This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Breakfast can make or break your day. Instead of starting it with empty calories that leave you hangry and sluggish by 10am, blend healthy breakfast smoothies for a filling and satisfying meal to support your weight loss goals.
One of my favorite breakfast smoothies is my Vanilla Bean Yogurt Smoothie— it keeps me feeling full all morning. The key to a healthy breakfast smoothie is making sure it combines protein, healthy fats and carbs to create you a well-rounded meal that leaves you nourished and full.
Table of Contents
Starting my day with a breakfast smoothie is a no-brainer. Yet not all smoothies offer the same types of nutrients, protein or natural sugars you need in the morning.
Before I have a smoothie, I like to make either the best detox tea or my metabolism-boosting tea to get the digestive system moving (if you know what I mean). After that, I get out the blender, toss some fruits and vegetables in to to nourish my body and keep me full all morning long. Fiber is our friend.
Best Healthy Breakfast Smoothies
When I start my day with a good, filling breakfast smoothie, I tend to make better food choices throughout the day. Which is why I really try to drink a healthy breakfast smoothie every single day. Here’s some of my favorite recipes to blend for breakfast:
Ingredients in Breakfast Smoothie Recipes
Sweet or savory, green or purple, you get to pick! Any of these recipes will help you easily check off that healthy breakfast goal each day, in just about five minutes. Why? Well, they’re loaded with all the good stuff and taste amazing. You won’t have to force yourself to down any of these. Here’s how I like to build my breakfast smoothies:
- Protein: Whether it’s my homemade protein powder, chia seeds, hemp seeds/hearts, peanut butter or almond butter (or any seed/nut butter), greek yogurt (or vegan yogurt), I’ve got protein covered. You can boost any smoothie with these options if they aren’t already included in the recipe.
- Fiber: I choose to blend smoothies over juicing in the morning to start the day off right with fiber. Your blender doesn’t get rid of the fiber in whole fruits and vegetables, and your body will benefit!
- Leafy greens: Not every smoothie has leafy greens (yet feel free to add them any time you want!), though I often try to add in a handful or two of spinach or kale since they act as fiber, protein, vegetable and more.
- Natural sweeteners: Instead of turning to refined sugar right after I wake up, I stick to natural sugar from fruit like mango, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and more to flavor my smoothies. They can be super sweet and natural.
- Unsweetened liquid bases: I love fresh juice and do enjoy it every now and again, yet my smoothies are fueled with unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, coconut water or just plain water to ensure I’m not adding extra sugar that my body does just fine without. I choose dairy-free options as that makes my body feel better yet feel free to use dairy milk if that works for you.
Helpful Tips for Smothies
You can just as easily prep ahead smoothies as you can baked oatmeal, overnight oats or chia pudding. Grab your favorite smoothie recipes. I try to stick to ones with some similar ingredients so I can buy them in bulk, then measure out all the ingredients except for the boosters and liquid into freezer-safe bags or mason jars.
I often prep smoothies when I know a busy month is ahead. Whatever one I want to blend in the morning I switch from the freezer to the fridge so it’s slightly thawed and easy to blend the next morning. This cuts down on the decisions I have to make first thing and ensures I’ve got a good breakfast.
FAQs
Yes! Focus on a smoothie that has an unsweetened liquid base like almond milk or water, then add in some fruits and veggies/leafy greens, and a protein or healthy fat boosters like plant-based protein powder, chia seeds or hemp hearts. Blend away and cheers to your healthy start!
It’s definitely okay to drink a smoothie first thing in the morning, or second or third thing. I often start the day with coffee, then drink my smoothie around mid-morning. If I know there won’t be another time to enjoy breakfast, I’ll start with the smoothie to help my body wake up and fuel up, then opt for coffee later in the day.
Honestly, you can put so many good ingredients in a smoothie. There is no one right way to make one! Follow this ration formula: 1 cup liquid, 1 cup leafy greens, 2 cups fruit. This gives you a good balance of ingredients for a smooth, creamy texture and a delicious smoothie. You can always boost it with a protein powder or some healthy fat if you want to.
Yes! When I choose a smoothie for breakfast, I make sure it has enough protein (aim for 10 grams or more) and healthy fat to help turn the natural sugar from the fruit into usable energy without a sugar crash. I don’t want to be hungry an hour later, so I load that smoothie up with ingredients that will fill me up and keep me satisfied until lunch.
Healthy Breakfast Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 bananas frozen
- ½ cup vegan yogurt plain
- 1 cup cashew milk
- 1 serving collagen powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients until smooth
- Pour into your favorite glass and enjoy!
Equipment
Notes
- Vegan? Swap 1 scoop of collagen powder with 1 serving of homemade protein powder
- To reduce the natural fruit sugars, use 1/4 avocado and 1 banana
- You can swap in any kind of yogurt, just choose one that’s plain or with limited sugar
- Cashews can be swapped for almonds or oats
- Cashew milk can be swapped for any dairy-free milk of your choice
Nutrition
Which one of these breakfast smoothies will you try? Drop a comment and let me know!
Complex carbs are not refined carbs, they come from whole grains. I think there’s a typo up there!
That being said, my husband and I love all of your smoothie recipes!
Hi EmKay! Thanks for catching that, so glad y’all have enjoyed the smoothies!
Really good, great taste, used baby kale, unsweetened almond milk frozen straw babanas
Keep on rawkin it!
I’m allergic to almonds. Can I use oat milk or soy milk and peanut butter?
Great question Jessica. You absolutely can! These recipes are very forgiving when it comes to swapping out the liquid base with one that works better for you, as well as different nut butters when needed. Happy breakfasting!
Use rice milk
This Smoothie is amazing and works fast on melting fat.
23g of sugar and only 8.6g of protein? This doesn’t sound healthy to me.
Most of our lower sugar options for smoothies contain around 20g of sugar. The diff is those sugars are natural and mostly from the fruit in the smoothie. Each smoothie contains ~1.5 cups of fruit and according to USDA dietary guidelines, an adult consuming 2,000 calories per day should be eating two cups of fruit per day. In addition, a serving of fruit usually contains no more than 20 grams of sugar (compared to 40 grams in a can of soda), has fiber and has nutrients like vitamin C. So you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck. The fiber in the fruit helps your body to process the natural sugar contained in that same fruit. To up the protein content to 18.6 g, you can toss in 1 serving of our homemade protein powder.
If this is still a bit too much sugar for you, feel free to flip the ratio of leafy greens to fruits.
Such a yummy and filling breakfast! 🙂
Using a green smoothie as a meal replacement helps me manage my weight, fuel my body, and are just down right delicious!
I love this recipe! It’s delicious and keeps me full all morning.
Thank you for taking the time to break down what a “healthy” smoothie actually is. I’ve been blending for awhile now and always hungry and I was totally missed the protein/fat combo. So thanks for that! And of course- I loved the recipe too. 🙂
While I’m not looking to lose weight, I love the recipes from this post as more filling breakfast options. I don’t always feel full from green smoothies, yet these are great + filling, which helps me out with the mid morning hungries.
Oooh yes! Mid-morning hungries must be avoided! So glad these recipes helped and we love that you saw their value for more than just weight loss too. 🙂