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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 green vegetables, 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 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. Here are some of my favorite oat milk brands and almond milk brands to buy.
- Spinach: Swap for kale, Swiss chard, beet greens, or any leafy green vegetables 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.
If you make this best green smoothie recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment box below. Your feedback helps me and all the readers in this community. And if you’re interested in more plant-based recipes (and exclusive content), sign up for my weekly recipe newsletter.
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 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.
Just made my first green smoothie and it was awesome! Instead of just plain water I used SO Delicious Original coconut milk and it turned out great. Thanks for the recipe! Can’t wait to try the rest of them 🙂
Woohoo! Congrats on your first green smoothie!! 🙂
Quick question on the Beginner’s Luck Smoothie. Two bananas seems to be about two cups, shouldn’t the smoothies be made with only 3 cups of fruit? The bananas plus mango and pineapple makes 4 cups. Thanks!
Hey Kathleen. Thanks for the post. Depending on how big the bananas are, it might give you a little bit more. Here is a link we like to try to keep to when we are making smoothies. https://simplegreensmoothies.com/how-to-make-a-smoothie
Awesome! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Hey Dafina! Hope you are loving the beginner’s luck green smoothie. It is one of my personal favorites!
Thanks so much for the 30 day smoothie challenge. I used to drink smoothies all thru the year, and it is a credit to me maintaining my trim figure. I have been de-toxing for years! I had high blood pressure and I ‘ve returned back to green smoothies. I no longer have cravings for sugar or coffee!!!! It was extremely hard to get off the coffee. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Really great to hear this, Sannimaria! Thanks for sharing how green smoothies have helped you—encouraging!
Hi, I’m signed up to start the next 30 day challenge this July and I’m excited! However, I have an allergy to pineapple and I notice several of your smoothie recipes, including this starter one, include pineapple. What fruit can I substitute for pineapple in this or any of the other recipes and still maintain the intent behind the flavor/nutrient combo? Thanks!
Hi Dafina-Lazarus Stewart!
You can really use anything else that’s sweet and juicy. With this specific recipe, there was no real nutritional intent other than it being fruit that’s great for your body! Here’s a list of things that might work: kiwi, doubling up on mango, grapes, berries, and more.
Awesome, thanks for the tip! 🙂
are you meant to do one of these and still eat healthy ,or one one of these and cut out a meal?
Thanks
Lisa
Hi Lisa!
The goal is to drink one green smoothie a day in place of a meal or snack, and to keep eating normally the rest of the day 🙂
Hi, I’m new to green smoothies. I know it’s best to use fresh or frozen fruits but can I use canned fruits? Will it effect my smoothies?
Question..this is my first smoothie..im a newbie. Does the pineapple have to be fresh or can I use canned???
We prefer fresh or frozen, Carrol 🙂
Carrol did you ever get a reply to your question? I was wondering the same thing about canned food.
We don’t recommend using canned, Shirley 🙂 We would rather use fresh or frozen.
I am just starting out on the green smoothie plan. My daughter and son-in-law have been on them for about 2 years now. They bought a Vitamix at our local kitchen store and they used my son-in-law as the “poster child” for Vitamix because he lost so much weight and felt so much healthier and energetic. Before that he was the typical beer swilling, hamburger eating guy. He has converted a number of people over to the smoothies now. We live in an area where there are plenty of huckleberries which I pick and freeze every summer so these are added daily to any smoothie that I make.
Awesome to hear, Sheila! Welcome to the green smoothie world 🙂
Hello, I just wanted to add that I got two of my coworkers doing the challenge, one started several months ago and has been going every since and the other is doing the month of May with me and she got her fiance to do it as well, also tried them out on her 5 year old step-daughter and she hates veggies, but absolutely loved the green smoothies. The first one I had my coworkers try was “beginners luck”. So thank you, I’m continuing to spread the word, I got back on the green smoothie challenge to help kick my candy addiction and I am currently 2.5 weeks candy free, 🙂 LOL! Thank you Jen and Jadah for this awesome website and support to help make my life greener and healthier! You two ROCK…! 🙂
Way to spread the green smoothie love, Jamoya! Keep it up, and keep blending those green smoothies.
Is this a one person-one meal recipe? I’m very new and don’t want to seem dumb. I’m desperate and feel like I found your site for a reason.
Hiya, this is a 2 person’s recipe. I thought it was a one mans recipe too and ended up making a bit too much! But don’t fret, i just poured the rest into a jar and put it in the fridge for the next day, yum. Just halve this recipe and youve got a single serve 🙂
Im new to the green smoothie craze. I’ve been making a lot of fruit smoothie’s but never a green smoothie. What are the benefits? And what are some great recipe’s
Hi Chris!
Here’s a page full of recipes:
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/recipes
This page talks all about why we love green smoothies 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/how-to-make-a-smoothie
I’ve been doing the 30 day challenges for a year now and LOVE IT! But… My daughter is pregnant and her iron is low. What smoothies would you suggest for her. (she not particularly fond of fruits and veggies)
Check out this article, Dana!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/smoothie-pregnancy
that’s my meal replacement smooth for breakfast 1 banana 1 apple 1 pear 1 carrot 1 stalk of celery 1″ ginger 2 table spoons of flax seeds and the greens are 3 cups of spinach or kale or a full head of romaine only the romaine has a earthy taste that’s why i m asking because i like to rotate my greens.
i wonder if i can mix spinach or kale with romaine, would i get the same nutrition value and there is not a nutrition conflict.
Hi Sharon!
Feel free to mix leafy greens if you’d like 🙂 We prefer to stick to one leafy green at a time just to make it simpler, but it’s ok to mix.
that’s my meal replacement smooth for breakfast 1 banana 1 apple 1 pear 1 carrot 1 stalk of celery 1″ ginger 2 table spoons of flax seeds and the greens are 3 cups of spinach or kale or a full head of romaine only the romaine has a earthy taste that’s why i m asking because i like to rotate my greens.
i wonder if i can mix spinach or kale with romaine, would i get the same nutrition value and there is not a nutrition conflict.
Hi!
What can you recommend as a substitute for avocado?
Depends what you’re using avocado in, Michelle 🙂 If you’re using it in a smoothie, then 1/4 cup of coconut oil will do!