Vegetable Smoothie

Warning: This is very basic green smoothie recipe for beginners. Are you in?

Over the years, I tried to make my green smoothie as healthy as possible. Never following a recipe. Often adding trending ingredients like chia seeds and turmeric.

What I ended up with was “a surprise smoothie”. Too bitter, too sour or too sweet. Kids wouldn’t drink it and my husband couldn’t make it because “only I knew the recipe”. Well, even I didn’t know that green smoothie recipe.

Finally, I decided to act like a responsible parent and create yummy green smoothie everyone will drink. The one that tastes good! That IS THE BEST green smoothie recipe, my friends!

Green Smoothie Ingredients:

What to put in a green smoothie? This delicious easy vegetable smoothie contains 6 cups of leafy greens and is made with 4 simple ingredients:

Water
Mango
Spinach
Kale

Is Green Smoothie Healthy?

Let’s go over the health benefits of green smoothies.

Weight loss: Green smoothie does help with a weight loss. If you drink it on a regular basis. Fiber from fruits and vegetables keeps your belly full longer. Plus it is low calorie – less than 100 calories.
Detox: from the mix of chlorophyll contained in the greens. Plus the high level of fiber to keep things moving. In the bathroom I mean.
Energy: Leafy greens and fruit contain many nutrients, vitamins and naturally occuring sugars that feed your body cells with energy.
Fruits and Vegetables: Because smoothies are so easy to make, they make you eat more fruits and vegetables you wouldn’t have eaten otherwise.

How to Make a Green Smoothie

1. Add Ingredients to a Blender

In a powerful blender, add ingredients in exact order (don’t change):

Water
Mango
Spinach
Kale

Why don’t mess with the order of ingredients?

An order of liquid -> frozen fruit -> light greens ensures ingredients will spin inside the blender. Otherwise blender will cavitate. Heavy frozen fruit should get blended with liquids first.

Green Smoothie Substitutions and Additions

Substitutions

Water: Instead of water you can use coconut water, almond milk or other milk.
Mango: Frozen pineapple makes tasty green smoothie too. Just less sweet. We often use add it if we run out of frozen mango. Can I add frozen banana? I find banana bloats me up in a green smoothie particularly. There is already kale that is high in fiber and adds to a puffy belly. Plus taste wise, I prefer mango to banana particularly in a green smoothie. However, I absolutely love bananas on their own.
Spinach: Spinach is a sweet leafy green with mild taste. I would replace it with anything. And there is a reason for its measured amount. One thing – you can use frozen spinach.
Kale: Any type of kale works. Dinosaur a.k.a lacinato, green, purple etc. Just remove the bitter rib cage. And always add more spinach than kale.

Additions

Protein powder – just a small scoop for a lean green smoothie. Not to make it too thick.
Ground flaxseed
Peanut butter
Almond butter
Turmeric
Ripe bananas
Greek yogurt
Green matcha powder
Ginger

2. Blend

Press “smoothie” button or blend until smooth.
I like to blend more after the “smoothie” cycle for a super smooth smoothie.
If your blender isn’t powerful enough, just pause, stir and blend more.

3. Drink

What I love about this smoothie is that it doesn’t separate much and tastes delicious even the next day.

If you have leftovers, you can refrigerate in glasses or a blender jug for up to 24 hours. If refrigerated in a jug, I give it another quick blend before serving. Easy-peasy.

More Healthy Smoothie Recipes to Try

Healthy strawberry smoothie – 4 ingredient after school snack your kids can make themselves.
Raspberry smoothie recipe with frozen berries for any time of the year.
Blueberry breakfast smoothie with a protein boost.
Anti-inflammatory red smoothie – when was the last time you ate raw beets that tasted good?!

Major Tip for The Best Green Smoothie:

Freeze fresh spinach.

Like this is the most genius hack out of all! I came up wit hit on my own one day standing at Costco while thinking “Damn, I wish I could buy 3 boxes of cheap organic baby spinach! If it only didn’t spoil fast…”. Freeze! Just freeze it.

Watch Olena Make Green Smoothie:

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