These are the 7 Best Healthy Smoothie Recipes! They contain minimal ingredients and will keep you full for hours. You can meal prep them, too!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Milk – use any dairy or non-dairy milk of your choice like almond, rice, soy or coconut milk.
- Plain Greek yogurt – this is optional to make your smoothie even creamier.
- Flax seeds – you could also use hemp seeds, chia seeds or protein powder.
- Sweetener – honey, stevia, agave syrup, dates and berries are all good sweetener options.
Green smoothie
- Baby spinach – substitute for another dark leafy green like kale or collard greens.
- Green apple – frozen or fresh berries would also make your smoothie sweet.
- Banana – substitute for applesauce or frozen mango.
Strawberry banana smoothie
- Frozen strawberries – fresh strawberries or even raspberries can be used instead.
- Banana – substitute for applesauce or frozen mango.
Tropical smoothie
- Frozen mango – swap out for peach instead.
- Frozen pineapple – or any other fruit of your choice.
- Shredded unsweetened coconut – you can leave this out and use coconut milk as your milk of choice for a similar flavour.
Avocado smoothie
- Avocado – you can use banana, but it’ll give your smoothie a different flavour.
- Banana – substitute for applesauce or frozen mango.
Watermelon smoothie
- Watermelon – try making your smoothie with guava or another kind of melon.
- Lime – bottled lime juice can be used instead.
Peanut butter banana smoothie
- Banana – you can substitute for applesauce or frozen mango, but you’ll lose the banana flavour.
- Peanut butter – or another nut butter of your choice like almond butter.
Blueberry smoothie
- Frozen blueberries – frozen blackberries or another berry of your choice can be used instead.
- Banana – substitute for applesauce or frozen mango.
How to make healthy smoothies
- Add all the ingredients to a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Serve and enjoy!
Are smoothies good for losing weight?
You can lose weight drinking smoothies, but it needs to be part of an overall diet plan. Read more about meal prep and weight loss here.
If you’re drinking smoothies in an effort to lose weight, make sure to keep these points in mind:
- Not all smoothies are healthy. Drinking smoothies alone will not help you lose weight. Healthy smoothie recipes can contribute to your weight-loss plans, but only if you’re choosing low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar ingredients.
- Use portion control. Smoothies can contain more vegetables or fruit than you would eat raw and that means you are taking in more calories, carbohydrates and sugar than you think. Keep your smoothie at around 10 oz (most store-bought smoothies are at least 16 oz or more). If you make too much, freeze the extra portion for later.
- Smoothies can leave you feeling hungry. Make sure your smoothie contains the right balance of ingredients. Adding protein and healthy fats will help you feel full for longer, but be careful, as these additions can also make the calorie count go up. If you feel the need to add healthy fats or protein, then consider adding a quarter of an avocado (81 calories), half a cup of Greek yogurt (140 calories) or a tablespoon of peanut butter (95 calories).
Frequently Asked Questions
Smoothies are as healthy as the ingredients you put in them. To make your smoothie recipes healthy, ensure that you’re using the highest-quality ingredients so you’re getting the nutritional benefits that makes them so good for you!
Even if you're just looking to drink a smoothie as a healthy snack, you should still be adding a protein source to ensure that it satiates you and keeps you feeling full for a little while. To add some protein to your healthy smoothie recipes, add in some Greek yogurt, flax seeds, hemp hearts, chia seeds or protein powder. I like using Kaizen Naturals, which has 30g of protein and just 130 calories per scoop.
My biggest piece of advice when it comes to what to put in your smoothie is to keep it simple! Pick 1-3 fruits to add, maybe a leafy green such as spinach and then your liquid and protein source. That's it! Sometimes the healthiest foods are the simplest foods. There really aren't too many things you shouldn't be adding to smoothies, but I can say with confidence that sugar and ice are the biggest no-no’s in my book. Ice will water down your smoothie and you can make sweeter smoothies without natural ingredients – don’t add calories or reduce the healthiness by adding sugar!
We all have varying levels of taste when it comes to sweetness. For me personally, as I've incorporated less sugar into my diet over time, I've gotten used to things tasting less sweet. Bananas are great natural sweeteners and they are often more than enough when you're making a smoothie. If you don’t like bananas, applesauce is a great substitute or you can sweeten up your smoothie with dates, honey, real maple syrup (not cheap table syrup), stevia or molasses.
