Healthy Strawberry Smoothie Recipe with almond milk, frozen strawberries, banana and without yogurt. This strawberry smoothie is easy for kids to make and tastes delicious!
Of course we love fresh juicy strawberries but equally enjoy no bake strawberry cheesecake, strawberry spinach salad and strawberry mango salsa recipes.
Table of contents
Our family loves this easy strawberry smoothie as much as we love our staple green smoothie recipe. Its ingredients are always on hand, it is quick, most kids love strawberries and older ones enjoy making a smoothie on their own. This healthy strawberry smoothie is a great filler (snack) after school and before dinner, filling up their bellies with nutritious and yet delicious ingredients.
Our other favorite nutrient dense homemade snack recipes are these almond flour banana muffins, waffles from the freezer (pop quickly in toaster), chocolate chip muffins and even peanut butter protein balls. Many parents are working from home these days and easy snack recipes are a lifesaver!
Children of school age can easily learn how to make a strawberry smoothie and even have fun with it. We cover many additions and variations below. We prefer homemade strawberry smoothie without yogurt but below we go over variations how to add yogurt, even ice cream turning it into a milkshake, have fun with other fruit and add veggies. My boys absolutely love this simple strawberry smoothie recipe not knowing they are consuming flaxseed.
Looking for other healthy drinks? I blog mostly about healthy dinner recipes but trust me when I say I always have a batch of kombucha tea brewing and a glass of homemade iced coffee in hand during hot summer days.
Ingredients for a Strawberry Smoothie
Entire family experimented with this frozen strawberry smoothie recipe with or without yogurt, with dairy milk, with almond milk, with and without banana, with jam, with ice cream, you name it! And here are the ingredients we all agreed upon for the best strawberry fruit smoothie:
- Almond milk: We use plain unsweetened almond milk but vanilla flavored and/or sweetened will work too, especially if your strawberries are less sweet.
- Frozen strawberries: Use quality strawberries, that are ripe, preferably organic if you can afford. However, it is a fact that less sweet and ripen berries go for freezing.
- Banana: Make sure your banana is ripe or even ugly brown over ripen. Previously frozen fruit works as well.
- Flaxseed or chia seeds: Use ground flaxseed or whole/ground chia seeds. Whole flaxseed might not blend completely.
Yes, we like our healthy strawberry smoothie without yogurt. Keep reading.
How to Make Strawberry Smoothie
- Add liquids first: Add almond milk to help with pureeing. If you add frozen fruit first, your blender will struggle and cavitate.
- Add remaining ingredients and blend: Banana, flaxseed or chia seeds (make smoothie smooth) and frozen strawberries on top is the best order so frozen fruit doesn’t get stuck. And of course, high speed blender like Vitamix or Blendtec or Ninja will blend smoothie into better consistency without chunks.
Variations and Substitutions
- Dairy milk: Substituting almond milk with cow’s milk makes smoothie taste more like a milkshake. Our family did not love it in this strawberry smoothie recipe but we love ice cream. Not sure why dairy wasn’t our favorite but might be yours.
- Other plant based milk: Use any of your favorite milk instead of almond. For example, rice, soy, coconut, hemp etc. Keep in mind sweetened milk makes smoothie sweeter.
- Yogurt: Yogurt adds protein but make smoothie more tangy. You have to try my mom’s strawberry yogurt another time! If you would like to replace milk with mostly yogurt in this smoothie, start with 1 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup almond milk. Adjust consistency with more milk. Can also try kefir.
- Fresh strawberries: If you use fresh strawberries, try to use frozen banana or other frozen fruit. It will help keep the smoothie of thicker consistency rather than flavored juice.
- Frozen banana: Feel free to use it but might have to adjust thickness of drink with more milk or water.
- Other fruit you can add: You can add a handful of other fruit. Don’t add too much, especially if fruit is frozen. 1/2 cup of fruit like pineapple, peach or mango should be good.
- Spinach: A few handfuls of fresh or frozen spinach will add a serving of veggies to each strawberry smoothie. Plus calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. Please note color will change from pretty pink to unappealing brown, but healthy.
- Whole grains: Add up to 1/4 cup quick or rolled oats or wheat bran to add more fiber, calories and complex carbohydrates making smoothie more of a meal.
- A scoop of peanut butter: For dessert like treat.
- A scoop of protein powder: If it’s your jam. Whey protein will dissolve better. If you add plant-based protein powder, you will have to add a splash more liquid because it is more absorbent (made with peas and brown rice usually).
Also adults might enjoy this almond breakfast smoothie (with protein powder) and anti inflammatory red smoothie (super beautiful dark magenta color) as a healthy snack or breakfast.
