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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 green vegetables, 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 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. If you love banana, try my creamy banana smoothie next.
- 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
- 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 bowls, 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. A juicer or food processor won’t work to get you a creamy smoothie.
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. Here are some of my favorite oat milk brands and almond milk brands to buy.
- Spinach: Swap for kale, Swiss chard, beet greens, or any leafy green vegetables 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: collagen peptides 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 Smoothie Recipes
Here’s some of the most popular green smoothie recipes on my blog to try next:
- My son is obsessed with this mango orange smoothie recipe.
- This tropical 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.
If you make this best green smoothie recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment box below. Your feedback helps me and all the readers in this community. And if you’re interested in more plant-based recipes (and exclusive content), sign up for my weekly recipe newsletter.
Dietary Adjustments & Substitutions
Need to accommodate a food allergy? Click the button below for tailored suggestions just for you:
Best Green Smoothie Recipe (4-Ingredients)
Jen HansardVideo
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.
Recipe 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
Equipment
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 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.
I’m also a newbie, waiting for the Challenge to start. I have Fibromyalgia & suffer from serious fatigue, among other health issues. I’ve read that the right smoothies can help reduce the pain & fatigue. I got so excited after reading everything on the site, that I went shopping! 🙂 My only problem now is that, the bananas, mangos & pineapple need to ripen. It’s always something right? lol So, I’ll be trying the Beginner’s Luck in a couple of days! I can’t wait! Lastly, I just want to thank you ladies for putting this all together. Great job! 🙂
Hey Cecilia.
Thanks for the comment. I am happy to hear you are joining us. Beginner’s Luck is a sweet and tropical green smoothie, that I think you will enjoy! 🙂
For best results ask your doctor or healthcare provider which fruits and leafy green would work best for you and will help with pain & fatigue. 🙂 We wish you all the best! 🙂
Enjoy your Beginner’s Luck! I love that recipe! 🙂
Thanx Jessie…I am excited about this Challenge. Especially after watching the documentary Kristen Mullaney mentioned below. I’ll be seeing my Dr on Monday to have her monitor my progress. I might turn the Challenge into an all out fast. 🙂 BTW, I enjoyed the Beginner’s Luck! I do have to say, never having been big on fruit, I’m sure I can adjust. <3
Hi Cecilia,
Saw your post and wanted to tell you that using frozen fruit is also ok to do! I buy mine from trader joes and sometimes in bulk from Costco! I also wanted to pass along the recommendation for a documentary that you might be interested in watching. It’s made by Joe Cross and it’s called Fat, Sick and Nearly dead…horrible name i know, but it tells the story of a man who was chronically ill and then went on a juicing diet, only to come off all of his many meds, lose weight and become pain free. It is truly inspiring to watch!
Good Luck on your challenge!
Kristen
Hi Kristen…I just watched it last night! lmao The countdown on Phil’s weight lose & both of their health returning was AMAZING! I’m considering the fast while doing this 30 Day Challenge. Makes sense to incorporate the 2, if I can. 🙂
Question: Recipe = 2 cups of spinach tightly packed. So is it actually 2 c spinach which after tightly packed equals about 1 cup or 4 cups which after tightly packed equal 2 cups. Confused.
Hey Lauri.
No need to stress over the leafy measurements. As long as you have two handfuls of leafy green, you are good to go. Some people measure them out, (tightly pack in measuring cups) or other just grab and go. Either way works, as longs as you are adding your leafy greens. Our motto is, the more the merrier! 🙂
Hi there! I’m signed up for the 30 day challenge and I’m really looking forward to getting started. It coincides with a campaign here in the UK called ‘Go Sober for October’, which I’m also doing. Not that I need to ‘sober up’ as such, I’m not drunk!! haha! Its giving up alcohol for a month :-).
Anyway, my question is, being in the UK, can you provide recipes using UK measurements please?
Kind regards
Jo
xx
Hey Joanne.
Thanks for the comment. Our RAWsome RAWkstar team is working on a awesome graphic chat for conversion, but until then we ask that you use google conversion. 🙂 Thanks.
I am a bit confused about the challenge. I am a beginner do I have to do the Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie? Before we start? … Also i received the smoothie crash course when I click on it , it gave me a few smoothie recipes are those the first smoothies we doing in October?
Welcome Shirley!
Thanks for the questions. A few days before October 1st, we will need you all new recipes, until that time you can try our any recipes you would like from our website or emails. 🙂 Hope that helps. Beginner’s Luck is a great one to start with. 🙂 https://simplegreensmoothies.com/recipes
🙂