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One of our most popular recipes is our Pineapple Banana Smoothie, which we fondly call the Pineapple Upside Down Cake in my smoothie recipe app, Daily Blends. It’s dessert-level good! Before you run from the sight of spinach—give this a shot…. TRUST ME! This smoothie not only tastes amazing, it also has some added health perks that you’ll definitely enjoy.
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Banana and Pineapple Smoothie
This pineapple banana smoothie is inspired by a cake from my childhood: the Pineapple Upside Down cake. While it may be based on a super sweet dessert, this fruit smoothie is loaded with health benefits too:
- Only sweetened by fruit, no added sugar here!
- thick & creamy thanks to the protein-rich almond milk + bananas
- 100% plant-based to give you the healthiest smoothie without any of the tummy troubles that dairy often causes.
- Naturally boosted with calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin D, which gives you some delicious health benefits.
No wonder this pineapple banana smoothie is such a fav among our fellow smoothie lovers! Seriously, this is a fun smoothie for newbies as well as veteran smoothie drinkers.
Smoothie Ingredient Swaps + Protein Boosts
If you need to lower the sugar, then replace the banana with a half cup frozen cauliflower, or 1/4 an avocado. That way you keep the creamy texture while cutting down on the sugar.
Want to turn this pineapple banana smoothie into a meal? I love adding in a scoop of natural almond butter, for a hint of nuttiness + a load of healthy fat.
If you want a protein boost without any change in flavor, then try a clean, plant based option. My completely plant-based, organic protein powder recipe is a quality way to add protein to any smoothie you make. It gives your smoothie 10 extra grams of protein + healthy fat, without changing the flavor! That means this pineapple banana smoothie goes from 4.2 grams of protein to 14.2 grams, #kaleyeah!
What Almond Milk Should I Use in Smoothies?
While water is an easy base to swap in for almond milk in this pineapple banana smoothie, I love the flavor + creaminess that the almond milk adds. You can either make your own almond milk (which is what I do!), or you can buy some from almost any grocery store. If you choose store bought, don’t forget to check out my report on the best almond milk brands currently on the market.
Liquid swaps for pineapple banana smoothie
If almond milk isn’t your thing, no worries! Green smoothies are SO versatile, and I’ve got some great swaps for you. Honestly, you could swap in almost any dairy-free milk you want (cashew milk and oat milk are my top choices for this pineapple banana smoothie).
The thickness + texture changes depending on the liquid used, so keep that in mind. If water is your base of choice, then add in a tablespoon of hemp hearts so you don’t lose the protein.
More Healthy Smoothies
Pineapples are a sweet, tropical ingredient found in many of my smoothie recommendations for beginners. They are flavorful and bright, as well as loved by many. If you’re looking for more pineapple smoothie options, then I’ve got some great recipes for you!
- Pineapple Ginger smoothie
- Mint Pineapple smoothie
- Pineapple Kale smoothie
- Clear Skin smoothie
- Citrus smoothie
- Perfect Pineapple smoothie
What are some of your fav pineapple smoothie combos? Share in the comments so that we can all try some new flavors together!
Healthy Pineapple Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup almond milk unsweetened
- ½ cup pineapple frozen
- ½ cup cherries frozen
- ½ banana
- 1 serving homemade protein powder optional
Instructions
- Blend spinach and almond milk until smooth.
- Add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth. Enjoy!
Equipment
Video
Notes
- Use at least one frozen fruit to make smoothie cold.
- Cherries can be substituted with berries.
- Use the leafy greens of your choice.
- Use the dairy-free milk of your choice.
Creamy and tropical! Liked it!
This one is another winner. Our almond milk is unsweetened vanilla flavored. It was delicious in this smoothie. So glad to be doing this challenge, it’s allowing my husband & I to try different combinations of fruit & greens.
This smoothie was awesome and the whole family loved it. Great flavors with just the right amount of sweetness from the banana! This is a keeper!!
Used raspberries instead of cherries. My daughter loved hers. Son and I will do ours tonight. We may replace almond milk with coconut water.
Day 3! Unfortunately, haven’t been able to find the cherries so I had to go with mango this morning instead. We will keep trying to find the cherries, fresh or frozen. The smoothie was delicious and I am really liking the almond milk which I did not think I would! My husband drank his this morning and I made one for each of my kids and put in the fridge for their after school snack. Yum!
Delicious Smoothie… I didn’t have cherries so substitute Strawberries! VeryGood as well!:)
Love it!
So far my favorite.
This recipe was good whereas day one and two were great. I think the banana toned down the pineapple just a little to much but nonetheless still a drink I will make again. thanks
I wish I could give this more than 5 stars because it exceeded my expectations. It’s my favorite thus far.
So good this is my new favorite drink. I swapped cherry to blueberry and I used almond milk with toasted coconut and it was a little think so I used water to thin it out. So good
This is one of my all time favorites! Sometimes I’ll add 1T of cocoa powder. Today I was out of bananas (kids got to them) so I subbed avocado, still great!
This pineapple upside down cake smoothie is really delicious, I love the taste of the pineapple . I added kale with the spinach. I’ve had previous allergic reactions to cherries, so swapped it out with a blueberry, raspberry and açai berry mix. Really nice boost. Both my daughter and I prefer the taste of coconut so I used unsweetened instead of almond milk. Oh, I also added half an avocado.
Yum! Loved this one.
I rated this as a 3 because it got stuck like a solid lump in the blender and I had to add more liquid. This made the smoothie quite bland and watery. However my husband thought it was a good one.
Each day as I make a smoothie I see many people adding and changing some of the ingredients to make it more creamy. Moving forward I will try different things.
This is my first time making smoothies and on the whole enjoying the process, I’m so happy I was able to sign up for this challenge……
P.s. I’m away from home and purchased a not so good blender so I could start the challenge. I have a Vitamix at home and I think the results will be much better when I get home!
The recipe I made is called Pineapple Dream, same ingredients. It’s so delicious and refreshing. Don’t know how you do it Jen. The smoothies are so delicious and I didn’t have to add sweetners to any of them which I normally do when I make smoothies.