How to Make a Smoothie?
Want to know how to make a smoothie? Here’s how..
Think of what type of smoothie you want to make
Do you want a super sweet, tropical smoothie? Do you want a chocolate peanut butter post workout smoothie? Do you want a healthy green detox smoothie? Or do you just want to make something nutritious and simple for the kids? First decide what type of smoothie you’re looking to make.
For ideas check out our smoothie recipes.
Get a blender
If you want to make smoothies, you’re going to need a blender. Don’t’ worry, it doesn’t have to be a super expensive blender if your new to making smoothies. But if you plan on making smoothies regularly, it might be worth investing in a quality blender. Consider it an investment in your health and nutrition.
Get your ingredients
Next, make a list of all the ingredients you need for your smoothie and buy them.
One of the greatest things about smoothies is the endless possibilities. You can customize them so many different ways and use so many different, healthy ingredients. When selecting ingredients, try to go with the freshest, locally grown, organic fruits, vegetables, when available and it fits within your budget. Understandably, this might not always be an option so use the best ingredients you can. With fruits, its sometimes preferable to go with a frozen fruit for consistency and flavor.
Generally, a smoothie will consist of a liquid base, a couple fruits and vegetables that make up the base flavor of your smoothie, something to make it thicker, colder or creamier, and a couple of other ingredients to add to the flavor or boost the nutritional profile of the smoothie. For more information on ingredients, refer to our smoothie ingredient guides. Also below is more detail to help you create your own smoothie.
Design your own smoothie recipe by…
Select a liquid: water, milks (dairy, almond, coconut, oat), fruit juice, vegetable juice, coconut water, coffee, tea and more, 1 to 2 cups
Pick your base: Fruits or vegetables, fresh or frozen, 2 to 3 cups
Add something to thicken it up: Especially if you didn’t use frozen produce, avocado, mango, pineapple, coconut, yogurt, nuts, nut butter, seeds, ice or flavored ice, oats
Throw in a green if you want: For a mild taste: spinach, romaine lettuce, or radish greens. For a medium taste: chard, bok choy, collard greens, beet greens or kale. For a strong green taste: dandelion greens or arugula.
Add some ingredients to boost the flavor or nutritional profile: This is where to make your smoothie truly special. You can add superfoods such as acai, pomegranate, goji, camu, maqui, or maca powder. Green powders such as spirulina, chlorella or wheatgrass powder. A scoop of protein powder or creatine. Or add some fresh herbs such as basil, mint or cilantro or seeds like chia, flax or hemp. There are a lot of ways you can go here. Just make sure you add a little to start, blend and taste and add more as needed so to not add to much.
Lastly, if needed add some additional flavor or sweetener. Spices, herbs, zest, chocolate, natural extracts, and sweeteners such as dates, figs, honey, maple syrup, agave, stevia, monk fruit, and sugar.
Wash or peel ingredients as needed
Wash and rinse fruits and vegetables under cold water just prior to using. Don’t wash in advance or your produce will rot faster.
Add your ingredients to the blender
This part seems easy but surprisingly can get messed up if you don’t add the ingredients in the right order. To get the smoothest consistency, and help liquify the ingredients without killing your blender, add the ingredients in the following order:
1. Start with the liquid
2. Powders
3. Soft ingredients
4. Harder ingredients
5. Frozen ingredients
6. Ice last
Note if you have a personal blender that you will need to flip, do the order in reverse.
Taste your smoothie
Make sure to tase your while it’s still in the blender. How does it taste? Are the flavors balanced? Does it need something else or is it perfect the way it is? Take this chance add any additional ingredients before serving.
Serve and enjoy
Pour your smoothie and enjoy! And check out some of our other recipes for your next smoothie.
