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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
I enjoyed the smoothie though I am not a big fan of . I did not use protein powder so I added cauliflower (adopting this idea) and medjool dates to sweeten and add fiber. I added a tiny bit of frozen which is my favorite fruit .
So I used emojis which did not show and left some blanks in my comment.
The story is that “I am not a big fan of bananas” and “I added some frozen mango which is my favorite fruit”.
Can’t believe I’ve eaten so many bananas in 3 days! I’m not really a lover of that fruit. Gave it a five for the man in my life. This is his favorite so far. He might even be getting used to my yogurt which he’s not a fan of. Haha. Thanks
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this smoothie. It was creamy and not too sweet. The vanilla brought the flavors together.
The bananas weren’t quite ripe, so missing the sweetness… but it was still good. I think we are just newbies at smoothies!
Not a favorite- I don’t like banana flavor or the taste of yogurt.
I took your advice and added some spinach, so good! I think I’ll try it with the cacao & raw cashews next time.
This smoothie is like a milkshake! It’s so good!
#Challenge Day 3
Enjoying all the new recipes! Delicious!
This was a good smoothie too. 2 bananas was a little too much because of healthy issues, so I subbed one banana for a mini cucumber. I use the 1/4 cup of Dannon Light and Fit Fat free 80 cal. yogurt, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze 30cal. milk. It was so refreshing. My free had 2 shot glasses of it and thought it was great too. this is another keeper I really loved it. #Challenge Day 3
#challenge this my favorite so far. Very tasty. As a kid I used to get banana skates from Carvel and this reminds me of that but less calories!
i tried this first as written (except with 1/3c raw cauliflower), although i knew i wanted to add more to it. (i even picked up dairy yogurt today and diverged from my plant based diet.) not surprisingly, it had a solid banana taste… was liquid-y enough to easily modify (i decided against frozen bananas since it’s winter!)… and is a great base. i added almonds, pecans, black walnuts, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg. it was top shelf delicious!
Oh my goodness that’s good! I made it as written and it was so yummy!
Soooo creamy loved it
thank you
The banana smoothie was good. The vanilla in the mix was just the right amount. I am getting hooked on smoothies!
Very nice creamy smoothie with a vanilla taste. I added some spinach and kale, and it was a pretty light green colour. Was gone in minutes, very tasty and no too sweet.
Serve this to the banana lovers in your life and tell them it’s a banana milkshake, they’ll LOVE it! Sometimes I don’t love strong banana flavored foods, but using Califia Farms oat milk, Fage 2% Greek yogurt, and the vanilla extract really make a delicious ultra creamy smoothie.