Simple Smoothie Recipes

Simple smoothie recipes don't have to be enjoyed only on a hot summer day. Many people have a smoothie each morning for breakfast and they also make a quick healthy snack. Smoothies are a great way to get kids to drink a cool drink packed with fruit, vegetables, vitamins and calcium all depending on what you mix in them.

Smoothies are easy to put together. Use whatever fruit you have available and add a little milk, some yogurt and some ice cubes. It really is that simple. You can also add extra flavors like sugar or vanilla. I prefer to leave the sugar out but it is an individual preference.

Simple Smoothie Recipes

The great thing about smoothies is, you can be creative and discover what your favorite flavor is. One of our favorite flavors at our house is mango strawberry. Our least favorite was when we added a grapefruit including the white part. It turned out very bitter. (we should have known) Next time we will cut out the grapefruit by sections, then blend in our smoothie!

The secret to really great smoothies is in the blender. Your best option, and most economically in the long run, is to get a heavy duty blender. I have a Vita Mix and I use it at least once a day not just for smoothies though I use mine for chopping vegetables in cooking. Cream soups are great made in the blender. Shaved ice is fun and easy with the Vita mix. It has been an investment that has really paid for itself.


Vita-Mix Turbo Blender

Smoothies are a great way to teach kids to use the blender. Read more about favorite smoothie blenders

Simple Smoothie Recipes for Kids-Why they're great!

Smoothies are an ideal snack for growing kids. In our world of quick, unhealthy snack solutions, it can be hard to make sure your children are getting all the nutrients they need. Add to this the fact that kids are often put off vegetables and fruit because these foods don't have the advertising dollars behind them as certain brands of hamburgers and sugar-loaded cereals. So it can be hard to even persuade your kids to polish off the vegetables on their plate or eat the apple you put in their lunch box.

Smoothies eliminate some of these problems because you don't have to convince the kids to eat anything. If a smoothie tastes good with oranges or strawberries, you can add a stick of celery or two and half the time kids won't even notice the difference.It's a good way to sneak a few extra nutrients into their diet "under the radar."

But ultimately, you want your kids to be in on what goes in their smoothies and start making their own. In this way smoothies can become a great nutritional teaching tool as kids learn that healthy snacks can also taste great.

Simple Smoothie Recipes-How to Get Your Kids Involved

Kids are always more likely to eat something healthy if they have a hand in preparing it, and that preparation is fun. So one of the keys to getting kids interested in making smoothies is making the whole process exciting and fun.

One important tip is to keep the recipes simple at first. The easier a smoothie is to make, the faster a kid can pick up the process - and often just being able to do it will inspire your child's enthusiasm. Obviously the younger the child the more help and supervision they will need, but you can let them do things like putting the fruit in the blender and pushing the blend button.

Also, don't be too restrictive on the ingredients you allow in smoothies for kids. You should try to make them healthy, but there's nothing wrong with a dollop of ice cream or some chocolate sprinkles here and there. Just make sure the smoothies lean more towards the healthy ingredients, rather than becoming just another fatty, sugary snack.

When it comes time to make a smoothie, make sure you talk it up. Be excited about it yourself and your kids will follow suit. Try to use different variations when it comes to recipes, and be prepared to experiment with some out-of-the-box food combinations. Of course, with that in mind, you can always bribe a reluctant kid by adding a bit of their favorite food - a dollop of peanut butter can be a great secret weapon.

Jump ahead to:

Smoothie Recipes
Smoothie Bowl Ideas
What blender to use?

Great ideas for Simple Smoothie Recipes

Best Simple Smoothie Recipes

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 cup frozen strawberries or berry mix
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 banana, cut in pieces
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Add ingredients together in blender and blend until smooth.

Blueberry Fruit Smoothie

• Carton of blueberry yogurt
• 1 Cup of milk
• 1 Cup frozen or fresh blueberries, strawberries or peaches
• ½ cup ice cubes

Add all together in blender and blend until smooth.

Healthy Orange Smoothie

• 1 orange peeled and separated
• ¾ cup sliced peaches (if canned use juice also)
• 1 cup peach yogurt
• ½ cup ice cubes

Blend in blender until smooth. Substitute peaches with different fruit such as banana or a can of mandarin oranges, if desired.

OJ Smoothie

• 1 Cup water
• 1 (6 oz.) can frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 (6 oz.) carton vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 Cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 Cup cold milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 10 ice cubes

Directions
Pour the water in the blender. Add the juice and yogurt to the water. Carefully stir in the sugar, milk and vanilla. Cover the blend until the mixture is smooth. While blending add in 3 to 4 ice cubes at a time and blend after each addition. Continue to add the ice cubes until you have reached the thickness you desire. Makes 4 servings

Tofu Smoothie

For an extra healthy smoothie recipe try adding tofu.

• ½ Cup tofu
• 1 banana or 1 peach
• 2 Cups fruit juice, whichever you would like
• 8 oz. crushed pineapple, with juice
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

Substitute banana or pineapple for a different type of fruit if you would like and experiment with different juices. Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.

Protein Smoothie Recipe

Add a scoop or 1 oz. of protein powder to any smoothie recipe.

Jello Smoothie Recipe

Small package of Jell-o or gelatin, any flavor

• ½ Cup milk
• 1 Cup yogurt, any flavor
• ½ cup fruit or 1 fruit of choice
• ½ cup ice cubes

Add ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.

Tropical Smoothie Recipe

• 1 orange peeled and separated
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 banana cut in pieces
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup yogurt

Mix ingredients all together and blend until smooth.

Top one of our simple smoothie recipes with fruit kabobs on a straw. Use sliced strawberries, sliced bananas or other fruit. Push slices through a straw and add to your smoothie for fun.

