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My favorite green smoothie recipe is really a tropical energy drink in disguise. With over 1,300 5-star reviews, it’s time for you to see why blending spinach into a smoothie is a tasty morning habit.
I know a green smoothie doesn’t sound (or look) very appealing at first sight, but it can be beyond delicious. I’ve blended this recipe in kindergarten classrooms (and the kids ask for seconds)! I’ve made it for my teenage daughter’s volleyball friends and they chug it down. I drink this green smoothie recipe almost every morning to boost my energy levels and nourish my body.
Table of contents
Benefits of a Green Smoothie
Drinking this green smoothie is what gave me the body and energy levels to do some incredible things in my late 30’s after having two kids. I’ve run 47 miles of the Grand Canyon, rode a motorcycle across Morocco in a 7-day race, hiked Angel’s Landing and created a backyard garden for my kids.
This simple green smoothie is great for beginners because it’s naturally sweetened with fruit (no added sugars) and loaded with greens and protein. Some of the benefits I’ve noticed when I drink a green smoothie every day are:
- More energy from the natural fruit sugars
- Don’t get sick (my immune system is strong thanks to all the nutrients)
- My digestive system is happy with all the fiber and hydration from a green smoothie
This daily habit has kept my kids healthy when we didn’t have health insurance, energized us in between school and sports and nourished us so we rarely get sick. And when we do, we can usually bounce back with some of my own natural remedies.
My kids started drinking green smoothies when they were 2 years old. Now, they’re teenagers and still drink them. Here’s some photos of them over the years (they have no clue I put these on here!).
When I created this green smoothie recipe, it changed my family’s life in more ways than I ever imagined. It was love at first sip for me, my two kids and 1 million others, who were intimidated by spinach (just like me!). Since them, I’ve published a best-selling green smoothie cookbook and shared my recipes live on The Doctors TV Show…twice!
Best Green Smoothie Ingredients
Everything you need to make a green smoothie is found in a garden, farmer’s market or the produce section of your grocery store. The closer we eat to nature, the better we feel. This smoothie recipe is a great way to start eating healthier foods. Here’s the ingredients we’ll be blending:
- 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 one of the Dirty Dozen. The right ratio of spinach to fruit makes it sweet, as well as helps you reap all the health benefits.
- Frozen pineapple: I buy frozen pineapple at Costco in bulk to make Frozen Smoothie Packs. If it’s on sale, I’ll cut up pineapple and freeze it myself.
- Frozen mango: You’ll find this 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.
- Fresh banana: Bananas add a creaminess to smoothies that is hard to replicate. It’s magic!
- Water: The liquid base in the smoothie is water. Use filtered water to avoid any unnecessary chemicals or pollutants. I like using a Berkey Water Filter that I keep on my countertop.
Fresh VS frozen fruit
I prefer using frozen fruit because it chills down your smoothie without using ice, which can dull your blender blades overtime. I use fresh bananas in my smoothies because I like how creamy they make it.
How to Blend a Green Smoothie
The only equipment you need to make a green smoothie is a high-speed blender for smoothies. A juicer or food processor won’t work to get you a creamy drink you’ll want to make over and over. Once you have a blender, you can successfully make the best green smoothie recipe following the steps below.
Blend spinach with liquid base
Blend 1 cup of spinach (or another leafy greens of your choice) in a blender with 1 cup of liquid. Adding spinach to your smoothie boosts the phytonutrients and fiber, which then slows down the absorption of sugars into your body. Blend until all leafy chunks are gone.
Beginner Blending Tip
When you’re making your first few green smoothies, follow my Green Smoothie Formula to get the perfect blend. Don’t just throw spinach and kale in the blender. Chances are, it’ll taste nasty if you wing it right out of the gate.
Add frozen fruit to blender
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 be a smoothie bowl, use more frozen fruit. You can freeze your favorite fruits like ripe bananas, grapes, pineapple or berries.
How to sweeten a smoothie
If the smoothie isn’t as sweet as you would like, add in some natural sweeteners like bananas, mango, oranges, honey or pitted dates.
Scoop in the superfoods
Once the smoothie is nice and creamy, you can add in superfoods. Chia seeds, hemp hearts and flax seed are all great choices. You can turn any smoothie recipe into a meal replacement by adding a serving of homemade protein powder to any smoothie recipe.
