This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Hey Lissette.
Our co-founder Jadah lost 20+ lbs by drink 1 green smoothie a day (16oz) + her normal lunch and dinner. Results may vary, depending on how active you are. But the leafy greens and fresh fruit are awesome fuel for your body.
Hey Lissette.
I live in Texas too. I have found unsweetened coconut milk at Tom Thumb + Whole Foods + Costco. 🙂
I’m a newbie from Guatemala, Central America. I’m starting with the program from your web page, thanks for the clear information and the easy solutions you give to all the questions :). I want to ask you if there’s another fruit like kiwi that could help me to lose weight more quickly without losing the vitamins? What I love with this smoothies is the FULL feeling I’ve in my stomach 🙂 waiting for answer, Best Regards, Mollinedo.
Hey Luis.
Try our KIWI BERRY PUNCH
Berries are naturally sweet immunity boosters, low-calorie, and full of antioxidants. Kiwi is packed with vitamin C and an amazing fat-burning citrus fruit. We always keep several bags of frozen berries in the freezer— which is perfect for this recipe.
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/fat-burning-smoothie
Are you using regular blenders or a special smoothie blende? I’ve made smoothies for fun In the past with my regular blender. I always just used fruit. I have had green smoothies made for me and like to try my own but not sure about my blender.
Hey Tricia.
We usually blend with high speed blenders, but any blender will make green smoothies. 🙂 Thanks for joining us!
i am excited to try this, i just joined tonight! but when i got my email i got the shopping list for week 3, shouldn’t i have got week 1? lol
Hey Shawna.
I have resent Week 1 + 2 to you inbox. 🙂
I made a green smoothie this morning using 1 cup of green tea, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 banana, 1/4 cup chopped dates, 1/8 cup chia seeds, and 1 cup spinach — thicker than green smoothie 101 recipe but very delicious and filling
Wonderful to hear! Sounds like a great combo!
I just started weight watchers and was wondering whats a good smoothie that has 2 or less points?
Hey Teri.
We personally don’t count calories, so we don’t include them in our recipes at this time. Three great resources for tracking calories are Self Nutrition Data and the phone apps My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
Hi Lissette!!
No worries if you start late, just keep on chugging until your 30 days is done and let us know when you finish so we can celebrate with you.
Definitely check out our page simplegreensmoothies.com/rotate-your-greens to find additional greens to use.
We might be doing a meal plan in the future. Would you be interested in this?
And definitely check out our other page simplegreensmoothies.com/faqs 🙂
Is it ok to use milk instead of water?
Milk is not very detox… I recommend you oat milk, rice milk or unsweetened almond milk instead. Much more healthy than animal milk!
Thanks for your tip, Esther! 🙂
Sure. You can use what you like, Sanju. We personally don’t use dairy in our green smoothies but feel free to use what works for you! 🙂
Hi!!! I just wanted to share with you all that today it’s been my first day on the challenge (a little late, I know!) and I’ve started with this smoothie (my husband also has, and he has already asked me to prepare more tomorrow for his crazy monday!). Maybe it’s been the beginner’s luck smoothie, maybe just spending the day at home doing things I like, but it has been a very nice day!!! Thanks for all your tips and recipes, I’m looking forward to a new green day!!!
Hi there, Valentina!
We’re so excited to have you here!! Keep on chugging for 30 days and let us know when you’re done so we can celebrate with you! 🙂
I’m sure I saw a recipe for caramel apple green smoothie using dates but I cannot locate it. Does anyone have one to share? Thanks
can we use two frozen fruits? or only one?
Yes! Use as many as you like but you might just have to work it really well when you blend them as it might get too hard to blend. 🙂
Hi,
Any chance of having beginbers luck smoothie recipe in grams and ml??
Thanks
Hi there!
We use cups and tablespoons, etc here but we are working on doing the conversions for other measurements. 🙂
Brilliant can I have it in tablespoons then please
Can canned (in juice) pineapple be used in place of fresh or frozen without altering the taste or texture too much? It’s a much more affordable option where I live.
Hey Kim.
Thanks for the comment. Canned usually is sitting in a lot of sugar. Is frozen fruit more affordable than fresh? If so, go for that. 🙂
can you resend the weekly grocery list. I didn’t receive anything in my inbox.
Hey Krystal.
Thanks for reaching out to us. Here are the links to Week 1 + 2 + 3 on our website (which are valid links until January 31st).
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/challenge
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/challenge
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/challenge
Also, I have resent the list + recipes to your inbox. 🙂
Cheers!
I’m starting a smoothie journey with my fiance, we desperately need to lose weight for health problems. For Christmas him and his mom got me a ninja kitchen system and we’re just beginning to play with it. I’m curious if you could increase the pineapple and use either oranges or another fruit in place of the mango? I’m not a fan of mango…anyone else use other tropical fruits? I’ve done berries, but don’t want to be burned out on them…and my other half is seriously skeptical about a green smoothie! Thanks for the help!
Hey Laura. Thanks for joining us! If you are doing a full smoothie there should be
2 cups leafy greens
2 cups of liquids
3 cups of fruit of you choice
(one frozen item)
So not matter what we sub in or out that is the formula that we use. Hope that helps.