I just can’t get enough when berry season comes around. My family eats pints of berries in 1 sitting, they’re our go-to road trip snack, and I love tossing them into smoothies. This mixed berry smoothie recipe is a great low-sugar option as well as loaded with antioxidants that will leave you feeling energized, glowing and ready to tackle the day ahead.
Table of Contents
Recipe Ingredients
- Cherries: This pitted fruit contains 3 grams of fiber and 18% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin C per serving. The antioxidants in cherries help control oxidative stress. Polyphenols give cherries powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
- Strawberries: This low sugar berry is also anti-inflammatory and can help lower the risk of heart disease. High in potassium, strawberries can help control blood pressure. It makes my mixed berry smoothie naturally sweet without spiking the sugar.
- Blueberries: The mighty blueberry is often touted as a superfood. 1 serving contains 4 grams of fiber, 36% of the RDI of vitamin K, 24% of the RDI of vitamin C, and 25% of the RDI of manganese. Blueberries are queen when it comes to antioxidants and can help protect against both aging and cancer.
- Banana: While people often associate bananas with high sugar content, they are actually relatively low on the glycemic index. Greener bananas contain less sugar than the yellowish brown ones. This creamy fruit also contains fiber, potassium and vitamins B6 and C.
Finally, this helps your body break down the natural fruit carbs in your smoothie, giving you long lasting energy with no sugar crash.
Mix Berry Smoothie Recipe
I call smoothies the world’s healthiest fast food because you can make a whole food, plant-based breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack in 5 minutes. Here’s how:
- Blend water + spinach starting with the blender on low, then slowly moving to high speed. Blend until no leafy chunks remain.
- Stop blending and add all fruit ingredients + boosters then blend again. Since many berries have seeds, blend a bit longer to ensure the seeds are well blended. If you aren’t using a high-powered blender, you will probably still have seeds in your finished product. If you want to pour your smoothie through a sieve into the glass, go for it!
That’s it! If your fruit is all fresh, then you may want to add an ice cube or 2 to your finished smoothie to cool it down. If you are using all frozen fruit, thaw them slightly before blending for a smoother finished product.
Feel free to swap out any of the ingredients in the below mixed berry smoothie for the berries of your choice. Smoothies are super versatile and just needs to be delicious for the person consuming it.
Berry Smoothie FAQs
They can be! Berries are naturally low in sugar, and my smoothie also has a handful of spinach which boosts the fiber. Fiber helps the body break down the natural sugar in fruit for a filling, no sugar rush snack or light meal. Berries are also loaded with antioxidants and vitamins that help the immune system.
Yes! I like the ease of making smoothies with water, yet you can definitely swap out water for the plant milk of your choice.
Smoothies alone can’t help you lose weight, yet boosting your intake of fruits and vegetables can. Berries are low in sugar, and drinking a smoothie in place of a snack or breakfast (especially if that smoothie is boosted with plant-based protein) sets the tone for your day and helps you choose healthier options through the day.
How to Make a Low-Sugar Smoothie
Fruit has carbs. These carbs are broken down between sugar and fiber. This is super important to know, because so many of us see carbs as ‘bad’ and lump fruit sugar into the same category as refined sugar.
I know that fruit sugar can affect our blood sugar, yet I also know that fiber is SUPER important in breaking down the natural sugar in the body… and our bodies need both (which is why a mixed berry smoothie recipe should be on your weekly blend list). Plus, did you know daily fruit consumption can actually combat obesity?!
If you like to keep your smoothies lower in sugar, first pick your fruits from my list of low sugar fruits. Second, use water or unsweetened plant milk as your liquid base. I know smoothies with fruit juice are delicious… yet that adds a lot of fiberless sugar. Third, boost your smoothie with my protein powder recipe. Make sure it’s sugarless, and has both protein and healthy fat.
More Berry Smoothie Recipes
I’ve got SO many berry smoothies because… well berries are delicious, smoothies are delicious, so why the heck not?! Here’s some recipe inspo for you:
- Strawberry banana smoothie
- Blackberry smoothie
- Strawberry blueberry smoothie
- Raspberry smoothie
- Berry breakfast smoothie
- Strawberry smoothie
- Berry citrus smoothie
- Blueberry spinach smoothie
- Strawberry mango smoothie
- Berry carrot smoothie
- Blueberry smoothie
- Berry banana smoothie
- Chocolate strawberry smoothie
- Cherry beet smoothie
- Almond berry smoothie
Basically if you like berries and have a blender then I’ve got a berry smoothie for you. Mix n’ match your berries to what you have on hand/prefer. Frozen berries are a great option as well; no need to spend a lot of money on fresh, out-of-season berries. Frozen berries are picked at the height of their season, then flash frozen to preserve nutrients.
