How to Make a Smoothie - Step by Step + 10 Tasty Recipes! (2024)

Drinking a daily smoothie is the best habit to transform your health. I went from exhausted to energized in days just by drinking a daily smoothie. You can learn more about my story on our About Me page. Now, let’s dive into how to make a smoothie that’s tasty, easy and healthy.

Not all smoothies are created equal. Some are packed with sugars, dairy and artificial ingredients that taste like candy (and do more harm than good). Others are blended with so many strange superfoods you have to gag them down. Around here, you don’t have to worry about either of those extremes.

What Should I Put in a Smoothie?

Making a tasty and healthy smoothie isn’t rocket science (yet it can feel like it at first!). This is exactly why I created this simple formula to help you make your own smoothie recipe. As you blend more often, feel free to customize the formula. If you’re craving super healthy smoothies, add more leafy greens to your recipe. Smoothie too sweet? Decrease the amount of fruit you put in them. Maybe you prefer your smoothies thinner? Just add more liquid.

Best Fruits to blend in a Smoothie

We suggest using 1 1/2 cups of fruit per serving of smoothie. This can be a combination of any of the fruits below depending on what you have available seasonally and also based on your lifestyle. If you’re super active, go for the higher sugar fruits like pineapple and bananas. If you’re more sedentary or diabetic, go for the lower sugar fruits like green apples, berries and lemons. You can use fresh and frozen fruit in any smoothie recipe.

• Apples contain a powerful antioxidant called quercetin, whose main role in the body is to deliver more oxygen to the lungs. When you get more oxygen to your lungs, you have greater endurance. This makes it so much easier to get through that hour-long spin class!
• Avocados are a great natural sweetener, plus they are packed with potassium and make a smoothie super creamy. When a smoothie is just a little “off”, toss in a banana and it’ll usually perk it right up. This Avocado Smoothie uses frozen avocado, which is getting easy to find in most grocery stores lately (and is often more affordable).
• Bananas are a great natural sweetener, plus they are packed with potassium and make a smoothie super creamy. When a smoothie is just a little “off”, toss in a banana and it’ll usually perk it right up. Bananas contain good carbohydrates, which the body quickly and easily converts into energy after a workout. By eating a banana after a workout, you help your body recover quickly and rebuild muscle faster. Plus, you can freeze bananas to have them on hand for smoothies all the time.
• Blueberries are a great way to boost the antioxidant content and add additional fiber without adding much sugar.
• Cherries are easy to find frozen and pack a lot of flavor without a lot of sugar. Try pairing cherries with cacao or strawberries to create a lovely taste.
• Lemon + Lime go a long way in a smoothie. Squeeze some juice on top or blend the whole thing depending how much vitamin C you want to enjoy.
• Mango is one of my go-to frozen fruits to use in smoothies. It saves tons of time when you buy frozen and also chills down your smoothie.
• Oranges have a lot of vitamin C and potassium, which are really important nutrients to replenish after a workout. They also are packed with hydration, allowing you to use less liquid and still create the perfect blend.
• Peaches are high in beta-carotene (just like carrots!) and vitamin C, making them one of the most awesome free-radical fighters in the produce section. Peach power all the way! So what does this really mean for you? Well, vitamin C is essential for the production of healthy collagen, which keeps your skin smooth and youthful.
• Pineapple is loaded with antioxidants that help you recover from your workout quicker and build muscles faster. Add in the bonus of bromelain, an enzyme that helps keep injury inflammation in check, and you can see why we use pineapple often!
• Strawberries are a low-sugar fruit that I love to add to smoothies. I use frozen strawberries since they chill the smoothie and aren’t harsh on the blender blades. If you’re curious about how to make a smoothie with strawberries, check out this Strawberry Banana Smoothie.

Leafy Greens for Smoothies

Add 1 cup of leafy greens per serving of smoothie to boost the fiber, phytonutrients and minerals your body needs when trying to get healthier. To measure one cup of spinach, just grab a handful from the bag or bin and consider it a cup. Start with less if you’re intimidated by the “green”, yet I promise you’ll eventually be adding more because the results are worth it.

Liquid Base for Smoothies

Add 1 cup of any of the liquid bases below to hydrate your body and create a creamy smoothie. The type of liquid used in a smoothie can change the consistency, flavor and nutrients by a lot. Liquids like water, green tea, and coconut water tend to blend thinner smoothies, while liquids like almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and rice milk create creamier smoothies.

Smoothie Add-Ins

You can boost any smoothie with add-ins like the ones below to meet your needs. I like to use smoothies as meal replacements, and often use a scoop of my homemade protein powder to turn any smoothie recipe into a healthy meal on the go.

How to Blend a Smoothie

With over a decade of blending at least one smoothie a day, we’ve determined how to make a smoothie that’s amazing every time. It all depends on the order in which you place your ingredients in the blender affects your overall blend. Every blender is a little different, but the steps we share below are a great plan for most standard blenders.

Are smoothies healthy for you?

When you drink a daily smoothie, you’re giving your body permission to transform naturally and happily.This is not a short-term program or a diet where you’re counting down the days until it’s over. There’s no endgame with smoothies, just a starting point to a life of health and wellness. Ready to enjoy these awesome health benefits?

Smoothie Blending Demo

Join me as I make my favorite smoothie recipe of all time and walk you through my go-to technique.

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Foods to Avoid in Smoothies

Not all smoothies are created equal. Some are packed with sugars, dairy and artificial ingredients that do more harm than good. When making (or buying) a smoothie, we suggest you avoid a few items to get you the best long-term results.

We’re intentional about avoiding the ingredients below in our recipes because we know many people are highly sensitive to them and they can trigger allergies and upset tummies. You may not even know you have a sensitivity to any of these foods until you remove them from your diet. If you’re wondering if this could be you, I suggest trying a 7-Day Cleanse which has an elimination phase to help you determine food sensitivities.

• Refined sugar is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet in a process that leaves you with a nutritionally-void sweetener. It’s acidic and leaches nutrients from our bodies, is highly addictive and can contribute to mood problems, weight gain and tooth decay. It also leads to spikes in our blood sugar, giving us false “highs,” followed by crashes in energy that leave us more tired than we were to begin with. If you need something to sweeten your smoothie, opt for natural sweeteners.
• Dairy is highly acidic and can be quite difficult to digest. It can also contribute to excess mucus formation in the body. Replace dairy with unsweetened almond milk, rice milk, oat milk or any other nut or seed milk.
• Additives (gums, natural flavors, zero-calorie sweeteners) often contain damaging chemicals and artificial substances that wreak havoc on the gut. Artificial sweeteners can suck nutrients from our bones, our cells and our entire system due to their acidity. They also place a huge burden on our liver and kidneys (which are responsible for breaking down chemicals), making it harder for our bodies to function properly.