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If you love chocolate but still want to make choices that help you feel good, this Chocolate Strawberry Green Smoothie is about to become your new favorite blend. It tastes rich and chocolatey—almost like dessert—yet it’s made with simple, plant-based ingredients, including a generous handful of kale.
This recipe proof that green smoothies don’t have to taste green. When you pair leafy green vegetables with the right fruits and flavors, they disappear into something sweet, creamy, and totally satisfying.
Table of Contents
Why This Green Smoothie Tastes Like Dessert
The secret is balance. Sweet strawberries and banana bring natural sweetness, cacao adds deep chocolate flavor, and almond milk keeps everything smooth and creamy. Kale blends right in (or sneaks in), adding nutrients without competing with the chocolate-strawberry combo.
It’s the kind of smoothie you make when you want something indulgent—but still want to nourish your body.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Kale: A leafy green in a dessert?! Kale yeah!!! De-stem before adding to the blender to cut down on the bite or use baby kale for a milder kale option. You can freeze kale and use later, too.
- Almond milk: Unsweetened non-dairy milk is a great way to thicken a smoothie. Almond milk provides a bit of protein and a mild, nutty flavor that compliments both the fruit and cacao. You can also make your own almond milk, which tastes amazing.
- Strawberries: During strawberry season, use fresh for the sweetest taste. If you’re blending this smoothie during the winter months, frozen strawberries will give you the best flavor.
- Banana: I love freezing bananas to have on hand for tasty treats. Bananas provide natural sweetness as well as the milkshake flavor and texture that I want.
- Cacao powder: Unsweetened cacao powder is a chocolate-lovers superfood. No need for extra sweetener since you’re using other fruity ingredients. Surprisingly, cacao also helps balance the bite from the kale.
How to Make a Chocolate Strawberry Green Smoothie
Before you blend this one up, if you’re new to smoothies or want to make sure yours turns out thick, creamy, and never gritty, I recommend starting with my how to make a smoothie guide. It walks you through the simple formula I use every time—what to blend first, how to balance flavors, and how to make leafy greens disappear into dessert-worthy smoothies like this one. Once you’ve got that down, this Chocolate Strawberry Green Smoothie is practically foolproof.
- Start by adding the kale and almond milk to your blender. Blend until completely smooth—this step helps avoid any leafy texture. If your blender struggles with kale, check out my list of recommended blenders for smoothies.
- Next, add the frozen strawberries, banana, and cacao powder. Blend again until thick, creamy, and dessert-like.
- Pour into a glass and enjoy right away.
Ingredient Swaps & Variations
This smoothie recipe is flexible and easy to customize:
- Sub spinach for kale if you prefer a milder green.
- Swap unsweetened cocoa powder for cacao powder if that’s what you have.
- Use ¼ banana + ¼ avocado to lower natural sugar while keeping it creamy.
- Replace almond milk with oat milk, coconut milk, or any plant milk you love.
- Boost protein, healthy fat and fiber by adding in homemade protein powder.
Why I Add Kale to Smoothies
Surprisingly, this dessert-like chocolate strawberry smoothie only has 15 grams of natural sugar. It also boasts 9 grams of fiber, helping to process that natural sugar into a smooth energy boost that won’t leave you jittery. This comes from the mighty kale leaves. Adding kale to smoothies provides protein and fiber to break down the sugar from the fruit into useable energy for your body.
Recipe Tip
Add 1/2-1 cup of leafy greens to any fruit smoothie to help cut down on the natural sugar spikes. If you’re new to leafy greens, start with a small amount! Then as you get used to adding them, start increasing the amount to a healthy giant handful (one cup).
More Chocolate Smoothie Recipes
I love the idea of a dessert that gives my body a natural energy boost instead of putting me to sleep. I have an entire collection of chocolate smoothies that taste like a sweet treat yet pack in the plant-based benefits. Here are a few more:
- Chocolate covered cherry smoothie has a handful of spinach
- Chocolate banana smoothie uses frozen cauliflower
- Shamrock shake blends spinach and mint
- Skinny mint smoothie combines fresh mint leaves and baby spinach
If you make this chocolate strawberry 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.
