Have you ever tried incorporating smoothies into your diet? If not, you should! There are so many simple smoothie recipes out there that will improve your health and quality of life.

In just a few minutes, you can make them with the kids, whip something up before your workout, or enjoy a cold smoothie on a hot summer day.

Let’s jump right into it with our list of eight simple and delicious smoothie recipes. We’ll start with the ones that require only a few ingredients.

Here are two of our favorites from these eight popular smoothie recipes.

Four Ingredient Green Smoothie

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup (or more) of spinach, kale, or other leafy greens
• Optional – sugar, honey, or maple syrup (1-2 teaspoons)

Although green smoothies may look unappetizing, they can taste great! And they can be more nutrient rich than many of the multivitamins on the market today. You can’t really go wrong with them. The more variety of stuff you pack in there, the better for you it will be.

You can use whatever milk you like, whether it’s soy milk, almond milk, cow milk, or anything else.

Note: With the natural sugar in the fruit, you may not need to add any additional sugar or honey. It all depends on what you like.

Four Ingredient Piña Colada Smoothie

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Optional – sugar, honey, or maple syrup (1-2 teaspoons)

Take a trip to the tropics with this sweet piña colada smoothie. In my smoothies, I love to use fresh pineapple. Pineapple is in season in the spring and through the summer, until around July. While it’s in season, check your local farmer’s markets. If you can’t find any, the grocery store is your next best bet.

If pineapple is not in season, I love to use Dole’s canned pineapple in my smoothies. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for coconut milk, canned milk is your best bet, since it’s quite expensive otherwise. Try this popular brand from Amazon.

Five Ingredient Green Smoothie – With Apples and Avocado

If you’re looking for a little more variety in your green smoothie repertoire, this is the recipe for you!

This recipe includes an apple and some avocado to give the smoothie a little more flavor. Spinach is the main ingredient of most green smoothies, but avocado is a popular addition as well to help offset the sweet taste of the fruits.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 apple
• 1/4 cup avocado

You can view the full recipe here.

Four Ingredient Banana Smoothie

Have you noticed that every smoothie on this list so far has bananas in it? They’re a staple to many smoothie recipes. So, we figured: why can’t a banana smoothie have its own spot on our list?

Ingredients

• 1 cup of frozen bananas (about 1 banana)
• ¼ cup milk 
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (adds some sweetness)

Bananas ripen fast, and if they get too ripe to eat, just freeze them and use them for this smoothie! Frozen fruits, along with the greek yogurt, help thicken the smoothie and keep it cool and ready to serve.

“Green” Blueberry Smoothie

• 1 cup spinach
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 3 tablespoons oats
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup milk

Hey, a recipe without bananas! For the blueberry lovers, this is a healthy smoothie you’ll love! Also, you can “hide” the spinach since the smoothie retains its natural blue flavor, which might be convenient if you struggle to get your kids to eat their fruits and vegetables.

Again, you can be adventurous with the type of milk: 1%, 2%, whole milk, almond milk, soy milk…you have a lot of possibilities here.

Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 banana
• ½ cup oats
• 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• ½  tsp vanilla extract (for added sweetness)
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

Believe it or not, oats can be a delicious and nutritious addition to your smoothie. Another popular add-on is chia seeds if you like the taste.

For my smoothies (and oatmeal), I love Quaker oats, available on Amazon. You can use any type of milk you like, but this cook cut down on the fat content by using skim milk. Also, for best results, freeze the banana before blending. This way, it will help chill the smoothie.

Blend the oats first and then add in the fruits, milk, and vanilla. Once that’s all at a smooth consistency, taste it, and determine if you want any additional sugar. You may not need it!

Blueberry and Banana Smoothie

We mentioned a recipe above with blueberries and no bananas, but what about combining the two? This chef absolutely loves her smoothie and says it’s a hit with her son, who loves blueberries.