The Best Healthy Smoothie Recipes
I rounded up some of my favourite healthy smoothie recipes below. They’re all packed full of nutrients and are great for meal prep.
Green smoothie
Strawberry banana smoothie
Tropical smoothie
Avocado smoothie
Watermelon smoothie
Peanut butter banana smoothie
Blueberry Smoothie
How to meal prep smoothies
When it comes to meal prepping smoothies, there are two main methods:
- Smoothie freezer bags: Make meal prep smoothie packs in Ziploc bags or mason jars that contain all your fruits and veggies measured out. When you’re ready to make your smoothie, all you have to do is dump the freezer pack into the blender, add in your liquid and blend! I like to make big batches of these smoothie packs so I have some variety to choose from throughout the week. They’ll last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Pre-blending smoothies: You can also pre-blend your smoothies and store them in the fridge in mason jars for up to 3 days. This method is a great grab-and-go option. All you have to do is give the mason jar a good shake, add in some water if needed and enjoy! Just keep in mind the texture won’t be the same as if they were freshly blended.
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More healthy smoothie recipes
Meal Prep Tools
- These are the mason jars I used in this recipe.
- You can get larger 32oz mason jars too.
- The Vitamix personal series is great for making just one or two smoothies at a time.
- So is the Magic Bullet or Nutri Bullet – the only hang up here is that I find I have to replace these models once every couple years or so because the motor eventually burns out.
- The Vitamix Ascent series is my fave though – it's self-cleaning so you aren't left with a ton of mess and it's perfect for if you're prepping 3-4 smoothies at a time. It can tear through anything to make the smoothest smoothie, even ice!
- **Get my full list of tools here**
7 Best Healthy Smoothies {Minimal Ingredients} + Meal Prep Tips
Ingredients
Green smoothie
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1/2 green apple, chopped
- 1 banana
Strawberry banana smoothie
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 banana
Tropical smoothie
- 1/4 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks
- 1 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
Avocado smoothie
- 1 ripe avocado, mashed
- 1 banana
Watermelon smoothie
- 1 cup watermelon
- 1 lime, juiced
Peanut butter banana smoothie
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
Blueberry smoothie
- 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 banana
Base ingredients for all smoothies
- 1/2 cup dairy, almond, rice, soy or coconut milk
- 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (optional)
Optional add-ins
- 1 tbsp flax, hemp or chia seeds
- 2 tbsp protein powder of choice
- 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (honey, stevia, agave syrup, dates)
- 1/2 cup applesauce (use in place of banana)
Instructions
- Add in base ingredients and add-ins of choice to a blender or Magic Bullet. Usually almond or coconut milk, Greek yogurt and hemp seeds are my go-to ingredients for any smoothie but you can add in additional natural sweeteners or swap out bananas for applesauce.
- In addition to your base ingredients, add the ingredients for whatever smoothie you want to make. For instance, if you are looking to make the green smoothie, add the spinach, green apple and banana to the blender.
- Blend ingredients on high until a smooth consistency develops. Add more milk as desired if you'd like a thinner smoothie. Serve immediately or enjoy up to 3 days after making your smoothie.
- Tip: If you want to make these smoothies ahead you can assemble little individual-sized plastic bags filled with the fruit-based ingredients and freeze up to 3 months in advance.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Raven says
Thanks for the recipes I was just wondering did there’s something else we can add to the tropical smoothie in place of the coconut and if we can use raspberries for some smoothies as well
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Raven – you can add in mango if you don’t like coconut and yes, raspberries can be added to all!
Grace says
Thank you so much… I have been adding many things to my smoothies thinking they’ll taste better… nope, it turned up full of calories and many times couldn’t finish it cause it tasted horrible. Love the simplicity. Thank you for organizing your ideas .. it reduced my anxiety too lol
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy to have been of help, Grace 🙂 Let me know how you like these smoothies!
Alison says
Could you list the complete portions for each recipe.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Alison – each recipe makes 1 serving, which will fill a large glass. I cannot give an exact measurement by cup measure as it will vary depending on ingredients used.
Pachia says
Thank you! This will be awesome for helping me control my diabetes.
Desiree Shrader says
Awesome 👏 so easy to follow and understand! I am new at this and would like to touch base with you on my progress 😉