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Step aside salad. You’re no longer the only way to get dark leafy greens into my diet. I’m sharing a leafy green list of greatness with you as well as how to use greens in a smoothie like the best green smoothie (or salad or soup or anything) as well as why it’s good to rotate your greens and try something like a kale banana smoothie every so often. Ready, set, go green!
Table of Contents
What are Leafy Greens?
Leafy greens are super important for a healthy diet. They’re nutrient-dense, green veggies that provide tons of vitamins and minerals. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, a daily serving of leafy greens can lead to slower age-related cognitive decline.
Greens can be found as the tops of other plants (here’s looking at you, carrot tops and beet greens), or as plants in their own right. They come in all shapes, sizes, textures, shades and seasons. They aren’t even all in the same plant family.
If your taste buds have ever balked at something dark green and leafy, never fear! I’ve got some great new options for you to blend.
The Ultimate Dark Leafy Greens List
I often talk about rotating your greens. This is because greens come from all different plant families, each offering different health benefits. Yet if spinach is your jam, no worries! Your body will tell you when it’s time for a leafy green change-up. Read on to learn about some different types of greens, as well as my favorite options in each family.
Crucifers
Kale
Having a health issue? Kale can help with that. Seriously, kale is at the top of the superfood chain. With 684% of the recommended daily value of vitamin K, 206% of the RDV of vitamin A and 134% of the RDV of vitamin C, this dark leafy green packs a health punch. Kale has the highest level of antioxidants when consumed raw, yet does retain some health benefits when cooked. Try kale in this simple kale smoothie.
Collard
Like their other cruciferous family members, collard greens are great cancer fighters. They are also pretty good at helping your body digest foods properly with all the fiber inside. They are most popular steamed, but adding them raw to your smoothies will provide greater health benefits. Try some alkaline recipes to experiment with collards.
Cabbage
Cabbage is yet another example of a cruciferous cancer-fighting leafy green. This veggie can actually be purple, red, white or green, but is definitely still considered a leafy green. I love using cabbage as a plant-based taco shell, blended in a cabbage smoothie or roasted cabbage with light seasoning. Loaded with fiber, folate, vitamin B6 and antioxidants which help fight inflammation.
Bok Choy
This unique green vegetable is typically grown and harvested in China. Full of vitamins A and C, bok choy ranks high for nutrient density as well. All parts of the plant can be used: shredded in a salad, my vegetarian ramen, cooked in soup or blended in a smoothie.
Arugula
More than just a garnish, this leafy green has a peppery taste and a full nutrient profile. One cup contains 27.7% of the RDV of vitamin K. It has a stronger flavor than other cruciferous greens on my list, yet is fun in lemon arugula salad or strawberry arugula salad, homemade arugula pesto, or as a pizza topping on my incredibly delicious plant-based pizza recipe.
Amaranth
Spinach
It’s hard to beat spinach when talking about nutrient-packed greens. Just one leaf contains a sampling of more than 20 different nutrients. The list of benefits is nearly as long as the number of nutrients:
- cancer-fighting
- blood pressure lowering
- bone strengthening
- cardiovascular helping
- brain boosting
- skin smoothing
- vision improving
- inflammation reducing
- energy increasing
Beet Greens
I recommend branching out and trying beet greens for your next smoothie! They include a wide variety of nutrients, and can easily be substituted in any recipe with spinach, kale or chard. Our friends at Epicurious will kick-start your love for dark leafy beet greens with some of their favorite recipes.
Chard
Looking to put a pep in your leafy green step? Chard is a colorful, dark leaf known for its ability to regulate the body’s blood sugar. Translation? If diabetes or maintaining blood sugar levels is a concern, add this veggie to your regular rotation. Perfect for the afternoon smoothie pick-me-up!
Asteraceae
Romaine Lettuce
Romaine lettuce is good for the heart and low in calories. The vitamin C and beta-carotene content help to lower cholesterol and prevent build-up on artery walls, which reduces the risk of a heart attack.
Not a fan of lettuce salads? Then use romaine as a food wrap like I do in these Thai lettuce wraps or blend it into this gazpacho soup recipe.