Also, you may have noticed the flaxseed. Like oats and chia seeds, these are a healthy addition to any fruit smoothie! Flax has been proven to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, among other health benefits.

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 to 2 frozen bananas
• 2 teaspoons flaxseeds (optional)

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

One of the most popular smoothie recipes out there is a strawberry banana smoothie. With just three ingredients, this is one of the most simple smoothies on this list.

The ingredients below will make about three servings:

• 4 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 cup of frozen bananas
• 1 cup milk

You can scale these ingredients, so if you’re making a smoothie for one person, you would use:

• 1 ⅓ cups frozen strawberries
• ⅓ cup of frozen bananas
• ⅓ cup of milk

What do you put in a smoothie?

A smoothie is made up of two essential ingredients:

1. A base: your primary fruit or vegetable
2. A thickener: most commonly milk or yogurt

Depending on the recipe, you may also consider:

1. Leafy greens, such as spinach or kale
2. Chia seeds, oats, flax seeds, or other nutritious and fibrous grains
3. Chocolate or peanut butter for dessert smoothies
4. Protein powder for pre and post-workout
5. Fruit juices like apple or orange juice (be careful not to overdo it; these often contain a lot of sugar)
6. Sugar, honey, syrup, or vanilla extract, or artificial sweetener to taste

What are the five steps to making a smoothie?

1. Blend dry ingredients, such as oats. Small quantities like flaxseed can be added after.
2. Freeze fruits.
3. Measure and add milk, yogurt, or other thickening ingredients into the blender.
4. Add frozen fruits to the blender and blend them thoroughly. The thicker your smoothie, the more powerful your blender needs to be.
5. Let the smoothie chill for about 1 hour in the refrigerator, or 30 minutes in the freezer. If you store your smoothie in the freezer, let it sit on your kitchen table for about 10 minutes to soften before serving.

Are fruit smoothies healthy for breakfast?

Yes! In fact, many smoothies have oats in them, which are a popular breakfast. You have a lot of options when it comes to crafting nutritious smoothies. Here are a few ways you can craft a delicious breakfast smoothie: load up on the potassium with bananas, add some protein with yogurt, or improve your heart health with a small dose of flaxseed. Some smoothie recipes may have all three!

Generally, you can’t go wrong with strawberry, strawberry banana, blueberry, banana, mango, or pineapple smoothies. It’s not uncommon to mix the fruits to give your smoothie some more flavor! You can also add spinach to make a healthy green smoothie.

Green smoothies are great because they:

• Make it easy for you to get your daily quantities of fruits and vegetables
• Are a great source of fiber
• Suppress appetite which can help with weight loss

So, buy some fruits and vegetables and give fruit smoothies a try! I’m sure you can find a combination that you’ll love. 

Is it better to use frozen fruit in smoothies?

Yes, frozen fruit will add thickness to your smoothie and chill it as you blend the ingredients. The best way to use fruit in your smoothies is to buy it fresh and then freeze the fruit once it’s ripe. After it’s frozen, blend it into the smoothie and you’ll get the most flavor out of it.

You can also add fresh fruit to your smoothie, but you may need to cool it for longer than a smoothie made with frozen fruit. You can also add ice before you blend your fruits and vegetables, but this thins out the smoothie, making it a more watery consistency.

You can freeze most fruits in a sealed freezer bag (if you don’t have one of these at home, take a look at Amazon here) or a sealed plastic container. Bananas can be frozen with or without the peel. After a few days in the freezer, the outer peel will turn brown, but this won’t affect the banana itself like it would if you saw a completely brown banana at room temperature. The banana will retain its freshness from the point that you placed it in the freezer.

That’s it for our list of the simplest smoothie recipes that you can make in just a few minutes! Hopefully you can find a favorite!

Whether it’s the morning, afternoon, or evening, before a workout or after a workout, a healthy smoothie is a delicious snack.

If you’re looking for more food recipes, check out our blog articles below.

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