This sweet and refreshing, healthy Green Smoothie recipe is about to be the star of your morning routine. It’s nutrient-packed with nutritious ingredients like spinach and chia seeds, but you can’t even taste the veggies because it’s blended with coconut milk, creamy banana, fresh oranges, and tropical pineapple which add natural sweetness.
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With two busy kids, we are often looking for ways to have a quick, yet healthy, breakfast (sometimes even on the go!). Some of our favorites include Overnight Oats, Steel Cut Oats, and our Smoothie Bowl recipe. If you are a fan of easy-to-make breakfasts without added sugar, that are actually filling, you have got to try my husband Vadim’s Green Smoothies!
Green Smoothie Recipe
My husband, Vadim, is the smoothie master. He introduced me to this green smoothie. There are plenty of recipes for green smoothies, but this is our favorite. I tried his creation and immediately asked him to write down the recipe because it was love at first sip. This green power smoothie is so simple to make, which is perfect for an early morning drink, or lunch on the run. Even better, it’s make-ahead friendly, and you can take a portion out of the freezer and thaw it as needed.
Why This Smoothie Recipe Works
- Easy – just 6 ingredients, toss them in the blender, and voila. No sugar added!
- Feel Good – an easy way to boost your vitamins and nutrients while filling you up, even in a hurry. This sweet treat has 2 servings of vegetables and 3 servings of fruit blended in.
- Picky-eater approved – it might be green, but it doesn’t taste green. WIN!
Ingredients
These green smoothies are seriously so simple to make. If you have a high-powered blender, you don’t need to fuss too much with chopping fruit and it’s done in less than a minute.
- Coconut Milk – You can use any milk (I prefer plant-based for smoothies), or even water, but using coconut milk adds a smooth and creamy texture and a hint of sweet coconut flavor.
- Banana – Adds sweetness without an overpowering flavor, when blended it makes the smoothie extra creamy and smooth.
- Orange – The natural sweetness balances the spinach flavor while adding vitamin C.
- Spinach – Greens are an easy way to pack your smoothie with nutrition, and coupled with the right fruit, you cannot even taste it.
- Pineapple – I use frozen chunks of pineapple so there is no need to add ice cubes, which melt and water down your drink. The tropical flavor is delicious and pineapple has great nutritional benefits as well.
- Chia Seeds (Optional) – They don’t really have a taste but do add texture, thickness and fiber.
Substitutions
Milk: You can use any liquid – almond milk or oat milk for creaminess, coconut water or orange juice for a tropical taste.
Fruit: The natural sweetness of fruit balances out leafy greens so you don’t need to add any extra sugar. Try peaches, peeled apple slices, a slice of avocado, raspberries, blueberries, or mango.
Leafy greens: I find spinach to be the easiest green vegetable to disguise, but kale or swiss chard are great leafy greens to use in a healthy green smoothie.
Vegetables: Cauliflower, carrots, and cucumber are all veggies that have a mild flavor and are perfect to use in a simple green smoothie recipe.
Protein: Adding one tablespoon of nuts or nut butter, such as peanut butter or almond butter, helps to thicken your smoothie and add a creamy texture. You can also add protein powder, hemp hearts, or peanut butter powder.
How to Make Green Smoothies
- Load Your Blender – Peel your fruit and place everything into a blender in the order listed, starting with the liquid and ending with the frozen fruit and chia seeds (if using).
- Blend – Push the button and blend until smooth. That’s it. It really is that simple. Pour your green smoothies into two glasses (or that new Stanley cup you just got) and enjoy.