Apiaceae
Carrot Tops
Who knew those frilly greens on the tops of carrots could come in handy? #NoFoodWaste. Filled with chlorophyll, which can fight against tumor growth and acts as a cleansing agent, carrot tops are the perfect addition to smoothies like this carrot top smoothie.
If you really want to boost your next smoothie, toss in the carrot and its top.
How Often Should You Rotate Greens?
Most of the smoothie and meal recipes I create use kale or spinach. That’s because these are the most easily found and affordable leafy greens available at the grocery store. Plus, they are in different leafy green families, so it makes rotating my greens easy-peasy.
Alkaloid Build Up
Why is it important to rotate through this leafy green list? All greens have small amounts of toxins. If you only consume greens from one family, your body may start to experience alkaloid build up. This is very rare and easy to avoid. Just try a different leafy green every once in a while.
I recommend rotating your greens once a week. This way, your body doesn’t get too much of a good thing in one leafy green family, and you get the chance to reward your body with new nutrients from a different green family.
Basically, by rotating greens on a regular basis, you avoid building up the toxins from one green. And, this gives you a reason to try that new fun green you’re always eyeing at the farmer’s market.
While our green smoothies are super easy to swap out one green for another, I’ve also got a meal planner full of plant-based recipes. Rawk the Year makes finding new recipes a breeze, and helps you incorporate the whole rainbow into your week. This meal planner also equips you with the kitchen skills to change up your veggies with ease!
Freezing Your Leafy Greens
Ever wonder how to use up all that beautiful produce you just bought, before it starts to wilt? Even though I make green smoothies daily, I still find that my greens never stay fresh as long as I need.
To lengthen the shelf life of those leafy greens and make rotating your greens as easy as opening your freezer, I came up with a way to freeze your greens. This way, you can have your greens and eat them too! Since I typically buy spinach and kale at Costco, I found that freezing them in ice cube trays and then storing them in freezer containers is the perfect solution to maximizing the freshness.
Bonus: Frozen greens can help keep that smoothie cool.
Leafy Greens FAQs
You’ve probably heard of spinach, kale and lettuce, but leafy greens also include carrot tops, beet greens, swiss chard, arugula and more! They can grow all on their own, or be found on the tops of other plants (like broccoli, beets and carrots).
All leafy greens are incredibly nutritious and great to mix into your diet. Kale and spinach are probably the most nutrient-dense, yet you need a variety of greens (and other fruits and vegetables) for the best health. Don’t be afraid to give a new one a try next time you’re at the store. You might be surprised by mustard greens, bok choy and more!
Greens don’t just take place in salads or garnishes for burgers. You can use them in green smoothies, all kinds of pesto, filling for stuffed mushrooms or potatoes. Pretty much anything you want! Next time you are grocery shopping, grab a new-to-you leafy green and get adventurous with how you prepare it.
The Ultimate Green Smoothie App
Our amazing app, Daily Blends Smoothie app., has hundreds of recipes ready for you to work your way through the leafy greens list! You can sort by the ingredients you have on hand or the type of smoothie you want to try. It’s a great app to try a new recipe and catalog your favorites.
What are your favorite leafy greens? Drop a comment below and let me know if this list has inspired you to try a new ingredient, or if you’ve got a new green for me to try!
So here’s my question: There’s a strong rumor going around that green smoothies are hard on blood sugar because they’re digested so quickly. I have very sensitive blood sugar but have NOT found that to be the case! It bothers me that so many people think so! Do you have any research on that?
Hi Eleanor,
We’re not doctors, but we understand that each person’s body is different, and some may be more sensitive to spikes in blood sugar than others.
For those sensitive to blood sugar spikes, we suggest adding protein to their smoothies! Because your body burns protein slower than carbs, protein is important to prevent blood sugar spikes that can not only make you feel weak and dizzy, but can also lead to serious health issues down the road.
