Our take on Mexican Hot Chocolate includes spinach – but don’t knock it until you try it. This chocolaty green smoothie has the classic hint of cinnamon plus a kick of cayenne and is every bit as rich and creamy.
When we testing out green smoothie recipes for our book, Simple Green Smoothies: 100+ Tasty Recipes to Lose Weight, Gain Energy & Feel Great in Your Body, we knew we wanted to include fun, interesting, and delicious takes on desserts. Think of it like desserts…with benefits. 😉 Who says you can’t have your chocolate and spinach at the same time? Not us! (p.s. Our book is now available, and you can order right here!)
We love taking classic drinks and desserts and re-creating them with our own healthy flair. So when it was chilly outside and we had a craving for a rich, velvety Mexican Hot Chocolate, it was inevitable that we’d have to find a way to throw handfuls of leafy greens in it! We think once you give this a taste, you’ll agree that we’ve done a bang up job paying homage to this favorite chocolate drink.
Serve this warm or chilled. Either way, you will be pleasantly surprised when you drink our Mexican Hot Chocolate Green Smoothie that you won’t even taste the leafy greens – just that cinnamon-y, almond-laced, rich chocolate flavor and a cayenne kick. Sippable fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, protein, and iron? Sign us up!
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Our take on the classic Mexican favorite includes spinach – but don’t knock it until you try it. This rich, creamy, chocolaty smoothie has a hint of cinnamon plus a kick of cayenne.
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (warmed)
- 1 banana
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Pinch of ground red pepper
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Blend the spinach and warm almond milk until smooth.
- Add the banana, almond butter, cacao powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, red pepper, and salt and blend again.
35 comments
SO good! my new go-to winter smoothie.
★★★★★
I used arugula for a more peppery flavor and also used dark chocolate almond butter for a stronger chocolate flavor and oh my. This could be my new cup of coffee in the morning. AMAZING!
Oh Sierra – I love your changes to this recipe!!
★★★★★
I love it! I’m just trying this recipe for the first time. It’s snowing here today and I needed something warm and comforting. This smoothie is amazing! Why did I wait so long before trying a warm smoothie? Thank you SGS Team for this winner!
★★★★★
Hi Mireille,
YAY! I’m so excited to hear you finally gave warm smoothies a chance! 🙂 KALE YEAH!
★★★★★
The recipe which you have been shared is really interesting. I’ll try this and let you know the taste. Thanks again
Can’t wait to hear what you think! Cheers :).
I woke up this morning with a craving for a chocolate shake, and found this recipe! I kept everything frozen and cold, added a drop of vanilla, some hemp protein and ground flax seeds, and blended it up. SO tasty and completely hit the spot!
Hi Nikki,
YAY!! Love that our recipe was the perfect fix for your chocolate shake craving!
Hello there –
I have completed two of your 21 day cleanses and am ready to start the third one on February 8, however I went to open my links to the kit and it won’t allow me to open them? It says the links have been broken?
Hi Dennie,
We recently updated our product provider, so older links may no longer be active. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please send a quick message to our team at the link below and we’ll send the updated links to you ASAP!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/contact
Hiya. What is ground red pepper called in the UK? Probably sounds silly but I think it must be called something else here as I haven’t seen it on the shelves. Thanks!
Hi Lindsey,
Is cayenne pepper available where you are in the UK?
Are there any other “warm” green smoothie recipes I could try? I’m a coffee drinker every morning and although the green smoothies are wonderful, I still crave that warm coffee-like drink in the morning. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Akilah,
Of course! Check out some of our favorite warm smoothies here…
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/green-smoothie-recipes/warm-hazelnut-hot-chocolate-green-smoothie
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/green-smoothie-recipes/warm-green-smoothie-chai-tea
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/green-smoothie-recipes/warm-smoothie-wassail
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/green-smoothie-recipes/warm-smoothie-apple-pie
Enjoy!
I am also a coffee drinker and trying to get away from it. I’ve been using ginger as a caffeine replacement. Its a good pick-me-up
I’m trying the morning tonic:
Morning Tonic TEA | Makes 1 cup
1 cup hot water
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
4 thin slices fresh ginger
Make this every morning right when you wake up.
Boil one cup hot water and pour into a mug. Add
ginger and lemon juice and let steep for 3 minutes.
