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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.
Just joined today and tried this smoothie! YUM YUM I make smoothies now and then but this was good! Had spinach I needed to use and with the pineapple and banana’s it was really good! So excited to get your recipes!!
Hi Terry,
YAY! We’re so excited you enjoyed our Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie, it’s one of our personal favorites! Which recipe are you looking to try next?
Cheers 🙂
I just set a reminder in the phone to start this on Jan. 1. I cant wait I a change to help me with my sweet cravings at night this will be the snack before bed. Thanks Green Smoothie Team
Hi Kim,
We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us!! Cheers to a happy + healthy New Year!
Okay… I’m not a health food person. I eat a breakfast sandwich and iced coffee from Starbucks most mornings. I’m overweight.
I have heard about the green smoothie thing and thought BLAGH!
In fact, I avoided listening to your episode of the “My Wife Quit Her Job” Podcast simply because I thought you would be crazy health food nuts and I would not enjoy the episode.
However, I finally listened. As an online writer/marketer type person I respect your business and growth SO MUCH. Plus, you made the smoothies sound good.
I came to your site. I found myself drawn to the recipes. I find myself eyeballing this “beginner” recipe.
Yes, I (Starbucks Queen) am considering ingesting green liquid for breakfast tomorrow. And I’m kind of excited about it.
Hi Tracy,
YAY!! We’re so happy you found us in this busy internet world! We can’t wait to hear how you enjoy your first green smoothie! Reach out and let us know!
Cheers 🙂
I love you guys, your smoothies are awsome, tried this one for the first time today because I had fresh pineapple on hand. The only modification I made is a put in half the required banana, because I find it overpowers everything. What an awsome smoothie, my new favorite.
YAY! Thanks for sharing the leafy love, Laura! 🙂
Hi,
nice recipe!
What is the reasons that makes this one a good starter’s smoothie? That is contains many fruits and thus is rather sweet? Just wondering 🙂
I have a nice green smoothie recipe with spinach, pear and kiwi on my blog:
I just had this and it was great. Do you know what the calorie count is for this?
Hi Nikki,
We personally don’t count calories, so we don’t include them in our recipes at this time. 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 in the end it balances out. But we know many people would like to have calorie info. Three great resources for tracking calories are Self Nutrition Data, and the phone apps: My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
i got the power mix of green veggies , there are some name that i don’r recocnize and i wonder if you can help me with them and if they are got for me oak leaf, lollo rosa,tango,mizuna, thanks for your help.
Hi Sharon,
Power mix is a great option! We love using a variety of leafy greens when blendin’ our green smoothies. Oak leaf is a type of butter lettuce, it gets it’s name from the shape of its leaves. Red Lollo Rosso lettuce is a classic Italian lettuce, with dark copper red fading to bright green, finely crinkled frilly leaves which are crisp, almost brittle when snapped. Tango lettuce has ‘ frilly’ leaves and looks like endive but, with a mild tangy taste. And Mizuna is a Japanese mustard green. All are great addition to your next green smoothie!
Hope this helps!
can leafy green be the baby spinach or baby kale? is there any different ?
Hi Sharon,
Of course! We love blendin’ with leafy greens! They’re packed with major nutrients, but with a milder flavor than their more mature counterparts.
Cheers 🙂
Hi today I tried this recipe. As mango isn’t our local fruit I substituted it with persimmon and turned out delicious. I’ve always been avoiding fruit juice as it can increase blood sugar rapidly. Though in your recipes use whole fruits instead but I’m still worry about consuming these much fruits. Have you guys ever measure your blood sugar after drinking one cup of these smoothies?
Hi Lina,
Yum! Blendin’ our Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie recipe with persimmon sounds delicious! Worried about the sugar content of our green smoothies, turn our Simple Green Smoothie Formula on its head! Instead of blending 60% fruit with 40% leafy greens, blend 40% fruit with 60% leafy greens. Or try blending with low-sugar fruit options. Here are a few of our favorites…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/low-sugar-fruits
Can the fruit be canned / frozen or does it need to be fresh? I’m not very good with preserving fruit.
