Let’s talk about how to get clear skin because the struggle is real! If you have sensitive skin, eczema, acne or psoriasis then get sippin’ on this clear skin smoothie.

I’ve had my own issues with teen acne and adult acne. It seemed like I couldn’t escape it! Once I tweaked a few things in my life, it made such a difference (as you can see in the photos below).

green clear skin smoothie in a mason jar with a paper straw, on a counter with avocado, pineapple and spinach.

I asked my friend and Simple Green Smoothies team member, Erin Mottayaw, to write this post and share her journey with finding the best foods for clear skin. I think you’ll be inspired and learn some great tips to get your skin looking amazing.

Clean eating brings clear skin with Simple Green Smoothies

Table of Contents
  1. A Journey to Clear Skin
  2. Healthy Skin: Where to Start?
  3. The Results: A Healthy Glow
  4. Recipe Ingredients
  5. How to Blend a Clear Skin Smoothie
  6. FAQs
  7. More Recipes to Help You Glow
  8. Clear Skin Smoothie Recipe

A Journey to Clear Skin

Erin: Most of my life I was a “makeup kind of gal” because I didn’t have good skin. It was sensitive, prone to breakouts and splotchy. I tried every cleanser, soap, mask and more to try and tame my face, shoulders and arms, yet nothing worked.

After Jen taught me how to make a smoothie, I was intrigued, but a total newbie. But it’s amazing how quickly I changed.

  • I swore I’d never drink a green smoothie without dairy. Now I use water or homemade almond milk as the base.
  • I said I’d never blend (or eat) kale. Now I literally have a 4×4 foot garden of kale. That’s 18 kale plants that I treat like my own offspring! #leafygreens4life
  • Finally, I said I’d never leave the house without makeup. These days, you’ll only find me a bit of eyebrow tint, mascara and a great face lotion with SPF on date night. Why? Because I discovered the secret of how to get clear skin and I’m never going back.

Healthy Skin: Where to Start?

white person with long red hair in a green top shopping for apples at an open market with a canvas tote on their shoulder.

Jen talked about the glowing skin she experienced with green smoothies, yet I was skeptical. I always had a kitchen full of fresh fruit growing up, yet I still had bad skin.

I agreed to try seasonal cleanse when Jen was asking friends to test it out and share feedback. For 21 days, I ate a TON of plants, drank a bunch of water and avoided these food groups entirely:

  • dairy
  • meat
  • alcohol
  • processed sugar
  • gluten

We replaced all these things with plants: fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains.

As hard as it was to do, that cleanse made me see the light. My face started to clear up around day 5. By day 15, I was acne-free for REAL!

The Results: A Healthy Glow

I never realized how much food affected my skin issues until I gave up dairy and sugar on this cleanse. I saw that certain foods were causing my acne and others were promoting overall health like:

  1. Better skin: All my life I had these red bumps on the backs of my upper arms. Embarrassing and annoying. When I fueled my body with whole foods for clear skin, these bumps vanished. Food did what medication hadn’t accomplished.
  2. Healthier nails: My nails were easily broken and thin, yet now are super strong, healthy and beautiful.
  3. Less acne: I thought acne was just for teenagers until mine never left, even after college. A few months of daily smoothies and a cleanse changed all of that. I notice that when I stop drinking smoothies daily, my skin is all too eager to let me know.
  4. Better sleep: Cleansing forced me to listen to the sleep needs my body had, and led me to better sleep habits overall.
  5. New passions: I gained a newfound love for baking, cooking and gardening through eating whole foods. I even started a small pallet garden in my townhouse so that we could use the herbs for smoothies and future cleanses. Now I’ve got a thriving kitchen garden, and I’m growing food my college self didn’t even know existed.

I included numbers four and five because believe it or not, stress can show on our skin. Lack of sleep leads to bad eating habits, greater stress and premature aging. I find my stress levels go down when I sleep better, as well as when I work on projects that fuel my passions.

