Kale Spinach Smoothie
This delicious kale spinach smoothie tastes amazing and is loaded with nutrition thanks to banana, mango or pineapple, almond milk, spinach, kale and vegan protein powder. Enjoy this creamy green smoothie for a healthy breakfast or nutrient-dense snack anytime of day.
This delicious kale smoothie is thick, creamy and has just the right amount of sweetness that you won’t even notice it’s packed with kale and spinach.
Frozen banana, your choice of mango or pineapple and a spoonful of your favourite nut butter add lots of yummy flavour and all the fruit and greens make it rich in vitamins and minerals. Made with simple ingredients and easy to customize, you’ll love this healthy green smoothie!
Features
- dietary: vegan, gluten-free, no added sugar
- contains 2 servings of fruits and 2 servings of green vegetables
- high in protein and fiber, rich in vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin K
- easy to customize with different ingredients
- super easy way to eat more leafy greens
- great for adults but kids love it too and if they’re not a fan of the green colour, you can add 1/2 cup of blueberries to make it purple!
Ingredient & Substitution Notes
- Frozen Banana: Frozen banana is essential for thick and creamy smoothies and is the perfect way to use up bananas you won’t be able to eat in time. Simply peel, break into chunks and freeze. If you can’t do banana or don’t like it, you can use frozen peach slices as an alternative.
- Protein Powder: Use your choice of vegan vanilla protein powder to sweeten, thicken and boost the protein content. I like Vega, Iron Vegan, Nuzest, Outcast Mission and North Coast Naturals but any kind works!
- Mango or Pineapple: Your choice! Both are a great addition and help sweeten the smoothie. Dates also work well as an additional sweetener.
- Cinnamon: Also optional but adds a nice flavour alongside the date and banana.
- Almond Butter: I like adding nut butters to smoothies for a bit of fats, creaminess and extra flavour. You can use peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, tahini or any other nut or seed butter you enjoy. I like it best with peanut butter!
- Almond Milk: Any plant-based milk works here or try coconut water as an alternative! If you don’t want to use milk, plain water works too.
- Kale and Spinach: Use raw kale and spinach or frozen. Feel free to mix and match the amounts and use all kale or spinach or swap for other greens like Swiss chard. Any kind of kale works here, such as common curly kale, lancinto kale (dinosaur kale, tuscan kale) or black/purple kale.
Smoothie Tips
Here are a few tips for smoothie success!
- Add the liquid first.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Start blending on low until it “catches”.
- Slowly increase speed to high and blend briefly until completely smooth and creamy.
- Avoid over-blending or it will start to melt the frozen ingredients.
Quick Tip: If you don’t have a high-speed blender, be sure to cut the fruit into smaller pieces and remove the kale leaves from the tough stem for easier blender.
How to Make in Advance
Here are three options to prep this smoothie in advance:
- Make the smoothie and pour into an airtight container. Store in the fridge overnight. It won’t be quite as thick in the morning but it will still taste delicious!
- Add everything but the almond milk to a freezer safe bag or container. When you’re ready, add the prepared container to your blender with milk and proceed!
- Make the smoothie and freeze it in a ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop the cubes into a freezer-safe bag. When you’re ready, add as many cubes as you like to a blender with a bit of liquid and blend it up! You can also pop the cubes into other smoothies.
Additions & Variations
- The plant-based milk can be swapped for coconut water for a tropical flavour and boost in hydration. Plain water works too!
- Try adding 1-2 tbsp chia seeds for additional fibre and nutrition.
- If you don’t have both kale and spinach on hand, use 2 cups kale or 2 cups spinach or try other leafy greens like Swiss chard or arugula.
- A squeeze of fresh lemon juice brightens up the flavour and adds even more vitamin C.
- If you don’t have mango or pineapple on hand, a couple medjool dates or 1 tbsp of maple syrup or raw honey (not vegan) can help sweeten the smoothie.
- Half a green apple makes a yummy addition too!
- Plain or vanilla dairy-free yogurt makes a yummy and nutritious addition that’s great for digestion.
FAQs
You can substitute the banana with frozen peach slices, mango or pineapple. For less sugar and additional nutrients and fiber, you could also do half fruit and half frozen cauliflower or zucchini. Check my guide to adding vegetables to smoothies for more tips.
For more volume, fiber and nutrition, try adding up to 1 cup cooked and frozen cauliflower, white sweet potato, squash or zucchini.
