How To Make Your First Green Smoothie

If you’re new to making smoothies, then you might be overwhelmed with all of the recipes you find online. There are fruit smoothies, green smoothies, kale and spinach smoothies, as well as lots of other smoothies. You will find smoothies that bodybuilders and fitness models like (these are boosted with protein powder or flax seeds or even hemp seed) and then there are smoothies for people who are doing a fast. Smoothies…..everywhere! So, where do you start?

What Exactly Is A Green Smoothie?

If you’re looking to make a green smoothie, then you obviously are going to want to start with greens. The two poplar ones are kale and spinach. Kale tends to be a favorite because of its lower iron content and its high levels of antioxidants. The only problem with kale is that it can be tough to blend up. If you own a Vitamix, then you don’t have to worry. But if you’re using a bullet, I would recommend using baby kale. The baby kale is not as difficult to blend up as large leaf kale. If you do have the Vitamix, which is the best blender for smoothies that you can get, then you can use any kale you like. I will suggest that if you are going to have a green smoothie a few times a week you should choose lacinato kale.

The reason that you want lacinato kale, as opposed to curly kale or red leaf kale, is that lacinato (which is also called Tuscan kale) doesn’t have the same levels of oxaliac acid. This can be a problem if you juice kale or drink kale shakes and smoothies every single day. So choose Tuscan kale. If you can’t find Tuscan kale, then another trick is to quickly blanch the kale in boiling water, then cool it off in an ice bath. Remember, this is only for people who are making a kale shake every day and are concerned about the oxaliac acid. It’s only an issue if you are really going heavy on kale or spinach. If you’re only adding a few leafs of kale, then it’s not an issue. It got popular attention in the press because when kale got so popular people were drinking kale juice, green smoothies made with kale, and even eating kale chips.

Besides “Greens” What Else Goes Into A Green Smoothie?

So, now that you know what type of greens to use (kale) what else should you use? I suggest a banana, pineapple and some coconut water or organic yogurt. The pineapple will really flavor the smoothie and you won’t get a bad taste. In fact, while it looks like a green smoothie, it’s basically going to taste like a pineapple shake. Kale does not have a very powerful flavor so as long as you add something like pineapple which has a dominant flavor, you can have a very pleasant tasting juice.

You should always get organic produce if you can. Even if it’s organic, you should still wash the produce. Use one of the safe veggie washes that they sell. They can help remove some of the grit and chemicals that are on the exterior of the produce. Pineapples should be peeled. What I like to do with kale is to soak kale. You should soak it and make sure it’s clean before blending it up.

When you’re making your first green smoothie, it’s better to go too light than too heavy. By that I mean you should have more yogurt, coconut water, or pineapple, as opposed to kale or bananas. You can always figure out what exactly the texture is that you like, but if you start off with a super thick smoothie that is very kale heavy, you might get turned off making smoothies and fall back on skipping them altogether.

My Blender Reccomendations

Here’ a Good Basic Recipe For Your First Green Smoothie

1 Handful Organic Baby Spinach

1 Cup Frozen Organic Berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)

1 Cup Coconut Water

1 Ripe Banana

That’s a basic and super simple recipe for making your first green smoothie. Notice that it’s not super heavy on the greens. This is perfect for people who want to ease their way into the green smoothie routine. If you make this and find that the flavor of the greens are a bit too much, then add something such as pineapple or lemons. These will really create a big flavor profile that will help you ease into drinking smoothies on the reg.

If you don’t have a good blender or don’t have one at all, make sure to review my review of the best blenders for green smoothies. It covers three different options and price points.

I also wrote a good introduction article that covers the best single serve smoothie blenders. It’s a good read if you want a smaller blender.