Both of these have the space to take place in my life when I’m eating foods that give me strength and longevity, not foods that work against me.

Now after the cleanse, my family still eats meat and dairy on occasion. Yet we also use the Rawk the Year Meal Planner to fuel our weeknights with plant-based meals and we love them!

Recipe Ingredients

labeled ingredients for a clear skin smoothie including coconut water, pineapple, spinach and avocado.

My skin journey has me blending smoothies like the one below almost every day. I love how a daily smoothie makes me look and feel, so let’s find out what’s in this great recipe!

Best Foods for Clear Skin

What other kinds of food can one expect in a whole food, clear skin diet? A lot of beautiful and delicious plants! Here are some incredible whole food, plant-based ingredients that will help your skin look great both now and in the future:

  • Walnuts: Rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, walnuts are a powerhouse in fighting inflammation.
  • Sweet potatoes (and other orange veggies): Beta carotene is converted into vitamin A in the body and acts as a natural sunblock.
  • Red/yellow bell peppers: Also full of beta carotene, these specific bell peppers contain tons of vitamin C, which promotes the collagen that keeps skin firm.
  • Broccoli: The sulforaphane found in broccoli protects against skin cancer.
  • Berries: Low in sugar and high in flavor and antioxidants, berries will help generate glowing skin.

Foods to Avoid

Here are foods and ingredients to limit when figuring out how to get clear skin:

  • Processed sugar: Refined sugar causes acne due to increasing blood sugar in the body, creating inflammation.
  • Dairy: Though you may not have a dairy intolerance, consuming dairy can disrupt your hormones, creating acne and eczema.
  • Complex carbohydrates: Processed foods of any kind can interrupt the body’s natural processes, clog pores and create reactions that are seen in the skin. Reading labels and limiting the overall intake of processed food can lead to healthier skin (and keep your other organs thriving as well!).
  • Alcohol: Affects our hormones and influences acne development.

How to Blend a Clear Skin Smoothie

tall glass full of green smoothie with a striped paper straw in it on a wooden cutting board along with spinach and pineapple.

Daily smoothies are an easy habit because they take five minutes to put together. You can even cut down on that time if you choose to prep ahead smoothie packs! Since this smoothie has leafy greens, here’s how I use the two-blend method for a creamy result:

  1. Blend spinach and coconut water until there are no leafy chunks. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed to get every last chunk.
  2. Add remaining ingredients, including any boosters, and blend again until smooth. Depending on the type of blender you have, be patient! This may take a minute or two to really break down the ingredients.
  3. Enjoy! I try to drink my smoothies within 15 minutes of blending, yet it’s totally okay to put them in the fridge to enjoy later.

If you are using frozen ingredients you should get a refreshingly cool smoothie. If not, feel free to stick a blended smoothie in the fridge to chill.

FAQs

What can I drink to help clear my skin?

Drinking a daily green smoothie can seriously help clear up skin. You are nourishing your skin (and body) with a whole lot of nutrients from real, whole foods that will make your body work for you, not against you. My clear skin smoothie has only four ingredients and yet it is a hydrating force in my life.

Which smoothie is best for acne skin?

My clear skin smoothie has spinach, coconut water, pineapple and avocado. This gives me a good dose of vitamins, minerals, fiber and healthy fat to keep my complexion clear and glowing.

Can smoothies help with skin?

Yes! Drinking a daily smoothie full of leafy greens and whole fruits and vegetables can hydrate and nourish your skin in the best way possible. Avoid adding extra sugar or other weird ingredients and stick to the real, natural ones to give you the best results.

green clear skin smoothie in a mason jar with a paper straw, on a counter with avocado, pineapple and spinach.

More Recipes to Help You Glow

  • Vegetable barley soup: This soup is packed with fiber, which helps your digestive system get moving. The more toxins and waste you can excrete through your digestive system, the less chance your skin has to do it.
  • Carrot ginger soup: This warm and cozy soup contains fresh ginger root which is a natural anti-inflammatory.
  • Sleep well smoothie: This bedtime smoothie encourages sleep, which in turn helps your skin out.
  • Apple celery smoothie: This smoothie is low in sugar and high in fiber.
  • Alkaline smoothie: Ingredients shown to hydrate your body leaving it happier and clearer.

