lovely frozen bananas in a freezer-safe bag.
Now I’ve got the perfect ingredient ready to go. If you don’t have gallon-sized freezer bags, then cut your bananas in half before freezing to maximize space. Prepping smoothies ahead also saves produce!
Low Sugar Swaps
While the sugar in this recipe comes from whole food, it might be a little high for some. If you need a lower sugar option, then here are some great swaps:
- Use plain cashew yogurt or swap for 1/4 cup cauliflower
- Swap yogurt for in 2 tbs cashews
- Swap banana with 1/4 cup cauliflower or 1/4 avocado
Make sure the collagen or protein powder you use doesn’t have any added sugar. Read the label on the yogurt you use as well! There are many great plant based yogurt brands on the market now, yet lots are loaded with added sugar.
FAQs
Yes, just make sure that smoothie is full of only whole food ingredients. No fillers, chemicals, added sugar, or fake ingredients!
I recommend changing up your daily shake or smoothie, so you can benefit from a variety of fruits and veggies. Bananas are a great regular addition though!
Bananas are a great source of fiber, and often help settle stomach issues naturally.
No! Well… it depends what you put in them. Strawberry banana is a popular smoothie flavor at restaurants, yet those smoothies are usually pre-made mixes full of processed sugar and chemicals. Stick to strawberry banana smoothies with real, whole food ingredients and soak in all the benefits.
8 More Healthy Banana Smoothies
I know that bananas are a polarizing fruit. People either love ’em or hate ’em. If you enjoy bananas in your smoothies, then check out some other delicious recipes below:
- Banana peach smoothie
- Strawberry banana smoothie
- Chocolate banana smoothie
- Banana oatmeal smoothie
- Avocado banana smoothie
- Pineapple banana smoothie
- Kale banana smoothie
- Berry banana smoothie
If you are a banana fan then be sure to make this smoothie! Don’t forget to rate + review once you’ve tried it.
Creamy Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 bananas frozen
- ½ cup vegan yogurt plain
- 1 cup cashew milk
- 1 serving collagen powder or 1 serving homemade protein powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients until smooth
- Pour into your favorite glass and enjoy!
Equipment
Video
Notes
- To make this smoothie vegan, swap 1 scoop of collagen powder with 1 serving of homemade protein powder
- To reduce the natural fruit sugars, use 1/4 avocado and 1 banana
- You can swap in any kind of yogurt, just choose one that’s plain or with limited sugar
- The cashews can be swapped for almonds or oats
- The cashew milk can be swapped out for the dairy-free milk of your choice
My daughter thought this was too “banana-y” but I thought it was just right.
My grocery store (Ingles) did not have cashew milk or yogurt, so I used oat milk and coconut yogurt. Really good. Had to add a splash of orange juice to get the Vitamix to keep going.
Really creamy and filling!
So super creamy…
Smoothie Challenge – Day 8
This was super-creamy, and tasted like rich banana cheesecake. I keep being surprised at how sweet each smoothie is, even with no sugar or honey or syrup is added.
I was unable to find cashew yogurt or cashew milk, so I used Silk Almond yogurt and used up the last of the almond and oat milk from earlier this week.
Another new favorite for our family. 🙂
Creamy!
Tasty smoothie, again I was surprised by how sweet the bananas made this smoothie! They are such a wonderful ingredient that sweetens and makes things creamy, yet keeps the natural sugars levels low. Not surprising this was a hit with my toddler!
Didn’t have cashew yogurt so I just added water and few whole cashews. Very creamy and good taste!
Very creamy and filling.
This was just ok for me. I thought about adding strawberries or blueberries but didn’t. Next time either that or spinach.
I made homemade cashew milk for this one, with so few ingredients I wanted to use the good stuff! I also surprised myself and used Trader Joe’s eggnog yogurt, which wasn’t overly spiced, and made for a perfect winter smoothie!
NOT MY FAVORIST BUT, DELICIOUS
Loved this smoothie. Only used 1 banana and instead of collagen put in a tablespoon of flaxseed. Have never had cashew milk or yoghurt before, happy to try something new. This was so creamy.
My creamy banana smoothie was another good, non dairy sweet treat! I like that this smoothie is naturally sweetened by what I feel is the “star ingredient”…the banana! I used tofu for the first time and this added to the creaminess of my drink. Another one added to my list of smoothie options!!!
To my surprise I actually liked this smoothie. I was unsure about the plain cashew yogurt but I really couldn’t even tell that it was in the smoothie. The banana flavor was just right not to over powering. Next time I will add a little honey or maybe a few dates just for a little more sweetness.
So not my jam, so to speak. I really am not fond of bananas and just too much banana flavor. Felt proud that I did try it at least! Rescued it by adding the really flavorful blueberries I had and they became the predominant flavor.