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If you’re new to green smoothies—or just want one that actually tastes good—this is the recipe to start with. This simple green smoothie blends spinach with banana, mango, and pineapple to create a naturally sweet, tropical drink that comes together in minutes. It’s proof that healthy can be easy, delicious, and something you’ll actually want to make again tomorrow.
Table of Contents
What is a Green Smoothie?
A green smoothie is a blended drink made with leafy greens, like spinach or kale, and naturally sweet fruit such as bananas, berries, or tropical fruit. The fruit balances the flavor of the greens, creating a smooth, refreshing drink that’s easy to enjoy. Green smoothies are a quick and simple way to add more fiber, vitamins, and minerals to your day in one glass.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Everything you need to make my favorite green smoothie recipe is found in a garden, farmer’s market, or the produce section of your grocery store. I’ve found that the closer we eat to nature, the better we feel. This green smoothie recipe is a great way to start that journey.
- Fresh spinach: Baby spinach is the most mild version to use in smoothies, and also the most easy to find. I suggest using organic spinach because it’s on the Dirty Dozen List.
- Pineapple: I buy frozen pineapple at Costco in bulk to make Frozen Meal Prep Smoothie Packs. If it’s on sale, I’ll cut up pineapple and freeze it myself.
- Mango: You’ll find frozen mango next to the ice cream in the freezer section. I love how it’s already peeled and cut for you and ready to add to the blender. If fresh mango is on sale, you can always cut the mango and freeze yourself. Check out my guide on how to cut mango.
- Fresh banana: Bananas add a creaminess to smoothies that is hard to replicate. It’s magic! You can also freeze bananas to use them in green smoothies, yet the best results come from blending with a fresh, ripe banana.
- Water: The liquid base in the smoothie is water. Use filtered water to avoid any unnecessary chemicals or pollutants.
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How to Make a Green Smoothie
The only equipment you need to make this green smoothie recipe is a blender for smoothies. A juicer or food processor won’t work to get you a creamy smoothie.
- Blend 1 cup of spinach in a blender with 1 cup of liquid. Blend until all leafy chunks are gone.
- Toss in frozen mango, pineapple, and bananas in the blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. If you want your smoothie to be extra chilly or possibly even turn it into a smoothie bowl, use more frozen fruit. (You can freeze your favorite fruits like ripe bananas, grapes, pineapple, or berries.)
- Add in superfoods once the smoothie is nice and creamy. Chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flax seeds are all great choices.
- In order to break down the cell walls of the plants, you need to blend at high speed. You shouldn’t have any leafy chunks or weird texture in your smoothie if your blender is powerful enough.
- Drink immediately. To get the maximum amount of nutrients from a smoothie, drink it immediately after blending it.
Recipe Tips
- Following a simple smoothie method in my How to Make a Smoothie guide helps balance greens, fruit, and liquid for a smooth, great-tasting blend. Tossing in random greens can lead to bitter flavors or a thin texture.
- Frozen fruit makes smoothies thick and creamy without ice, which can dilute flavor and strain your blender. I use a fresh banana for creaminess, plus frozen mango and frozen pineapple for sweetness.
- Invest in a high-speed blender for smoothies if you plan to make green smoothies a daily habit—it makes blending faster, smoother, and easier to stick with.
Ingredient Swaps
- Banana: You can substitute it with a quarter of an avocado.
- Mango: Swap with frozen pineapple, red apple or peaches for a fiber-rich alternative.
- Pineapple: Swap with a naval orange to get that juicy citrus flavor.
- Water: Use oat milk, almond milk, coconut water or orange juice depending on your health goals.
- Spinach: Swap for kale, Swiss chard, beet greens, or any leafy greens of your choice.
How to Store a Green Smoothie
Store your green smoothie in the fridge with an air-tight lid (ex: mason jars are great) for up to 48 hours, yet I think it tastes best if consumed within 4 hours after blending. The longer your smoothie is exposed to oxygen, the more it breaks down and the nutrients deteriorate (aka: oxidation).
