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If you’re new to green smoothies—or just want one that actually tastes good—this is the recipe to start with. This simple green smoothie blends spinach with banana, mango, and pineapple to create a naturally sweet, tropical drink that comes together in minutes. It’s proof that healthy can be easy, delicious, and something you’ll actually want to make again tomorrow.
Table of Contents
What is a Green Smoothie?
A green smoothie is a blended drink made with leafy greens, like spinach or kale, and naturally sweet fruit such as bananas, berries, or tropical fruit. The fruit balances the flavor of the greens, creating a smooth, refreshing drink that’s easy to enjoy. Green smoothies are a quick and simple way to add more fiber, vitamins, and minerals to your day in one glass.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Everything you need to make my favorite green smoothie recipe is found in a garden, farmer’s market, or the produce section of your grocery store. I’ve found that the closer we eat to nature, the better we feel. This green smoothie recipe is a great way to start that journey.
- Fresh spinach: Baby spinach is the most mild version to use in smoothies, and also the most easy to find. I suggest using organic spinach because it’s on the Dirty Dozen List.
- Pineapple: I buy frozen pineapple at Costco in bulk to make Frozen Meal Prep Smoothie Packs. If it’s on sale, I’ll cut up pineapple and freeze it myself.
- Mango: You’ll find frozen mango next to the ice cream in the freezer section. I love how it’s already peeled and cut for you and ready to add to the blender. If fresh mango is on sale, you can always cut the mango and freeze yourself. Check out my guide on how to cut mango.
- Fresh banana: Bananas add a creaminess to smoothies that is hard to replicate. It’s magic! You can also freeze bananas to use them in green smoothies, yet the best results come from blending with a fresh, ripe banana.
- Water: The liquid base in the smoothie is water. Use filtered water to avoid any unnecessary chemicals or pollutants.
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How to Make a Green Smoothie
The only equipment you need to make this green smoothie recipe is a blender for smoothies. A juicer or food processor won’t work to get you a creamy smoothie.
- Blend 1 cup of spinach in a blender with 1 cup of liquid. Blend until all leafy chunks are gone.
- Toss in frozen mango, pineapple, and bananas in the blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. If you want your smoothie to be extra chilly or possibly even turn it into a smoothie bowl, use more frozen fruit. (You can freeze your favorite fruits like ripe bananas, grapes, pineapple, or berries.)
- Add in superfoods once the smoothie is nice and creamy. Chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flax seeds are all great choices.
- In order to break down the cell walls of the plants, you need to blend at high speed. You shouldn’t have any leafy chunks or weird texture in your smoothie if your blender is powerful enough.
- Drink immediately. To get the maximum amount of nutrients from a smoothie, drink it immediately after blending it.
Recipe Tips
- Following a simple smoothie method in my How to Make a Smoothie guide helps balance greens, fruit, and liquid for a smooth, great-tasting blend. Tossing in random greens can lead to bitter flavors or a thin texture.
- Frozen fruit makes smoothies thick and creamy without ice, which can dilute flavor and strain your blender. I use a fresh banana for creaminess, plus frozen mango and frozen pineapple for sweetness.
- Invest in a high-speed blender for smoothies if you plan to make green smoothies a daily habit—it makes blending faster, smoother, and easier to stick with.
Ingredient Swaps
- Banana: You can substitute it with a quarter of an avocado.
- Mango: Swap with frozen pineapple, red apple or peaches for a fiber-rich alternative.
- Pineapple: Swap with a naval orange to get that juicy citrus flavor.
- Water: Use oat milk, almond milk, coconut water or orange juice depending on your health goals.
- Spinach: Swap for kale, Swiss chard, beet greens, or any leafy greens of your choice.
How to Store a Green Smoothie
Store your green smoothie in the fridge with an air-tight lid (ex: mason jars are great) for up to 48 hours, yet I think it tastes best if consumed within 4 hours after blending. The longer your smoothie is exposed to oxygen, the more it breaks down and the nutrients deteriorate (aka: oxidation).
Green Smoothie Add-Ins
- Protein powder: You can turn any green smoothie recipe into a meal replacement by adding a serving of my Homemade Protein Powder to the blender.
- Natural sweeteners: Increase sweetness by using more natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, bananas, or dates. A smoothie can taste like dessert without any refined sugars.