Note that, you will need additional liquid to account for the added volume. Other great additions include things like mushroom powders, chlorella, spirulina, hemp seeds, chia, flax or other “superfood” powders. Check out my post on the best superfoods to add to smoothies for more ideas.
I would recommend using it but if you’d like to make the smoothie without protein powder, replace it with an additional half a frozen banana, 1/2 cup mango or pineapple, 3-4 dates or cooked and frozen white sweet potato.
For less calories, omit the amount butter.
If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec, there is no need to remove the stems. They have just as much nutrition and fiber and the leaves! If you don’t have a high-speed blender, for easier blending, tear the leaves away from the tough stems and just use the leaves in the smoothie.
There are a lot of factors that play a roll in weight loss but your overall caloric intake and energy expenditure are key. Green smoothies can be helpful as convenient, calorie-controlled meal replacements, if they keep you satisfied and you enjoy them.
This smoothie is nutritionally well-balanced and under 500 calories, so it could be used to replace a meal. However, if you’re enjoying it outside of meals and weight loss is a goal, I’d suggest making it into 2 servings or omitting the nut butter to reduce the overall calories.
Not all all. The sweet banana, mango and protein powder mask the taste of kale and spinach.
More Delicious Smoothies
Here are some more healthy smoothie recipes to try:
- Beet Orange Smoothie
- Sweet Potato Smoothie
- Strawberry Raspberry Smoothie
- Strawberry Mango Smoothie
- Orange Mango Smoothie
Did you try this recipe?
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I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review and be sure to tag me @runningonrealfood if you post it on social media.
Kale Spinach Smoothie
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Smoothies
- Method: Blender
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This healthy green kale spinach smoothie is the perfect way to eat more nutrient-dense leafy greens! Made with frozen banana, protein powder, almond butter and your choice of mango and pineapple, it’s so delicious you’d never guess it’s packed with whole food ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (300 mL)
- 1 cup or handful spinach (35 g, raw or frozen)
- 1 cup or handful kale, leaves and stems (35 g, raw or frozen)
- 1 medium frozen banana (120 g)
- 1/2 cup frozen mango or pineapple chunks (70 g)
- 1 tbsp peanut butter or almond butter (15 g)
- 1 scoop vegan vanilla protein powder (30 g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon, optional
Instructions
- Add the milk to your blender container then add the rest of the ingredients.
- Turn it on low then slowly increase the speed to high and blend until it’s completely smooth and creamy. If you need more liquid, slowly add additional plant-based milk to adjust the consistency.
- Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Notes
This recipe makes 1 large green smoothie or 2 smaller smoothie suitable for a snack or sharing.
For the liquid, use any plant-based milk, water or coconut water.
For a low-calorie smoothie, omit the almond butter. For more calories, increase the nut butter to 2 tbsp.
Smoothie can be made up to 1 day in advance and stored in the fridge or you can add everything but the almond milk to a freezer-safe bag or container to speed things up when you’re ready to make it.
This smoothie is best with a high-speed blender. If you don’t have one, chop the banana into small rounds before freezing for easier blender.
If you have kids that aren’t a fan of green foods, add 1/4 cup frozen blueberries to make it purple!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 smoothie
- Calories: 470
- Fat: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 67 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Protein: 29 g
Keywords: easy green smoothie, kale smoothie, spinach smoothie
Originally published May 29, 2018.
Easy & delicious! I have made this several times & it is one of my go to green smoothies. I like to use a combination of almond milk + coconut water, with the addition of cinnamon. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
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This is my new favorite smoothie recipe. I add extra banana in place of the protein powder and also a small piece of fresh, peeled turmeric, 1 or 2 Brazil nuts, and a whole cinnamon stick in place of the powder. I love playing around with the optional suggestions, and usually add a cup of frozen zucchini, too. It’s soooo good.🤤
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Yum! Great idea for the turmeric and Brazil nut. Glad you like it!
Great recipe!
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I love kale because unlike the spinach, kale is very low in oxylates and therefore, it doesn’t contribute to the formation of kidney stones, it is also high in protein and has all the 9 essential aminoacids and is very rich in vitamin A
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I love both kale and spinach, and squeezing a lemon and adding the juice to a glass of water reduces the risk of kidney stone formation to nearly zero percent.
No need to avoid spinach, which is the slightly better super-food out of the two.
I definitely want to start incorporating more smoothies into my breakfasts and snacks, especially after a workout with the warmer weather! Such an easy way to increase your fruit and veggie intake!
Totally, they’re perfect in the warmer months and the best way to up your veggie intake! Hope you enjoy it.