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Let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a green smoothie that’ll fuel your body right, taste great, and…. is totally green! Give your body a reason to celebrate with this fantastic vegan shamrock shake recipe.
I’m talkin’ all the classic shamrock shake flavor you love, blended to perfection with ingredients that will fuel your body.
Table of Contents
What Makes a Shamrock Shake Vegan?
A shamrock shake is typically made with dairy in the ice cream and whipped cream. If it is made with chocolate, then that also contains dairy. My version eliminates dairy altogether, because my tummy tends to be happier without dairy products. And let’s be honest, if I can indulge in a decadent treat AND still feel good, then I’m all in.
Topping Options
If you’re like me, and pick food based on looks as well as taste, then you definitely need some fun toppings for this vegan shamrock shake. I like to top with coconut whipped cream. Then sprinkle with cacao nibs, or shavings from a vegan chocolate bar. And every delicious shake needs a cherry, right?!
A sprig or two of fresh mint will refine this beverage, as well as turn it into the shamrock shake of your dreams.
Naturally Low Sugar in Smoothies
I know dessert, even whole food + plant based ones, can still have a lot of sugar in them. To lower the sugar level in this shamrock shake recipe, replace the banana with 1/2 cup cauliflower (I like to use frozen).
You can also add in a serving of plant-based protein powder, like my protein powder recipe to up the protein + healthy fat content. This will help your body turn the sugar from this shake into lasting energy, instead of a sugar crash.
Easy Ingredient Swaps
The shamrock shake flavor comes from the mint. If fresh mint can’t be easily found, then up the spinach to 1 full cup, and add a few drops of mint extract. That way you don’t miss out on the leafy green goodness while still getting that minty flavor. If you want a chocolate boost, yet don’t want the crunchy topping, then add in a tablespoon of cacao powder when blending.
Swap the coconut milk with oat milk or cashew milk to keep this recipe vegan, yet eliminate the slight coconut-y taste.
More Dessert Smoothies
If this vegan shamrock shake sparked your interest in more dessert smoothies, then give these recipes a shot! I love creating sweet treats that my body can feel good about consuming. Cheers to your next dessert night with one of these incredible desserts:
- Banana ‘nice’ cream
- Raspberry smoothie
- Berry banana split
- Coconut joy smoothie bowl
- Strawberry milkshake
- Skinny mint smoothie
- Chocolate smoothie bowl
- Blackberry coconut sorbet
Now, these sweet treats are legit tasty, I promise. If I’m going to indulge in something sweet, I want it to be good. So pick the one that sounds yummy and go for it!
Don’t forget to try this vegan shamrock shake, then leave a rating + review below to let me know how you liked it.
Vegan Shamrock Shake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk chilled
- ¾ cups spinach
- 8 fresh mint leaves
- 1 banana
- 2 medjool dates pitted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings:
- 1 tbsp whipped coconut cream optional
- 1 tsp cacao nibs optional
- 1 sweet cherry optional
Instructions
- Blend spinach, mint, and coconut milk until smooth.
- Add remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth. Enjoy!
Notes
- Pour over ice or use frozen banana if you prefer a colder smoothie.
- Use at least 1 frozen fruit to make smoothie cold.
- If you can’t find fresh mint then up the spinach to 1 cup and add a few drops of mint extract.
- Use full-fat coconut milk for a more shake-like texture, or carton coconut milk for less healthy fat and a thinner consistency.
- Soak Medjool dates in water for 20 minutes before blending if your blender has a hard time blending certain ingredients.
is it wrong that I left the spinach out and added extra dates? Haha! It was reeeealllly good!
#notgonnajudge 😉
This has been such a classic staple for my sister and I growing up. Thank you for a healthier version. xoxo
I just bought a mint plant at Trader Joe’s to make this!
Nice impulse buy! 🙂
It’s the mint for me!! I love this recipe and my kids love this yummy shake. Thankful for healthy swaps! 🙂
My friend said this was better than the Shamrock Shake from McDonalds – now that’s a win!
This was awesome! My husband can’t have dairy, and he grew up on McDonald’s shamrock shakes. This was a great substitute for him (and the rest of us enjoyed it too).
Wow- a healthier shamrock shake. I used oat milk because it was what I had. Loved it and will make it again and again!!!
So awesome Nichole!
I am a huge fan of Simple Green Smoothies and make one almost every morning, but this one just didn’t do it for me at all. Too minty, weird kind of taste, just not for me. Poured it down the drain.
Oh wow Jeanine! Thanks for giving it a blend though. 🙂
This is such a fun smoothie! I used Trader Joe’s coconut whipped cream on top and it was dessert.
Yum! Great add Erin!
I’ve never tried your smoothie recipes, can you lose weight by doing this type of diet?
Great question! We love to focus more on the health benefits like increased energy, glowing skin and better digestion that we get from rawkin green smoothies. Yet, some weight loss can be a happy side effect too! Any weight lost with green smoothies totally depends on the individual. Check our site out for some ideas on Weight Loss with Plant-Based Foods.
So, I love your recipes with dates but find my blender doesn’t chop them very well.. same with the nibs. I have a food processor do you ever use one for parts of your smoothies? Your recipes are delicious and awesome just trying to avoid the chunks of ingredients… appreciate any suggestions..thank you!
Have you tried processing the dates (or your problem ingredients) with the liquid first? For example if my smoothie recipe has dates, spinach, and frozen fruit with plant milk, I will blend just the dates and plant milk until the dates are well blended, then I add the spinach and blend again until the spinach pieces are well blended, then add the fruit and blend again.
Hi Caitlin! With ingredients that are difficult to blend, we recommend blending only those ingredients, plus your liquid first. For this recipe, we’d totally blend the coconut milk + spinach first. Once that’s well blended, add just the dates and blend til smooth, then add the remaining ingredients to finish blending. That should totally do the trick, yet if you feel the food processor would help out for those steps, then def go for it! Happy blending! 🙂
Can you use coconut water instead of coconut milk?
Hey Maggie! You can def use coconut water in place of coconut milk but just know that your smoothie won’t be as creamy and may have a slightly different taste. If you’re concerned about the fat content of full-fat coconut milk, you could try reduced-fat coconut milk or use half water and half milk. 🙂
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you measure a cup and a half of spinach leaves? Is it a certain weight that I can use a kitchen scale for? Or do you just cram as many leaves as you can into a cup?
Thanks,
Don
Hey Don,
There are no dumb questions here!
We like to measure our spinach by one full handful is a cup. So I would do about one and a half handfuls for this recipe.
Hope that helps!
Can you make this without medjool dates? I don’t have any. Thanks!
Hey Debra,
Yes you can totally leave out the dates if you do not have them. They are mostly in the recipe to add in some sweetness to your smoothie. You can add in some honey to replace the dates.
Hope that helps!
I don’t have any mint so I was thinking about mint extract. Any idea how much?
Hey Marie,
We have never tried mint extract in this recipe, but I think that would be a good idea. I would only start with one drop and taste and add more for the desired taste.
Hope that help!
Do you have a good substitute for the banana in this recipe? I am allergic to bananas!
Hey Mary,
You can swap the banana with avocado for this recipe.
Enjoy!