- Chia seeds: A simple way to add more healthy fats and protein is to add 2 tbsp chia seeds. It won’t alter the taste, but drink fast or it will congeal. Some recipes suggest adding almond butter, yet that’s disgusting in a tropical green smoothie
- Collagen: Unflavored collagen is a simple way to add additional protein and support gut health.
- More vegetables: Try adding 1/4 cup frozen cauliflower for a fiber boost without altering the flavor.
More Green Smoothies
Once you try the recipe below, you’re gonna want more green smoothie recipes. It happens every day in my inbox! I love it! Here’s some of the most popular ones on my blog to try next:
- My son is obsessed with this Mango Orange Smoothie recipe.
- This Simple Kale Smoothie will surprise even the pickiest smoothie drinkers.
- I love this Glowing Green Smoothie with spinach and romaine lettuce for digestive support.
- Escape with this tropical Detox Island Green Smoothie to heal from within.
Dietary Adjustments & Substitutions
Need to accommodate a food allergy? Click the button below for tailored suggestions just for you:
Best Green Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup pineapple frozen
- ½ cup mango frozen
- 1 banana
Instructions
- Measure: Tightly pack spinach in a measuring cup.
- Add: Put spinach to blender with water. Blend together until all chunks are gone. (Should resemble green water when blended well).
- Toss: Pineapple, mango and banana to blender. I like to use frozen pineapple and mangos to chill the smoothie down and save time cutting and prepping. It’s a win-win!
- Blend: It all together until smooth and creamy. Depending on your blender, this could take as little as 30 seconds or as long as 2 minutes.
- Pour: Into a glass and serve immediately.
Video
Helpful Tools
Notes
- Try adding a serving of Homemade Protein Powder, it’s super clean and easy to make.
- Not a fan of bananas? Swap it for 1/4 avocado, additional 1/2 cup mango or 1/2 cup peaches.
- You can use 1 cup pineapple if you’re out of mango.
- Frozen fruit is recommended to chill the smoothie (and save time cutting and washing).
- Store in the fridge with a lid until ready to drink.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review for a chance to win signed copies of my cookbooks!Common Questions
You won’t be able to taste the spinach if you use the proper ratio of fruit to spinach (1½ : 1). This green smoothie recipe tastes like a mango pineapple smoothie with a hint of banana flavor.
For busy weeks, you can create Frozen Smoothie Packs that you prep on the weekend and enjoy all week, or month. It’ll only take you 5 minutes every morning to have a green smoothie ready to go. You can also blend your smoothie the night before and store it in your fridge until ready to drink.
Green smoothies are the healthiest fast food out there. Blending spinach and fruit into a smoothie is a great way to boost your immune system, increase fiber intake, and boost your energy levels. Adding kale or spinach in a smoothie has incredible health benefits with additional phytonutrients. What we eat can truly transform our body in powerful ways!
Most smoothies you buy or find online are made with just fruit and fruit juice. This makes them crazy high in sugar, which can cause inflammation and consuming excess calories. A green smoothie, on the other hand, is made with fruit and leafy greens, typically spinach or kale. They’re loaded with iron, potassium, fiber and vitamins galore.
Any blender will work, yet to get the creamiest green smoothie you’ll need a high speed blender. Check out my Best Blenders for Smoothies guide, where I reviewed countless blenders to find the best ones for green smoothies. The key is to get rid of leafy chunks, blend quickly and provide tons of value for the price. Hint: not all of them cost $400.
FIRST TIME TRYING THIS I WAS SKEPTICAL ON THE COLOR, BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD. I ADDED FROZEN PEAS, STRAWBERRIES, BANANA, ORANGE, AND JUICE FROM A LEMON INSTEAD OF THE MANGO AND PINEAPPLE.
Melinda,
We are so happy to have you blendin’ with us, and so happy to hear you enjoyed your first smoothie with us! Please let us know if you have any questions along the way!
I try the smoothie with kale and water orange pineapple, blueberries with flaxseeds it was very good thank you so much
Hi Rebecca,
Sounds delicious! Thank you so much for blendin’ with us! Cheers!
So I mixed some mint and sour apple into this and it tastes really good. Thanks for the recipe Rawkstars 😀
Hi Will,
Yum! Thank you so much for sharing, adding mint and sour apple sounds delicious! 🙂
Hi! I love veggies and fruits!
