This dark chocolate banana smoothie is rich in nutrients, insanely creamy and delicious and easy to make in minutes in your blender. You’ll need cacao powder, frozen banana, chia seeds, ground flax, vanilla protein powder and almond milk to make it. This smoothie is vegan is high in fibre and protein and rich in magnesium, iron, zinc and more.

Creamy Chocolate Banana Smoothie with Almond MIlk - Running on Real Food

Ingredient Notes

To make this creamy chocolate smoothie you’ll need:

  1. Cacao powder. Cacao powder differs from dutch cocoa powder in that it’s pure, raw cacao rather than processed. Cacao is rich in magnesium. Magnesium is important for bone health and supports a healthy heart, brain and digestive system. Cacao also contains chromium and iron, both important for healthy blood, zinc, which is key for strong immune system and healthy skin as well supports the liver and pancreas and antioxidants which help destroy cancer-causing free radicals.
  2. Frozen banana. Hello creaminess, sweetness, potassium, folate, fibre and energy!
  3. Sea salt. A good sea salt is rich in a ton of minerals and beautifully enhances the chocolate flavour of this smoothie.
  4. Maca. Maca is my favourite adaptogen for balancing hormones, supporting mood, boosting energy and healthy skin and hair. I would recommend using gelatinized maca.
  5. Vegan vanilla protein powder. I used Vege Pro-7 to increase the protein in this smoothie and add flavour and sweetness.
  6. Chia seeds. The chia seeds add omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, selenium, chopper, phosphorus and calcium and help thicken the smoothie.
  7. Ground flax seeds. In addition to being the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseeds contain one hundred times more lignans than other foods. Lignans are phytoestrogens that help lessen the effect of the body’s own estrogen, which has positive implications for breast and prostate cancer and the fibre in flaxseeds may also have preventive effects against colon cancer.
  8. Greens.  You can’t go wrong with a handful of greens in your smoothies. They blend in easily so you can’t taste them and add so many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that they’re worth adding every time. I used handful of mixed greens but spinach, kale, swiss chard, mustard greens or collard greens would also work.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Smoothie with Chia Seeds - Running on Real Food

What is Mesquite?

I added optional mesquite powder to my smoothie for extra flavour, nutrition and sweetness. Mesquite is a tree that produces pods which are ground whole to make mesquite powder, or sometimes called mesquite flour.

Mesquite powder is nutrient-rich and has a lightly sweet, nutty flavour that tastes a bit like caramel or molasses. It’s high in protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and fibre and it’s fibre content means it won’t spike blood sugar levels making it a good choice for natural sweetening. It can be used in baking and sauces but I really only use it in smoothies.

It’s nutty, caramel flavour works best in chocolate smoothies such as this delicious cacao mesquite blend.

Banana Chocolate Smoothie with Chia - Running on Real Food

Blend up this feel-good chocolate smoothie anytime you need a natural boost in energy or a healthy breakfast on-the-go. It’s full of flavour, loaded with nutrition and tastes amazing.

The pinch of sea salt with cacao and frozen banana is delicious and the chia seeds, ground flax and greens really take the nutrient-level up a notch! Give this smoothie a good blend so it’s extra, extra creamy, then pour it into a glass and enjoy the rich, chocolate goodness.

More Smoothie Recipes

If you like this smoothie, I would recommend trying my:

Mango Pineapple Smoothie
Strawberry Mango Smoothie
Kale Spinach Smoothie
Peanut Butter Coffee Smoothie
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Lemon Blueberry Smoothie

…and many more, browse them all here.

Smoothie Nutritional Details

This smoothie contains 434 calories with 50 grams of carbohydrates, 15 grams of fat and 28 grams of plant-based protein. It also provides a whopping 19 grams of dietary fibre as well as 45% of your daily iron, 37% of our daily vitamin C, 70% of your daily vitamin A and more than your daily calcium, if you use store-bought fortified almond milk. This smoothie is also rich in zinc, magnesium, folate, manganese, phosphorus and trace amounts of many other essential minerals.

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Creamy Chocolate Banana Smoothie with Almond MIlk - Running on Real Food

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Deryn Macey
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1
  • Category: Breakfast, Smoothie
  • Method: Blender
  • Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
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Description

This dreamy chocolate smoothie is full of flavourful, ultra-creamy and loaded with feel-good nutrients such as magnesium. Try it for breakfast, dessert or anytime you need a natural boost in energy.


Ingredients


Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend on max for 30-60 seconds until completely smooth and creamy.
  2. Pour into a glass and enjoy with a glass or stainless steel straw.

Notes

For a mocha variation of this smoothie, try it with 3/4 cup coffee and 3/4 cup almond milk. Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee would be perfect!


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 434
  • Sugar: 16 g
  • Sodium: 526 mg
  • Fat: 15 g
  • Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 50 g
  • Fiber: 19 g
  • Protein: 28 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 g