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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.
I have a ninja can I just throw all the ingredients in at once
Hi Nikki,
Oh, KALE YEAH! We love rawkstar blenders that make enjoying green smoothies super simple + delicious!
I have recently discovered your website and have bought myself a fancy new blender! I’ve also bought all the ingredients for a few of your smoothies including this beginners green one!
I was just wondering, since I am in the UK, we don’t measure using cups so what would be the equivalent? I often get confused trying to work out how much to use!
Thanks
Hi Georgina,
Blending on the other side of the pond? We’ve got you covered! Check out our Rawkstar Conversion Guide here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/app
Hope this helps!
I sooo hate greens and the thought of a green smoothie did nothing for me. But always one for a challenge forced myself to put a pack of spinach in my shopping basket this week. Took it out yesterday morning but chickened out for a berries smoothie. Took the plunge this morning……absolutely loved it, now looking forward to my afternoon slump for the second serving. Thanks :0
Hi Jill,
Wohoo!! Cheers to being adventurous + trying new things!!
Keep us updated on your green smoothie journey!
I usually put in about an inch of ginger, good for the digestion I’m told, is that something you would agree/recommend with your smoothies?
Hi Paul,
Yum! We love adding ginger to green smoothies. Not only is it a major immunity booster, but we also love the hint of spice it adds to our favorite recipes!
Check out our favorite ginger recipes here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/immune-system-booster
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/strawberry-watermelon-smoothie
I came across your book on Amazon lastnight which brought me to your site 🙂 I was so inspired by the thought of adding “just one good thing” to be able to help get me back on track! Not a bunch of rules and menus to follow…just simply “crowding out “SAD” with good!” I was at Walmart at 1 a.m. buying a blender and the ingredients for your “Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie” lol It tastes amazing! So I just wanted to stop by and say thanks so very much for caring enough to share with others <3 ~ Andrea in NC
Hi Andrea! Thank you so much for buying our book + blending with us! We are so happy to have you a part of our community of leafy green lovers! Please let us know what recipe is your favorite in the book and if you do the 10-Day kickstart, let us know how it goes! Keep in touch!
Just started making the smoothies in women world’s
I would like to know what is the best Protein to use and is there any other beside powder ones .i have Raw protein can I use Vega One smoothie mix with it
Thank you
Judy
Hi Judy,
We love adding plant-based protein options to our green smoothies! Learn more about our favorites here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/plant-based-protein-powder
Orgain organic plant-based protein powder is my favorite – and beginning April 7th it’s $6 off at Costco! Thank you Jan and Jen for introducing me to this marvelous place!!!
Can I use a non fat yogart in my smoothie? And i also like to use organic soy milk. Is that a good idea or should i use water?
Hi Lisa,
Of course you can, it’s all about finding what works for you + your body!
Personally we avoid adding dairy + soy to our recipes, so you won’t see either on our site or in our book. If you didn’t know, dairy is the #1 undiagnosed food allergy and can be pretty tough on your digestion. Small amounts of organic, non-GMO soy are fine (like tamari and tempeh) but we recommend staying away from highly-processed unfermented soy products which can interfere with nutrient absorption and leach nutrients from your body. Soy milk, soy burgers, and soy ice cream are all in this category. Two great alternative to soy milk are unsweetened almond milk and coconut milk. We love them both!
Looking for other liquid base options + to boost the protein in your green smoothies? Check out these two links below…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/dairy-free-smoothies
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/plant-based-protein-powder
Hope this helps!
I saw your article in Womens World magazine and have been making your smoothies for almost two weeks. I also bought your book awesome.
Question…I am drinking one smoothie a day in place of a meal, not so much to lose weight as not to gain due to the extra calories. I need to watch my sugar also and was wondering if you have certain fruits or smoothie recipes that contain less sugar. I currently dilute the liquid coconut water by using I cup of plain water and one cup of coconut water to reduce the sugar. Any other suggestions?
Hi Lynn,
Thank you so much for reaching out! We’re so excited you saw our article in Women’s World! Concerned about the sugar content of our recipes? 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. You can also swap in low-sugar fruit options. Learn more below…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/low-sugar-fruits
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/
Hope this helps!