When berries are in season, find a u-pick place or buy them from a local stand. That way you get the most berries for your buck. Your mixed berry smoothie tastes best with seasonal fruit.
Healthy Mixed Berry Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cherries frozen
- ¼ cup strawberries frozen
- ¼ cup blueberries frozen
- ½ banana
- 1 serving homemade protein powder optional
Instructions
- Blend spinach and water until smooth.
- Add the remaining fruits and blend again.
Notes
- Use at least one frozen fruit to make the green smoothie cold. Make sure to remove cherry pits before blending.
- Swap the spinach with the leafy greens of your choice.
- Instead of buy separate fresh berries you can buy a bag of mixed berries for this recipe.
It was good!
What it lacks in colour it makes up for in flavour. I made this with a whole small banana, milk instead of water, and matcha. Next time I would definitely use less banana and use water as listed to allow the berry flavours to be the star.
I really liked this one. I think the cherries add to it.
Wowzer.. I was surprised by how great the flavors tasted together. I really wanted the color to be green. I’m not a big cherry fan, but this one is a keeper.
Yummy Deliciousness.
Mine has been mild tasting but because I used avocado instead of banana, frozen cherry berry mix and added chia and hemp seeds
Funny it has spinach because it’s not green with all the delicious fruit!
I used avocado instead of banana and also worked fine. Nice flavor with the cherries.
I didn’t get to the store in time to do the Day 1 smoothie, so this is my first time adding spinach. Don’t be afraid of the spinach! I am not a spinach fan and am very picky about how I will consume it and I was concerned that it would mess up a perfectly good smoothie. It did not! I followed the (doubled) recipe exactly and hubby and I could not detect the flavor of spinach at all, although we could tell that there was something very slightly vegetable-y about it compared to our normal smoothies with just fruit. I rated it 4 stars because it wasn’t particularly flavorful, but perhaps it was just my specific ingredients at this particular time. Others mentioned lots of cherry flavor, which I was surprised not to get, and the banana was on the under-ripe side, so less sweet. I would make it again with a more ripe banana, and hope for cherries with more pizazz next time.
Very good. Great berry taste. Could not tell there was spinach in it.
This kept me full all day and loved the darker berry selections, wonderful flavor added chia seeds.
Day 2 was delicious! I doubled the spinach, used blackberries instead of strawberries, plus added 1/2 an avocado and 2 tbsp of black chia seeds, making enough for two smoothies. The blueberries, chia seeds and avocado increased the thickness, so had to drink with a straw! (glass/stainless steel straws of course ;))
Super rawkstar moves happening in your blender, Grace! Love all the extra protein and healthy fats you gained from the avocado and chia.
I liked it. Again, my banana flavor was strong. Wondering if it’s because I used older bananas than greener ones? Anyone else’s look more dark brown than green?!
Hi Pat, you’re correct, the older/more ripe the banana, the more flavour. My smoothie was not green either. Started as a dark red, then changed to brown after sitting out for awhile (oxidation). At least it still tasted delicious!
You’re totally right Pat! The older and yellow-er (it’s a word now!) a banana is, the sweeter it is. If you’re concerned about a smoothie being too banana-y (also now a word!), def feel free to use less. You can always toss more in as you blend. Smoothies with berries will for sure look purple, pink or even brownish in color instead of green when blended because of those berries.
This was much tastier!
Day two’s smoothie is way more tasty than yesterdays. I am not a fan of raspberries, but they tasted good with the other fruit today.
So glad you now have a way of blending up the health benefits of raspberry in a way that is yummy to you!
Much too sweet for me!
I don’t want to throw it out, so do you have suggestions for what I can add to the already-made smoothie to cut the sweetness? I’m a longtime green smoothie-maker, so I have lots of different ingredients on hand I could add. I’m not afraid of kale or anything else that could dilute the sweetness — just don’t know where to start! Thanks a bunch (of greens)!
Oh no! Sounds like a good problem to have though tbh. 😉 The top ideas we have would be to blend in some avocado, protein (like homemade protein powder, hemp hearts, chia seeds) or additional greens. If all else fails, blending in a touch of fresh lemon juice can help knock that sweetness down for you. Keep us posted on what you tried and what worked best for you!
I’m honestly not a mixed berry smoothie person. They just don’t taste as good to me. This one is a game changer though! The cherries are perfect and being this recipe alive.
So glad Marlissa! Seems like we are all Team Berry or Team Tropical. Glad this berry one was yummy for you!