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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
- 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. A juicer or food processor won’t work to get you a creamy smoothie.
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
Here’s some of the most popular green smoothie recipes on my blog to try next:
- My son is obsessed with this Mango Orange Smoothie recipe.
- This Tropical 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.
Easy and delicious. Sometimes I use peach instead of mango. Either way, it’s yummy!
Ooohh peach is sooo good in this one, Colleen!
I love this smoothie I’m not a fan of banana so I use avacado first time I’m using water in place of almond milk it’s filling and delicious!!! I love mango the flavors mingle wonderfully together.
Avocado is just as good in this one, Danielle! The mango makes it feel super tropical!
I could live on these smoothies! What better way to start the day than with The Best Green Smoothie! Very easy to drink, can’t miss the spinach taste layer with a tropical blend of pineapple and mango! Great combination.
I could make this one everyday too, Cheryl!
I thought calling it the Best Green Smoothie was going to be subjective at best, but this really is a fantastic smoothie! I used a fresh banana for more creaminess and the spinach was blended down enough that there were no chunks or separation – just yummy, sweet, green deliciousness. Wow! It made more than would fit into a pint glass so I was bummed my boyfriend wasn’t around to share it with me.
So glad we’ve convinced you it’s worthy of the name, Sylvia!
Was excited for the smoothie challenge!
First time I have used water instead of Almond milk and it was delicious however I didn’t like the taste of my Organic plant based protein powder maybe I will use less next time. But will definitely add this green smoothie on my rotation. Thanks
Hi Peggy! You can definitely decrease the protein powder if it was too overpowering!
This is by far the tastiest green smoothie I’ve ever had! So simple, yet so fulfilling. I added hemp seeds for protein, and it was delicious. This will definitely make it into my top five rotation of smoothies!
Adding hemp seeds is a great idea, Kay!
I love this recipe. I’ve been making this for years now. I use double the amount of spinach. One of my weekly go to recipes.
You can never go wrong with adding more spinach, David!
Love it !
Healthy, refreshing and easy to make!
Love it !
Healthy, refreshing and easy to make!
So glad you liked this one, Jeffery!
For a green smoothie this is tops in flavor and texture. It pays to blend the spinach and water first. Never knew that before!
Yes! You’re so right, Lois. Blending the spinach and water first is a game changer!
I’m not really a fan of green smoothies, but I was pleasantly surprised with this Day 1 smoothie. There was no detection of spinach anywhere. It wasn’t super thick and “fleshy” as the one’s I’ve had in the past were. Also, it had a nice balance of just overall flavor and sweetness. Looking forward to Day 2. Thank you!
Yay! Love that this one surprised you, Valerie!
Delicious! Thick as a milk shake and a very fresh sweet flavor. I added unflavored pea protein. Definitely enjoyed this smoothie.
Pea protein is a great addition to this one, Terry!
Sorry, I did not use your recipe because the calorie count was over my limit. I used another low cal mixture:
1/2 cup Baby spinach and baby kale
1/3 Cucumber
1 peeled and seeded lemon
1/2 Green apple
1 Tbs beet powder
1 Tbs home made cranberry sauce. (made with stevia)
1 1/2 cups of filtered water
blend
Hi Laura! If you’re looking to reduce the calories, you can substitute more mango for the pineapples!
Tasted great and is filling.
Thanks so much Lillie!
This was okay but not delicious. I mostly tasted the banana. It seemed a bit thin/watery. But overall okay and will probably have it again.
Hi Pam! Next time reduce the banana or maybe swap it with an avocado!
Tastes good and fresh. I would like to add a little more sweetness. Great way to start the day.
You can always add a little more of each fruit if you’re looking to add more sweetness, Faith!
Enjoying this smoothie. I added some protein powder and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Yum! I’ll have to try the cinnamon in this one next time, Jean!