FAQs
This strawberry banana smoothie contains 180 calories, 32 grams of carbs and 15 grams sugar. Please keep in mind this is naturally occuring sugar in fruit and not added sugar. And carbs are complex carbohydrates from fruit, which is a whole food. Rather than simple carbs from processed ingredients. This healthy strawberry smoothie is full of good for you calories!
Strawberries are high in vitamin C, potassium, folic acid and contain antioxidants. They may decrease the risk of heart disease, reduce spikes in blood sugar. Banana is a source of potassium, vitamin B6, fiber, antioxidants and provides benefits for digestion, heart health and weight loss. And flaxseed or chia seeds “seal the deal” with Omega-3 fats, dietary fiber and high quality protein.
Try to buy organic strawberries because they are heavily sprayed with pesticides. Strawberries are #1 on Dirty Dozen list. Their skin is very thin, so it absorbs all the chemicals. You just can’t wash them
To make dairy free strawberry smoothie, the best substitute for milk is coconut water. You can also use orange juice, apple juice or mango juice. Of course, fresh squeezed is best. Second best is pure juice without added sugar. And lastly, not from concentrate is a healthier choice.
For a treat strawberry ice cream shake, reduce almond milk to 1 cup and add 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream or strawberry ice cream. if you use fresh strawberries, you can reduce milk to 1/2 cup thus strawberry milkshake will be sweeter.
To make a smoothie bowl, check out this strawberry smoothie bowl recipe from Tania at Cooktoria. It is just basically thicker smoothie that you can eat with a spoon. But right proportion of ingredients are key.
More Tips
- To make smoothie sweeter: The sweetness of your frozen strawberry smoothie will depend on how ripe are bananas, frozen strawberries quality and your personal taste buds. Sweet fruit makes all the difference. However, you can always add honey or maple syrup to taste, or use half favorite juice in place of half of almond milk.
- Don’t skip flaxseed or chia seeds: Both prevent smoothie from separating without changing the taste. Not to mention the nutrition punch.
- Measure ingredients: Your smoothie will be tasty and will spin in the blender. Add more or less and strawberries will get stuck.
- Adjust thickness: If for whatever reason, your smoothie came out too thick, for example you added a bit more frozen fruit or used frozen banana, add a splash of milk or even water, and give it a quick blend.
More Favorite Recipes
- Instant Pot cheesecake bites
- Coconut protein balls
- Quinoa granola
- No bake peanut butter bars
- Almond joy protein balls
- Banana chia pudding
Strawberry Smoothie {4 Ingredient Recipe}
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk unsweetened
- 1 large ripe banana chunks
- 2 tbsp chia seeds or ground flaxseed
- 2 cups frozen strawberries
Instructions
- In a powerful blender, add almond milk, banana, flaxseed and frozen strawberries in the exact order.
- Blend until smooth. Serve within a few hours.
Make ahead: Because of flaxseed (chia) strawberry smoothie holds its consistency well for hours, making it perfect for a brunch.
Video
Notes
- Dairy milk: Substituting almond milk with cow’s milk makes smoothie taste more like a milkshake. Our family did not love it in this strawberry smoothie recipe but we love ice cream. Not sure why dairy wasn’t our favorite but might be yours.
- Other plant based milk: Use any of your favorite milk instead of almond. For example, rice, soy, coconut, hemp etc. Keep in mind sweetened milk makes smoothie sweeter.
- Yogurt: Yogurt adds protein but make smoothie more tangy. You have to try my mom’s strawberry yogurt another time! If you would like to replace milk with mostly yogurt in this smoothie, start with 1 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup almond milk. Adjust consistency with more milk. Can also try kefir.
- Fresh strawberries: If you use fresh strawberries, try to use frozen banana or other frozen fruit. It will help keep the smoothie of thicker consistency rather than flavored juice.
- Frozen banana: Feel free to use it but might have to adjust thickness of drink with more milk or water.
- Other fruit you can add: You can add a handful of other fruit. Don’t add too much, especially if fruit is frozen. 1/2 cup of fruit like pineapple, peach or mango should be good.
- Spinach: A few handfuls of fresh or frozen spinach will add a serving of veggies to each strawberry smoothie. Plus calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. Please note color will change from pretty pink to unappealing brown, but healthy.
- Whole grains: Add up to 1/4 cup quick or rolled oats or wheat bran to add more fiber, calories and complex carbohydrates making smoothie more of a meal.
- A scoop of peanut butter: For dessert like treat.
- A scoop of protein powder: If it’s your jam. Whey protein will dissolve better. If you add plant-based protein powder, you will have to add a splash more liquid because it is more absorbent (made with peas and brown rice usually).
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