Here are some of our favorite ways to add protein to our smoothies:
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/plant-based-protein-powder
Oats are also a great way to keep your blood sugar stable! You can add dry oats, soaked oats or even cooked oats to your smoothie. We usually recommend adding 2 tbsp dry oats, or 1/4 cup cooked oats to any green smoothie recipe.
Hope this is helpful!
Thanks for your website. I’ve been drinking green smoothies for about a year and love what it does for me in so many ways. I like to pick two different kinds of greens, fill my Ninja blender as full as possible with them, add a cut-up apple or two plus strawberries or lemon. Then I somehow (probably because the greens compress so much) add avocado, soaked pumpkin seeds, kelp, and some distilled water. I find a little stevia helps the taste tremendously and goes so well with greens (surprise)!
Hi Eleanor,
Thank you so much for blending with us! We love having you as part of our community. Your smoothies sound delicious! If you’re interested, here are our favorite ways to naturally sweeten our smoothies:
Cheers 🙂
Hello!
I am so excited that my mom and uncle have recommended me to check out this site! I am loving the results! I made my first green smoothie today and amazed at how satisfied I am. They are hooked on these healthy smoothies, and it is safe to say that I will be too! Thank you so much for all the helpful information!
Hi Tasheema,
We are so excited to have you blendin’ with us, and very happy your mom and uncle suggested our site to you! Here is one of our favorite recipes for beginners!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/best-green-smoothie
Please let us know if you have any questions along the way!
Cheers 🙂
hi, your page is truly amazing – i found here so much inspiration! now i need help, because i ran out of spinach – do you think iceberg salad would work as well?
Hi Lenka,
Of course!
hi! I am so excited about GREEN SMOOTHIES! I don’t have a proper kitchen in my apartment and can’t do much cooking so this is perfect for me 🙂 question: I live in Turkey and don’t really have access to many of these liquids that you mention, is it cool if I just stick with water or green tea most of the time? also, there are lots of cool leafy greens I have never seen before… should I stick with the ones you listed or should I feel free to try some of these kooky greens? no kale here for example but so many exciting leafy things everywhere! thanks 🙂
Hi Sara,
The most important thing is to make Simple Green Smoothies work for you! If green tea + water is accessible to you, go for it! Also, don’t let our suggestions hold you back, go wild on your leafy green options! Just make sure and share with us how you like all of your “kooky greens”!!
Cheers 🙂
Every time I go to the store they always have the same greens. Arugula, spring greens, spinach, kale, bok choy, swiss chard and collards. I don’t like the collards. A lot of times they don’t have any dandelion greens. They run out of Swiss chard and bok choy which I love and when I go to another store they have bugs on them or they are wilted. I always end up limited to kale, spinach and arugula. I know that isn’t that much of a mix. Any suggestions or is that OK?
Hi Vicky,
When using kale, spinach + arugula, you’re switching between the crucifers + amaranth families, so you’re getting a good start on mixing your leafy greens! If you’re really worried about the potential of toxic build-up, try adding another family of leafy greens every few weeks, like romaine lettuce, celery, or carrot tops!
Cheers 🙂
Thank you for getting back to me Rawkstar!!!
Hi i was just wondering if using yogurt as a liquid base is ok. Before this website that is what i was using and so i stocked up but i want to do the challenge right….so now what????
Hi Ruby,
Great question! We’ve talked with a lot of nutritionists and milk isn’t all that it’s been hyped up to be. Dairy is one of the highest diet allergies (and often goes undiagnosed), yet can cause inflammation and if you aren’t buying organic milk, you’re also getting doses of antibiotics, hormones, etc that can tip your own body out of whack. So we just avoid milk for our family (and opt for almond milk). We get our calcium from plant-based sources mainly— broccoli, spinach and kale.
It’s definitely a personal choice, and you just have to decide what works best for you and your family.
Harris Teeter carries a kale mix in a bag which contains baby spinach, kale and chard.
Yum!
Dear Jessie,
It takes 12 weeks for a compression fracture of a vertebrae to heal
and I seem to have nerve damage at my waist, so taking it easy, but I am up and about already. Thanks for the good wishes!
Jessie, I have a 12 speed Osterizer blender. I will never be able to afford a $300 blender.