Drop a comment letting me know some of your favorite foods for glowing skin, and let me know if you try this smoothie by leaving a rating!

4.96 from 22 votes

Clear Skin Smoothie

Vitamin C is one of the greatest antioxidants we have available, and it's wonderful for your skin. The addition of avocado brings with it other skin-specific nutrients such as vitamins E, A and zinc. This clear skin smoothie is a go-to for so many reasons!
Prep: 5 minutes
Total: 5 minutes
Author: Jen Hansard
Course: Smoothie
Cuisine: Plant-Based
Serves: 1 smoothie

Ingredients  

  • 1 ½ cups spinach fresh
  • 1 cup coconut water unsweetened
  • 1 cup pineapple frozen
  • ¼ avocado
  • 1 serving homemade protein powder optional

Instructions 

  • Blend spinach and coconut water until smooth.
  • Add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.

Notes

  • Use at least 1 frozen fruit for a refreshingly cool smoothie.
  • Use the leafy greens of your choice.
  • Swap coconut water with regular water.

Nutrition

Calories: 219kcal, Carbohydrates: 36g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Sodium: 293mg, Potassium: 1275mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 4389IU, Vitamin C: 102mg, Calcium: 130mg, Iron: 3mg
Tried this recipe? Show me!Mention @SimpleGreenSmoothies or tag #SimpleGreenSmoothies!

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I was skeptical about the avocado at first yet it creams this smoothie up nicely and you don’t notice the taste. Great!

    1. You’re so right, Erin! The avocado is the key to the nice creamy consistency!

  2. Hello.
    Really impressed by this article.
    I will surely try to download the recipes and start over diet for acne and share my feedback.
    Thank you for supporting people like me who is fighting with acne since a teenager.

    1. Thanks so much, Veera! Hope you enjoy blending up the smoothie and enjoying some skin benefits! 🙂

  3. 5 stars
    Just got some avocados in my produce box so pulled up this recipe. I forget how creamy avocados make a smoothie! I’ve been having some hormonal acne recently, and love knowing I’m drinking something that helps my skin.

    1. Hi RaeAnne – Avocados are an awesome way to make any smoothie creamy – we agree! So glad you’re able to use them to help balance things out and get that skin glowing!

  4. 5 stars
    I just started the 7 day detox. Woo woo!!! My green smoothie is absolutely Delicious. With food this good I know I can follow through. Thanks.

    1. Awesome job, Donna! You’re a detox rawkstar!!!

    1. So glad you’re blending up this antioxidant rich smoothie to your skin’s benefit, Liv!

  5. 5 stars
    How would I be able to use this smoothie on my face, how long do I wait till I wash it off?

    1. Hey there Anastasia! Interesting question! Actually Jen was saying that tongue and cheek. She just wanted to emphasize that the ingredients are so clean and helpful to the skin. We hope you’ve been blending and noticing some helpful differences. 🙂

    1. You can totally use coconut milk here, although we’d def recommend it be plain and unsweetened if possible.

  6. 5 stars
    I’ve tried this smoothie and love it! How often is it advised to drink for clear skin benefits? I wouldn’t say I have severe acne but I get little blemishes here and there which always add to insecurity.. it taste’s so good although I did substitute the coconut water for almond milk as my local shop didn’t have any

    1. Any of our smoothies can be blended as often as every day if you’d like when working on a specific condition like acne. However, we’d highly recommend you switch up the greens regularly in that smoothie to avoid an unhealthy build up of alkaloids. For great suggestions on which greens to use, check out our Ultimate Guide to Leafy Greens.

    1. 5 stars
      This smoothie has been helping me. I am looking for a new breakfast/dinner recipe