Hi Jess,
Great question! We love blendin’ with frozen fruit, not only does it allow us to enjoy our favorite fruits when they’re out of season, but creates a great chilled and creamy green smoothie! Canned fruit on the other hand, even when packed in it’s natural juices has additional sugar. So while you can definitely blend with canned fruit, it’s important to take that added sugar into consideration.
Hope this helps!
Hello,
How many calories are in the Beginners Luck smoothie?
Thank you!
Lorea
Hi Lorea,
We personally don’t count calories, so we don’t include them in our recipes at this time. 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 in the end it balances out. But we know many people would like to have calorie info. Three great resources for tracking calories are Self Nutrition Data, and the phone apps: My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
Hi, can I switch out the pineapple (I’m allergic) for strawberries and be able to leave it in the fridge all night to have in the morning?
Hi Jen,
Of course! Other great substitutes for pineapple are orange, grapefruit, + mango. And our recipes will keep in your fridge for up to two days in an airtight container. Know you’re going to store your green smoothie. We suggest adding a small amount of lemon juice to help preserve their green goodness!
Cheers 🙂
Just found you gals courtesy of Nerd Fitness! Cant wait to try out recipes this weekend! Whoop whoop!
Hi Crystal,
We’re so excited you found us in this busy internet world! Reach back out + let us know what you think of our Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie recipe!
Cheers 🙂
Thanks for the information, just one question, isn’t this a lot for on smoothie?
6 cups of green and fruits, seems a lot for one person
Greeting from Mexico!!!
Hi Rolando,
Thanks for joining us! All of our recipes make 2 (16oz) servings, perfect for sharing or saving for later.
Cheers!
Hi, made this today…I think I’m a convert from the first sip! Have always found it hard to get a good amount of iron in my diet, I think incorporating green smoothies will give it a big boost. Great site, very informative and easy to navigate.
Thanks team!
Hi Tina,
Yay! We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us. I’m right there with you – I have trouble getting enough iron too and use green smoothies and their leafy greens to ensure I’m fueling my body right. Reach out with any questions + keep us updated on your green smoothie journey.
Cheers 🙂
This is my first time to know about this green smoothies. I am very thankful that having found this variety of juice makes me easier to change my lifestyle. Thank you.
Hi Gloria,
Yay! We’re so happy you found us in this busy internet world! Have fun exploring our site. Reach out with any questions!
I really want to try the 30-day green smoothie challenge, but I’m worried it will cost too much. I am only 15 so I rely on my parents for grocery expenses? Is there a cheaper way to make the smoothies?
Hi Daisy,
Great question! We’re all about making healthy living easy + affordable!
If you are new to eating a lot of fruits and veggies, your grocery bill may be a little shocking with the extra fresh and frozen produce purchases. Overtime, you will eliminate a lot of processed food items which will in turn bring your grocery bill back to normal. But here are a few quick tips to saving money on produce.
-Make a shopping list: Making a weekly meal planning list that covers what you will eat on a daily basis will help you only buy what you need. Make sure to include snacks in your meal plan and shopping list, too.
-Buy seasonal fruit and veggies: Purchasing produce is in season and is typically cheaper. And if you see a good deal on fresh fruits and veggies, purchase in bulk and freeze for future smoothies.
-Buy out of season fruits frozen: Costco and Sam’s Club sell large bags of organic frozen fruit at good prices. If your freezer can accommodate bags in bulk, take advantage of making these purchases.
-Buy from local fruit stands, farmer’s markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture): For the tastiest and most fresh organic produce, buy locally. Not only has the produce been grown and harvested close to home, but buying locally also helps our environment by eliminating the time and resources needed to deliver. Visit, http://www.LocalHarvest.org to find your local farm, farmers markets, and other local food sources.
-Follow the EWG’s Dirty Dozen: This list will help you know what is worth getting organic and what you can buy conventional.
Hope this helps! 🙂