“Delightful, fresh, and an undeniable SNACK” is our usual morning mantra. We start by saying these descriptors in the mirror, then we grab our blenders and whip up this (delightful, fresh, snack-able) raspberry smoothie. Coincidence? Nah. You are what …
“Delightful, fresh, and an undeniable SNACK” is our usual morning mantra. We start by saying these descriptors in the mirror, then we grab our blenders and whip up this (delightful, fresh, snack-able) raspberry smoothie. Coincidence? Nah. You are what you eat, after all!
Just 6 ingredients and 5 minutes required for this creamy, sweet treat! It’s also the perfect base for a scoop of protein powder or some salty chocolate granola.
Aren’t smoothies the best?! Not only are they creamy, cooling, and quick, but they can secretly contain tons of veggies and antioxidants. Inspired by Juiceland’s Rehydrator, this refreshing smoothie packs in three different veggies (but no one will kno…
Aren’t smoothies the best?! Not only are they creamy, cooling, and quick, but they can secretly contain tons of veggies and antioxidants. Inspired by Juiceland’s Rehydrator, this refreshing smoothie packs in three different veggies (but no one will know by tasting it!).
It’s sweet, tart, SO vibrant, plant-based, and bursting with freshness (hello mango, raspberry, beet, and carrot). Just 8 ingredients, 5 minutes, and 1 blender required.
During the pandemic, everyone seemed to cycle through new routines: baking sourdough bread, getting together with old friends for virtual happy hours, or falling in love with a new at-home workout. I started habitually drinking smoothies at least once …
During the pandemic, everyone seemed to cycle through new routines: baking sourdough bread, getting together with old friends for virtual happy hours, or falling in love with a new at-home workout. I started habitually drinking smoothies at least once a day. I found myself completely reenergized after polishing off a pint glass filled with blended dragon fruit, bananas, peaches, pineapple, and mixed berries. My newfound ability to power through any sign of an afternoon slump was accompanied by an overzealous hand in the kitchen. I went from carefully measuring each type of frozen fruit before adding it to the blender to eyeballing everything. I lost my practiced touch and ultimately dumped the excess smoothie down the drain day after day…that is, until I was scrolling through Instagram one night and watched a story posted by my colleague, Food52's Associate Editor Caroline Mullen.
She had whipped up a green smoothie earlier in the day and poured the leftovers into a silicone ice cube tray to freeze. I was immediately impressed and subsequently face palmed—why did I never think of this before?
If you’re into smoothies that keep you full until lunchtime and don’t require a long list of ingredients or added protein powder, you’ll LOVE this peanut butter banana smoothie!
It’s super delicious, filling, balanced, and comes together in 5 min…
If you’re into smoothies that keep you full until lunchtime and don’t require a long list of ingredients or added protein powder, you’ll LOVE this peanut butter banana smoothie!
It’s super delicious, filling, balanced, and comes together in 5 minutes with 4 simple ingredients! Keep it simple, or add optional spinach, flax, or hemp seeds for a nutrient boost. Let’s do this!
How to Make a Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Get ready, because we’re about to show you how 4 simple ingredients (!) combine to make a delicious, filling, nutrient-packed smoothie!
This chocolate peanut butter smoothie is made with healthy ingredients but tastes like a milkshake! Ideal for mornings or a sweet treat.
Need a healthy sweet treat? Try the Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie: made with good-for-you ingredients but tastes like a milk shake! We can’t resist smoothies that taste like dessert, like our Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie and Peanut Butter Smoothie. Put them together and you’ve got this one! It’s rich and chocolaty, but made with bananas, oats and honey. Blend it up for busy mornings or afternoons where you need a quick pick-me-up: it even doubles as a healthy dessert!
Ingredients in this chocolate peanut butter smoothie
This chocolate peanut butter smoothie relies on just a few good-for-you ingredients to make magic in the blender. Make it with milk or the non-dairy milk of your choosing. You can even make it with coffee (more on that below!). Here’s a run-down of the easy ingredients you’ll need:
Frozen bananas: This is the only step you’ll need to do in advance! Slice and freeze them on a baking sheet for at least 1 ½ hours. Or you can buy frozen bananas!
Old Fashioned oats
Cocoa powder or Dutch process (dark) cocoa powder: we prefer dark; more on that below
Peanut butter
Milk of choice (dairy, oat, or almond milk) or coffee: coffee adds a fun variation, much like this Coffee Smoothie! You can also add half milk, half strong coffee or espresso.
