These tips for How to Make a Smoothie along with 35+ Recipes will keep you going all year long! There’s everything from summer berry smoothies, to tropical smoothies, green smoothies, and no banana options as well. There’s dairy free tips, plus how to add superfoods to your smoothies to increase the nutritional value. They’re all gluten free, healthy, and oh so tasty.
Have you ever just piled things into a blender, and then ended up with a smoothie that wasn’t all that tasty? I sure have, more than just a few times really! This has happened to me a lot while trying to develop just the right ratio in my recipes. So with my 35+ recipes to choose from, you never have to have a bland, or downright yucky experience again.
There’s so much to choose from today, and I’ve even included my smoothie bowls at the very end as well. Since we’re heading into the summer months, smoothies are even more on my mind. And so I thought I’d put together all my tips for the tastiest smoothies.
So we’d better start off with my #1 tip – don’t add too many different ingredients! Whenever I ignore this and keep piling in all the things, I end up with a smoothie that’s not that great. So before we get into all the details I wanted to share this with you because I think it’s the single most important point.
What ingredients go into a smoothie?
- Fruit – I like to use a combination of fresh and frozen fruit in my smoothies, or all frozen fruit. Rather than using ice which waters down the flavor, try using frozen fruit instead. This is also handy for my smoothie recipes because you can make the summery ones like my Strawberry Banana Smoothie or my Ginger Peach Green Smoothie year round with the convenience of frozen fruit.
- Veggies – beyond just spinach and kale in my green smoothies, I like to add cucumber or carrots in some recipes. I know a lot of people add some frozen cauliflower to their smoothies, but It’s not my personal favorite. Frozen zucchini works well as an extra veggie in green smoothies though.
- Liquids – I like to use something on the creamy side like almond milk, coconut milk, Greek yogurt or any milk you’d like. You can also use kombucha for a bright zippy flavor, or even fruit juice, although that does add a lot of fruit sugar.
- Extra flavors – like vanilla or almond extract really add a lot of flavor. Sometimes spices like cinnamon, cardamom, or even turmeric in some of my recipes add a lot to the mix.
- Superfoods – for the full breakdown, head over to my Superfood Smoothie Boosters. But some of my favorites are Hawaiian sprirulina for green smoothies, and bee pollen as a topping on my fruit smoothies. A touch of beet powder is nice in berry based recipes for beautiful color and a boost of nutrition too.
- Extra fiber – I love adding a tablespoon or 2 of ground flax seeds or chia seeds for the added fiber and nutrition.
Basic Smoothie Formula:
Frozen fruit/ + optional veggies/greens + creamy liquid(s) + fiber + superfoods = awesome smoothie!
Now let’s jump in for How to Make a Smoothie step by step!
Step 1:
Portion out all of the ingredients called for. Here we’re making my Pina Colada Green Smoothie using a mix of frozen mango and pineapple, (the recipes just calls for pineapple). For my greens I love using pre-washed greens because they’re quick and easy.
Step 2:
I’m definitely taking great liberties with my ‘written recipe’ but next we’re using a mix of Greek yogurt and almond milk, in place of the coconut milk and coconut water, along with a touch of vanilla extract. From there I’m adding 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds and 1 serving of Hawaiian sprirulina.
Once you get the hang of mixing things up with the recipes, you won’t have to worry about overdoing it and ruining your smoothies with the basic smoothie formula.
Step 3:
Add the ingredients to the blender starting with the liquids and fiber, then add the superfoods, greens if you’re using them, then the frozen fruit/frozen ingredients on top.
Key tip: Blend until smooth, it’s longer than you think. Try setting a timer and blending for 1 full minute and see how creamy the texture will get!
Now let’s talk smoothie recipes starting with some mostly fruit smoothies:
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- Pineapple Orange Banana
- Blushing Mango Protein Breakfast Smoothie
- Turmeric Morning Glory Smoothie (carrots)
- Golden Milk Tropical Turmeric Smoothie
- Peanut Butter Jelly Protein Smoothie
- Glowing Berry Beet Smoothie (beets)
- Mango Blackberry Smoothie
- Acai Berry Smoothie
- Banana Cream Pie Smoothie
- Tropical Passion Berry Smoothie
- Strawberries and Cream
of course some ‘no banana’ smoothies!