Blend smoothie on high speed
In order to break down the cell walls of the plants, you need to blend on high speed. You shouldn’t have any leafy chunks in your smoothie if your blender is powerful enough.
Drink green smoothie immediately
To get the maximum amount of nutrients from a smoothie, drink it immediately after blending it. The longer your smoothie is exposed to oxygen, the more it breaks down and the nutrients deteriorate. This is called oxidation. To minimize this, you can store your smoothe in the fridge with an air-tight lid for up to 48 hours, yet I think it tastes best if consumed within 4 hours after blending.
Green Smoothie Recipe Variations
It’s easy to swap ingredients based on what you have on hand. If you’d like more green smoothie recipes, check out these popular ones below:
- My son is obsessed with this mango orange smoothie recipe.
- Try this tropical pina colada smoothie to head to the beach asap.
- Want to boost your metabolism? Then this is a great fat burning green smoothie recipe.
- This kale smoothie will surprise even your taste buds.
Best Green Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup pineapple frozen
- ½ cup mango frozen
- 1 banana
- 1 serving homemade protein powder optional
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.
- Store: In the fridge with a lid until ready to drink.
Equipment
Video
Notes
- 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).
Nutrition
Common Questions
You won’t be able to taste the spinach if you use the proper ratio of fruit to spinach. This green smoothie tastes like a mango pineapple smoothie with a hint of banana flavor.
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. A kale or spinach smoothie has incredible health benefits with additional phytonutrients. What we eat can truly transform our bodies and our lives 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, vegan milks and leafy greens, typically spinach or kale. They’re loaded with iron, potassium, fiber and vitamins galore. If you’re not sure which leafy greens to use in your smoothie, check out my Ultimate Leafy Greens Guide for Smoothies.
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.
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.
Hello Lovely Ladies,
I am officially starting the 30 day challenge today. I am inspired by all the comments, and REALLY inspired by the website. I have a quick question: What would you recommend for a banana substitution. I am unable to eat them. I thought I would share this little titbit for anyone challenged with this as well….I take 1 oz. of apple cidar vinegar 30 minutes before bed time has helped me sleep better as well as it has reduced my night sweats (I am over 50) so that I am able to have a more restful sleep.
Thank you for the inspiration, recipes, and support 😀
Kate
I started to add protein powder to my smoothies. I am using Vanilla Whey Protein, and the flavor completely over powers the taste of the smoothie. I had looked at some plant based protein, but they only had 9 grams of protein vs. the 25 grams in the whey. I need to find a protein powder with a good amount of protein and no real flavor so I can still taste the delicious smoothie. Any suggestions???
Hey Allison!
Have you tried Hemp Hearts? They have 10g of protein.
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/shop
Hope that helps. 🙂
Hi! I’m in the midst of the 30 day challenge and I’m loving it! However, I am trying to count calories and none of the recipes indicate how many calories it is. Is there anyway you can help with this? Thanks!
Hi Dafina! We personally don’t count calories, so we don’t include them in our recipes at this time. You will find that when you consume more nourishing whole fruits and veggies, you will not only feel full longer, but you’ll also have lessened cravings for high-calorie, nutritionally empty foods. So in the end it balances out. But we know many people would like to have calorie info. Two great resources for tracking calories are the phone apps My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
I’ve been using My Fitness Pal to estimate the calories for each individual ingredient, divided by the serving amounts. Not exact but it gives a pretty good estimate.
Day 10 of the challenge and still going!! 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Karyne! Glad MyFitnessPal is working out for you! 🙂
Hi,
I’m so excited to start the 30 day challenge! I just have one question. I’m not a very big fan of spinach or kale (or any green fruits and veggies) and I wanted to know if the fruit in the smoothies will cover up the taste of the Spinach/kale.
Thanks!
Hi Vive, have to tried baby spinach or baby kale? It is much more mild.
YAY! Made my first smoothie today (beginners luck) and it’s delicious! I am so excited to try so many new ones! I do have one question…there were a lot of hair-like strands in it. I’m guessing that’s from the spinach, so should I pick the stems off tomorrow?? 🙂 thanks!
