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If you’re a fan of chocolate covered strawberries, then this chocolate strawberry smoothie is for you. A naturally sweet, indulgent dessert.
I love mixing flavors and coming up with new combos for delicious smoothies. Don’t let the leafy greens in this one scare you. This chocolate strawberry smoothie has the texture of a milkshake and will satisfy all those sweet chocolate cravings.
Smoothies with a milkshake texture are my jam, but dairy is not my friend. Most of my smoothie recipes use plant-based ingredients, yet still blend together into a creamy treat.
Table of Contents
Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie Ingredients
- Kale: A leafy green in a dessert?! Kale YEAH. Massage the kale and de-stem before adding to the blender to cut down on the bite. Tip: Baby kale is a milder kale option.
- Almond Milk: Unsweetened plant 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.
- 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 I want.
- Cacao Powder: Unsweetened cacao powder is a chocolate-lovers paradise. No need for extra sweetener since you’re using other fruity ingredients. Surprisingly, cacao also helps balance the bite from the kale.
Simple Ingredient Swaps
This dreamy chocolate smoothie will stay dreamy, even with a few easy swaps. Use the dairy-free milk of your choice in place of almond milk. Strawberries can be swapped with any berry you choose. Use unsweetened cocoa powder in place of cacao powder.
Cut back on natural sugar by using 1/2 the banana and adding 1/4 an avocado. Boost protein, healthy fat and fiber by adding in this homemade protein powder.
Why I Add Leafy Greens 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 leafy greens to smoothies provides protein and fiber to break down the sugar from the fruit into useable energy for your body.
Pro Tip: Add 1 cup of leafy greens to any fruit smoothie to help cut down on the natural sugar. 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).
Tips for Blending
Smoothies can sometimes get a little thin, which is harder to enjoy (in my opinion). I always make sure to blend an ingredient that naturally thickens my smoothie. This chocolate strawberry smoothie uses almond milk as the base (thicker than water) and banana.
Other easy thickeners include vegan yogurt, cauliflower or avocado. You can also swap out almond milk for cashew milk, oat milk or coconut milk for a creamier liquid base.
Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie FAQs
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.
My version of a chocolate strawberry milkshake uses a banana as a natural sweetener and thickener and cacao powder for a less processed, yet still chocolatey flavor. Plant milk makes this delightfully dairy free.
Yes! Just make sure the cocoa powder is 100% unsweetened and the only ingredient listed is cocoa powder.
More Dessert Smoothie Recipes
I love the idea of a dessert that gives my body a natural energy boost instead of putting me to sleep. Smoothies like my chocolate strawberry smoothie taste like a sweet treat yet use plant-based ingredients. Here are a few more favorite ‘desserts’.
- Strawberry ‘Milk’shake
- Chocolate Covered Cherry Smoothie
- Raspberry Smoothie
- Shamrock Shake
- Skinny Mint Smoothie
- Strawberry Smoothie
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake
- Cinnamon Roll Smoothie
I’d love to know how this smoothie turned out for you; will you leave a rating + review once you’ve tried it?
Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup kale
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup strawberries frozen
- ½ banana
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 serving homemade protein powder optional
Instructions
- Place kale and almond milk in blender. Puree until smooth.
- Add fruit and cacao, and blend again.
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.
Delicious! My 9-year-old and I loved it.
Favorite one so far! Used homemade almond milk (just almonds and H2O), and it was nice and creamy. Could only find cacao nibs at the store so I tossed them in the coffee mill. A little more textured than powder but in a good way. It’ll definitely be one of my freestyle smoothies this week!
Love it
This smoothie was really lovely! My frozen strawberries aren’t the sweetest, but I imagine with nice froze strawberries (or fresh ones!) it’d be wonderful!
Hey Liz,
If you have perfectly ripe strawberries, this smoothie tastes like a dessert!!
Feel free to add some extra sweeteners for when your fruit isn’t ripe and leaves that bitter taste.
Mmm mmmmmm. This is good. I used a mixture of leaves from my garden (beetroot, lettuce, spinach and rocket) as well as some kale. I’m going to try it again without the rocket as that came through a bit too strongly.
Can’t wait to try this one, just a question, I’m sharing all of this with my daughter who is pregnant. My cacao powder comes with a warning for pregnant women, any suggestions for a cacao substitution?
Subbed 1/2 as much frozen kale and switched 1/2 the strawberries for frozen mango and frozen cherries since we were almost out. Still delicious!
Thus is my favorite one!!
Really helps with the sweet tooth! I love chocolate and this does not disappoint!!
I actually HAVE had this smoothie before — you shared it before with Kale…so basically the same thing. THIS. SMOOTHIE. IS. DELICIOUS. 😀
I don’t usually go for sweeter, chocolat-ey smoothies in the morning, but this is great suggestion for sweet tooth cravings! For me, this would be late evening or specifically, after a workout. I, too, would add protein for the extra benefits! Thanks Jen!!
Ops!, forgot to rate recipe.
I started today with this one because I was in a hurry this morning and I was not sure how to add the 1 and 1/2 orange for the citrus smoothie. The smoothie was a bit bitter and I added some Manuka honey, maybe next time I would use only a bit less of the cacao, but did like it. For the orange on the citrus smoothie though, does it mean squeeze an orange in a half or peel it and add it?
Another question the challenge is to have a smoothie a day only or to replace a meal or is it up to us as long as we have a smoothie a day?
Peel the orange and add the whole fruit to the smoothie. The challenge is to add one green smoothie a diet to your normal diet. You don’t need to replace a meal with a smoothie.
This is my second time doing this challenge and I still have my recipes from the last time a couple yreas ago! My husband always picks at me when I break them out for a break for the yuck!! This time I signed up for new recipes and begged him to take the challenge too. He finally caved and is doing it with me. He was very impressed with the flavor after yapping about the spinach!! This I alter cause I’m not a chocolate person. Instead I add peanut butter powder… It’s like a PBJ !! The rest of the recipe is great!! Tastes great
Tried this one first because I didn’t have any fruit frozen for the first two. Overall I liked the taste, but it was a little bitter for me. I will reduce the cacao next time.
Love this one! I started with it during the challenge because I already had all the ingredients ready, and it did not disappoint. I’m looking forward to trying the others!