Honey or maple syrup
Ice
Dutch process vs standard cocoa powder
Use whatever cocoa powder you have on hand for this chocolate peanut butter smoothie. But we like it best with Dutch process cocoa powder, aka dark cocoa powder! This type has been treated with an alkali to make it pH neutral, which gives it a darker color and milder flavor. It makes the flavor ultra chocolaty: which we love!
Serving this chocolate peanut butter smoothie as a treat? Top it with a sprinkle of dark chocolate! You only need about 1 tablespoon, and when you stir it in it makes for tasty chocolate chunks in each sip. It’s optional, but a fun way to take it up a notch! Then add a drizzle of peanut butter to take it over the top.
Ways to add more protein
This chocolate peanut butter smoothie has a decent amount of protein from the peanut butter, but we’ve tried to use just enough to get great flavor without loading on calories. Here are a few other options for adding protein:
Chia seeds. You can add plant-based protein and fiber with chia seeds: 2 tablespoons chia seeds adds 4 grams protein and 11 grams fiber.
Vanilla or chocolate protein powder: Protein powder works well too! We use this protein powder that has natural ingredients and a flavor that’s not too artificial. Just remember to dial back the maple syrup or honey, because protein powder adds sweetness.
More sweet smoothie recipes
Looking for more smoothies that taste like a treat? Here are a few more you might enjoy:
2 medium frozen bananas (sliced and frozen on a baking sheet for at least 1 1/2 hours)
¼ cup Old Fashioned oats
¼ cup cocoa powder or Dutch process (dark) cocoa powder (we prefer dark)
1 ½ tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup milk of choice (dairy, oat, or almond milk) or coffee*
2 to 2 1/2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
¾ cup ice
For the garnish: 1 sprinkle chopped dark chocolate (optional), 1 drizzle of peanut butter
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until creamy and frothy, stopping and scraping down the sides as necessary. Resist the urge to over blend: blend until it just comes together. Taste and add the additional ½ tablespoon sweetener depending on the sweetness of the bananas.
If desired, top with 1 tablespoon chopped dark chocolate (it makes for a nice mix in but it’s totally optional). Serve immediately or store in a covered jar in the refrigerator for 2 days.
This chocolate strawberry smoothie tastes like a treat, but it’s made with healthy ingredients! Blend up this tasty puree in 5 minutes.
Here’s a smoothie for when you’ve got a chocolate craving: the Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie! Because what’s more fun than chocolate covered strawberries, in drinkable form? This tasty recipe features strawberries, banana, almond butter and cocoa powder, blended up into a lusciously creamy puree. It’s rich, fruity flavor made it an instant hit over here! We gobbled it up like it was a milkshake. It’s the ideal healthy treat!
Ingredients in this chocolate strawberry smoothie
This chocolate strawberry smoothie is made with just a few natural ingredients that you may already have on hand. It’s dairy-free when you use non-dairy milk; we recommend oat milk for smoothies because of its creamy texture and neutral flavor. Here’s what you’ll need for this smoothie (or jump to the recipe below for quantities):
Frozen strawberries
Banana
Old Fashioned oats: optional, but adds a hearty dose of whole grains
Cocoa powder
Almond butter
Milk of choice: dairy, oat milk or almond milk
Pure maple syrup or honey or agave syrup
Ice
Blend it up and give it a taste: you can add a splash more milk to get it to blend. The fruity rich chocolate flavor was a big hit over here.
Step it up with a garnish
This chocolate strawberry smoothie tastes incredible as is: but here’s a little trick for stepping it up if you’re making it as a treat. Top it with a sprinkle of dark chocolate! You only need about 1 tablespoon, and when you stir it in it makes for tasty occasional chocolate chunks. It’s optional, but a fun way to take it up a notch!
Ways to add protein
Almond butter brings protein to this chocolate strawberry smoothie without overwhelming the flavor! But you can add more protein especially if you’re using this as a meal replacement. Here are a few options:
Chia seeds. You can add plant-based protein and fiber with chia seeds: 2 tablespoons chia seeds adds 4 grams protein and 11 grams fiber.
More almond butter. Add another 1 tablespoon nut butter to add an additional 4 grams protein.
Vanilla or chocolate protein powder: Protein powder works well here: we use this protein powder that has natural ingredients and a flavor that’s not too artificial.
Variations on a chocolate strawberry smoothie
Once you’ve made the chocolate strawberry smoothie recipe below, try it with a few variations! Here are some ideas:
Substitute frozen raspberries for strawberries. Instant chocolate raspberry smoothie!
