How to Make A Healthy Smoothie + Free Smoothie Chart

The Best Ingredients

The best smoothies are built with a combination of four elements:

1. a vegetable or fruit or both

2. a creamy base

3. a liquid

4. optional additions

Step by Step Instructions

Make your own healthy smoothie by following these general steps. Exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Add liquids first, and leafy greens next. This will ensure the leafy greens are close to the blades and would more efficiently be processed.

Step 2. The  next layer would be harder vegetables or fruits, or frozen ingredients next to give the blades close access and power to tear them up. If you want, you can blend now, before adding the last and easiest to blend ingredients but that's only optional. I usually only blend once.

Step 3. The final and top layer, furtherest from the blade, are the soft ingredients and spices. Blend just to combine.

Step 4. Drink now, or refrigerate for 24 hours, or freeze into ice cube trays for longer storage.

Best Vegetables

• Leafy greens - spinach and kale work best in the baby version for mild flavor and ease in blending.
• Cooked vegetables - sweet potatoes, beets, cauliflower, pumpkin and butternut squash provide thickening and nutrition.
• Raw vegetables - peas, carrots, zucchini, beets, avocado, and cucumber provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, thickening and nutrition.

Best Fruits

• Berries - high in antioxidants and fiber, low in sugar.
• Green Grapes - also high in antioxidants and fiber, and provide a blank slate of sweetness, much like a less-ripe banana would.
• Mango - the best way to make a smoothie creamy and full of fiber, again just as a banana would.
• Watermelon - rich in essential electrolytes, and sweetness.
• Pineapple, Peaches, Pears - great for providing creamy texture and essential nutrients, and creamy texture.
• Dragon fruit, Acai - best for protein and color, try my unicorn smoothies.
• Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Papaya

Creamy Base

A variety of options can serve as a creamy base. Here are a few. The rolled oats are used raw and uncooked, but the milks, yogurt, fruits and veggies are best used frozen for a thick, frosty base. Pour the milks and yogurt into ice cube trays to use frozen.

• Yogurt - Keep it dairy-free for vegan smoothies.
• Coconut Milk, or another high fat milk
• Mangos
• Bananas
• Avocado
• Rolled oats - Use uncooked and looked for certified gluten-free brand for a GF smoothie.
• Chickpeas or White beans - use unsalted and canned for a mild flavor

Best Liquids

Typically I use dairy-free milk, water, coconut water, canned coconut milk, and teas of all kinds, matcha, hibiscus, and even ginger juice or fruit infused water. Coffee also can be used, and occasionally juices although only fresh or not from concentrate with little sugar.

📌Download Free Smoothie Chart

My free downloadable smoothie chart gives you a list of each ingredient so like building legos, you can construct your own favorite smoothie.

Optional Additions

The world is your oyster, so the saying goes, regarding additions you can toss into your smoothie to increase flavor and nutrition. Seeds and nut butters add protein and fiber. Here are my favorites.

• Seeds - Flax seeds, chia, hemp seeds, wheat germ, and pumpkin seeds.
• Nut butter - Anything goes to bring in healthy fats and protein. Try peanut butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter, almond butter and combos. Just choose one whose ingredients are just the nut and no additional sugar.
• Sweetener - To keep the smoothie healthy, try to get most of your sweetening from the fruit you add. However, adding a date increases the nutrition and sweet flavor considerably. Buy Medjool dates, and pit them before adding to a blender. Or make date paste, keep it frozen or in ice cube trays and add a few to sweeten a smoothie. Here is my date paste recipe.
• Spices - Spices increase the health factor by stimulating digestion and boosting immunity. Try cinnamon, cayenne pepper, ground or fresh ginger, and turmeric.

Allergy Swaps

1.Substitute the milk and yogurt with dairy-free version. For the dairy free milk, choose creamy ones such as oat milk and cashew milk, or more nutritious almond milk. For the yogurt, choose coconut or cashew yogurts. Or swap it out for more milk or a ½ banana or ½ cup frozen zucchini since the yogurt is there to thicken your smoothie.

2. Check that rolled oats are gluten-free. Oats are naturally gluten-free but some brands process them in factories that also process non-gluten-free products. So choose a brand that labels their product as certified gluten-free.

Recipe Tips

Making a smoothie is fairly simple but there are some tricks to help it turn out right.

1. Add only half the fruit at first, blend and taste-test. See if you can get away with less fruit, which means less sweet. That will make your smoothie all the healthier.

2. To get into a smoothie-a-day routine, take your favorite fruits and freeze them, or buy them frozen. The more frozen ingredients you blend, the creamier and frostier your smoothie texture will be. I even keep a stock of milk frozen into ice cube trays to use in smoothies.

3. Most vegetables you'll add to a green smoothie are not cooked, however there are a few, like cauliflower, that do better steamed for texture.