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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
Creamy deliciousness. I like bananas and know their health benefits but was concern 2 would be overload. I believe adding the yogurt kept the flavor from being too strong. Will make again.
Delicious simple smoothie . I live that this smoothie was only a few ingredients and taste delicious.
So smooth and yummy. Put in protein powder (vanilla replacement) and collagen powder. Went down so fast I didn’t get a picture.
Loved this smoothie! So creamy. Hard to believe it’s dairy free!
Simple and yummy! My husband preferred adding some strawberries, but a win nonetheless.
I swapped 1/4 cup cauliflower for one banana. The smoothie was thick and creamy. I could still state the banana and the smoothie had fewer carbs.
So sweet! But I double checked my yogurt package and saw I’d bought sweetened yogurt. Oops. And it was too thin, but once again my problem. Yesterday’s Challenge smoothie was too thick, all the ingredients being frozen, so today I subbed a fresh banana since I was using a frozen tub of yogurt and frozen banana. So it was a good smoothie in that it’s hard to make a bad one, but I’ll need to tweak my execution.
Loved this one also. Made it exactly as the recipe. First time trying Elmhurst cashew milk. So creamy!
Interesting! It is good for me to try different ingredients like cashew milk and coconut yogurt (I couldn’t find cashew yogurt). It does taste good but not rated one of my favorites but pleased to have tried it!
I used almond milk and vanilla yogurt. Really like this one
Not sure that it’s fair to give only four stars since I didn’t have the correct ingredients. I was able to find cashew yogurt but not cashew milk. I used oak milk instead. I also added frozen strawberries since my bananas were not frozen. Overall a good smoothie but still prefer a green smoothie every morning. This would be a refreshing snack in the afternoon.
I was surprised by how much I liked this one. So creamy and delicious!
Not a fan of bananas I substituted berries and yogurt
I don’t do bananas so I used mixed berries and yogurt turned out great.
I love banana smoothies and this recipe is delicious, creamy, and perfect!
So simple and delicious! I will add a handful of greens next time and try the suggested avo to add some extras nutrients.
Again another delicious smoothie! I used almond milk yogurt since I wasn’t able to find the cashew milk yogurt.