Ok I am going to try this newbie receipe today, on my way to do groceries actually.
Newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and need to get healthy. Have a problem with textures so hoping I can just drink my fruits and veggies. 🙂
Thanks for the receipe. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
Hi Monique,
We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us! Reach back out + let us know what you think of our Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothies!
Cheers 🙂
Hello there!
I have recently developed a banana and date allergy (sadness); however, this is by far my most favorite smoothie!
Do you have any suggestions of what I can replace the banana with that will still make it delicious?!?
Thanks!
I am really glad I found your site … very new to all this.
I wI’ll try the beginners luck green smoothie actually have all the ingredients.
What I am most looking forward to is juicing beets … how do you prepare them do you peel them? Do you leave the leaves on? How small should the chunks be … I understand they are tougher then most to juice or blend.
Thanks
Hi Lisa,
YAY! We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us! We love blendin’ with beets! No need to peel, simply give your beets a good scrub. I cut my beets into small cubes prior to blending, but if you have a lower power blender you can also grate them to ensure your green smoothie is smooth + creamy! Does the idea of adding raw beets to your blender sound scary? You can also steam or roast them prior to blending!
Learn more here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/anti-inflammatory-smoothie-recipe
And don’t toss your beet greens! Beet greens are the perfect addition to your green smoothie. They include a wide variety of nutrients, but make their claim to fame with tryptophan. Tryptophan is the culprit of all those Thanksgiving Day naps, but more importantly helps with better sleep cycles.
Check out this beet green recipe here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/cherry-beet-smoothie
Will a regular oster blender work for carrots and spinach?
Hi Julie,
An Oster Blender can be great for breaking down leafy greens! We simply suggest adding your greens + liquid base first and blend until your leafy greens resemble a juice consistency. Then add your remaining ingredients. Adding at least one frozen fruit will help breakdown any remaining leafy pieces and ensure your smoothie is chilled to perfection!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/smoothie-formula
The thought of adding raw carrots to your blender sound scary? Try roasting them ahead of time!! Roasting will not only make it easier on your blender, but will help release the natural sugars of the veggie (for extra yumminess!). Learn more about roasting your carrots + why we love them in our green smoothies here…
Hope this helps!
Love your site and the recipes but i find that they always yield more than 32 oz. It’s usually closer to 48 or higher. I follow the measurements. Maybe my fruit is too big?
Hi Lu,
Thanks for reaching out + blending with us. Everyone’s fruit is cut differently, which can result in a greater or lesser amount of smoothie. Or just the person blending. Somehow my husband blends enough for three following the same directions, when I blend for one. Our recipes are here to inspire you, please feel free to adjust our recipes to meet your needs!
Cheers 🙂
Here is a smoothie that i make on the weekend for the family.
Strawberries – 250g punnet
Frozen Raspberries – 1 cup
whole banana peeled and cut
Blackberries – half 125g punnet
Watermelon, size to suit the maker
1 Pink lady Apple – NOT Peeled, pips removed and cut.
Grapes – 1 cup
ice
Ski Delite Yoghurt – 150g strawberry or strawberry/boysenberry.
Hi Anthony,
Sounds delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Hi there
Just by the first recipe alone, i feel there is a heck of a lot of fruit/sugar? I thought it would be more vegie dense than fruit? Isnt the point to get more vegies in? More green?
Hi Cristina,
Thank you so much for reaching out! 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. Hope that helps. 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/low-sugar-fruits
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/
Hi Rawkstars,
I’ve just started your 30 days green smoothie challenge and you know what I tagged in my husband too….we are loving it. This is our first ever green smoothie tryout!!
Now I’ve a quick question….in every week you’ve given us 3 delicious recipes……do we repeat it or just those 3 days enough?
Thanks in advance….hugs
Love being Rawkstars here 🙂
Hi Tonima,
YAY! We’re so excited to have you and your husband blending with us! We shared three recipes with you for Week 1 because we kicked off our January challenge on a Friday. The three recipes were meant to help get you through the weekend and to start Week 2 with us on Monday. The rest of the weeks you should have five recipes per week! We use the weekends as “freestyle” days to finish up any remaining ingredients or re-blend your favorite recipes from the week.
Hope this helps! Reach out with any questions!