Use dark chocolate cocoa powder. Substitute Dutch process cocoa powder for the regular cocoa powder for a dark chocolate flavor! You should be able to find it at your local grocery. If you can’t find it,you can buy it online: try Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder or Ghiradelli Dutch Process Cocoa Powder.
More healthy chocolate recipes
Craving chocolate but want to satisfy it with something healthy? Try these tasty recipes:
This chocolate strawberry smoothie tastes like a treat, but it’s made with healthy ingredients! Blend up this tasty puree in 5 minutes.
Ingredients
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 banana (room temperature)
½ cup Old Fashioned oats (optional)
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon almond butter
¾ cup milk of choice (dairy, oat milk or almond milk)
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 cup ice
For the garnish: 1 sprinkle chopped dark chocolate (optional)
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender, breaking the banana into pieces. Blend until creamy and frothy, stopping and scraping down the sides as necessary and adding a splash more milk if necessary.
If desired, top with 1 tablespoon chopped dark chocolate (it makes for a nice mix in but it’s totally optional). Serve immediately or store in a covered jar in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Wake up to this frosty coffee smoothie recipe! The fragrant coffee flavor is paired with banana, oats and almond butter.
Are you a coffee lover? Here’s a way to drink your cup of joe with a few healthy ingredients in the mix. Try this Coffee Smoothie! Because if you’re going to drink coffee, why not add bananas, oats and almond butter to the mix? This puree has just the right bittersweet flavor without lots of added sugar, and smooth, creamy texture. Drink it as a tasty afternoon snack (tastes like a milkshake!) or add protein to make it a morning meal. You choose!
Ingredients in this coffee smoothie recipe
This coffee smoothie recipe has taken us a while to hone to perfection: because it’s hard to get just the right coffee flavor and icy texture! Luckily, we finally found the combination that gets it to the consistency of a Wendy’s frosty, but using healthy ingredients. The recipe is similar to a drink at a local coffee shop in town: there they call it the Healthy Elephant (so you can call it that, if you like!). Here’s what you need for this recipe:
Frozen bananas
Espresso, cold brew or strong coffee: see notes on the methods to use below!
Oats
Almond butter
Milk of choice: dairy or non-dairy
Honey
Ice
Coffee methods to use
The key to this coffee smoothie recipe? Strong coffee. You must use a very strong coffee or espresso to get just the right coffee flavor, otherwise it’s much too weak. This is key to making a great coffee smoothie, so don’t skimp here! Here’s what to use:
Moka pot coffee: A Bialetti or Moka pot is another great option for this coffee smoothie recipe! Make makes very strong coffee that’s close in intensity to espresso.
Strong coffee: Make double-strength of your normal coffee to use here.
How to freeze bananas
The other necessity for this coffee smoothie recipe? Frozen bananas. This is important because you want to get an icy, creamy texture without watering down the flavor with too much ice. For most of our smoothie recipes we try to use non-frozen bananas, but in this one it is key.
How to freeze bananas? Slice them into rounds and place them on a baking sheet so they don’t clump together. For this smoothie, you can just throw the slices into a sealed container if you’d like.
How long to freeze bananas? The shortest time you can get away with is 1 ½ hours. Or just freeze them overnight!
Sweeten to taste!
What we like about this coffee smoothie recipe is that it’s not too sweet! It lets the bitter coffee shine through, with just enough sweetness from the banana and honey. But keep in mind: you can sweeten this coffee smoothie to taste! The sweetness definitely depends on the bananas, so if they’re not as ripe you may need more honey.
Want to make a vegan coffee smoothie? No problem! Use maple syrup or agave syrup to sweeten, and of course your favorite non-dairy milk (ours is oat milk).
Adding protein to this coffee banana smoothie recipe
Want to drink this coffee banana smoothie as a breakfast? You’ll probably want to add a little protein for staying powder. The best way to add more protein here? Protein powder. We don’t often use it, but it’s a nice way to pack in quite a bit without affecting the overall flavor too much. Here’s how to find a healthy protein powder:
This strawberry watermelon smoothie is full of juicy flavor! This 3 ingredient recipe is a deliciously healthy treat.
Here’s a smoothie recipe that’s so simple and so utterly delicious, it’s jumped to the top of our favorites. Try this Strawberry Watermelon Smoothie! It’s sweet and delicious, with just the right juicy flavor with no added sweetener. It’s a great snack or even works as a healthy dessert after a summer meal: it’s just that good! Our 4 year old could not stop sipping it, and neither could we.
