This Green Machine Spinach Smoothie uses peanut butter powder to pack in the peanut flavor without packing in the calories. Naturally sweetened with dates and banana, spinach smoothies are one of the best ways to make sure you get greens into your everyday schedule.
As soon as the weather starts warming up I crave smoothies again. Every week during the summer I make spinach banana smoothies. Spinach or kale are my go-to ingredients since they’re easy to grow in my garden.
Two other fruit/vegetables that are really refreshing in smoothies are zucchini and cucumbers!
Is it healthy to have smoothies for breakfast?
My goal at breakfast is to have fiber, protein, greens, fruit and omega-3s in the form of flax seeds. So the easiest way for me to get all of that quickly is in a breakfast smoothie. I call that pretty darn healthy.
I don’t put greens in every smoothie. Sometimes you just want a creamy, fruity smoothie – like this apple pie smoothie. But if you can, you should add your greens because usually most of us aren’t getting the number of servings recommended.
How much spinach should I put in a smoothie recipe?
If you’ve ever wondered how much spinach or greens you should be adding to your smoothies – keep in mind that 2 cups of leafy greens is equal to 1 of your daily vegetable servings (2.5 servings per day)…so drink up to your health!
A quick reference chart for vegetable serving equivalencies can be found here.
This spinach peanut butter smoothie is a combo that I could make everyday. Since it features peanut butter which is high in fat, I use powdered peanut butter which has all the flavor, but 85% less calories from fat.
It’s easy to consume a lot of calories when you make smoothies, so this is a way to lessen the calorie count without losing the peanut butter smoothie flavor.
Peanut butter powder can be used in many other ways – think Thai peanut sauce without the fat (Try peanut butter powder + Sriracha + lime juice + a little olive oil and maple syrup tossed with noodles and veggies).
How to Make a Spinach Smoothie
Step 1: Choose your greens.
Can you put raw spinach in a smoothie? To get the most health benefit out of greens, it’s best to steam them quickly before blending. I get it, you might not have time, but when you do, try it. Steaming the greens also takes away the bitterness of kale.
If you have a little time, you can prepare frozen spinach pucks to toss into smoothies.
Step 2: Add all ingredients to a blender.
Make sure you have a ripe banana. Underripe bananas won’t have flavor!
Step 3: Adjust the thickness with more milk, if needed.
If you are using almond milk with added sugar already in it, you might not want to include the dates.
Peanut butter, greens and bananas blended to make a healthy smoothie.
- 1 ripe banana (frozen or fresh)
- 2 cups fresh spinach packed
- 3 Tbs peanut butter powder or 1.5 Tbs regular peanut butter
- 1.5 - 2 cups almond milk unsweetened (add more depending on your preferred consistency)
- 2 pitted dates or more depending on how sweet you like it
- 2 tsp chia seeds or flax seeds optional
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon more to taste
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Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth!
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Adjust the amount of milk based on your thickness preference.
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If you prefer a cold smoothie, you can always freeze your banana in pieces ahead of time. I keep frozen banana in the freezer all summer for this very reason. You could also blend in a little ice, but I find that takes away the flavor.
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