We do it! Cheers 🙂
how can i find out the calories for the Beginner’s Luck Green smoothie
Hey Lisa, We personally don’t count calories, so we don’t include them in our recipes at this time. You’ll find that when you consume more nourishing whole fruits and veggies, you will not only feel full longer, but you’ll also have lessened cravings for high-calorie, nutritionally empty foods. So in the end it balances out. But we know many people would like to have calorie info. Three great resources for tracking calories are Self Nutrition Data and the phone apps My Fitness Pal and Lose It.
Is it recommended to start your day with the smoothie or can it replace another meal and is it okay to have healthy snacks if needed before lunch?
Hey Heather! Thanks for blending with us! This is not a fast or a restrictive diet, so you can eat regular meals during this challenge. We are making healthy lifestyle changes that will last a lifetime! Our goal for you is to drink at least one 2-cup serving green smoothie a day in addition to your regular diet. If you would like, you can replace 1 or 2 meals with green smoothies. If you drink green smoothies as meal replacements, make sure to add a protein boost (plant-based protein powder, nut milk, nut butter), or snack on some nuts or a hard-boiled egg 30-60 minutes after you drink your green smoothie. Any time of the day is a great time for smoothies, :)!
I just signed up for the March 30 day challenge. My goal is to replace my lunch with a smoothie. I see the note to add a protein, if I added milk, would that just replace the water? And likewise, if I add a protein powder, I still would need water, correct?
-Ashley
Hi Ashley,
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.
Here are a few protein and liquid suggestions that we enjoy…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/dairy-free-smoothies
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/plant-based-protein-powder
Cheers 🙂
I’m in serious need of losing 45 to 50 pounds how can I do this? I am overweight and can’t go to the beach unless I cover up from neck to feet , I am embarrassed of my weight. please give me some great ideas and tips.
Hey Monique,
Thanks for reaching out. You are beautiful no matter the number on the scale. Our co-founder Jadah lost 20+ lbs by drink 1 green smoothie a day (16oz) + her normal lunch and dinner. Results may vary, depending on how active you are. But the leafy greens and fresh fruit are awesome fuel for your body.
I amt trying to loose 15 pounds an not a fan of mango or bannas can i use something else ?
Yes, feel free to sub in peaches for mangos and dates or avocados for bananas. 🙂
This one is one of our favs! 🙂
Hi, I just had my first green smoothie for lunch today (the recipe for the meal replacement smoothie with almond butter and oats), and while it was delicious, I was still hungry when I was done — I mean, not just looking for something else to eat — physically hungry! I eat healthy in general, ie. had steel cut oats/quinoa/fruit for breakfast, so I am very perplexed as to why this is not satisfying me. Is this normal in the beginning?
Is kale an acceptable subsitute where your recepies call for spinach? I’m allergic to spinach.
Totally, we love all sorts of leafy greens! https://simplegreensmoothies.com/leafy-greens
Boy that sure sounds good but my glucose would be sky high with all of that fruit content, no protein or fat. You need to include a source of healthy fat in the recipe to bring out more micro-nutrients in the greens.
Hey Mumsie,
Thanks for the comment. Have you seen this post on adding healthy fat and protein? https://simplegreensmoothies.com/meal-replacement-smoothie
Hi there, just started today with the beginner’s luck smoothie, I use the baby spinach is that all right or should I have used just the orginal spinach? Joy.
Baby spinach is great! 🙂
Hi I started drinking on Monday I noticed u drink one a day I’ve been drinking 2 a day is that too much to start off with? I’m also eating small snacks like oranges, string cheese, any fruit or veggies in between the smoothies so i’m not hungry seems to be working. Just wanted to know if i’m doing it right?
Hey Angela,
Thanks for reaching out. I would suggest starting small, because the fiber can shock your system if you aren’t use to a lot. 🙂 1 cup in your 16 oz would be great. 🙂
Hi there! I’m really excited to do this challenge!!!! I love veggies and need to lose like 40 lbs. Is there a diet plan I can follow with this smoothie challenge?
Hey Kim.
Thanks for reaching out. 🙂 Our co-founder Jadah lost 20+ lbs by drink 1 green smoothie a day (16oz) + her normal lunch and dinner. Results may vary, depending on how active you are. But the leafy greens and fresh fruit are awesome fuel for your body.
Hey, Could you add almond milk to this recipe instead of water and it still taste good?
I prefer coconut milk or coconut water with these ingredients. Always worth a try. 🙂