3 ingredients for a strawberry watermelon smoothie
This strawberry watermelon smoothie has the least ingredients of any of our smoothie recipes. But it’s one of the top in terms of flavor! There’s something about the melon and berry combination that’s pure summer. This one has a bit of nostalgia for me: I created it based on my favorite smoothie at the mall growing up in the 1990’s (ha!). It’s actually much better than the inspiration. Here’s what you’ll need:
Frozen strawberries: These bring in sweetness and an icy texture
Watermelon: Make sure it’s perfectly ripe, in season melon
Banana: A room temperature banana combines to make the perfect creamy texture and accentuates the sweetness
Simply throw them in the blender and puree it up. It makes the perfect sweet tart, fruity flavor!
Find a ripe watermelon!
The most important advice for this smoothie? Make sure your watermelon is ripe! It’s not worth making this smoothie with out of season watermelon, which can be tart and tasteless. Here are a few tips for shopping:
Shop in watermelon season. If it’s out of season, it’s much more likely to be unripe.
Look for a yellow field spot. Most watermelons should have a patch on the bottom, which is where they were resting on the ground before being picked. If the patch is yellow, the watermelon is ripe (if it’s white, it’s unripe).
Ways to add protein to a strawberry watermelon smoothie
One thing to note about this strawberry watermelon smoothie: it’s just fruit, so it doesn’t have protein. That means it’s best served as a treat or a way to drink your vitamins, not as a meal replacement. But if you’d like to add protein, you can feel free! Protein makes it filling and more suitable for drinking as a snack or breakfast. Here are a few protein adders:
Chia seeds. Add plant-based protein and fiber with chia seeds! 2 tablespoons chia seeds adds 4 grams protein and 11 grams fiber (see this Chia Seed Smoothie).
Protein powder: Use a high quality vanilla protein powder (some notes on buying a good brand are in this energy balls post).
Almond butter or cashew butter. 1 tablespoon nut butter adds 4 grams protein. This does compete with the flavor a bit, and dulls the color of this smoothie. But it works!
Flavor variations
Want to mix up this strawberry watermelon smoothie to have different flavor variations? Here are a few things to vary, change or add:
Mint or basil: Add a handful of mint or basil leaves for an herby variation
Blueberry: use 2 cups frozen blueberries
Raspberry: use 1 cup frozen raspberries and 1 cup strawberries
Strawberry blueberry: use 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1 cup strawberries
Mango: use 2 cups frozen mango
Pineapple: Use 2 cups frozen pineapple
More fruit smoothie recipes
Strawberry is the number 1 fruit to add in fruit smoothie recipes! Here are a few more variations on the theme:
You’re going to love this strawberry smoothie. This recipe is cold, creamy and satisfying, and the nutty strawberry flavor is truly crave-worthy. In their most basic form,…
You’re going to love this strawberry smoothie. This recipe is cold, creamy and satisfying, and the nutty strawberry flavor is truly crave-worthy.
In their most basic form, these strawberry smoothies require just four ingredients—frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, almond milk and almond butter.
This smoothie recipe tastes like a strawberry milkshake, and you can make it for breakfast! I’ll be sipping on these pink drinks all summer, and I hope the recipe becomes a staple in your home as well.
If you ask me, smoothies should be super simple. I don’t want to pull a bunch of ingredients out of my fridge and pantry every morning just for a smoothie. I am not a morning person! Plus, these smoothies are easy to whip up in the afternoon or after dinner if you get a craving for a sweet treat.
You can change up the recipe by adding flax or oats for a nutrition boost, or a light drizzle of maple syrup to make them taste even more dessert-like. I’m plenty satisfied with the four-ingredient formula, though, and I think you will be, too!
Discover a whole rainbow of possibilities with our 33 best smoothie recipes and you just may find your favorite new glass of blended bliss. Smoothies are the ultimate grab-and-go meal or snack. Quickly toss ingredients into a blender, press the power b…
Discover a whole rainbow of possibilities with our 33 best smoothie recipes and you just may find your favorite new glass of blended bliss. Smoothies are the ultimate grab-and-go meal or snack. Quickly toss ingredients into a blender, press the power button, and you’ve squeezed the nutrition of a whole meal into one delicious, icy, colorful drink. Smoothies are incredibly easy to make, can be infinitely customized, and all you need is a decent blender. Ready to meet our go-to sips?
Coconut milk and shredded coconut give this creamy smoothie a tropical feel. Almond butter and hemp seeds add protein and a Medjool date sweetens the mixture—add another date or two for a sweeter shake.
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