Sip and enjoy!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FreshStart_preview.pdf
Thanks for sharing, Jon! We love hearing how ginger is giving you a great energy boost! 🙂
Haven’t tried the Mexican hot chocolate but just went and got all the ingredients. Warm hot chocolate is nice, but I like mine hot. Can I boil the almond milk instead of warming. Or any suggestions to get it to a hotter temperature. Thank you.
Hi Madeline,
Great question! Almond milk is very stable + heat resistant, so feel free to heat your almond milk to your desired temperature. We suggest heating your milk slowly and stirring consistently to prevent scorching.
Happy blendin’!
Hi, I’m new here, just found you from GLP radio talks. Very inspiring and humble stories that I immediately check your website. So I’m new to smoothies too and want to try start by tomorrow morning.. I’d like to try this warm smoothie as my first one because I dont like to drink cool drinks at cold weather and would like to attract my son with chocolate. We live in Istanbul. Almond milk and almond butter are not familiar ingredients here. dont have banana too right now. what can I use to substitute these ? I have avocado, green apple, kiwi, honey, and various ground spices. pls kindly advise
Hi Lina,
Thank you so much for reaching out! We’re so excited to have you and your son blending with us. Don’t have almond milk or almond butter by you, no worries! Reach for another milk option, as well as, another nut butter you have available. No bananas? Avocado is a great substitute! It won’t add sweetness but will make your smoothie extra creamy, so try adding a small amount of honey to your green smoothie to help sweeten things up!
Hope this helps! Reach back out and let us know how this recipe works for you!
This is easily, the yummiest, rich, flavorful hot chocolate I have had. I was so blown away! My two littles kids (who are the pickiest of the five) LOVED it as well. I would love to see more warm smoothies- I like all of the smoothies I have tried, but it gets tricky when the weather outside gets frightful and I am chilled to the bone. Maybe an apple cider? Thanks, you guys are the best!
Hi Alyssa,
Thank you so much for sharing the green smoothie love! I will definitely forward your suggestion to our team!
Cheers 🙂
Wow..I mean, really wow! First of all, a little secret, I didn’t have any spinach because I used it all when I was prepping and feezing my smoothies for the week. But, I did have some mixed greens for salads, so I picked out the pieces of spinach, kale and anything that looked like it wouldn’t be bitter. Hey, no one was there to see, right? I can’t believe how good this is, with no sugar added! Amazing! This will be my go-to treat from now on! Nice work, Ladies!
Hi Anita,
YAY! Way to be resourceful and use your mixed greens! We love trying new greens + combinations! Thanks for sharing your green smoothie love!
Cheers 🙂
I actually found this more enttiearning than James Joyce.
Oh my. I just made this for breakfast. I doubled the recipe so I could share with my five kids. Yummmm! It’s perfect, too, now that it’s getting so chilly here. And it’s left me wondering, why haven’t I always blended spinach into my hot chocolate? Haha. This is so good! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Rachelle,
YAY! Thank you so much for reaching out + letting us know what you think of our Mexican Hot Chocolate recipe!
Cheers 🙂
I have been enjoying the 30 day green smoothies.
Thanks for blendin’ with us, Rosalba!
Hi Jen & Jadah,
I want to do the 21-day cleanse. I have sign for it and payed also.
Do I need to sign up again for the 21- day cleanse?
HI Rosalba,
Oh no! We’re so sorry your Fresh Start 21 purchase didn’t reach your inbox! Send a quick message to our team at the link below + we’ll get your purchase to you ASAP!
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/contact
Thank you for your patience!
Greg,
If you “left click” and drag your mouse over the recipe, highlighting what you want to print. Then “right click” on it, then click on PRINT. It should come up and print out what you highlighted. I do it when I want to save a recipe and there is no link to print it out.
It would be nice if you had a way to print the recipes so we could save them and make them again. I have a smoothie recipe section of my personal recipe catalog and I would love to save this for it. highlight and print caused a lot of wasted paper. Thanks this sounds great and worthy of trying in the morning.
Hi Greg,
Thank you so much for reaching out! I will definitely let our team know of your suggestion. Looking for all of our recipes printed in one place? Check out our book! It hits shelves on November 3rd and is available for pre-order now! 🙂
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/book