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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.
Hi there,
So happy to have found your site and now I am on the bandwagon making green smoothies every day.
Here is my dilemma. I travel a lot for business and I am wondering how I can stay on this program away from home. Sometimes it is diffiicult to find a juice bar and they can be very expensive.
Is there a blender that one can easily travel with? Or other tips?
Thanks, Kari McLay
There’s a number of small travel blenders, or you could use an immersion hand blender. The Oster My Blend is awfully cute (other brands have ones like it), although I haven’t tried it. The top turns into a travel cup. Try searching “travel blender”. I’d use a thin bendy cutting board too to keep things light.
Great tips, Liz! Thanks for being a total rawkstar!
I’m Starting my challenge today wish me luck
Hi Samia,
Yay! Keep us updated throughout your challenge!
I just made my first green smoothie EVER — I started with the Beginner’s Luck. It is delicious and sweet, maybe that’s why you recommend starting with this one. I look forward to experimenting!! Thanks.
17-8-2015
Starting my Green smoothie w hubby today. Wish us luck … Gonna try this recipe tonite
❤ fr Singapore
Hi Ana,
Welcome! We’re so excited you found us in this busy internet world! We hope you enjoy our Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie Recipe, it’s one of our personal favorite! Reach back out + let us know how you + your husband enjoyed your first green smoothie.
Cheers 🙂
Why don’t you supply the nutrition facts with your recipes?
Hi Tim,
You’ll 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 we prefer to focus on adding healthy fruits, leafy greens, + nutritious options to our diet, than specific numbers. But we know many people would like to have the calorie + nutritional info. Three great resources are Self Nutrition Data, and the phone apps: My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
Hi ladies – I’m brand new and looking forward to starting tomorrow! A quick question: I don’t like mango and wondered if I could substitute berries for mango in the beginner smoothie. Is there something you might recommend instead? Thank you!
Hi Rachel,
Yay! We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us. Not a fan of mango, no worries, we’ve got you covered – double up the pineapple in this recipe or swap in papaya, kiwi, or berries.
Cheers 🙂
Thank you! I am *very* excited 🙂
You’re so welcome, Rachel!!
I was doing this combo and just recently found out that bananas with citrus is a bad combo. food combining is something I’m just now learning about.
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for reaching out! We are not professional nutritionists, but all the research we have done suggests that blending fruits and veggies together is no different than eating fruits and veggies together–like a salad! Hope this helps!
I made the beginners luck smoothie today. I actually added about a third cup of cherries and I had a mixed bag of fruit (strawberries, pineapples, mango, peaches). It came out a dirty looking color I am sure because of the cherries. It tasted pretty good. My son and husband enjoyed it with me. Just wanted to say also that I have a random blender/mixer from Walgreen’s that I purchased about a year ago. I was nervous about the vegetables but everything mixed well. So no need at this point to go out and spend more money. My husband and I are up for the 30 day challenge. The next one does not start until October but we will be starting our own in a few days to see how well we do. Thanks for an awesome informative site!
Hi Territha,
Thank you so much for reaching out + sharing your story, we love hearing from our community, so thank you for taking the time to let us know how you enjoyed our Beginner’s Luck recipe! Cherries + dark berries will change your green smoothie from green to brown, red, or purple, but will still be delicious + packed with nutritious fruits + leafy greens.
We definitely agree, no need to run out + buy an expensive blender, any blender is perfect for making green smoothies! If you don’t have a smoothie powerhouse, we suggest blending your liquid base + leafy greens first, then add the rest of your ingredients. Adding at least one frozen fruit helps breakdown any remaining leafy greens!
We can’t wait for you to join our October 30-Day Challenge!
Cheers 🙂
So I heard that eating a lot of bananas can make you constipated is that right?
Had my first delicious green smoothie. The beginner smoothie was yummy. I am sold. Cheers to green!!!
Hi Don,
YAY!! We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us! Reach out with any questions, we’re always here! 🙂
What is the sugar content in your smoothies? I tried another belly fat plan and the smoothies seem to have increased my waist size!
How do I know if it is not too much?
Hi Janette,
Thank you so much for reaching out!
Concerned about the amount of sugar? Three great resources for tracking calories + sugar content are Self Nutrition Data, and the phone apps: My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
Our smoothie recipes make about 4-5 cups (32oz – 40oz). Each smoothie has 3 cups of fruit in it, and it is recommended that an adult has 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit a day. When you drink 16oz of our green smoothie recipe you will be meeting, or just under your daily intake for fruit. If you feel like that is too much fruit, feel free to do 2 cups of fruit in each smoothie with 3 cups of leafy greens. Or reach for a low-sugar fruit option!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/low-sugar-fruits
Hope this helps!
Hey!
Wondering of any ideas/alternatives to avoid using juice in my green smoothies? I personally don’t see the nutritional benefit of it so hoping to not sacrifice texture or flavor if I opt out of using juice.
Hi Kayla,
Not a fan of juice, no worries, swap any recipe with fruit juice for another liquid base you enjoy more! Here are a few of our favorites…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/dairy-free-smoothies
Hi i started on green smoothie for two. Weeks now and i enjoy it. I lost 6pounds I’m going to keep drinking. It tastes good
Hi Donna,
We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us! How have you had your weight loss success? Are you using your green smoothies as a meal replacement, or simply adding a green smoothie to your regular diet?
Cheers to health, happiness, + leafy greens! 🙂
Hi I’m using it as a meal replacement oh and i wrote that wrong i meant to say it’s has stopped my ankle from swelling. I drink it for breakfast. And lunch and have s regular dinner
Hi Donna,
Wahoo! That’s great, we love hearing how green smoothies have helped you lose weight + prevent swelling! Cheers to health, happiness, + leafy greens!
Does green smoothie makes your ankle from swelling
Hi Donna,
Thanks for reaching out! I personally haven’t experienced or heard members of our community experience ankle swelling. We’re green smoothie lovin’ rawkstars all right, but we’re not doctors or nutritionists. We suggest you talk with your doctor about any health concerns— I’m sure they can help you decide what is best for you and your body.
Cheers to health + happiness!
stumbled on ur site yesterday and cnt get my eyes off it. keep up the good work. i would like to know when tge next challenge will be coming up cos i wld love to join. am nigerian .
Hi Dmma,
We’re so excited you found us in this busy internet world! We’re currently in the July 30-Day Challenge, it’s not too late to join us. We still have 10 days of delicious recipes + shopping lists to share!
Sign up here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/challenge/
Our next challenge will kick-off October 1!
Hmmm….i just blended half an avocado, half lemon juice (squeezed it!), one banana, 3 kale and 3 spinach leaves (relatively large), 3 small carrots, half a cup cucumber, half zucchini and one banana…
quite yummy…I can’t even taste cucumber, kale or any of those green veggies..
It tastes creamy…I plan on adding some purple grapes to the other serving i have placed in the fridge tomorrow since i cannot finish it up…It made my dinner.
Hi Kiki,
Thank you so much for reaching out! Was this your first green smoothie?