This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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!
Hello,
My husband and I started drinking the green smoothies this week. Feeling much better and enjoying the challenge. We heard about it through my sister and now my parents are trying it as well as my brother and his wife. My sister has done plenty of research and mentioned that you need to steam the greens and shock them in cold water to prevent the toxins from being able to form in your body. It didn’t take long to steam, shock and flash freeze the portions and now I have all of my greens in frozen clumps in a mason jar in the freezer ready for the smoothies. I am not sure of others have mentioned this before.
Hi Sara,
So happy you’re enjoying the challenge! And you can definitely flash steam your greens if you have troubles digesting too many raw greens. And the freezer idea is such a great idea. I like doing that when my greens are about to go bad. Saves $ and time!! 🙂
Keep up the great work!
I am a little leery about using the amaranths in the drinks I share with my hubby. This family has a high oxalate content which are not recommended by his urologist; hubby is a “kidney stone farmer”. Grows ’em well. I think we can get enough variety with the other families of greens.
Totally, Jean! I just recently read an article about this so if your hubby is prone to kidney stones, definitely switch things up a lot and stay away from the ones that bother his system. 🙂
Being concerned about getting protein in the morning with my smoothies, I’ve been adding slivered almonds. Love the chewiness they add. Any problem with this?
Sounds great. How much are you adding, DJ?
Most of the recipes I have seen call for spinach or kale… I am wanting to get other leafy greens in my smoothie… Will that taste of the smoothie be affected much by subbing in other leafy greens?
It can, but all the different leafy greens are so good for you. It’s great to get all different benefits into your body. 🙂
Hi 🙂 would lamb’s lettuce work?
Any leafy green will work. 🙂
Thanks for the advice about rotating my greens. I will definitely try different greens in my smoothies.
Glad we could help!
Hi Rawkstars. Like the blog here on switching up leafy greens. I have been doing green smoothies every day since mid-September. I love my blend of greens… Half kale and half spinach. I want to try others, but am not sure of how the flavor will differ?? My husband isn’t thrilled that I MAKE him drink a green smoothie evey morning. What can I use that will keep the taste similar to what I have with the blend? Thanks so much and Rawk-On!
Hi Karisa.
Great question! I love swiss chard, try half spinach and half swiss chard! Hope that helps.
I’m diabetes and am taking this green smoothie challenge for the first time. I’m really excited, but also know I will have to find the right “fit” for me.
Just a note, in my 1st smoothie this morning I used home grown Stevia to slightly sweeten and take away bitter taste. I also added 1TBS raw PB. I used Romain hearts(frozen) ,1probiotic cspsule-opened, 1cup coconut water, mango, strawberries and a fresh banana. It tastes great and made enough for 2, so tomorrow’s is made. Thanks for helping!!
You’re welcome, Pam! 🙂
Hey,
i recently found that zuchni’s are very useful in green smoothies. As are the greens form cauliflower.
Yes, those are both great choices.
I remove my greens, i.e.collards, kale, chard, from the stems. Am I losing nutritional value by removing the greens from the stems?
Hi Carla. I would suggest removing only the big/thick stems on your leafy green. There is nutritional value in the stems. 🙂
Hello! Thanks for all your awesome tips and support. I’ve seen that most of your recipes (at least the ones from the October 30-day challenge and your recipe page) call for spinach. Would the flavor balance be very much offset if I were to simply exchange the spinach in these recipes for my leafy green of the week? Thanks!
Hey Jared.
We love all sorts of leafy greens, I enjoy swiss chard (silver beet), carrot tops, baby kale, or celery. 🙂 Hope that helps. 🙂
I’ve been using a kale, spinach, chard mix of greens that comes in one bag. Should I still try to rotate greens, or will the mix take care of it? (Thanks for the tip to freeze them. I buy a 1.5lb bag of the mix at a warehouse store and keep it in the freezer, so now I actually use the whole bag.)
Hey Ginny.
That is a good question. I am not sure, since we normal buy kale one week, spinach the next…and so on. If you have the option, try that. Either way you are getting two different leafy green families, which is good.
Hello RAWstar Team!! Love your site. I have DAILY smoothies and enjoy the health benefits. My hubby in fact notices the changes in my skin glowing. I always add celery, cucumber, 1/2 lime and spinach or kale (alternating) as my first vegetable blend.Then I add a fresh pear, granny smith apple and a frozen banana as my typical recipe. I noticed my green smoothies are a little bitter and very vegetable taste. Any tips to making a green smoothie using celery as I enjoy the health benefits? It seems to me that I will always need to add a frozen banana and lime or lemon.
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Rosie
Hey Rosie.
I would suggest:
1/2 spinach
1/2 celery
1⁄2 cup coconut milk
1 cup green grapes, frozen
1⁄2 cucumber
1/2 banana
I have a question related to the tingling. What about lips tingling? I had thought that it was due to my gradually lowering a medication I have been on.
Hi Ruth.
Thank for reaching out to us. Since we are not doctors or nutritionists, we suggest that any member of community with health concerns to speak to their healthcare provider to confirm that green smoothies are okay for them.
I saw about the collard greens, and how they lose nutrients when cooked. I thought I’d share something I’ve learned in research papers on African American cooking: the collard greens are served with the “pot likker” (the liquid the greens were cooked in) and sopped up with corn bread, and this is how people would get the many vitamins and nutrients contained in the collards. Perhaps a smoothie could be made with cooked collards and the liquid they were cooked in?
Nice tip, Rebecca! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Can you use silverbeet in your leafy green because you dont have it listed
Hey Nikki.
Silverbeets are great, they are also known as chard in the USA. 🙂