Grape Smoothie

• ½ cup white grape juice
• ¼ cup seedless grapes
• ¼ Cup pineapple with juice
• ½ Cup milk
• ½ cup ice cubes

Add all together in blender. Make any substitutions you'd like for the fruit juice or in place of pineapple. Blend.

Mixed Berry

• 1 Cup raspberries or blackberries
• 1 Cup blueberries
• 1/2 Cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 Cup frozen strawberries
• 1 Cup sliced bananas
• 1/2 Cup
• 2-3 ice cubes

Mix until smooth and top it with some raspberries and a blueberry in the middle enjoy!

Cherry Simple Smoothie Recipe

• 1 Cup pitted cherries
• 1 cup flavored yogurt
• ½ cup milk
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 cup strawberries, one banana or 1 peeled orange

Add ingredients together in blender and blend until smooth.

Apple Smoothie Recipe

• 1 apple, cored and sliced
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 carton apple yogurt or other flavor
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

Mix ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth.

Banana Green Smoothie

Kids Simple Smoothies Recipes

Banana Split Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1 Cup frozen cherries
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 Cup banana, vanilla or cherry yogurt *

*You can replace yogurt with vanilla ice cream if desired. Add to blender and blend together. Top with a frozen cherry or banana slices.

Purple Cow

• 2 Cups grape juice
• 1 Cup blueberries
• 2 Cups plain or vanilla yogurt

Add to blend and blend until smooth. Top with a dollop of whip cream and purple sprinkles if desired.

Apple Banana Smoothie

• 1 Cup applesauce
• dash of cinnamon
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 banana, cut in chunks

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Breakfast Oat Smoothie

• 1 Cup milk
• 1 instant oatmeal packet
• 1 banana, cut in chunks
• 1/2 Cup blueberries
• 1 Cup apple or orange juice

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Simple Strawberry Smoothie

• 5-6 strawberries
• 1 Cup strawberry yogurt
• 1 Cup orange or apple juice

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Blackrazzleberry Smoothie

by Allyson (Greensboro,NC,USA)
Put 1 cup of blackberries into a blender along with 1 cup of raspberry sorbet.
Then add 4-5 ice cubes, then blend until smooth...enjoy!
Optional: top with a few raspberries or blackberries!

Green Monster Smoothie

by Florence

• Couple handfuls of spinach leaves
• vanilla yogurt
• banana
• berries

Put into a blender mix well. Enjoy, it really does not even taste like spinach....more like banana. Looks nasty, but tastes really good, my kids love it.

3 Ingredient Smoothies for Kids

Smoothies don't have to be loaded with lots of ingredients and be difficult to make. A good go to recipe for making smoothies can include one of each of these three ingredients:

• 1 Liquid: milk, juice, almond milk, water
• 1 Fruit: whatever you like chopped- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, mango, peaches, pineapple are all good choices
• 1 Extra: extra fruit, yogurt, vegetables, whey protein,  ice cubes, oats, chia seeds

Fruitie Tootie Smoothie!

by Danii

• 1 Banana peeled
• 6 frozen strawberries or berry mix
• 1 1/2 cups of orange juice

Blend until smooth.

Mango Smoothie

• 2 1/2 cups of Mango Juice
• 1 Cup of Vanilla yogurt or plain
• 1 Sliced Banana

Blend all ingredients together.

Frozen Berry

• 1/2 Cup ice cubes
• 1/2 Cup orange juice
• 1/2 Cup frozen berry mix

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until ice cubes are crushed.

Grape Orange

• 1 Cup grapes
• 1 orange peeled and sliced
• 1 Cup frozen fruit

Blend until nice and smooth.

Strawberry Kale

Ingredients

• 2 Cups strawberries
• 1 Cup apple juice
• 4-5 kale leaves, stems removed

Directions
Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.

Smoothie Bowl Ideas

Smoothie bowls are a fun way to serve a smoothie. To start make any smoothie recipe above and pour into a serving bowl. Garnish your smoothie with dried fruits, sliced fresh fruits, granola, dried oats, seeds, nuts, flaxseed, chia seeds, etc.

Yogurt Smoothie Recipe

• 1 Cup strawberry yogurt
• 1 banana or other fruit
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

All ingredients together and blend.

Add strawberries for ears and nose. Then top little piggie details out of chocolate to make a smoothie bowl into a pig.

Raspberry Smoothie

• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup yogurt
• ½ cup juice
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

Add all together and blend until smooth.

For this raspberry bowl, top with fresh strawberries, nuts, chia seeds and pomegranate seeds.

PB and Chocolate Healthy Smoothie

  Create a chocolate smoothie and top with sliced almonds, peanuts, banana slices and chopped chocolate bar.

• 2 Cups milk
• 1/4 Cup peanut butter
• 1 Cup vanilla or plain yogurt
• 1-2 bananas
• 1/4 Cup chocolate protein powder

Blend until smooth.

Banana Blueberry Smoothie

• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 Cup blueberries
• 1 Cup blueberry yogurt
• 5-6 ice cubes

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Fresh blueberries, granola, banana slices and chia seeds top this blueberry smoothie.

Kids Berry Smoothie

by Katie (Schenectady, NY)
This recipe is easy to make and doesn't use that many kitchen appliances so it's safe for children.
You Will Need:

• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 3/4 cups blackberries
• 3/4 cups milk
• teaspoon of vanilla (if desired)
• 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream or yogurt
• a blender

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the blender in any order. Blend ingredients until a thick liquid then pour in a glass and enjoy your healthy tasty drink!!!!!

Berry smoothie garnished with fresh fruit and granola.

Smoothies are a great way to teach kids to use the blender.

Read more about our favorite smoothie blenders

Share your Simple Smoothie Recipes

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