Green Smoothie Add-Ins
- Protein powder: You can turn any green smoothie recipe into a meal replacement by adding a serving of my Homemade Protein Powder to the blender.
- Natural sweeteners: Increase sweetness by using more natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, bananas, or dates. A smoothie can taste like dessert without any refined sugars.
- Chia seeds: A simple way to add more healthy fats and protein is to add 2 tbsp chia seeds. It won’t alter the taste, but drink fast or it will congeal. Some recipes suggest adding almond butter, yet that’s disgusting in a tropical green smoothie
- Collagen: Unflavored collagen is a simple way to add additional protein and support gut health.
- More vegetables: Try adding 1/4 cup frozen cauliflower for a fiber boost without altering the flavor.
More Green Smoothies
Once you try the recipe below, you’re gonna want more green smoothie recipes. It happens every day in my inbox! I love it! Here’s some of the most popular ones on my blog to try next:
- My son is obsessed with this Mango Orange Smoothie recipe.
- This Simple Kale Smoothie will surprise even the pickiest smoothie drinkers.
- I love this Glowing Green Smoothie with spinach and romaine lettuce for digestive support.
- Escape with this tropical Detox Island Green Smoothie to heal from within.
Dietary Adjustments & Substitutions
Need to accommodate a food allergy? Click the button below for tailored suggestions just for you:
Best Green Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup pineapple frozen
- ½ cup mango frozen
- 1 banana
Instructions
- Measure: Tightly pack spinach in a measuring cup.
- Add: Put spinach to blender with water. Blend together until all chunks are gone. (Should resemble green water when blended well).
- Toss: Pineapple, mango and banana to blender. I like to use frozen pineapple and mangos to chill the smoothie down and save time cutting and prepping. It’s a win-win!
- Blend: It all together until smooth and creamy. Depending on your blender, this could take as little as 30 seconds or as long as 2 minutes.
- Pour: Into a glass and serve immediately.
Video
Helpful Tools
Notes
- Try adding a serving of Homemade Protein Powder, it’s super clean and easy to make.
- Not a fan of bananas? Swap it for 1/4 avocado, additional 1/2 cup mango or 1/2 cup peaches.
- You can use 1 cup pineapple if you’re out of mango.
- Frozen fruit is recommended to chill the smoothie (and save time cutting and washing).
- Store in the fridge with a lid until ready to drink.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review for a chance to win signed copies of my cookbooks!Common Questions
You won’t be able to taste the spinach if you use the proper ratio of fruit to spinach (1½ : 1). This green smoothie recipe tastes like a mango pineapple smoothie with a hint of banana flavor.
For busy weeks, you can create Frozen Smoothie Packs that you prep on the weekend and enjoy all week, or month. It’ll only take you 5 minutes every morning to have a green smoothie ready to go. You can also blend your smoothie the night before and store it in your fridge until ready to drink.
Green smoothies are the healthiest fast food out there. Blending spinach and fruit into a smoothie is a great way to boost your immune system, increase fiber intake, and boost your energy levels. Adding kale or spinach in a smoothie has incredible health benefits with additional phytonutrients. What we eat can truly transform our body in powerful ways!
Most smoothies you buy or find online are made with just fruit and fruit juice. This makes them crazy high in sugar, which can cause inflammation and consuming excess calories. A green smoothie, on the other hand, is made with fruit and leafy greens, typically spinach or kale. They’re loaded with iron, potassium, fiber and vitamins galore.
Any blender will work, yet to get the creamiest green smoothie you’ll need a high speed blender. Check out my Best Blenders for Smoothies guide, where I reviewed countless blenders to find the best ones for green smoothies. The key is to get rid of leafy chunks, blend quickly and provide tons of value for the price. Hint: not all of them cost $400.
it says this recipe Makes two servings for 5 days.
what’s the best way to store it, after made, so it doesn’t spoil?
fridge? freezer?
thanks! 🙂
Hi!