Chocolate Strawberry Green Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup kale
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup strawberries frozen
- ½ banana
- 2 tablespoon cacao powder
Instructions
- Place kale and almond milk in blender. Puree until smooth.
- Add fruit and cacao, and blend again.
Helpful Tools
Notes
- Use at least one frozen fruit to make the smoothie cold.
- Swap in unsweetened cocoa powder for cacao powder.
- To lower the natural sugar, use 1/4 banana and 1/4 avocado.
- Use the plant milk of your choice in place of the almond milk.
- Use the leafy greens of your choice in place of the kale.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review for a chance to win signed copies of my cookbooks!No. The chocolate and strawberries completely mask the flavor of the kale. When you blend the kale with almond milk first, it becomes smooth and neutral, letting the dessert-like flavors shine.
Yes! Just make sure the cocoa powder is 100% unsweetened and the only ingredient listed is cocoa powder.
Yes! While this might be an opinion, chocolate typically goes well with most berries. Strawberries provide a sweet balance to the bitterness of cacao powder.
Kale is more nutrient-dense and holds up well to bold flavors like cacao. Its slightly earthy taste disappears once blended, making it a great green for rich, chocolatey smoothies.
Love this smoothie! Great for chocoholics 🙂
Second time I had this smoothie. Liked it this time too. Need to remember to leave the stem on when I use fresh strawberries per Jen’s video.
This was my least favorite smoothie. I found it to be a bit bitter. I am not a huge chocolate lover in terms of chocolate flavored foods (like I’ve cream, cake, etc) which may be why I am not a fan. Also, I really couldn’t taste the strawberry flavor. I might try again with maybe just one tbsp cacao powder to cut out some of the bitterness and maybe a little more banana and strawberry..
Hey Terry,
Make sure your strawberries are ripe enough before you add them to your smoothie. If they are not ripe then they can taste bitter and you might need to add some extra sweeteners to make your smoothie more enjoyable. You can check out our natural sweeteners here:
I thought this was really yummy! A bit rich for my breakfast though.
Hey Tiffany,
I am so happy that you enjoyed this recipe! Maybe you can swap it out for a dessert instead of having it for breakfast.
Enjoy!!
Delicious. I substituted chocolate almond milk and used a chocolate peanut butter whey protein in place of the cacao .
Hey Dora,
Yumm that sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing that 🙂
This smoothie was my least favorite this week! I think it was mostly the cacao powder that did it for me!
Very yummy after I added a bit of maple syrup as felt it needed a bit of sweetness but that might be because I woke up with a bad cold this morning:( and felt really grim. I think perhaps there is an adjustment period with green smoothies as my stomach is not feeling very happy either?
Hey Pam,
If you are new to drinking green smoothies your stomach might feel upset for a little bit. You are consuming a ton of fiber that your body isn’t use to so make sure you are drinking a lot of water to flush everything out.
Hope you start feeling better soon!
I like that the cacao has antioxidants, but this was my least favorite smoothie this week, flavor-wise. I may try again with 1 Tbsp and more banana!
I loved this recipe. I am a chocolate lover and I was surprised that all ingredients complimented each other. I’ll make this smoothie twice this week.
This is my favorite out of week 1!!! I’ve had this twice already. Is it possible to overdo it? I don’t eat chocolates on a regular basis but this smoothie was just sooooo good!
Hey Jill,
Nope!! That is why we have this challenge and so many different recipes, so you can find what you love and stick with it after the challenge.
I am so glad that you love this recipe and that it will be a keeper 🙂
Cannot wait for you to try all our other recipes we have in store for you!
Not my favorite.. Added more berries and than it became yummy. Also added eggs to make it a meal
I loved this smoothie. I felt like I was drinking a chocolate shake for sure. It was so smooth and yummy!
I’m a sweet tooth girl, so this smoothie was perfect! I loved it. Great way to get the chocolate goodness I love but still get my heathy breakfast.
LOVE LOVE LOVE – Bananas, Strawberries and Chocolate……….how can you go wrong. Will make this again over the weekend
Chocolate! Yay!
Wow! This was so good.
Flavour profile surprised me …
Not usually a fan of chocolate.
I was sad when I finished it but happy to have discovered this recipe and will make again and again.
Big THANX!