My favorite green smoothie recipe! This healthy, delicious drink is easy to make in the blender, and it's packed with leafy greens and fresh fruit.
I make this green smoothie recipe at least once a week. Packed with baby spinach, citrus, and banana, it’s a delicious way to fill up on fruits and vegetables…and it’s easy to blend together in just 5 minutes. Thick, frosty, and lightly sweet, this nutritious smoothie practically tastes like dessert. Try it once, and it’ll have a permanent spot in your healthy breakfast and snack rotation!
Another reason to love this simple green smoothie? It’s totally customizable! Below, I’m sharing some of my favorite ingredient substitutions and add-ins so that you can make this recipe your own. I can’t wait to hear what variations you try!
Green Smoothie Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this green smoothie recipe:
- Leafy greens, of course! I love using fresh spinach here because you can barely taste it, though kale and Swiss chard are great choices too. Freeze the greens ahead of time (or buy frozen greens) to give your smoothie the best frosty texture.
- Half a frozen banana – It sweetens the smoothie and makes it thick and creamy. Tip: Wait to put bananas in the freezer until they’re ripe and spotty! Ripe bananas will add much more sweetness to a smoothie than unripe ones will.
- Almond butter and chia seeds – They add healthy fats and fiber and make the smoothie even creamier.
- Frozen orange segments – They add natural sweetness (and tons of vitamin C!) to this vibrant spinach smoothie. I like to buy a bunch of fresh mandarins or clementines, peel them, and freeze them to have on hand. Frozen mango and pineapple are also delicious. You could even use frozen berries here!
- Unsweetened almond milk – To get the blender moving! If you don’t keep almond milk on hand, feel free to use another liquid base like oat milk, coconut milk, regular milk, or even orange juice.
- And ice cubes – To perfect this green smoothie’s frosty texture.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Best Green Smoothie Add-Ins
The best thing about green smoothie recipes? They’re customizable! Feel free to jazz up this one with extra flavor enhancers or nutrient boosts. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Extra chia seeds, hemp hearts, or flax. These seeds are amazing sources of omega-3 fats and fiber—great for gut health!
- Protein powder or Greek yogurt. For a protein boost.
- Matcha powder. It adds antioxidants and a little caffeine kick.
- Cinnamon or ginger. For antioxidants and warming flavor.
- A natural sweetener. Add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup to sweeten your green smoothie to taste.
- Extra veggies. Frozen zucchini or cauliflower will add fiber to your smoothie without affecting the flavor.
How to Make a Green Smoothie
This green smoothie recipe is quick and easy to make!
- Start by adding all the ingredients to a blender, except the ice.
- Blend until smooth, adding more almond milk as needed to achieve a creamy texture. Start with your blender on low speed, increasing it as the ingredients start to form a puree.
- Add the ice and blend again.
- Finally, taste and adjust. Add more frozen fruit or a drizzle of a natural sweetener if you’d like your smoothie to be sweeter.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Use frozen fruit and greens. They’ll give this smoothie the best thick, frosty texture. Fresh ingredients will make it thinner and more watery.
- Add liquid as needed. I like to make my smoothies as thick and frosty as possible, so I use the smallest amount of liquid I can. Depending on whether or not you’re using a high-speed blender, you may need more liquid to get your smoothie completely smooth. As you blend, add more as needed to achieve your desired texture.
- Make a meal prep smoothie. Portion out the fruit, greens, and chia seeds for individual smoothies into freezer-safe meal prep containers. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to make a smoothie, just dump the contents of one container into the blender, add liquid and almond butter, and blend until smooth!
More Favorite Smoothie Recipes
If you love this green smoothie recipe, try one of these plant-based smoothie recipes next:
- Kale Smoothie
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
- Blueberry Smoothie
- Creamy Avocado Smoothie
- Coffee Smoothie
- Or any of these 10 Healthy Smoothie Recipes!
