
This Simple Orange Banana Smoothie is loaded with plant-powered goodness and nutrients to give you energy.
The best kind of "fast" food is a green smoothie, hands down. This one is simply delicious and incredibly delicious. Chances are you've already got everything on hand that you need to blend up this orange banana smoothie.
I am a runner and fueling my body with plants helps keep me energized and in good health - I don't want anything to slow me down! After a long run, I love to blend up a green smoothie to rehydrate and replenish my electrolytes. To give myself an extra boost, I'll often use coconut water in place of plain water.
Taking my smoothies on the go in reusable jars has made all the difference. After a workout, I'm much less likely to drive through fast food when I have a smoothie blended and ready to down. You with me?
Ingredients in Orange Banana Smoothie
We've packed in the goodness with spinach, banana and oranges. That's it.... and all you really need here. Oranges and bananas are taken for granted. It's seems like they're always readily available on kitchen counters and cafeterias all over. But the reason they are so popular is probably due to the fact that we've come to rely on them for their vitamin C and potassium. But there are other benefits to oranges and bananas.
Health Benefits of Oranges
Like I said, oranges are a great source of vitamin C. When I'm feeling on the edge of a cold, I definitely start eating more oranges (or adding them to my smoothies!) and other foods high in vitamin C. This orange banana smoothie is loaded with vitamin c!
Oranges have other health benefits too. They are high in dietary fiber, which is essential for digestive function, but also to help reduce high cholesterol levels and keep blood sugar stable.
In addition to vitamin C and dietary fiber, oranges are also a good source of folate, vitamins A and B1, and B5 (pantothenic acid), which is essential for making blood cells and converting the food we eat into energy. Oranges also contain essential minerals potassium, copper, and calcium.
Health Benefits of Banana
Bananas are one of the greatest fruits out there, in my opinion. One medium banana provides 25% the recommended daily amount of vitamin B6, 14% vitamin C, 14% manganese, 11% fiber, 10% copper and biotin, and 9% potassium. Foods rich in potassium may help improve cardiovascular health.
Bananas are low on the glycemic scale, making them a good fruit to eat if you're watching your blood sugar levels. Even though bananas contain around 15 grams of total sugar in one medium piece of fruit, they also contain 3 grams of fiber and pectin. Bananas contain FOS (fructooligosaccharides) that aren't broken down in the digestive tract until the lower intestine where bacteria aids in metabolizing the FOS. Eating bananas has shown to increase the healthy bacteria in the gut. More reasons to love bananas!
How To Store Orange Banana Smoothie
If you want to blend your orange banana smoothie ahead of time, I recommend adding a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the jar. This helps preserve the smoothie. It has to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. In the fridge, a smoothie will stay good for 1-3 days depending on the ingredients used. Keep in mind that really ripe fruit can start to ferment in the blended smoothie and could cause the container to leak or explode.
Smoothies can be frozen in wide-mouth canning jars. Leave a little head room at the top for expansion. To thaw either place in the fridge overnight or place the jar in cool (not hot!) water to thaw. Give the jar a little shake if the smoothie has separated.
Orange Banana Smoothie
Rate this Recipe Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup spinach
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ orange
- ½ banana
Instructions
- BLEND: Place spinach, water and oranges in blender.
- PUREE: Ingredients until smooth and making sure all leafy chunks are gone.
- ADD: Toss in the banana and blend again.
Notes
- If using a high powered blender, you can add all ingredients at once and blend.
Holly
Starting the 30 day smoothie challenge! Of course I didn't read the directions properly and only made one serving. Lol. Still good stuff.I split it in half and I'll add a salad for lunch. Then do a light dinner. Wish me luck!
Josh
Yummy. I make this plus add chia seeds
Simple Green Smoothies
Chia seeds are such a great way to up that fiber, protein and Omega-3 content! Cool add!
Holly
I doubled the recipe & used coconut water. Delicious! Thank you!
Simple Green Smoothies
Coconut water! Yum!!!
Diana
Tasty and nutritious! I love the fresh taste.
Nancy McDonnell
Easy to make and tastes amazing. Definitely will do again. (I even added the Simple Green Protein to make it a meal for lunch). Trying to do the 30 days challenge to add more veggies into my diet. 🙂
Ambriel
I just have a question. On the nutrition facts, it says that its around 28 grams of sugar? is that just because of the natural sugars?
