How To Sweeten a Smoothie Without Bananas

Not everyone is a fan of bananas. Hard to believe, I know (just kidding, I’m not the biggest fan of them myself). But bananas seem to be in every single smoothie recipe from here to mars. Why? Because they are healthy, add a nice texture, and also make smoothies sweet. They also go well with both fruits and vegetables. But some people simply just don’t care for them.

The big question is what you can use to sweeten a smoothie besides bananas. Of course, you don’t want to use sugar. Smoothies are supposed to be healthy, and if you add a whole bunch of sugar, you’re going to defeat the purpose. The good news for the anti-banana brigade is that there are a lot of things you can add to your smoothie that will make it sweet. Here’s my top three:

Raw Honey- The Perfect Natural Sweetener

The first sweetener I’d recommend you look at is honey. Raw honey to be precise. It’s not only a great sweetener, it’s also really healthy and good for you. Raw honey is packed with enzymes and vitamins and minerals. It’s been used for centuries as both a source of nutrition and healthy, as well as a delicious additive to meals

I recommend that you use raw honey. Not regular honey. And certainly not “honey flavored” syrup. That last one is basically poison and probably worse than sugar, and definitely worse than raw sugar. So, stick with something such as honey.

Why raw honey? Because all of the health benefits that you hear about are mainly only found in Raw honey, not the pasteurized and cooked honey. Unlike maple syrup, honey doesn’t need to be heated or cooked. So, stick with a raw honey. I like to use creamed raw honey (the creaming process is basically a process that involves whipping up air into the honey).

The one thing I’d caution against is buying most honey’s that are sold at the supermarket. These are, by and large, cooked honey that has no benefit, or worse, honey syrup that is marketed as honey to trick you. Look for the label “RAW HONEY”. You can normally find these in health food stores, or smaller non-chain gourmet stores.

Raw honey works well to add a sweetness to your smoothie, but be forewarned it’s sweeter than a banana. You should therefore be careful about adding too much raw honey to fruit smoothies, especially if you’re using fruit that has a lot of sugar (pineapples, for instance).

Maple Syrup- A Vegan Option

If you are a vegan, then the number one sweetener you can use, in my humble opinion, than maple syrup. It’s vegan friendly, as opposed to honey, which is only vegetarian friendly. And it’s an excellent sweetener. Plus, it’s pretty healthy. Maple syrup has lots of health benefits, including lots of minerals.

What I would caution is that, like honey, maple syrup is sweet. You will want to be careful with how much you add. The cool thing is that maple syrup works well with smoothies that include green veggies, so for instance, maple and spinach and ice work well.

Again, if you are not a vegan, then you can add an unflavored yogurt. Maple flavored yogurt is amazing and works really well in smoothies. If you do like this flavor, then I’d suggest that you make it yourself. Maple yogurt is often flavored with artificial flavors, which you want to avoid. Even if something says “natural flavors” you should be very hesitant because these “natural flavors” are really not natural at all.

I’d suggest that you opt for an organic maple syrup. If you’re not a big fan of the maple flavor, but instead want a lighter flavor, then you should look for Grade A maple syrup. The darker Grade B syrup is more flavorful and also has a more intense maple flavor.

Agave – Related to Tequila

Personally, I’m not a big fan of Agave, but a lot of people are. What I will tell you is that a little goes a long way. Agave is super sweet, so you don’t have to add to much of it to your smoothie. It’s going to provide much more sweetness than bananas. However, I also suggest that you opt for organic agave nectar since there has been an issue with pesticide use with agave plants. In Mexico, the widespread use of poisons are unfortunately very common. These poisons are meant to deter bugs and other insects from damaging the plants, but the result is that the soil isn’t the best. The plant is instrumental to the tequila industry (there’s a really long and interesting read on NPR if you’re interested).

Personally, I’d stay clear of Agave unless you know that you’re getting it from a source that uses only organic farming

Bonus Choice- Pineapple

If you’re not a fan of adding sweeteners and prefer to use fruit, but just aren’t a big fan of bananas, then pineapples are the best choice. They provide a nice sweetness without the banana flavor. I like adding fresh pineapple that isn’t too ripe as it’s both tart and sweet.

This is my actual favorite sweeter to add to green smoothies where I think honey and maple syrup are a bit too sweet. That’s the trick, actually, using just ripe pineapple. If it’s too ripe, then I find that it’s also too sweet. So, make sure to use firm pineapple that has not become too soft.

One of the best ways to have pineapple for your smoothies is to get frozen pineapple. While I do like fresh pineapple, it’s sometimes easier to simply have it in frozen form. So, I like to keep a bag of frozen pineapple on hand so that I can add it to my smoothies. You can find bagged frozen chunk pineapple at most stores and even big box outlets such as BJs.