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This simple green smoothie is my best green smoothie recipe and it’s a great way to get some health and goodness into your body. Vegan and packed full of healthy ingredients, it’s filling enough for breakfast or great as an afternoon pick me up. This is the only green shake you are going to need!
If you haven’t started drinking smoothies yet, this is a great beginner recipe! It includes almond milk, spinach, pineapple, avocado and chia seeds. Below I’ll show you how to make a green smoothie, even if you don’t have these exact ingredients.
How to make a green smoothie
1. Select base green vegetable
My recommendation is to start with a leafy green like spinach, kale, collard greens or lettuce. Lettuce is the most mild, while kale has the most pronounced flavor.
2. Select a liquid of choice
Then pick a liquid to use like almond milk, regular milk, water or even coconut water. Milk will give it more of a milkshake/smoothie consistency, while water will give it more of a juice consistency.
3. Select fruit to balance the greens
Finally pick a fruit to balance out the flavor of the leafy green. For a green smoothie, I recommend using pineapple, banana, mango, pear, kiwi, avocado, green apples, or any combination of these, or other yellow and green fruits. I love using frozen fruit when possible to get a smooth and creamy texture.
Those are the three essential ingredient types for making a green smoothie. Then you can add more flavor, more sweetness, more texture, or more nutritional value with all kinds of added ingredients. This includes seeds, protein powders, natural sweeteners, nuts or nut butters, oils or spices.
Place all in ingredients in a blender and blend until it’s smooth with no chunks of leafy greens or fruits.
Don’t forget to taste it! Here, you can decide if your green smoothie needs a sweetener, if it’s too thick or not cold enough or if it needs any extra ingredients. Some common adjustments I make are adding honey if the fruit wasn’t ripe enough, adding lemon juice to cut the bitterness of some greens, or adding cinnamon to give it a warm flavor.
Then make sure to drink this green smoothie right after you blend it for the best consistency! It’s the worst when a smoothie settles in the fridge and separates into parts. But if that happens just shake it up or mix it before drinking. If you have any left over, you can keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Green smoothie health benefits
While all green smoothies are nutritional powerhouses and full of amazing benefits, this one is especially great for your skin, thanks to these three ingredients. These foods help to nourish your skin and give that healthy glow. So I love including these “skin foods” in my daily smoothie!
- Spinach: It has high levels of folate, which helps to maintain and repair DNA – great for renewing skin!
- Avocado: It’s full of monounsaturated fatty acids, which are the good fats that help keep your skin moist and hydrated.
- Almond Milk: Almonds are most often associated with skin care, and that’s because they’re loaded with vitamin E. If you use good almond milk that’s made mostly from almonds and water, you’re reaping the benefits of vitamin E. It’s great for repairing skin and defending against sun damage.
Tips to make green smoothies
- Blend the leafy greens with the liquid first. The purpose of this is to avoid having chunks of unblended vegetables or fruit while sipping the smoothie. And then add the fruits, chia seeds or any other boosters. If you have a high-speed strong blender like the Vitamix or Ninja, you can throw everything in the blender at once though.
- Freeze the fruits. This gives the smoothie an extra smooth and creamy consistency. Any time you have extra ripe fruit, it’s a great idea to freeze them in freezer-safe bags. That way they’re ready to go when you want a smoothie. It also gives an extra cold and creamy texture to the smoothie that you won’t get from adding ice cubes necessarily.
- Use ripe fruit. That’s the best way to avoid adding sugar. It’s nature’s natural raw sugar essentially, so make sure the fruit is ripe and you shouldn’t need to add any sweeteners to the smoothie. This way you’ll save on calories and carbs.
Frequently asked questions
You can mix and match the basic ingredients in your green smoothie (see above for how to build one for your tastes), for me, you can’t go wrong with avocado, spinach, pineapple, almond milk and chia seeds, This combination makes a really tasty shake that is well balanced.
This recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients with no added sugar. There’s a good amount of fiber and protein in it to help you feeling satisfied and full. It’s packed full of vitamins and minerals and it’s a great way to up your fruit and vegetable intake in a quick, easy and tasty way.
I like to mix the ingredients in my smoothies up most days so that I don’t get bored, but you absolutely can have a green smoothie every day. I love having them for breakfast, knowing that I’ve fueled my body for the day and already got a ton of nutrients into it.
I love enjoying a green smoothie at least once a week. It’s such a feel good recipe that tastes good and is good for your skin and body! I hope you start to incorporate more green smoothies into your morning routines or as a snack.
They’re not only a great way to sneak in vegetables, but they help improve digestion, increase your energy, and give you a healthy glow.