Layering Guide for Blending Smoothies
The order you add your ingredients to your blender matters! If you’re new to blending smoothies, the best advice I can give you is to layer your smoothie correctly in the blender jar. This will prevent the blender from getting stuck. Start with your liquids and end with your frozen ingredients since the frozen ingredients act as a weight to push the rest of the ingredients down. Add ingredients in this order:
- Liquids (water, milk, juice, yogurt)
- Powders and sweeteners (protein powder, cocoa powder, honey, agave)
- Leafy greens and soft fruit (banana, berries, avocado)
- Creamy ingredients like yogurt and nut butter
- Hard fruits or veggies (apples, carrots, beets)
- Nuts, Seeds, dried fruit
- Frozen fruit or ice
Pro Tips for Blending:
To ensure ingredients blend into a smooth and consistent texture, cut your fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces. Start gradually and blend increase to higher speeds to avoid overloading the blender motor.
Should I Use Fresh or Frozen Ingredients?
Use at least one frozen ingredient in your smoothies to keep the texture creamy and chilled without using ice (which waters down the flavor). I keep a giant Costco-sized bag of frozen pineapple in our freezer. It’s super affordable and great to have on hand for smoothies. During the summer and fall when pineapples and bananas are in season, buy them, chop them up, and flash-freeze them on a baking sheet until firm. Then you can bag fruit and use it throughout the coming months.
Frozen spinach is pre-washed, pre-chopped, and retains its nutritional value so keep a bag on hand in the freezer and you’ll always have your ingredients ready for any time you have a hankering for the best green smoothies. Like the frozen pineapple, frozen spinach will chill the drink which I love. Just be sure to reduce the fresh spinach measurement by half.
Make-Ahead
This recipe makes two portions. Make a batch to share or store half for later.
- To Refrigerate: Pour your prepared smoothie into an airtight container and promptly refrigerator for 24 hours. Give it a good shake or stir before you drink it to redistribute the ingredients.
- Freezing: Make a batch of green smoothies for the week, or month. Divide the blended smoothies into individual serving portions. You can use ice cube trays, silicone molds, or small freezer bags. If freezing in bags, remove as much air as possible and lay flat on a tray to freeze. This makes them easy to stack and store neatly in your freezer.
- To Thaw: Refrigerate frozen portions overnight, or in a hurry, blend the frozen Green Smoothie, adding more liquid if necessary to obtain the desired consistency. You could also put the frozen portion into a blender ball cup and bring it on the go, to the office, or in the car while running around town, and it will be thawed and ready for you.
If your blender has been tucked away in a corner collecting dust, it’s time to put it to good use with this breakfast smoothie. Cheers to mornings that start with a sip of sweet, vitamin-packed, green goodness.
More Easy Smoothie Recipes
If you love our recipe for Green Smoothies, then you won’t want to miss our other delicious smoothie recipes.
- Blueberry Mango Smoothie
- Strawberry Smoothies
- Blueberry Pear Smoothie
- Mango Pineapple Smoothie
- Blueberry Smoothie
Green Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, or your milk of choice
- 1 banana, peeled
- 1 orange, peeled
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 1/2 cups frozen pineapple
- 2 tsp chia seeds, optional
Instructions
- Place everything in a blender in the order listed, starting with the liquid and ending with the frozen fruit and chia seeds (if using).
- Blend until smooth and transfer into two tall glasses.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Added flax and hemp seeds to recipe. Was more thick than I usually like but very, very delicious!
Natasha this is one of the – no it is the best smoothie recipe! I cannot emphasize how picky my son is…he devoured it and wanted a second serving. Hubs and daughter loved loved loved it too. Making the second batch now. Thank you for always coming through. Your recipes never fail
Aaaw, thank you so much for your awesome feedback! We’re so glad that you loved our Green Smoothie recipe a lot.
My husband does most of the grocery shopping these days and he was shocked when I asked him to get a bag of baby spinach! He knows I detest spinach either raw or cooked, but I decided to trust you on this one – now I’m the one who’s shocked…it’s delicious!
I used almond milk and ground flax seeds that I had, everything else was the same as yours. SO GOOD!
Hi Olena! Thank you so much for the feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Tropical Green Smoothie is my new morning ritual! It’s refreshing, fruity, and gives me that healthy boost. Love it!