Simple Green Smoothies
Yeah— since we're blending whole fruits (no powders or juices) you're also getting additional fiber. The fiber helps slow down the absorption of the fruit sugars into your body and give you sustained energy.
Lucy
Delicious and orangey! I love this combo
Simple Green Smoothies
Me too!!
Sowmya
Really nice
Simple Green Smoothies
Glad you liked it, Sowmya! 🙂
Keshelle Davis
I loved this one. It’s refreshing!
Simple Green Smoothies
I do, too! It's so tasty and really simple with only 4 ingredients!
Susan
I have a question about oranges: do you peel them first, or slice them and use them rind and all? Recipe doesn’t make it clear. Thanks.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Susan, great question! We like to either peel our oranges or use a knife and slice the outer rind off. We try to keep as much of the pith (the white stuff!) on as possible because that has more vitamin C than the fruit itself! Plus, it's a great source of fiber. Here's a post on all things peels I think you'll find very helpful. 🙂 To Peel or Not to Peel?
Nicole Cole
Yum!
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Nicole,
Yum is the perfect word to describe this smoothie =P
Dolores Johnson
I liked the taste of this smoothie. I added 1T of coconut oil & 2T of vanilla protein powder to make it a meal.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Dolores,
That sounds super tasty! Thank you for sharing how you made this smoothie in a meal replacement 🙂
Jessica
Oh I was also confused if I was supposed to peel the orange first or leave on the skin??? Just because in the shopping list the oranges in the other recipes specified “peeled”.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Jessica,
You can totally leave the peel on your orange if you are up to it. I would suggest starting off with only a small amount of the peel first because it can be a little too intense for your stomach the first time you consume it.
Jessica
It really was simple! I’m not a big orange juice fan. But this was good. My 8 year olds favorite from week 1
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Jessica,
Thanks for sharing! We love hearing when little rawkstars love our recipes too 🙂
Jill
This was one of my two faves from Week 1! The other one was Day 3 - Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.
Gayathri
Simple and amazing!
Tanya
Yum!
Bonnie Good
I used coconut water and kale instead of spinach. Yum
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Bonnie,
Kale yeah!! Love that you swapped out spinach for kale on this recipe.
Cheers!
Clare Jones
Love it. Use small whole orange. Tastey and filling
Anita
Five stars for simple citrus. Added cia seeds and zinc powder.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Anita,
I personally love adding chia seeds to all of my smoothies. The zinc powder has so many benefits especially for keeping any colds away that might be creeping up.
Martianne Stanger
Nice recipe. I added ground flax for my fiber.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Martianne,
That sounds like a really good addition to this recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
Michelle
I tried this one again on 1/5 - but I peeled the oranges. Love it - so smooth and creamy and delicious!
Jessica
Very simple and easy. I added a little salt and coconut oil and then a frozen banana half to make it cold. It was delicious.
Patricia
Liked this smoothie better the second time around as I used frozent fruit and cold water.
Anette Stahl
Day 5. Refreshing and a bit tangy almost bitter but in a nice way! Added some coconut oil too.
#simplegreensmoothies #simplegreensmoothies30daychallenge
Pam
Light and refreshing!
Ronna Acevedo
I love this smoothie, it’s so easy and so good!
Kim Aumonier
Delicious! My kids loved it too, guess I'll have to make more next time!
Erica Marquez
Delicious! I even got my 5 year old to drink some and she doesn’t like spinach.
Simple Green Smoothies
Hey Erica,
That is so awesome!! We love hearing when kids approve our recipes 🙂
Giselle Ferguson
Super simple recipe! Great taste, perfect for beginners just trying out green smoothies.
Stephanie Nicholson
Very tasty and simple!
Martha R Prestin
My family loved this recipe. It was light, sweet and refreshing. We ate it with eggs and toast for a complete meal.
Julie
Simply delish!
Rachelle Roberts
This one is so yummy, I love the creaminess the banana gives. So simple and so perfect!
Marie-Claude Turbide
Excellent!
Julie Soares
Delicious! Even the kids loved this one. Will be a staple!
Aimee Dewar
This was so delicious. You can’t go wrong with oranges and bananas! All 5 of us drank it.
Lauren Gonzalez
Simple smoothie that was sweet but not too sweet. My boys helped me make it and said it was one of their favorites! 🙂 Love the Vit C boost during this time
of year.
Barb
this is good! I would never have thought to put an orange in a smoothie....
Kristin
My family all loved this smoothie!