- Mango Madness
- Orange Creamsicle
- Chocolate Covered Cherry
- Vitamin C Booster Cranberry Orange
- Protein Mandarin Green
- Strawberry Watermelon
- Tropical Strawberry Bliss
- Blueberry Peaches and Cream
- Healthy Huckleberry Frosty
- Caribbean Citrus Pina Colada
and all my favorite green smoothies:
- Strawberry Banana Green Smoothie
- Superfood Tropical Green Smoothie
- Protein Mandarin Green Smoothie
- Pina Colada Green Smoothie
- Mango Lime Green Smoothie
- Ginger Peach Green Smoothie
- Pineapple Orange Banana Green Smoothie
- Pink Grapefruit Green Smoothie
- Minty Pineapple Cucumber Green Smoothie
- Ginger Pear Green Smoothie
- Holiday Detox Green Smoothie
- Lean Green Smoothie
- Berry Green Smoothie (perfect starter green smoothie because it’s purple!)
Finally let’s dive into some FAQ’s!
Frozen mixed berry blend or tropical blends are the most versatile and tasty bases for a smoothie. This also saves you time when you don’t have to prep several kinds of fruit!
Yes, but I don’t recommend it if possible. Adding ice waters down you smoothie making it less flavorful. Instead try adding frozen fruit and make sure at least half of what you’re adding is frozen for the best results.
Similar to above, yes you can add water, but again I don’t recommend it. Water doesn’t add any flavor to the mix, so consider other liquids like your choice of milk, (almond milk is a great neutral flavor) fresh or bottled fruit juice, or kombucha. I personally love adding almond or coconut milk or kombucha to avoid the added fruit sugars of fruit juice.
They are a great way to get in extra servings of fruits and veggies on the go! The general consensus is it’s better to chew your fruits and veggies, however when things are busier smoothies can be a great way to get nutrition on the go.
You shouldn’t need anything if your fruit is ripe, sweet, and tasty. However that’s not always the case, so you can use maple syrup, honey, or my favorite – Medjool dates to taste when needed. Also banana is a natural sweetener as well.
Add any of my Superfood Smoothie Boosters, a serving of fiber and or protein powder. Also make sure you have a healthy fat in your recipe as well.
Frozen pineapple, mango, or a couple of Medjool dates all work well in place of banana. Greek yogurt is also a good option because it adds creaminess like banana does.
Bonus Bowl Recipes!
- Chunky Monkey Smoothie Bowls
- Cherry Berry Acai Bowls
- Cinnamon Crunch Apple Smoothie Bowls
- Green Smoothie Breakfast Bowls
- Acai Berry Bliss Bowls
- Cranberry Orange Bowls
I sure hope you’ve enjoyed this smoothie guide! And for a quick and easy way to sum things up, I want to leave you with my final 5 tips in short form.
- Use at least 1/2 frozen fruit in any recipe you choose or make up based on what you have on hand. The frozen fruit keeps things cold and you don’t have to water down the flavor with ice.
- Add a healthy fat! This usually is built right in if you use Greek yogurt or canned coconut milk. But you can also add 1/4-1/2 an avocado. I love buying the frozen cubed avocado for smoothies because you never have to worry about partial avocados in your fridge, or them going bad too fast.
- Adding some optional protein makes it a meal. I love adding 2 scoops of collagen powder, but you can use any protein powder you like the flavor of. I tend to lean towards the vanilla ones because the vanilla flavor goes well in pretty much any recipe.
- Liquids can be optional if you’re using some fresh fruit and like a really thick texture. You can always start with less liquid and add more as needed if it’s too thick for your blender.
- Add-ons and superfoods make some really great smoothies, but don’t get carried away! I’ve never made a smoothie I like yet with too many ‘extras’. My advice is to pick 1 fiber and 1 superfood to make the tastiest smoothies.
Whew… I guess we’ve finally come to the end about all I can think to say about smoothies! But if you have any questions, please leave me a comment below. And if you make any of these recipes, be sure to comment/rate the recipe, I appreciate your feedback so much!