We’re going to look at how to make green smoothies and learn the basics that apply to any smoothie.
Because really, you don’t necessarily need a recipe. There’s nothing wrong with just experimenting with different combinations of fruits and vegetables and tweaking the ratios to find things you like.
But to get creative, you need to know the basic rules that will apply regardless of your ingredients.
Download over 10 green smoothies recipes here!
The Basics
The first thing to do is to choose the fruits and vegetables that you’re going to add to your smoothie. You should choose the fruits and vegetables based on the goals you want to achieve and the nutrients that you’re interested in.
Is this a fat-burning smoothie? An energy smoothie? Or a fiber-packed smoothie?
Think too about the sugar content and the acidity. Something like a banana or an avocado will be much less sugary than something like an orange or a mango. If you have one or two ingredients that pack a lot of sugar, then consider adding a few less sweet ingredients to try and even the score.
Liquid
The first thing to add to your container before you start making your smoothie is some form of liquid. This of course is going to be what keeps your drink a drink and not a mush!
What’s also important though, is that you think about how much liquid you want and what type of liquid you’re going to use.
The most common choice of liquid will be water. However, it’s also fairly common to use milk (which comes packed with its own nutrients) or to use fruit juices. It’s also normal to use 1 to 2 cups for one person’s worth of smoothie.
Note though that your smoothie’s consistency is very much dependent on what you do now. If you want the drink to be very runny, then adding a lot of water and juice is fine. If you prefer a thicker consistency though, then you’ll want to add a little less and/or choose something thicker, to begin with, such as milk or even yogurt.
Whether you prefer your drink to be runny or thick is entirely a matter of preference and might also vary depending on the recipe and the goal!
Download over 10 green smoothies recipes here!
Common liquids you can use for delicious smoothies include:
Water
Almond milk
Milk
Coconut milk
Coconut water
Organic fruit juice
Freshly squeezed juice
Kefir
Tea
Yogurt
Base
The next thing to think about is your base texture (often just referred to as the base). This is what is going to provide the body of your smoothie and give it that thick consistency so that it is a smoothie and not a juice.
The aim here is to pick something that has a thicker consistency itself then and that means something along the lines of bananas, mangoes, pears, peaches, or avocados. Yogurt also works well, butter (like peanut butter), coconut meat, chia seeds, ice, frozen fruit, or even ice cream (though this last option is not so healthy!).
Good bases include:
Bananas
Mangoes
Pears
Peanut butter
Avocado
Yogurt
Frozen fruit
Peaches
Apples
Plums
Melon
The Ratios
The next thing to do is to insert the additional fruits and/or vegetables in the necessary ratios. You’ve already set them aside, now you need to choose the specific quantities and add them in.
You already have your base and this is going to give the most flavor, to begin with. Choosing fruits from here then is a matter of choosing what goes well with that base and you can work this out by thinking about what works well on a plate together!
For example, a great dessert is to have berries with yogurt and for that reason, you can get the same delicious effect by adding berries to a yogurt base. This will give you a ton of antioxidants, while the yogurt in particular will help you to get digestive benefits.
Conversely, strawberries are known to go very well with banana. Likewise, mango and orange is a great mix!
With all that done, add your fruits into the blender (de-seeded ) and then blend them up into a pulp. You can always add more water at this point if you decide it needs it. Remember to keep your hand over the lid!
Tips for Getting More From Your Smoothies
These instructions will help you to start experimenting with your own smoothies and feeling the health benefits of getting more vitamins and minerals for yourself.
But there are also a number of other things you can do to make your meals that much tastier, to make them more fun, or to save yourself time.
Here are some tips:
Garnishes
There are numerous garnishes you can add to a smoothie if you want to give them a more impressive look and flavor. For example, you can sprinkle some granola or chopped nuts on top and this will help to fill you up. Nuts are also a great choice if you are going to be using peanut butter as a base!Sweeteners
If you feel like your smoothie isn’t sweet enough, then you might be tempted to add some sugar or a sweetener/syrup. This isn’t a particularly good idea. Adding sugar to your smoothie is of course only going to exacerbate the issues already associated with the high sugar content in these drinks.
Meanwhile, sweeteners actually ‘fool’ the body into thinking it has consumed sugar and trigger an insulin response – which in turn causes us to feel tired and maybe bad for our health. Add more of the sweeter fruits and maybe consider using some honey. Honey actually has a ton of benefits and is great just before bed!
