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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
- 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. 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.
- 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
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.
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.
I was just wondering about missing fruits with veggies. Because I’ve always heard not to because the veggies digest before the fruit.
Hi Diane – no issue with mixing fruit and veggies. Your body was designed to handle both for sure! Where some people run into trouble is extra gas when they first start drinking green smoothies. If that happens, make sure you’re taking in plenty of water and avoiding eating just before or after your smoothie to give the body a chance to process everything. Happy blending!
I changed it up from the last time and used an orange and pineapple juice instead of frozen pineapple.
Way to bring the tropical vibe, Janice! Love it!
I hated all green juices / smoothies but this recipe tastes amazing ! I been incorporating it into my diet and skin looks a lot better now.
Kale yeah, Amy! So glad this is helping. This smoothie totally lives up to the hype.
Yes, It tastes good…
The girl has great enthusiasm. I didn’t feel any different. I’m tired of this fad and hype expensive blenders. I’m done I’m done with this. I don’t feel any better…. I can’t be the only one who feels like this.
So glad it tasted good to you, Linda! Try backing down the greens a bit for your hubby to see if he likes it better. Sometimes it takes time to get used to the spinach. And expensive blenders are never necessary to rawk some awesome smoothies! Check out Jen’s blender guide for options in all price ranges. It’s really about the technique of blending greens and liquids first, rather than how much your blender costs. If you’re trying different smoothies daily for a bit and still aren’t noticing any benefit, it might be helpful to check in with your healthcare provider to make sure you’re not dealing with a food allergy or sensitivity. Hoping good things for you!!! 🙂
Love this fruit combinations. The pineapple stands out with its sweet taste.
This is such a simple, yet delicious and refreshing smoothie to make! Don’t forget to add some flax seed or chia if that is your thing to do!
Great tip, Nancy. The chia seed and flax will def up the protein, omega 3s and more. Pro move!
Love this smoothie! It is definitely a great choice when you are trying to drink more greens. I highly recommend trying it!
This is my go to green smoothie and even my kids and husband enjoy it!
Doing current challenge. My intro email said “beginners luck” was day one. But when I went in to rate it from today’s email it said peach banana smoothie was today’s? Had my grandkids over. Made beginners luck and they all LOVED it!
Sorry for any confusion, Kathleen! Beginners Luck was one to try before the challenge to get everyone warmed up. Check out page 14 of your 10-Day Green Smoothie Guide to see which ones we have planned for each day. Yet, move them around if it’s more convenient for you. The goal is one smoothie a day, so rawk which ever works for you each day. So glad they loved it as much as we do!!
I decided to swap broccoli for the spinach but did the rest of the smoothie as written. Both my daughter and I love it. We wanted it colder so I added some ice. I will have to try it with spinach next time. It is a go to recipe!.
Never tried it with broccoli Charity! So cool! Keep us posted on when you blend it with spinach. 🙂
This smoothie is a tropical paradise! I love it.
So glad you love it as much as we do, Rachelle. Thanks!
I loveee this smoothie! When I bought the simple green smoothie book two years ago this is the one I gravitated to the most, and then I suddenly became allergic to both pineapples and mangos. So sad. Today I had to substitute those items with peaches and oranges, good, but not as good as this original recipe! So smooth and tasty.
Way to rawk those swaps and make Beginners Luck work for you, Valeria!
Tried this today. Really fresh tasting and refreshing!
Soooo soooo delicious. Spinach and pineapple is always a winning combo.
Hi
Interested is the homemade protein powder powder. do you have the ingredient list and nutritional breakdown somewhere?
Thank you.
Vee
Hi Vee! Our homemade protein powder contains only 3 ingredients actually – organic hemp seed, organic chia seed and organic flax seed. That’s it! You can totally read more about it in our Rawkstar Shop, as well as find our nutritional breakdown starting with 10g of protein per serving.
Kind of tasted too green lol. But maybe it’s just a taste to get used to. And I’m new to this.
We’re so glad your gettin your green smoothie game on! While most people don’t even notice the greens, some can take a bit of time to grow accustomed to it being there. Def feel free to use less spinach in your smoothies, and add more as you become used to it.
Amanda. Lol. My husband said it tasted like the grass .lol. He didn’t not like it.