This thick and creamy, Turmeric Carrot Butternut Squash Smoothie Bowl is perfectly sweet enough with ingredients like frozen peach and vegan vanilla protein in the mix. Plus, you just know with bright, beautiful ingredients like butternut squash, carrot and turmeric this smoothie is a nutritional powerhouse. 

How to Use Butternut Squash in Smoothies

Butternut squash is one of my favourite vegetables to add to smoothies. It has a mild flavour, is low in carbohydrates, highly nutritious and adding it to smoothies is a great way to sneak extra veggies into your diet. It also blends beautifully for ultra thick and creamy smoothie bowls. I recommend using frozen butternut squash for the best texture when adding to smoothies but you can also use fresh, mashed or cubed cooked butternut squash.

For this recipe, I used 1 cup of mashed roasted butternut squash.

Squash Prep Options

Sometimes I buy  prepared, frozen diced butternut squash so I don’t have to deal with preparing a whole one. It’s only a few dollars so I find the convenience factor to be well worth it. You can also use it in soups and other recipes but I usually buy a whole squash for those purposes. I also like the packaged squash because I can use just a little a time without needing to prepare an entire squash.

So to use butternut squash in smoothies, either purchase frozen diced butternut squash or prep your own from a whole butternut squash by roasting or steaming it then either using it fresh, or freezing for later use.

If I’m cooking a whole squash for butternut squash puree, I cut it in half, place it face down on a baking tray, seeds and all, then roast at 450 degrees until nice and tender. Once the squash is cooked, you can easily remove the seeds then scoop the flesh out and into a container for storing. You can also scoop the cooked squash into ice cube trays, freeze until solid then store in a container for using in smoothies, soups and other recipes.

How to Use Carrot in Smoothies

I use carrot in smoothies a few different ways. If you have a Vitamix or other high-powered blender, you can use raw carrot pieces no problem. My Vitamix has no problem blending them until completely smooth. If you don’t have a powerful blender, I’d suggest using finely grated raw carrot.

I also often keep a container of frozen chopped carrot for using in smoothies and other recipes. You can roast, steam, bake or boil carrot before freezing but I usually just freeze them raw to use for smoothies. This is a great way to reduce food by waste by using up carrots before they go bad.

I wanted to keep this smoothie extra thick and creamy which is why it’s called a smoothie bowl. You’ll want to use a spoon to eat this bad boy. I recommend enjoying it with your favourite smoothie bowl toppings. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Turmeric Smoothie Bowl Topping Ideas

• almond butter or other nut or seed butter of choice
• coconut yogurt
• granola
• cereal
• mulberries
• goji berries
• chopped figs or dates
• raisins
• nuts such as almonds, cashews or walnuts
• seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower or hemp
• shredded coconut or toasted coconut flakes

You can also make this as a drinkable smoothie, simply add a bit of extra liquid until you reach your desired consistency.

What Fruit to Use

As for the fruit, you can use either frozen mango, frozen peach or frozen pineapple chunks. Frozen banana also works but I prefer the flavour and consistency of the frozen mango, peach or pineapple when combined with the butternut squash and carrot. Whichever fruit you choose, you want to use about 140 grams worth. This is approximately 1 cup of mango or pineapple chunks, 3/4 cup of peach slices or 1 medium banana.

Recipe Nutritional Details

Thanks to the low calorie butternut squash, this smoothie bowl comes in at just 268 calories (if made with frozen peach) for a large and filling serving. It packs 24 grams of plant-based protein, 41 grams of energizing carbohydrates, 12 grams of fibre and just 4 grams of fat.

Since it’s fairly low-calorie, you can go ahead and load it up with your favourite toppings for a filling meal anytime. You could also blend in 1-2 tablespoons of fats such as almond butter or cashew butter to make it more substantial.

More Veggie Smoothies

I hope you enjoy this interesting take on smoothies. I’ve been getting pretty creative with my vegetable-based smoothies lately, if you want to try some others, check out my:

Vegan Carrot Cake Smoothie // Beet Orange Smoothie // Strawberry Beet Smoothie Bowl // Blueberry Coconut Smoothie Bowl // Sweet Potato Smoothie // Kale Spinach Smoothie

More Turmeric Recipes

• Vegan Turmeric Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
• Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake
• How to Make Golden Milk with Turmeric
• Simple Ginger Turmeric Tea