I’ve been drinking a green smoothie every day for about 6 or 7 years now. It started out of necessity because I wasn’t eating enough vegetables and fruit in a day. Now I do it because I love the taste so much. I have tried many recipes over the years but this one is definitely my go-to recipe that I make the most often. My boys and I usually have a green smoothie every night with dinner. It’s totally Paleo friendly!
I know this isn’t organizing related but I often have people asking me about how I make them and while I did a post on this years ago, I thought it might be time for an updated post with some prettier pictures 🙂
In addition to water there are only three other ingredients in this green smoothie…spinach (I use the triple washed organic baby spinach in the plastic tubs from Walmart), banana and frozen mango. No juices are used that will unnecessarily add to the calorie content. It’s a simple recipe yet it tastes so yummy and creamy. It’s such a terrific combination of fruits and veggies that you won’t even know you’re drinking healthy spinach. Trust me!
My boys love this smoothie and they are picky kids.
I don’t measure anything, I just kind of toss it all in the blender but I’ll do my best to give you an approximate estimate of the amounts I use. You can’t really mess it up though.
This recipe is for two tall glasses of deliciousness.
So the first thing we need to do is grab a blender. I use a Vitamix blender now but any blender will work, I’ve got a little trick below that will help you.
Fill the blender right up with spinach.
Now we are going to add about 2 cups of water and then we’ll blend these together first before adding the remaining ingredients.
Blending the spinach and water together first is a little trick that I learned to help the spinach blend a little more thoroughly and the smoothie be a little more creamy. In fact I actually still use this technique even with the Vitamix, it really makes a difference. Blend the spinach and water together for a couple of minutes, you’ll notice the green color change slightly and get a little lighter in color.
Then throw in one banana and about one to two cups of frozen mango chunks. It really all just depends on how thick you like your smoothies. I have one kid that likes them thicker and one that doesn’t so I mix it up day to day.
Blend it all together until smooth and there are no more chunks present.
Pour into glasses and enjoy. Seriously that’s it, nice and simple but healthy and delicious. Just the way I like it 🙂 Cheers!
Morgan Waggoner says
This looks delicious! Thank you for the awesome recipe. I just got a blender for Christmas, not a vitamix, but it works all the same! I’ve been wanting to do a smoothie every morning and this recipe will be perfect!
Laura Wittmann says
It really is the perfect smoothie, quick and easy without too many ingredients. Let me know what you think!
Susan says
Thank you for the smoothie recipe. I have been wanting to begin making smoothies but most recipes call for too many ingredients. Yours is totally user friendly. Thx for sharing. Susan
Laura Wittmann says
I like to keep things simple and this combination really masks the taste of spinach well. Let me know what you think of it.
Joellen Resare says
Uh. Just be sure you wash those greens well…..again….. Never use fresh fruits or veggies from a bag or box even though they say “triple washed”. Just a word to the wise. I’m a caterer.
Laura Wittmann says
Good to know Joellen, thanks!
Melissa says
Can you taste the banana and mango more than the spinach? I’m afraid of green drinks, I don’t want to force myself to drink something that tastes like grass 🙂
Laura Wittmann says
I promise you Melissa these don’t taste like grass. It’s quite sweet due to the banana and mango and doesn’t really taste like spinach at all. Let me know if you try it 🙂
Amy says
I’ll give this a try for my daughter, who wouldn’t touch spinach (or any other leafy green) with a ten-foot pole.
Laura Wittmann says
My boys wouldn’t either but they don’t mind these smoothies at all 🙂
Elvira says
I am a lover of fruits and veggies. But my doc, suggest chewing them instead if making a smoothie. But,when I’m in a hurry its better than having McDonald’s any day. Thanks,Elvira.
Laura Wittmann says
Yes absolutely Elvira!
Lori says
Is there a fruit that you could substitute for the mango?
Laura Wittmann says
Hi Lori, you can substitute any frozen fruit for the mango. It’s fun to experiment with different combinations. This is just the combination that I was able to get my boys to drink.
Katie says
This looks delicious! I love that it’s so simple. 🙂
Laura Wittmann says
Hi Katie, it really is so easy and good too! 🙂
Pamela says
I am trying your smoothie recipe, with a few of my own changes. It is really going well. With the added spinach, have you ever tried frozen spinach. It is much more economical than fresh. Just wondering if you had and success with that. Thanks
*Smiles*
Laura Wittmann says
Hi Pamela, no I’ve never tried frozen. Let me know if you do and how it turns out.
Susan says
This is my favorite smoothie. I make it at least 4 x weekly. Do you have any more simple smoothie recipes to share. I like that it’s so few indgredients. Thx – Susan. [email protected]
Whitney says
Yes! I finally figured out the “spinach first” technique for green smoothies and you’re right – it makes ALL the difference! I also like to use frozen pineapple or peaches for this type of smoothie. Yum!
Laura says
Holy cow, I love this recipe! But first, I’d like to say that I found your website recently (I had searched for transitioning to gray hair!) and love, love, love your website. I’ve visited almost daily since; I find your website addictive! Back to the green smoothie … holy cow! So, here goes: (1) I never write replies but this green smoothie is so worthy; (2) I am a naysayer; think of the green smoothie color as Oscar the Grouch – that’s how I feel about green smoothies (previous to this recipe); (3) Your post resonated. I definitely need to eat more vegetables AND I had recently searched for St. Patrick’s Day stuff and saw lots of ideas for food, treats and crafts. Literally, just today, I thought: I can be healthier than a cupcake to be festive green: I could serve a St. Patrick’s Day green smoothie (like, I could still put whipped cream on top). And then I was reading your website about menu planning because I need a tremendous amount of help getting organized in that particular area. And then I saw your recipe. I literally jumped up and made it. My husband is a smoothie aficionado so we had all the ingredients (and I love that there are only three; so easy to remember). HOLY COW DELICIOUS!!!! THANK YOU for the smoothie recipe and your other uber helpful, sharing of ideas.
Laura Wittmann says
Wow Laura, what an awesome comment. You totally made my day!! So glad you loved the smoothie recipe, yay! I also have a Cherry Pineapple Green Smoothie recipe that is so so good:
https://orgjunkie.com/2017/06/cherry-pineapple-green-smoothie.html
Have a great weekend,
Laura
Linda says
I am trying to get off of a feeding tube and I need to do it with smoothies at first. This sounds like a good recipe I am going to try it. Thanks