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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.
We prefer blending 🙂
Fresh is always best, but freezing is a close second 🙂
tried my first green smoothie, can’t believe it tastes so good and has filled me up! looking forward to the October challenge 🙂
Hello everyone,
This week was my first time hearing about green smoothies. I am so excited to begin. Thanks for all the recipes. I am on my way !!
One cup should equal 8 ounces.
Wondering what “cup” do I need to quantify all the ingredients? Or how is the “cup” equal to certain weight measurement, like in gram? Thanks!
The cup is an actual unit of measurment. You can easily google the conversions, but, a cup is equal to 128 g or 4.5 oz
What is the calorie intake for this smoothie?
Hi Dric. Thanks for the question! 🙂
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.
Blessings!!! im 27yrs old and over weight im ready to take my health and youth back and make the rest of my years the best years, im having trouble getting a grocery list for my first 10 days, can you please direct me to any leads that would help put a juicing grocery toghether?? thank you very much, im excited about my new life style my new journey,, thank you both for all you do..
You should check this out, Sergio 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/shop
What is a good substitute for pineapples I am allergic to them
Sorry duplicate 🙂
No worries, Karen! 🙂
You can pretty much swap in any fruits that you can have. Kiwis, peaches, oranges would work here but you can add additional mango, too! Let us know what you swap in for the pineapple!!! 🙂
I peel then wrap bananas in wax paper sheets then store them in the freezer in a gallon zip lock bag. When I need one I just take one out at add it to my blender with the rest of the ingredients. It helps to make my smoothie colder.
Does the wax paper help it freeze better, or just makes it easier to handle?
I know this isn’t my comment, but I do the same, except I freeze the bananas flat on parchment paper first then stick them in a Ziploc bag. They freeze individually so easier to handle and I think they freeze better that way too… easier to pull apart.
I am allergic to pineapples what is a good substitute
Anything that is sweet and juicy 🙂 Mango? You pick!
Thanks for the recipe, I am eagerly awaiting delivery of my VitaMix! In the meantime, can you help me with this info? I read somewhere online that you should add nuts to green leafy foods, salads, and green smoothies, as they help your body assimilate the good stuff in the greens; and I just read today in a well-respected book that you should Never put nuts in smoothies (but doesn’t say why not)…which is it?
Hi Betsy!
We love adding nuts to our green smoothies 🙂 We don’t do it all the time, just because we like having variety. But we especially love soaking almonds overnight, and then blending them in our smoothie!
Hi I’m Brianna im New to this site I’ve heard about the green smoothie challenge and im super excited to start. I’m 18 and 115 pounds so I’m not looking to lose weight at all. I have a really bad eating habit that I don’t even eat fruit or veggies. I’m looking to detox or fast on just this smoothie so can I just drink the smoothie or do I eat other meals with the smoothie? I hope this is not a dumb question.
Hi Brianna!
This is not a dumb question at all, and we are so glad that you are caring about your health at the age of 18!! We both wish we cared when we were that age….
The goal of doing a 30 day challenge is to drink one green smoothie a day–either for breakfast/lunch/dinner, or as a snack. We highly recommend eating normal/healthy the rest of the day, and not JUST drinking green smoothies. Some people do have more than one green smoothie a day, but we recommend just starting with one 16 ounce serving of green goodness 🙂 Let us know if you have any more questions!
I have some questions
1. Am i suppose to drink the smoothie immediately, I mean to chug it?
2. I saw somewhere that you don’t suppose to mix a banana with pineapple because banana is sweet fruit and pineapple is an acid fruit, any idea about it?
1. You do not have to chug it 🙂 Just drink it normally.
2. Short answer? We believe it is fine to mix 🙂
Hope this helps!
I am new to this site and so far I’m loving it. I juice on the regular and looking forward to incorporating some blending. I haven’t located any recipes using Kale, can the spinach be substituted for the Kale? Or can I juice the Kale and add it to my smoothie to not have the pulp?
Thanks!
Greens can be used interchangeably 🙂 Feel free to use kale in any smoothie! So glad to have you here!
I may have missed this somewhere…but what kind of spinach do you use? Baby spinach? Thanks 🙂
Any kind of spinach 🙂