So glad you’re loving it, Chris! Thank you for sharing.
I don’t like coconut milk so what other unsweetened milk would you suggest?
Hi Lakesha! See my note above in the blog post under “ingredients.” You can use any milk of your choice.
This was not only delicious, but I love that it’s healthy too. 10/10!
So glad you loved it, Melissa!
I am the pickiest eater I know. I am very sensitive to textures and all things green. I made these tonight and both my daughter and I were very pleased. I even had seconds! You cannot taste the spinach at all! Just a smooth, fruity taste. I love knowing that I was drinking a healthy treat, especially after the holiday season with way too much sugar. These were so easy to make- I didn’t even bother to cut the fruit. I just tossed everything into my Vitamix and it came out creamy and smooth. I used hemp hearts instead of chia seeds and it was perfect!
Hi Brooke, thanks so much for sharing your experience trying our Green Smoothie recipe. I’m glad that you enjoyed it!
Great recipe! Thank you very much. I was surprised that the calories were so high though, given the ingredients. I put it into myfitnesspal.com and came up with very different numbers (per serving). 193 calories, 4g fat, 40g carbs, 7g fiber, 26g sugar, 3g protien.
Hi Gina, you are absolutely right. I think the calculator was pulling nutrition facts from the canned coconut which has quite a bit more calories rather than the lighter carton coconut milk in the refrigerator section. I updated the nutrition label which is now more accurate. I appreciate the heads up!
Hi from Malta 🙂 I am seeing the nutrition chart of the 3 smoothies. Why the spinach one is so high in fats please ?
Thanks so much dear Natasha
Hi Suzanne, it depends on the ingredients for each. For example, a banana or orange added will increase the calorie count. I hope you try these soon!
I love green smoothies but never thought to add pineapple, it is a delicious addition! I can’t eat raw oranges so I used orange juice instead of the coconut milk and the orange, it was still amazing! My 3 year old loved it and finished half the recipe and wanted more, he just consumed 4 servings of fruits and veggies for a snack!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review Tomekia!
Hi
For your green smoothie can we sub coconut milk for regular milk or even water?
🙂
Thanks
Hi Z, I’d probably go with either water, almond milk, coconut milk or orange juice. I guess I’m not a fan of milk in smoothies. The texture gets weird sometimes if you don’t drink it right away.
Natasha, I have been watching your video’s and I need to know ****Where did you take the course in veggie chopping. You are great at it!!!
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Len!
Merely wanna input that you have a very decent site, I love the style it actually stands out.
Thank you!
Sooo GOOD, made it all week long… everyDAY. Thank You!
My pleasure! I’m happy to hear how much you love the recipe Yana! Thanks for sharing your awesome review!
I wanted to know if an6 of these could mayb3 be made th3 night before. My husband would like to start drinking smoothies but he leaves pretty early in the mornings
Thanks
Hi Sharon, we always make and enjoy these right away since refrigerating smoothies can result in separation and they just aren’t as appealing on day 2. You might consider putting everything in the blender the night before then adding the liquid the next day and whirling it up in the morning.
Do you mean the coconut milk in a can or the kind in a milk container?
Hi Janine, we use the one in the milk container 🙂
Hello! Where do you buy this organic coconut milk? Would Costco have it? thanks!
Hi Lena, I’m not sure if Costco has it – possibly? We purchased it at Fred Meyer (a Kroger store)
Is that green smoothie is good for people with pre diabetic?
Hi Ana, there is no added sugar here which is always good, but you will be getting carbs/sugars from the fresh fruit so do keep that in mind.
We just made this delicious smoothe! What a great drink to start your day with! Fresh and refreshing, texture just right! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome Saniya! I’m glad you love the smoothie! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
Absolutely delicious! I normally don’t like greens in my smoothies but in this one you can’t even taste the spinach. Hubby enjoyed it too 🙂
That’s great Katie! Thank for sharing 🙂