Healthy Vegan Carrot Cake Smoothie

Ingredient Notes

• Pineapple: Frozen pineapple is recommended but you can use fresh pineapple or unsweetened canned pineapple tidbits.
• Frozen Banana: This sweetens the smoothie and makes it thick and creamy.
• Carrot: Use fresh raw carrots.
• Protein Powder: Any vanilla protein powder is suitable.
• Milk: I like unsweetened almond milk but you can use any milk you like. If you’re using full-fat or light coconut milk, I’d suggest only using up to 1/4 cup and the rest a lighter milk like soy, oat, cashew milk, etc.

Extra Ingredients

This smoothie is quite low in calories so it’s suitable for a snack, light breakfast or healthy dessert. To bump up the calories a bit and make it a larger-sized smoothie suitable for a meal replacement, I would suggest 1-2 of the following additions:

• 3-4 fresh, soft dates – sweetens, add calories/carbs for a pre-workout
• 1-2 tbsp of chia seeds or ground flax – thickens and adds healthy fats
• 2-3 tbsp of hemp seeds – great source of healthy fats, adds calories
•  2-3 tbsp of unsweetened shredded coconut flakes – adds fats and more carrot cake flavour!
• light coconut milk instead of almond milk – adds fats/calories, creaminess, coconut pairs well with carrot and pineapple
• 2 tbsp of almond or cashew butter – this is my favourite for extra creaminess and flavour
• 1/4 cup of rolled oats – adds extra carbs, fibre and nutrition, thickens
• 1/4 cup of almonds or cashews – an alternative to nut butter, just make sure you have a powerful blender
• 1/2 cup steamed and frozen cauliflower – adds nutrition, fibre and volume
• 1/2 cup coconut yogurt – thickens, adds creaminess and balances out the sweetness from the banana and protein powder, I like vanilla coconut yogurt

You may need to adjust the liquid a bit if you make any of these changes. Another option is to make it as a smoothie bowl and top it with coconut, granola, banana and almond butter.

For more options, check out my list of the best vegetables to add to smoothies or the best superfoods to add to smoothies.

Smoothie Bowl Option

This recipe is delicious as is but it’s also awesome as a thicker smoothie bowl, especially topped with granola, raisins, coconut and banana. To make a smoothie bowl:

• Reduce the liquid to 1/2 a cup.
• Blend on low either stopping to scrape down the sides or using your blenders tamper to press the ingredients down until they blend.
• You may need to add just a bit more liquid until you can get it to blend but try to keep the liquid to a minimum for the thickest, creaminess consistency.