The five days is talking about how if you buy everything on that small shopping list then you will have enough ingredients for 5 days worth of 2 serving smoothies— one smoothie each day 🙂
Hi, I have a bit of trouble dealing with american measurement units. What kind of ‘cup’ of spinach would be an equivalent to grams in metric system (please take a look at the table in following link: . Thanks in advance, i look forward to try some of the recipes!
A cup is 8 ounces. Thanks!! 🙂
Vladimir, typically 1 US cup = 250ml
I just made this green smoothie and it was my first attempt ever at making a smoothie and I’m in love! Thank you!!
Woohoo, Tory!!! You RAWK!! 🙂
what’s a good substitute for the spinach?
Check out this page, Miri 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/leafy-greens
First time smoothie drinker – always stayed away from them because I knew there were hidden calories. Started looking into the green smoothies, which led me to this website and your FB page. Just tried my first green smoothie this am, using the Beginners Luck Green Smoothie. LOVED IT! Easy ingredients, easy to put together, tasty – I also added a dash of cayenne pepper to it for an extra kick. I think I may be hooked! I also joined the 30 day challenge – looking forward to it!
I have been drinking green drinks for a few years but I have to say the Day one smoothie was the best I have had so far. I am a huge fan all ready!!!
The day one makes enough for two, are you supposed to drink the day one smoothie twice?
Hi made my first smoothie -fallin for apples. And It was not cold at all. I like cold smoothies so what fruits would you suggest to freeze and not freeze? Thanks.
You could try freezing the liquid for that smoothie 🙂
Day one… super good and super easy! I keep all my fruits frozen and it makes smoothies cold and shake-like without ice to water them down.
I absolutely despise mango – any suggestions for a substitute?
Anything you like, Christine! Peaches, pears, kiwi, bananas. No rules around here – use what you like! 😉
I came to the website and looked it over after seeing the things one of my Facebook friends was posting about the 30 day challenge. I then went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for the beginner’s smoothie. I made it right now and it’s really good! I like it! I think I just might join this challenge! I even got my veggie-phobic mother to try it and she’s going to join with me! Yay!
Yay, Casandera!! Join us — you’ll love it! 🙂
I signed up for the 30 day green smoothie challenge. I was so excited that I started a few days early just to try out the recipes. The smoothie are good and I can see myself doing this more than 30 days. It is a life style change.
Hooray! Good for you, Angel 🙂
Your tip about blending the water and spinach first, has made all of the difference for me. This is only the second green smoothie I have tried and way better experience than my first. It is a nice bright cheery green colour that is much more appealing than the previous muddy green one I tried. I have a 20+ year old Osterizer blender that actually did a pretty good job of getting rid of all of the chunky spinach bits when I followed your tips! Thank you! A very successful day 1 of my 30 day challenge!
Could I use frozen spinach defrost it first maybe?
Hey Sarah— I wouldn’t recommend it… we have had people try that and it doesn’t usually end up well. The frozen boxes of spinach usually have additives (including salt) and seem to get a bit strange. I would stick with fresh leafy greens— and you can freeze them yourself and know exactly what’s in them.
I’m so excited for the challenge! But I have so many food allergies … like in the “beginners luck” I’m allergic to mango pineapple and bananas!!! I need a substitute smoothie for beginners 😉 Any suggestions?
Hi Kat,
Maybe you should check out some of our recipes that sound good to you here:
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/recipes
I just made this for the first time and am impressed. With the recipe I made nearly 2L. Am I suppose to drink 1 litre at a time?
Yes, each recipe is supposed to be two servings 🙂
Allergic to oranges and tangelos. Any good subsitutes? I’m not allergic to other citrus, ie limes and lemons. Can’t get enough of those!
Anything that is tangy, juicy, and sweet will be great!