For my smoothies, 5 minutes seems to do it to all the Kale chunks. I found a bag of Kale at Harris Teeter that is already chopped up, but you do need to rinse it and remove thicka few little remaining ribs first before you blend. I just got some different greens on your suggestion, also. I’ll try ’em tomorrow for breakfast! Wendy King
Hey Wendy,
Hope you are feeling better and our whole team sends you well wishes! BIG HUGS!
No need for the fanciest blender, if it is working for you, that’s awesome! I started with a $10 blender and I blended until it wouldn’t blend any more.
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/shop
In order to rotate more greens can you guys put up more recipes with other greens I see a few with bok choy and collards but the amount with spinach and kale is so much more I am afraid the lack of variety may make it hard to go a week on other greens like bok choy and collards without drinking the same smoothie in excess. Are the recipes separated by liquid base or greens. I may just have trouble finding them. Either way I love the recipes. Thanks!
Hey Brittney,
Feel free to put any leafy greens in your smoothie. All leafy greens will work great with our recipes.
hi, I usually buy packages of mixed greens. should I still worry about rotating my greens? or is having mixed greens everyday okay?
Hey Dawn,
Every time we go to the store we purchase different leafy green just to make sure that our body is getting different nutrients. https://simplegreensmoothies.com/leafy-greens
So happy I found ya’ll. love you ladies website and approach !!!! <3
Hey Eboni!
Thanks so much for blending with us! Cheers!
Hello, Ladies! Didn’t know about rotating, and thanks for the suggestions, I have never eaten most of them! Just want to let you know that I have been flat on my back for four weeks after a fall off a treadmill and a compressed disc in my back. Couldn’t stand up long enough to cook and so …ta da! smoothies! I have lost 12 pounds without even trying and I wasn’t hungry…of course all the painkillers may have something to do with that, but isn’t it great!? All my new winter slacks are falling off me! I am keeping on with this, too because 178 to 166 isn’t enough! 145 here I come! LOL! Thank you so so much! You are wonderful! and yes, I am slowly getting well, 8 weeks to go! Easy does it!
P.S. My blender left me with chunks. Today I blended for 10 minutes, and the smoothie was smooth. At last, and no stomach ache today. I think I just didn’t blend enough and the kale was hard to digest. P.S. I am/was an active 67!
Hey Wendy!
Oh my goodness, I hope you are feeling better! How much longer are you on bedrest for? Sending love your way!!! xoxox
May I ask what blender you are using. It shouldn’t take 10 minutes to blend a recipe. I can do it in 10 seconds with my blender.
I am in day 3. My problem is that I am still hungry after my smoothies. I eat eggs, nuts and fruit for snacks. Will this pass?
Put a little protein powder in your smoothie. It will stop the hunger. People use soy, vegetable, other proteins it is up to you.
Hey Robbie. 🙂
Yes, JW is right. Put some protein in your 16oz and it should help you feel fuller longer. 🙂 https://simplegreensmoothies.com/plant-based-protein-powder
Hi Robbie,
I put cooked steel cut oats in my morning smoothies for exactly that reason. It adds a nice texture and makes it a little more filling. Plus it has fiber and protein in it. I make a big batch on the weekend, and it lasts me until Friday. One tip-use 25% less water than the directions call for. It will be more like rice and less like oatmeal.
-Jenn
Jenn,
Great suggestion!
Do you have this list somewhere in a printable version? Would be great to post on my fridge and as a reference when I am making my grocery list! Thanks 🙂
Hey Lindsay, that is a great idea! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
A green smoothie needs to have more vegetables than fruit, if you’re just adding spinach to a bunch of fruits it should be called “green fruit smoothie”
agreed!
Hey Alex + Jessica.
Our recipes are here to inspire you — you don’t have to follow them to a T. Yet we do think they are mighty tasty! Feel free to use other green smoothie recipes and even make some up yourself. The key to making green smoothies your lifestyle is making it easy and part of your daily routine. So we recommend using fruits and veggies that are easy for you to find and are affordable.