For more healthy smoothies:
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- Date Smoothie
- Blueberry Banana Smoothie
- Tahini Milkshake
- Breakfast Coffee Smoothie
- Aloe Vera Smoothie
- FeelGood Smoothie Bowls
- Fruit Ice Cubes (to add to your smoothies)
- More Smoothie Recipes from Bless This Mess
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Green Smoothie recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I hope you’ve learned how to make a green smoothie and can share yours with me. I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
Green Smoothie
Video
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups almond milk
- 2 cups spinach
- ½ avocado
- 1 cup pineapple chunks frozen
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a blender in the order of appearance.
- Blend the ingredients in a high-speed blender for 2-3 minutes until you get a smooth and creamy texture.
- Taste the smoothie, adding more almond milk if it is too thick or adding a sweetener of choice if it’s not sweet enough for you.
- Pour into a cup or mason jar. Enjoy cold immediately, or store in fridge for up to 24 hours.
Equipment
Notes
- Instead of almond milk, you can use any other plant-based milk to keep this vegan, or use regular or 2% milk
- Other leafy greens work well in place of spinach. Some popular ones are kale, collard greens or romaine lettuce.
- To replace the pineapple, you can use one cup of any chopped fruit. To keep the bright green color, I recommend banana, mango, pear, kiwi or green apples.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
This recipe was the best.
Thank you so much!!!
I love this green smoothie. Thank you for posting the simple yet healthy recipes! Total winner.
Yay!! You’re so welcome!
Your green smoothie is delicious
Thank you so much!
Your nutrition facts state over 400 grams of sodium and over 40 grams of sugar!!! How is that considered to be healthy!?
It’s 437mg of sodium. The sugars come from the fruit.
Sorry you have to put up with overreactive kinds!
This green smoothie was delicious I used vanilla almond milk. Came out perfect thank you so much 😊
Yay!! You’re so welcome!
Love green smoothies.
The best!!
My smoothies up until now have been too bitter until I did what you do and I added maple syrup… Thank you!!!
I have a picture but I don’t know how to load it.
Yay, so glad to hear it!! Makes all the difference. Unfortunately we can’t add pictures on the website, but I think you added it to our facebook group, right?
I have green smoothies for breakfast and lunch while dieting, then just for breakfast when maintaining. My favorite go to is:
Kale and mango smoothies
2 cups kale
2 cups frozen mangos
2 stalks of celery
1/2 of a large cucumber
1/4 cup cilantro optional
1/4 cup mint
If i have it 1/2 orange juice
1 1/2 cup of water milk if you prefer.
I blend on smoothie setting for 2 minutes
Enjoy
Sounds like such a great combo!
I made this this morning with added banana, oat milk and collagen and It was amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe and your Insta content! X
Sounds like a delicious addition! Thank you so much!
Hello Yumna!! My question is about all smoothie recipes contain chia seeds. Do I need to soak chia seeds before whirling with other ingredients?
Hi, Katerina! No, you don’t have to soak the chia seeds.
Hi Ms. Yumma, thank you for sharing your recipe its all delicious and healthy. I like them all. Can i ask one favor i miss your recipe of pesto spaghetti can you please share to me.
Thank you so much.
Hi! Thank you so much!! Here is the pesto recipe, which you can add to spaghetti: https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/how-to-make-pesto/
Hi Yumna, thank you for sharing this recipe :-). Can I add pineapples AND banana? Greetings from germany!
Yup! That works!
Great smoothies recipe!!! the recipe name is actually trademarked with Kimberly Snyder and it a big part of her brand: actually the smoothie is a pillar in her program. You might have to change the wording of the name of this recipe cause she could cause problems if she or her company noticed it.
Thanks so much! And great point about that…I didn’t realize it since I picked the term based on keyword research. I just removed it. I appreciate you letting me know.
Fab!
Yay! So glad to hear it. Thank you!
Thank you for your recipe. I haven’t made it yet, but I will certainly try! And for the advice thank you, very helpful.
Glad to hear it! Hope you try it and like it!
Done. Made the Smoothie to achieve not only the taste and benefits of the antioxidants, but for the glowing green color with raspberries on top. Yummy
can I add aloe vera juice to this smoothie?
Absolutely!
I cant wait to try this recipe..sounds delicious
Yay! I hope you like it!!
Hi,
I take two glass cups of smoothie every morning, is it too much?
It’s hard for me to comment if that’s too much. It depends on the size of those cups, what you’re putting in them and your overall health history. Normally though, one 8-12 ounce cup of a green smoothie like this is part of a healthy well-balanced diet.
I want to try this recipe. Can you taste the greens? How can I hide the green taste?
I really don’t think you can taste the greens. The pineapple really helps with that. You can also try adding some banana in there, that will really help!
Love it! Even my kids enjoyed it
Yay! So glad to hear that 🙂