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
Equipment
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!
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
Absolutely loved this smoothie! I used frozen lite regular plain yogurt and homemade cashew cream. The result was a smoothie that tasted like banana cheesecake! Super yummy! I’ve lost 4 pounds since the challenge started without any real exercise, but I am doing more and that has increased my steps per day. Couldn’t be happier! I’m going to try to make cashew yogurt…..soon.
Was something about this movie that just was not hitting it for me. I think it might be the collagen that I’m using. Because I added a tablespoon of cacao and two Stevia packets and it still didn’t taste good. How can you go wrong with banana?
I love bananas, so I knew I’d love this one.
Too banana’y’ for me so I added spinach blueberry’s and teaspoon of almond butter that was a game changer!
I enjoyed this one! Tasty, smooth, clean finish. I had never tried cashew yogurt or cashew milk so I am pleased to now know about them because I enjoyed them both.
Not a big fan of bananas in my smoothies so I wasn’t a big fan of this smoothie.
I absolutely love this smoothie! It’s creamy and has a bit of an orange cicle taste!! Delicious!! One of my favorites, for sure!!
This is my least favorite of the week but for banana lovers it would probably be a fave!
Beautiful recipe although I felt like cutting the fat from the avocado and replacing it with zucchini as well as red pear instead of the rest. Very simple with no powders. Just alkaline water. I placed on too some candied pineapple, dried apple, thin zucchini slices and a touch of nutmeg.
Added 4 cashews.. forgot that!
Not a banana or yogurt fan butI really like this smoothie. It reminded me of a shake my mom used to make me growing up and I really enjoyed the addition of the vanilla. This smoothie was like a treat to my tastebuds.
Delish…just too many carbs.
Very yummy. Loved the vanilla flavoring.
Overall, best smoothie yet, but I am definitely bias as a lover of bananas. Thank you
This was so very yummy! I wish I would have added the frozen bananas and not fresh, cause it was a little to warm by noon. But still yummy. Just for fun, I’m going to add cinnamon next time too.
If you’re a banana lover, this Smoothie is for you. Cool and creamy with a smooth banana taste.
Hey if you love bananas, this is the smoothie for you!! It was good but very banana, like a banana laffy taffy-who likes those please stand up!!