This bright, immunity-boosting dragon fruit smoothie also controls moods and hunger, is full of fiber, magnesium, vitamin Bs and is also kid-friendly! Perfect for a nutrition-powered breakfast or snack. A bonus recipe included for plant based homemade yogurt recipe.
Dragon Fruit Smoothie & Homemade Yogurt
This fresh fruity dragon fruit smoothie is great at boosting immunity, controlling moods, stress, and hunger, and is also kid-friendly given that color!
What is Dragon Fruit?
Dragon Fruit, or Pitaya, is a gloriously colored Asian melon-like fruit that comes in both white and dark pink meat. This smoothie was made with the latter. Dragon fruit is a powerhouse of nutrition, providing antioxidants, fiber, magnesium, vitamin Bs and more! It is so filling, it is said to be beneficial toward weight control by making one feel full. And the added magnesium is a powerful bad-mood-buster and helps control anxiety.
How Does Dragon Fruit Taste?
Like a mild kiwi or even pear.
How to find Dragon Fruit in Stores
There are dark pink-fleshed versions and white flesh. I can only find white flesh here in DC so I use frozen pink pitaya when I want that gorgeous color.
In various parts of the world, one can buy the pink and white dragon fruit fresh at the market. I can only find white dragon fruit at the market, and often I have to visit an Asian market to do so.
To choose a good fresh one, squeeze it, and look for a firm response. If it is squishy, it is going bad so don’t buy it.
When I want pink dragon fruit, I can always find the pink dragon fruit frozen in most chain supermarkets or especially markets like Whole Foods.
How to Eat Dragon Fruit
If eating fresh, wash the fruit, cut in half, and scoop out the edible flesh. Cut into cubes for use in a smoothie, salad or to eat like a melon. A simple smoothie with dragon fruit is just the fruit of one blended with 1 cup coconut water and 1 cup mango. Spice it up with fresh ginger.
For a full-on homemade yogurt dragon fruit smoothie, see my recipe below!
How to Store Dragon Fruit
Well obviously if you buy it frozen, keep it frozen until you are ready to use it. If you buy it fresh, keep it a day or so on the counter and then refrigerate it.
How to Make This Dragon Fruit Smoothie
Just blend up pink dragon fruit, lemon juice, baobab powder and water. Layer on top of yogurt and drink! Why baobab? Because the ancient powder is full of vitamin C and, combined with the antioxidant effects of dragon fruit, make this smoothie a powerful immunity booster.
You don’t have to layer the smoothie on yogurt, of course. You can blend it in. Or leave it out. Or blend in coconut water instead. Just use your imagination for customizations.
Homemade Plant Based Yogurt Is Easy to Make
In this dragon fruit recipe, I also use my faux homemade yogurt. It’s easy to make.
I used coconut meat – I found it in the freezer section of Wholefoods – but you can also use soaked cashews to make yogurt – I have a recipe for that here.
It’s not traditional yogurt in that it technically hasn’t fermented for days, but it is still as healthy with the addition of quality probiotic powder.
Just snap open a capsule or two of your favorite, and pour it in.
If you are into yogurt and want to experiment with plant-based yogurts without paying top dollar – they are so expensive, especially the cashew yogurts! – then this recipe might be the answer for you! Yogurts are perfect for this smoothie and other easy breakfast smoothies. I prefer adding that or even zucchini or cauliflower for the cream base that many other recipes use bananas for.
How To Make Easy Breakfast Smoothies
My favorite smoothie blueprint is so easy. I used it to make this dragon fruit smoothie, and I’ll share it here briefly in case you are interested.
Into a blender toss a cup of a fruit, a handful of greens, a few tbsp of seeds or nut butter or avocado, a few tbsp of lemon, ginger or turmeric. And add a cup of coconut water or plant milk or yogurt. Blend and drink. If you keep it overnight, place cellophane on the surface so no air gets to it in the fridge, oxidizing the nutrients.
Good luck and use the hashtag #greensmoothiegourmet on Instagram if you make it! Or share to other social media using the share buttons.
Try My Other Dragon Fruit Recipes
- dragon fruit smoothie
- making smoothies
- dragon fruit smoothie bowl
- some dragon fruit pink cookies
- this dragon fruit pink ice cream
- easy dragon fruit protein bites
- pitaya protein cups
- dragon fruit pina colada popsicles
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Dragon Fruit Smoothie & Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients
Dragon fruit Smoothie
- 2 cups dark pink dragon fruit (either frozen or mix 3 tbsp pitaya powder into 2 cups of yogurt)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbs baobab powder
- 1/2 cup water or ice
Coconut Faux Yogurt
- 1 can coconut milk (full fat, organic, bpa-free - I use Whole Foods 365 brand)
- 1 tsp probiotic powder (30-50 billion active cultures)
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
To Make Coconut "Faux" Yogurt
- The coconut milk cans should not be chilled overnight as is the case with some recipes. That is because if you chill them, the solid fat will seperate from the liquid and in this recipe, you want them blended.Shake up the room-temperature can, pour into a blender, along with other yogurt ingredients. To add the probiotic, break open the capsule and add it. Do not just throw the capsule in your blender.
- Blend until smooth, and store yogurt up to two days in refrigerator. I make it well before I make parfaits so the yogurt I serve is cold.
- NOTE: If you want to allow this yogurt to become real and not faux - meaning you would allow it to ferment and let the cultures expand giving the yogurt more gut-support-power - then make these changes to the process:
- 1. Mix the yogurt in a sterilized bowl - not a blender. The bowl can be straight from a dishwasher, or washed with very hot water and soap.2. Hand mix the yogurt in that bowl, and cover bowl with a clean dish cloth. Put covered bowl in a warm-ish, dark corner in your kitchen - in a corner of the counter maybe? It is really fermented in 24 hours and at that point you can stir it some more and then store it in the refrigerator for use. You could wait 48 hours and the yogurt will be tangier and nearly effervescent, however, you run the risk of mold growing on the surface, so check for that if you go this route.
Make the Smoothie
- Prepare the yogurt first. Layer it on the bottom of a jar.Blend up the pink smoothie ingredients, and pour the smoothie on top of the yogurt. Serve very chilled and with a glass straw (to reduce plastic and avoid hormone-disruptors found in plastic straws).
Nutrition
Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients . On this blog you’ll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in biology, immunology and journalism. More about Dee Dine here.
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