With water-rich vegetables, creamy mango, and a touch of lemon juice, this Refreshing Green Smoothie will make you feel light, hydrated and ready to start your day!
I'm not a big smoothie person. You'd think as someone who eats a plant-based diet I would be making a smoothie every day! I just prefer to chew my food. However, this refreshing green smoothie recipe IS a smoothie recipe that I thoroughly enjoy! This green smoothie recipe is full of water-rich vegetables, creamy frozen mango, and hydrating coconut water. What's not to love?! Let me walk you through how to make it.
Ingredients
This green smoothie recipe is basically like enjoying a green salad and a fruit salad all in one sweet, refreshing drink.
That may gross some of you out, but it's honestly delicious and a great smoothie recipe if you're new to green smoothies.
To make this recipe you'll need the following ingredients:
Frozen mango
Green apple
Romaine lettuce
Cucumber
Celery
Lemon juice
Cold filtered water or cold coconut water
All of these ingredients pair so well together and create such a hydrating green drink!
What are the best greens to put in a smoothie?
Some greens taste better in green smoothies than others.
As you could probably guess, the darker the green, the more "green" flavor it will give the smoothie.
On the other hand, the lighter the green, the more mild of a flavor it will provide.
My favorite greens to use in green smoothies are listed below:
Spinach (adds a vibrant green color, is mild in flavor and high in nutrients)
Romaine (is a great green to add to smoothies if you're new to them as it doesn't add much flavor)
Kale (adds lots of color and nutrients, but is also stronger in flavor)
I'll share some of my best tips for making a good green smoothie next.
5 Tips for making the best Green Smoothie
Not everyone can make a good green smoothie.
It takes experimenting and practice!
I've been making smoothies for years now, so I want to share some of my tips for making a good green smoothie that I've picked up along the way.
Invest in a high speed blender
Choose your liquid wisely
Use frozen fruit
Think tropical
Add citrus
Invest in a high speed blender
While I hate to say it, a high speed blender really does make all the difference. No one wants to feel like they're drinking a salad for breakfast!
A high speed blender is great at blending up all your greens until completely smooth, so you don't even notice they're there!
I love my Vitamix blender so much and have been using it for almost a decade!
If you don't have a high speed blender, you can still enjoy a green smoothie. You may just have to slurp up larger pieces of greens.
Choose your liquid wisely
I've found that milk isn't the best liquid for green smoothies.
Even non-dairy milk such as almond or oat doesn't taste good in a green smoothie in my opinion.
Personally, I love to use coconut water, juice or even just cold, filtered water in my green smoothies.
Use frozen fruit
When it comes to choosing the kind of fruit you use in your green smoothie, try to use as much frozen fruit as possible!
Frozen fruit adds so much creaminess and helps the greens to blend better.
The creaminess of the frozen fruit also hides the texture of any greens better.
I find frozen bananas and frozen mango are the creamiest fruits, but any frozen fruit is better than fresh!
Think tropical
I love to use tropical fruit in my green smoothies.
I'll often use a little bit of frozen banana for creaminess, but other than that I love to use frozen mango and pineapple.
Add citrus
If you're not using juice as your liquid of choice, I highly recommend adding some citrus to your smoothie.
A fresh squeeze of lemon or lime juice brightens up the smoothie so much!
Refreshing Green Smoothie
With water-rich vegetables and a touch of lemon juice, this Refreshing Green Smoothie will make you feel so light and hydrated!
Ingredients
1 large mango frozen
1 green apple cored
6 small leaves of romaine or 3 handfuls of spinach
2 celery stalks
½ english cucumber
½ lemon peeled and seeded
cold filtered water to blend about 2 cups
Instructions
Place everything into a high speed blender and blend until smooth.
Serve and enjoy immediately!
Original blog: The Conscientious Eater