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This bright n’ spicy cilantro smoothie is a fun snack that can help detox your body. Naturally sweetened by bananas, sip to your health with a tropical beverage made from 100% plant based ingredients.
When the summer heat ramps up here in Central Florida, I reach for something cool and refreshing like this Cilantro Smoothie. Blending this delicious limeade beverage up totally makes me feel like I’m on spring break or summer vacay! Plus it contains one of my fav smoothie ingredients of all time – ginger.
If I’m going for an extra fun feel, then I’ll toss this into popsicle molds and freeze. Delish!
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What makes this limeade recipe healthier?
Traditional limeade contains refined sugar. We’ve all heard by now how sugar can increase your risk for certain health issues, like diabetes and obesity. However, did you know it can also contribute to depression or other mood disorders? I was shocked to find that out, yet it makes good sense. Thankfully, my cilantro smoothie recipe is sweetened with the natural sugars found in 1.5 bananas. Similarly, you can sweeten the natural way with ingredients like banana, dates, maple syrup or honey and avoid those refined sugars.
Fresh Cilantro in a Smoothie
Cilantro is one of those things that people either love or hate. Whichever side of the fence you sit on in respect to cilantro, it’s hard to deny its health benefits. Also called Chinese parsley and fresh coriander, this leafy green herb helps the body detoxify itself of heavy metals. It’s also a good source of vitamin K which helps with circulation and blood clotting. I think it tastes great too, especially blended into a green smoothie! Or on your tacos. Def on your tacos. #teamtaco
Fresh Ginger goes well with Lime
This Cilantro smoothie also contains ginger which is good for settling the tummy. When one of my SGS team members was expecting, she had raging morning sickness. Well, it was all-day sickness, to be more specific. Thankfully, she was able to keep that upset tummy at bay by consuming everything ginger she could find (ginger root, ginger lozenges, ginger tea).
Adding it to your smoothies regularly will help keep tummy troubles in check.
Plus! Ginger is also known for fighting inflammation. See why I love it so? Now inflammation can be a good thing, like when your immune system is fighting off infection. However, the bad kind of inflammation can contribute to all sorts of yuckiness in the body, like asthma and arthritis.
Therefore I choose to fight it off on the regular with a bit of zesty ginger in my smoothies. It tastes good and is good for me. See, now these are the moments I enjoy being a grownup!
More Cilantro Recipes Please!
Chances are you scooped up a big, lovely bunch of fresh cilantro at your local farmers market to make this green smoothie. Now that you’ve blended, sipped and fallen in love – what do you do with the rest of that gorgeous green cilantro before it goes bad?! No worries – I’ve got ya covered. If you loved this cilantro smoothie, then check out some of my favorite recipes with cilantro:
Spicy cilantro pesto
Cilantro mango detox smoothie
BBQ jackfruit tacos
Creamy cilantro lime sauce (coupled with a vegetarian pizza recipe)
Vegetarian tortilla soup
Make sure you hit us up with a comment below! Let us know how you like this limeade smoothie and if you tried any other recipes featuring cilantro.
Cilantro Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach fresh
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro fresh
- 1 cup water
- 1 banana
- 1 lime peeled
- ½ inch ginger root fresh
- 2 tbs chia seeds
Instructions
- Blend spinach, cilantro and water until smooth.
- Next add the remaining fruits and blend again.
Notes
- Freeze the bananas ahead of time for a cold, slushy smoothie treat.
Can this recipe all be frozen into a smoothie freezer bag? Minus the liquids of course 🙂
Hi Brittany,
YES! We love using our freezer to prep green smoothies! Learn more here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/frozen-smoothie-packs
I loathe bananas, that being said…I LOVE this smoothie.
I wanted to try it once as written before changing anything.
It’s fabulous. I am looking to get potassium and magnesium and I can’t take supplements due to the medicines that strip me of those needed elements…do you have any suggestions to boost them?
Thank you for the recipe, thank you for your time. Have a Smoothie-tastic day!
Hi Katherine!
Thanks so much for reaching out! So happy to hear you tried this smoothie and ended up loving it :). Sometimes our taste buds can surprise us!
Leafy greens are a great source of magnesium, and bananas are high in potassium. However, since we are not health care professionals, we recommend speaking with your doctor to help determine what would be the best way for you to boost those nutrients :).
Take care!
This is great! I only used 2 bananas and half the lime peel. It is so flavorful & refreshing. I have to admit I absolutely love ginger and cilantro, but never thought to combine them in a smoothie. I really enjoy the subtle spice combined with the sweet creaminess of the banana in this recipe. I also added a teaspoon of chia seeds! yum!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! And love the idea of adding chia seeds to this. I’ll have to try that next time!
Thanks so much for blendin’ with us!
Wow. This is so delicious. Made an entire blender full and I’m still not sure that it will be enough. (smile) My body is so happy with this that I may have to make another blender full. Dontcha just love guilt free?
