Smoothie Ingredient Guide: Vegetables
Fresh, steamed, roasted or frozen vegetables can be used as the main ingredient but more often are used as a secondary ingredient in smoothies. Frozen vegetables will have a milder taste and in small quantities you might not even taste them.
Vegetables that are best used fresh are leafy greens, herbs, carrots, onions, peas, and fruits we often consider vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados.
Popular frozen vegetables to use in smoothies are cauliflower, broccoli, peas, spinach, and carrots.
Vegetables that are good steamed or roasted are sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash, and beets.
For some people, it’s tough to eat enough vegetables in their diet. With smoothies, you can add a lot of vegetables into a single meal, and blend it all up so that you can happily drink your way to meeting your daily requirement of healthy vegetables.
Vegetables can have many health benefits. A diet high in vegetables can help lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer and reduce the risk of eye and digestive problems.
Vegetables are especially great for weight loss smoothies because they are low in calories and have a high water content. Compared to fruit, they contain less sugar and are less sweet so they can help balance out a sweet smoothie. For kids smoothies, you can add a bit of milder tasting veggies such spinach.
To thicken a smoothie, add some fresh avocado, or some cooked carrot, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin or cauliflower.
For more information specifically on green vegetables, see Smoothie Ingredient Guide: Greens
Use 1/4 to 1 cup of vegetables for a 16 ounce smoothie.
Below is a list of vegetables for smoothies
Arugula
Asparagus
Avocado
Basil
Beet Greens
Beets
Bell Peppers
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Butternut Squash
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Cilantro
Collard Greens
Corn
Cucumber
Dandelion Greens
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger Root
Green Beans
Iceberg Lettuce
Jalapeno Peppers
Kale
Leek
Mint
Mushrooms
Okra
Onion
Parsley
Parsnips
Peas
Potato
Pumpkin
Radish
Radish Greens
Red Potato
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
Summer Squash
Tomato
Wheat Grass
Yam
Yucca Root
Zucchini
