Smoothie Tips

Smoothies are a great way to transition to a plant-based diet, improve your overall nutrition, and make a quick meal! They come in all varieties and can be enjoyed as breakfast, a snack, dessert, or even a favorite way to sneak veggies into a child’s (or your own 😉) diet!

Here are our top smoothie tips - follow these, and you’ll be a pro in no time.

(And for a fast track to success with smoothies, follow our plan here. We have them organized from sweetest to greenest so your tastebuds can adjust slowly and you’ll be enjoying delicious green smoothies for years to come!)

Make it sweeter: add another banana, dates, blackstrap molasses or maple syrup. The best bananas are extremely ripe - you want them to have the soft, speckled peel!

Say no to chunks: To keep your greens from being chunky, blend first with the liquid, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Chillin': Smoothies usually taste better cold. Use frozen fruit, frozen greens or freeze plant milk in ice cube trays. If you use all frozen ingredients, your smoothie will be very thick so a mix of frozen and fresh is usually best. This way, you won’t have to water your smoothie down with ice cubes.

Green it up: Even if a recipe doesn’t call for greens, you can always add a handful of spinach or lettuce and you won’t notice a difference in taste! If most greens are too bitter for you initially, just start with only spinach. Once your taste buds adjust to green smoothies, you can begin using kale and then on to chard, broccoli, turnip greens, carrot greens, and beet greens!

Save money: You can freeze fruit and most greens to use in your smoothies at a later date. Buy when in season and on sale so you have a freezer full of nutritious ingredients! Some grocery stores sell overripe bananas at a reduced price and these are perfect to peel and freeze for smoothies. (Peeling before freezing is key - you don’t want to deal with peeling a frozen banana!)

Low-cal: Use water or herbal tea as your liquid instead of plant milk. This will allow the taste of the other ingredients to shine through, so it might be too strong for your tastebuds in the beginning, but don’t get discouraged! Make small steps by using ½ plant milk and 1/2 water and slowly adjust to all water.

Partners: Keep your flavor partners together - such as a tropical smoothie would use coconut or almond milk, mangoes or pineapple and bananas. Don’t mix tropical flavors with something like cantaloupe or a pear.

Supercharge: Add ground flax seeds, hemp seeds and/or chia seeds to your smoothies. They add in the uber-important Omega-3.

Secret Veggies: These 5 veggies can be added to smoothies (and sauces or soups!) without being detected by the tastebuds: zucchini, squash, carrot, spinach and cabbage (red or green).

Make it a meal: If you find a smoothie doesn’t keep you full until your next meal, you can make a larger serving or add some easy and inexpensive ingredients. A quarter cup of raw oats, cooked quinoa, cooked brown rice, or raw tofu should do the trick!