Hi Andrea,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out + share your love for our Cilantro Limeade Green Smoothie!
Cheers to health, happiness, + leafy greens!
Im diabetic can i have banana in the smoothie, as banana, chi cook and mango are to be avoided
To make this smoothie (and most others) a meal replacement can you add protein powder to the mix? I have a vegan pea protein that is wonderful.
Hi Beth,
Great question! When using your green smoothie as a meal replacement we suggest adding both protein + healthy fats to ensure you’re fueling your body with a complete meal! Plant-based protein powder is a great option! Learn more about our favorite healthy fats + meal replacement booster combos below…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/healthy-fats
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/meal-replacement-smoothie
Just a tip for the ginger… I buy usually a whole pound or 2 of ginger root and put it in the juicer and then put it in a glass jar in my fridge so I have fresh ginger juice thru out the week and can put it in my hot tea, my cold beverages or just hot water and get a good boost. Or use it in my salad dressing. It saves time and its so much easier. Don’t have to peel the ginger, just wash good and in the juicer and voila. Enjoy
Hi Yvonne,
Thank you so much for reaching out + sharing! We love learning about the different ways members of our community add ginger to their smoothies + diet!
hi! i did my first ever blog post about if green smoothies were worth the craze, in fact i used only your recipes. i would really appreciate it if anyone wants to check it out. btw i gave your amazing website credit so dont worry!
Oh, and the website is called rxsablog.wordpress.com
Hi Rosa,
YAY!! We love that you gave green smoothies a try and love even more that you wrote about it in your blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your website with us!
We hope you will continue blending!
Cheers to health, happiness, + leafy greens! 🙂
Talk about a hit of energy! I made this green smoothie this morning and I felt like I had a shot of expresso… I have to get use to the taste a bit, but will be making it again.
Thanks for the recipe!!!
Hi Yesenia,
YAY!! Cheers to a natural energy boost free of caffeine!
Ginger is good for cooking, for tea, for blending. However, according to Chinese culture and eating habit, Eating ginger is healthy only in the morning! Do not over eat, nor eat a large amount in the evening because it produce toxin in your body, and it’s bad combination with starchy fruit such as banana. Good luck blending, and drink safely with smoothies with ginger!
Hi Noela,
Thanks for reaching out + sharing your insight. While we’re not professional nutritionists, in all of our research we haven’t come across any information against combining banana + ginger, or enjoying ginger late at night (besides a potential energy boost). If you have an article, we would love if you shared your findings with us.
Thanks again for sharing.
I have just recently been diagnosed with CML (Chronic Mylogenous Leukimia) so I am try to drink a lot of immune boosting smoothies. I just made this one this morning & I added some OJ in place of the water & I also had a “green juice” that had other ingredients in it & added that also. It tastes pretty good, just don’t quite taste enough lime but I will add more until I get the right flavor. Thanks so much for this!!!
Hi Robin,
Thanks for reaching out! We’re so excited to have you blendin’ with us and hope our recipes are the boost your immunity needs. Looking for extra immunity support! Check out our post here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/superfoods-list
And check out one of our favorite immunity boosting green smoothie recipes…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/immune-system-booster
Hope this helps! Reach out with any questions!
Hi Robin,
Im sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Have you considered taking Juice Plus as well. It is full of the phytonutrients and antioxidants our bodies require to build immune systems, oxidize the blood and much more. Please check out my website for further information.
I wish you all the best with your recovery.
I have ginger as a spice but have never bought fresh ginger. Is it easy to find? Do you just cut it into 1/4?
Hi Dana,
We love blending with fresh ginger! You can find it in the produce section of your local grocery store. Simply peel your ginger, you can even use the back of a spoon, and add a 1 inch section to your blender. Have an older blender, try grating your ginger prior to blending.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Made this twice so far and really liking it. It’s so resfreshing and don’t mind it’s a little thinner than the smoothies I usually make. I just add a little ice to cool in down more.
I did add a quarter of an avocado to add a little fat and collagen peptides for extra protein. Will also try adding some cucumber next time too.
Hi Nicole,
YAY! Thanks for sharing the leafy love! We especially love your idea of adding avocado to this recipe!
Just made this, and it was really delicious!
Hi Michelle,
Yay!! Thanks for reaching out + sharing the leafy love! Which recipe are you thinking about trying next?
With the lime – is that juice, or the entire peeled fruit? Thanks!
Hi Emily,
We love blending the entire lime. Start small with the peel, as it packs a powerful flavor punch!
I did *not* expect to like this smoothie but was prepared to choke it down for the health benefits. Color me green with surprise! I was blending romaine the first time I made this and so used that rather than spinach. I also subbed coconut water for the regular stuff. I only used one banana and still found it delightfully refreshing, not at all bitter, and totally worth revisiting with an open mind to play further with ingredients. Thanks again, rawkstars!
YAY! Cheers to trying new things, Sonora!