Green Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen spinach or kale
- ½ frozen banana
- ½ tablespoon almond butter
- 1 to 2 cups peeled and frozen orange segments, or frozen pineapple or mango chunks
- ½ teaspoon chia seeds, optional
- 1 cup almond milk, plus more as needed to blend
- Handful of ice
Instructions
- In a blender, place the spinach, banana, almond butter, 1 cup frozen fruit, and chia seeds, if using. Add the almond milk and blend until smooth, adding more almond milk as needed to blend. Add the ice and blend again.
- Taste and add more frozen fruit if you’d like your smoothie to be sweeter. Blend until smooth, adding more almond milk as needed.
These smoothies are great for a lunch on a busy day too. In fact, they’re delicious any time a quick meal is needed….or the appetite is small.
Glad you enjoyed!
Do you have the nutrition facts listed somewhere? I couldn’t find them on this page. Btw, green smoothie was delish, but I didn’t have mango or pineapple. I just used some frozen mixed berries. I found that it wasn’t as sweet as expected. Is that bc I didn’t use the suggested mango or pineapple?
Hi Jennifer, we don’t currently have nutrition facts on our website, but we are working on adding them in the future! I do think berries would be less sweet than the mango or pineapple. You could always sweeten to taste with honey or maple syrup if needed.
So good!! I used fresh spinach, one whole frozen banana, almond butter, almond milk and a lil honey. It was delicious. I didn’t have any other fruit on hand nor chia seeds.
My daughter really loves, pink, is it possible to make this smoothie pink?
add beets. Can’t taste but is really pretty
I would love to receive guidance on how to make the best on my email every time when new things happen
Lemme pull up in them DMS, babyboy 😉
With regards
Richard
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Can you use unfrozen fruit?
Hi Jac, you could, but the smoothie won’t be as thick and frosty. I’d recommend using at least a frozen banana.
In looking over this beautiful recipe that I want to try, it came to me that if something needed to be a little sweeter, do you think ice cubes made from coconut water would help?
yep, that would be delicious here!
super yummy!! my new go to ..next time i’m adding 1/2 avocado,thanks for recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I have made this for breakfast almost every day for the past 6 months. It is so delicious and provides me with the nutrients to power through my day. I will switch up the ingredients from time to time and it always comes out great. Really cannot thank you enough for this amazing recipe!
I’m glad you enjoyed this one too!
This a really good. I don’t freeze the spinach but i used 1/2 cup frozen mango and 1/2 cup frozen pineapple and add 1 scoop of plant based vanilla protein powder. So good I’ve made it quite a few times already!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it!
All of your smoothies have banana, I’m allergic. Is there another option?
Hi Dawn, this smoothie bowl recipe doesn’t have a banana – you make just the smoothie part without the toppings. Hope that helps!
oops, forgot to link it: https://www.loveandlemons.com/berry-superfood-smoothie-bowl/
hello, if I’m allergic to nuts, what can I substitute the almond butter with?
Hi, you have a few options. 1) You could skip it. The smoothie is still great without! 2) You could replace it with sunbutter or tahini. 3) You could increase the chia seeds to 1 tablespoon or add 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds. Hope this helps!
I enjoyed these smoothie recipes. Thanks very much ?
So glad you enjoyed it!
So easy to make, but so delicious! I tried it this weekend with coconut milk since I didn’t have any almond milk left, otherwise I used the amounts and types of ingredients as listed here. Such a flavorful and healthy treat!
Oooh I bet coconut milk was delicious! So glad you loved it.
I never met a green smoothie that I like until THIS one! I used frozen chopped kale, chia seeds, and some frozen clementine segments I had in the freezer. I used 1 whole frozen banana because that’s how I freeze them, and I added a splash of vanilla extract. It’s delicious and will be on my regular breakfast rotation now! Thanks for another healthy and delicious recipe, Jeanine!
Hi Jan, I’m so glad you love the smoothie!
Re: Frozen spinach. Is this purchased frozen? As this is quite dense so I want to make sure I am using the right amount.
Hi Karen – yep, I buy it frozen.