Make a perfectly smooth, delicious and healthy smoothie every single time.
Hey guys! Long time no see! (or write?) Anyway, you may remember this from a while back, but I host a Facebook group with 3 crazy-awesome 21 Day Fix bloggers and recently in the group, the topic of "How in the hell do I make a green smoothie that I don't have to chew?" came up. Ya know, preferably without needing to buy a $400 blender.
I mean, it's a valid question.
And seeing as how I'm been making smoothies smooth since 1992 (just kidding), I thought I'd give you guys my almost embarrassingly easy favorite trick, plus the perfect ingredient ratios, so that you can also make the most absolutely perfect smoothies every. single. time. Because I loves ya.
As the title suggests, I've tried this technique on several different blenders (including cheap, crappy ones) and it has always worked.
That being said, if you're wondering, the blender that I currently use is the Ninja in the photos and I do love it 🙂
Let's start with ingredient ratios for one smoothie, shall we?
½ cup of any of these liquids or a combination of them (depending on what fruit you use, you may need to add a little more liquid at the end:
unsweetened fruit juice
unsweetened almond, rice, soy or coconut milk
canned coconut milk
low-fat cows milk
water
½ cup lightly packed spinach or any greens you like
Spinach is probably my go-to, but I also like to use the "power greens" that my grocery store sells in a plastic container - it has a mixture of good-for-you salad greens like kale, spinach and chard. Once they're blended with the fruit you can't taste them at all anyway, so you may as well get in all of the nutrients you can.
¼ of a frozen banana
I'm listing this separately from the other fruit, because you need this in addition to other fruit. Why? Because bananas are legit magic, that's why. That little bit o' banana is all you need to turn your smoothie into a creamy, dreamy bucket of love.
*Side note: every time I see that my bananas have little time left in this world, I peel 'em, break 'em in quarters and chuck 'em in the freezer so I always have some ready for smoothies. Waste not, want not, people.
**Another side note: If for some reason you are anti-banana - which I will not pretend to understand, but I won't unfriend you on Facebook for it (unless you write multiple banana-hating posts, in that case I can't be held responsible for my actions. You understand.) - you can sub this for a couple of tablespoons of avocado (yep!) or leave it out altogether, but obviously it won't be as creamy or as dreamy, so there's that.
½ cup of frozen fruit of your choosing
Since there are about a gazillion different kinds of fruit in the world I'm not going attempt to list them all here, but you get the picture.
Oh, here's a good tip for ya - if you're serving this to picky eaters who might freak out at the sight of a green drink, throw in some dark berries, like blackberries or blueberries and it'll cover those greens right up. They don't even need to know that there's spinach in that delicious smoothie!
The Trick!
Drum roll please...
The trick is not to throw all of your ingredients in at once. Your first step will be to blend just the greens and the liquid together until it turns into a completely green liquid. This may take a few minutes depending on your blender. Also, if you have one of those blender cups, I find that those usually get this done the fastest. It should look like this ⇓
Now you can add the rest of the ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth. (This part will go much faster, probably only a minute or so).
Voila! One super nutritious, super smooth, super tasty smoothie, all for you.
If you make this recipe be sure to snap a pic and tag me @thefoodieandthefix or use #thefoodieandthefix on Instagram so I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂
📖 Recipe
How To Make The Perfect Green Smoothie (In Any Blender)!
Ingredients
- ½ cup liquid (water, unsweetened almond (or coconut, soy or rice) milk, 100% fruit juice, low-fat milk, canned coconut milk, etc.)
- ½ cup lightly packed greens (such as spinach, kale, or anything you'd like)
- ¼ of a large banana, frozen
- ½ of any frozen fruit(s) that you like
- A drizzle of honey if ya like
Instructions
- In your blender (or blender cup if you have one, those work faster), blend together the greens and the liquid that you chose. Let your blender go to town for several minutes until you have what looks like green milk or green water, depending on what you used. There shouldn't really be any pieces of greens left, it should be pretty smooth.
- Next, add the rest of your ingredients except for the honey and blend away. This will probably take less than a minute to get it smooth from here.
- Depending on the specific fruits that you used, you may need a little bit of extra liquid to get to your desired thickness, if so add some along with a little bit of honey if you think your smoothie needs it. Blend again for few seconds and enjoy!
Notes
21 Day Fix Container Counts per Serving: 1 Purple, ½ Green PLUS the counts for whatever liquid you used since they are all counted differently.
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Susan says
Hi
I don’t have same model of the ninja blender I believe not sure on the settings to make correctly, and I’m not doing fruit right now because of my weight loss journey but guess could add lemon to have not such a corse taste. Tell me some ideas without using fruit as fruit has sugar.
Thank You!
Stephanie says
Hi! Well, you could try making a veggie smoothie with the greens, some frozen carrots and/or butternut squash and some almond milk? I've never made a smoothie without using fruit before so I think it may just be something you have to play around a bit with to get it how you like it. Maybe adding a little almond or peanut butter would be nice, too!
Brittany says
Hi! First off, I love your blog and it's made my life SO much easier. Secondly, have you made these and refrigerated them overnight? I live in an apartment and feel super rude running the blender at 5am for breakfast. I wasn't sure how the frozen fruits would do if refrigerated after blending. Thanks!
Stephanie says
Hmm... I'm not sure, but it would be worth testing! I think the mixture would separate in the fridge, but might be ok after a good shake or whisked. Let me know if you try it! Btw, I'm so glad you love the blog, reading that made my day!
Melody says
Hi! You literally just saved me a lot of money! I have the ninja but I like the single serve cups (seems to cut up more better imo) but I always still get green chewy chunks and seeds. I tried blending the greens alone and it worked! There is still a little bit of seeds from the fruit but it’s A LOT better than it ways!! Thank you!!
Stephanie says
Ah! I'm so happy this was helpful to you, it was such a game-changer for me!!
Monica says
Thank you for the information. I have been drinking green smoothies for a while now, but I often do not enjoy them. I have the have the same Ninja Professional blender that you have pictured. What cycle (1,2,3) do you typically use to blend the greens and liquid and once all of the ingredients are in the blender?
Stephanie says
Hi! I usually just put it on 3 for everything!