If you ever need a quick energy boost, we have a solution. All you have to do is whip up this delicious and easy spinach smoothie. Spinach smoothie recipes give you a healthy treat full of beneficial vegetables and fruits, including bananas, frozen pineapple chunks, baby spinach leaves, and apples. This spinach smoothie is nutrient-dense, with fiber, protein, minerals, and vitamins in every sip. Best of all, this apple spinach smoothie is super easy to make.
Many remember Poppy bursting open a can of spinach and quickly gobbling it up for instant superhero power. Poppy is just a cartoon, but it taught an important lesson: Spinach is really good for you! These leafy greens provide health benefits that strengthen your body.
Spinach contains antioxidants and nutrients including potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, soluble fiber, and vitamin C. Plus, spinach leaves have a mild flavor, so they’re easy to add to green smoothies. Once you mix your spinach with pineapple, frozen bananas, and apples, you won’t recognize the taste of spinach.
Other ingredients in this smoothie add more nutrition and fiber. Almond milk and Greek yogurt give you some probiotics and protein, not to mention the delicious creaminess. This quick and easy smoothie is satisfying and refreshing. Best of all, it’s ready to enjoy in just 10 minutes.
Choosing your spinach
Although you can use large spinach leaves for healthy smoothie recipes, baby spinach leaves are best for making spinach smoothies. Baby spinach leaves are very tender, require no further preparation, and are much less bitter than mature spinach leaves. Plus, you can make individual freezer packs for meal prep and quick smoothies on the go.
If you have some personal smoothies in the freezer, all you have to do is take the frozen mixture out of the freezer and blend it. You can freeze your baby spinach leaves along with other ingredients. You won’t notice any difference in taste.
Apples add more fiber to your spinach smoothie
Spinach gives you a lot of fiber, but an apple added to your spinach smoothie gives you even more fiber. Apples add both insoluble and soluble fiber to your healthy smoothie recipe or green smoothie recipe.
Although you can use any type of apple you want, you’ll get a more natural sweetness if you use varieties like Gala apples, red apples, or Fuji apples. Green apples will make the smoothie more tart. Pureed apple pulp has the added benefit of making the smoothie nice and thick.
Uses frozen fruit
You need a high ration of frozen fruit to make a super thick smoothie that stays cold longer. Ice crystals formed inside frozen fruit serve as miniature ice cubes inside plant cells. As you chop them up during the blending process, the solidified juice crystals create a more substantial feel in your mouth, and they hold their shape better.
Here’s a bonus to using frozen fruit: the ice crystals in the fruit don’t dilute when thawed. If you have fresh bananas and pineapple and want to use them, cut the bananas into 1/2-inch thick slices. Then, cut the pineapple into 1 inch thick slices. Freeze the pineapple and bananas in a single layer on a cookie sheet for at least 6 hours until completely firm.
Are you worried that frozen fruit is not as good as fresh fruit? Frozen fruit has even more nutrients because the fruit is picked at peak ripeness and frozen within hours. It locks in all the nutrients and vitamins. Fresh fruit usually has a long road to the grocery store, imported by truck, displayed in the supermarket, in your shopping cart, and finally sitting on your countertop until you make your smoothies.
How to Make Spinach Smoothies
This spinach smoothie recipe has a high frozen ingredient ratio. First you’re going to add frozen pineapple chunks, ice cubes, and frozen banana slices to the blender so that they break down into cool, smooth particles. Then, add the apples so that the blender can break up the fibrous skin of the apples.
Next, add the spinach leaves. Spinach leaves are very soft and because of this, they break very easily. You can use a tamper if you want to push the spinach leaves down onto the blades of a high-speed blender.
After adding the spinach leaves, it’s time to add your almond milk. Almond milk serves the purpose of processing the smoothie so that it develops a drinkable consistency. If you want your green smoothie recipes to be creamy and thick, you can gradually add in the almond milk until you reach the consistency you like.
What if you don’t have a high powered blender? Many of us work with cheap blenders that lack the power of expensive blenders. If your blender is underpowered, you can still enjoy smoothies. The first thing you need to do is add the almond milk to the blender. Then, start adding your frozen fruit. Do this in batches, mixing each batch before adding the next batch. Blend your ingredients until they are nice and smooth. Doing this will ensure your blender is creamy and smooth.
Customize your spinach smoothie recipes
You can easily customize your spinach smoothie with other ingredients.
- For a more fruity flavor, replace the almond milk with orange juice or pineapple juice.
- If you want a vegan or dairy-free smoothie, you can substitute Greek yogurt. Consider almond yogurt, coconut yogurt, cashew yogurt, or soy yogurt as an alternative to Greek yogurt.
- Want more protein? Add protein powder to your spinach smoothies for a more filling treat. Instead of almond milk, you can use a protein shake to make a smoothie.
- For additional omega-3 fatty acids and fiber, you can add flaxseed or chia seeds to your spinach smoothie.
- Do you want a sweet smoothie? Slowly add honey or pure maple syrup. We recommend adding 1 teaspoon at a time until the smoothie is as sweet as you like.
- If you have kale in your fridge instead of spinach, you can make your greens smoother with kale. If you use kale, reduce the amount of greens to 3/3 that of spinach, as kale has a stronger flavor than spinach.
Can I use frozen spinach?
Technically, you could use frozen spinach for this recipe, but the problem with that is that the frozen spinach is blanched. Blanching is a cooking process that lightly cooks spinach, so it’s perfect for freezing. However, using lightly cooked frozen spinach will change the flavor of your spinach smoothie.
If you use frozen spinach for this smoothie, remember that frozen spinach is more compact than fresh spinach. So you need to use 1/3 cup of frozen spinach instead of 2 cups of fresh raw spinach. Do not thaw frozen spinach. Add directly to blender while frozen.
Storing your spinach smoothie
Smoothies are best consumed immediately after mixing. However, you can store the smoothies in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If you can drink your smoothie within 12 hours, you’ll get more nutritional benefits, but 24 hours is fine.
If you make too much of your spinach smoothie, the leftover smoothie drink can be stored in mason jars (canning jars) with lids. These jars are convenient to have on hand and have a tight seal. It allows you to take your smoothie to the park, picnic, office and more. You can also send smoothies in small mason jars in your kids’ lunches.
Open the container and shake it well before drinking.
Smoothies are made ahead of time
It’s great to prepare quick and easy smoothie ingredients so you can grab a smoothie on the go. To prepare your smoothies in advance, measure all ingredients and freeze in zippered freezer bags. Do not add liquid ingredients. When you make smoothies and freeze them, you can take a pouch of smoothie mix from the freezer, blend them, add liquid, and then get on with your busy day.
Spinach Smoothie
When you need a quick boost of energy (or just want to add some leafy greens to your daily diet!), you can whip up this delicious spinach smoothie made with a variety of vegetables and fruits, including bananas, pineapples, and apples.