Hi Paige. I actually find that it is the pineapple that does this. Try blending the pineapple and liquid first then add your leafy greens, followed by the rest of your recipes! 🙂
I just picked up a NutriBullet Pro today. I am going to try a 10 day cleanse from a book I bought at Amazon. That book is how I found your website. My hope is to jump start a weight loss program. I am a 51 year old male and have lost 80 pounds at least three times since my 20’s. I always followed the Atkins diet which works great as long as you stay on it. I have always gained all the weight back within two years. I now am the biggest I’ve ever been, about 350 pounds. I’m 6’4″ so have always carried weight well, but now my proportions are obviously out of skew. I am always tired and don’t sleep well. My medical doctor just wants to prescribe more meds that have worse side effects than what it’s supposed to treat.
Bottom line, I really hope this smoothie thing works for me. I need something to turn my health around. I stopped taking all the meds about a month ago and already feel better except the post traumatic arthritis in my feet and legs.
After the 10 day cleanse, I’ll continue the challenge for the remaining 20 days until I’ve completed the 30 challenge. I am hoping to be down 20lbs by the end of the July.
P.S. Great website and loads of information. Thanks for this great resource.
Best wishes to you, Steve! Let us know if you need anything from us!
All the best!
Steve I just wanted to cheer you on! Good for you!
Hey! Yes I saw that and am definitely considering. Since I am doing this challenge and a 21 day work out program, I don’t want to take on to change too much.
Can I drink the whole recipe in a day? I work weird hours and don’t get home till 8:30/9. Being able to have a smoothie that I can drink at lunch and for a snack/dinner would be great.
Yes, we recommend 16oz servings. Most recipes make 32-40oz.
Enjoy!
I am starting my Green Smoothie life today. I used the basics of one of your recipes to make todays. As I do this I am also trying to change my regular eating habits, which are terrible. My plan is to have a breakfast (grapefruit and yogurt, cereal, protein shake/bar) then to have the smoothie as a meal replacement at lunch. Hopefully have a snack during the day (although I’m not sure what to use) and then dinner…(and I am pretty lacking in knowledge of health meals).
If I am doing the smoothies for lunch, what should I do with your recipes. Is drinking a whole one too much? Should I add protein of somem kind? I am in desperate need of changing my life and am really eager to do this correctly.
Hey Allison! You seem to be heading in the right direction! The desire for a change and putting it into action is a great start! If you are looking for a whole new eating plan, have you checked out our Plant-Based Cleanse? https://simplegreensmoothies.com/cleanse
Hi
So I know were supposed to use fresh raw spinach however where I live raw vegetables arent really hygenic as theyre mostly sold by the road. I wanted to know of I could cook the spinach or if there is anyother way to clean it rather than just washing?
Hey Nisha! Do you have access to frozen spinach?
This is the best thing I have ever tasted, this is the first time in a long that I have had a full serving of fruit and veggies. I didn’t even taste the veggies much. I loved it!!!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Amanda!
Everything said made a great deal of sense.
But, think on this, what if you composed a catchier post title?
I mean, I don’t wish to tell you how to run your website, however what
if you added a headline that grabbed people’s attention? I mean Beginner’s Luck
Green Smoothie – Simple Green Smoothies is a little vanilla.
You ought to peek at Yahoo’s home page and watch how they write post titles to grab people to open the links.
You might add a related video or a picture or two to get readers interested about everything’ve got to say.
Just my opinion, it might bring your website a little
livelier.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Might be obvious but I’m new to this. Do you put spinach stems in? I did this morning and can feel them in the smoothie. A bit thready! Thanks.
Hi Juliet!
If you use baby spinach you can toss the whole thing in but if theres woody stems, you’ll want to toss those first and just use the leaf!! 🙂
I’m starting the July 30-day challenge next week and getting excited! I just made this and it was great. It’s hard for me to get fresh spinach or kale locally on a regular basis — next opportunity I get I’ll stock up and freeze — so until then I am using packaged frozen. 1)You wrote to see on the package if the spinach was blanched before frozen. Mine doesn’t mention that but says it was picked when ripe and flash frozen to preserve nutrients. Is this good? 2) I noticed my smoothie is a much darker green than the one in your pictures. (Still great, though.) Can it be that because my frozen spinach is so tightly packed/condensed, the quantities should be adjusted, or should I continue to use the same amount as I would fresh? Thanks!
Hi Sarah!
It sounds like the frozen spinach is pretty good. Go for it 🙂 It could be pretty condensed causing there to be more spinach than what we normally use. That’s ok, though!
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!