Smoothie Recipes to Sneak In Your Veggies
Read time: 4-5 minutes
Eating plenty of veggies is an important part of a healthy diet!
Veggies (vegetables) are plants or parts of plants that you can eat. This food group includes things like broccoli, leafy greens, beans, sweet potatoes, and more.
To eat a healthy diet, at least half of what you eat every day should come from vegetables according to the Healthy Plate Model. Eating vegetables not only keeps your body healthy, but it’s also essential for maximizing your fitness gains:
If your goal is to burn fat, eating vegetables can help to reduce your overall calorie intake, combat belly fat, and boost your metabolism. Vegetables are generally low in calories and rich in dietary fiber and other nutrients.
If you’re trying to build muscle, it’s also super important to each plenty of vegetables. Vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals that support your immune system, which is a key system responsible in repairing and growing muscle tissue. Eating plenty of veggies will allow you to recover better from your workouts and build more muscle.
There are a ton of different ways to eat vegetables! You can eat them on their own or mixed in with other foods (like in a salad, casserole, or medley). Vegetables can be found fresh, frozen, canned, or dried in your local grocery store. If you want to save money while also getting the freshest and most flavorful vegetables, I recommend shopping at your local farmer’s market or signing up for a farm-to-table delivery service. You can also grow them yourself in a home garden!
Smoothies
One of my favorite ways to sneak more veggies into my diet is to blend them up with fruit and other ingredients to make smoothies.
This is especially a great solution if you don’t like eating vegetables. When pureed with sweet ingredients like banana, pineapple, and blueberries, you can barely taste or detect the veggies in a smoothie. This means they go down easier. Also, because the vegetables are blended up whole, you get the benefit of the vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber that you otherwise would miss out on if you were to drink a juice blend.
Smoothies are also a go-to if you need to eat a high-calorie diet and have trouble meeting your recommended daily intake of vegetables. By blending the ingredients up, your digestive track doesn’t have to spend as much energy or time breaking them down. This means you’ll be able to eat more without sacrificing the nutrient density of your meals and snacks.
Vegetable smoothies also make for some tasty flavor combinations that might surprise you. For example, green smoothies are one of my favorite types of smoothies. The bitter flavors of spinach & kale actually combine really well with sweet-tasting ingredients like banana and pineapple. Sometimes adding veggies to a smoothie doesn’t change the flavor at all, but instead gives the smoothie a nice creamy texture (like when you add zucchini, cauliflower, or avocado).
Check out the example smoothie recipes below, and for more check out my full Veggie Smoothies recipe collection available for download here:
Veggies Smoothies Collection
Check out this collection of over 50+ recipes to make easy, delicious smoothies for a nutritious & tasty meal or snack.
Cinnamon Green Smoothie
2 servings
349 calories, 25g protein, 50g carbs, 7g fat
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Oat Milk (unsweetened, plain)
2 Banana (medium)
2 cups Baby Spinach
1/16 head Green Lettuce (separated into leaves and washed)
1/2 cup Vanilla Protein Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Directions:
Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Divide into glasses and enjoy!
Notes:
Leftovers: Bets enjoyed immediately. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two days.
More Flavor: Add grated ginger.
No Spinach: Use kale instead.
No Protein Powder: Add a few spoonfuls of hemp seeds instead.
Chocolate Zucchini Bread Smoothie
1 serving
386 calories, 28g protein, 30g carbs, 19g fat
Ingredients:
1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/2 Zucchini (chopped, frozen)
1/4 cup Chocolate Protein Powder
1/2 Banana (frozen)
1 tbsp Chia Seeds
1 tbsp Almond Butter
1 tbsp Cacao Powder
1 tsp Cacao Nibs (optional)
Directions:
Add all ingredients except the cacao nibs into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a glass and top with cacao nibs (optional). Enjoy!
Notes:
Nut-Free: Use sunflower seed butter instead of almond butter and coconut milk or hemp seed milk instead of almond milk.
Protein Powder: This recipe was developed and tested using a plant-based protein powder.
Creamy Blueberry Smoothie
1 serving
321 calories, 25g protein, 41g carbs, 9g fat
Ingredients:
1 cup Frozen Blueberries
1 cup Frozen Cauliflower
1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt
1/4 cup Vanilla Protein Powder
1 tbsp Chia Seeds
1 Lemon (small, juiced)
1 cup Water
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Notes:
Additional Toppings: Add spinach, avocado, kale, or other berries to your smoothie.
Extra Creamy: Use almond milk or oat milk instead of water.
Lemon: One lemon yields approximately 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
Protein Powder: This recipe was developed and tested using a plant-based protein powder. If using another type of protein powder, note that results may vary.
Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
2 servings
479 calories, 19g protein, 41g carbs, 30g fat
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Soy Milk
1 cup Pureed Pumpkin
1/4 cup Hemp Seeds
1/4 cup Almond Butter
2 tbsps Maple Syrup
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (plus more for garnish)
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
Directions:
Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and enjoy!
Notes:
Leftovers: Best enjoyed immediately.
Serving Size: One serving is equal to approximately 1 1/2 cup.
Nut Free: Use pumpkin seed butter.
More Protein: Add collagen or protein powder.
More Fiber: Add frozen cauliflower, ground flax, and/or chia seeds.
Soy-Free: Use any other milk alternative.
Don’t forget to take a picture and post it in the #🥕-eat-your-damn-veggies channel in the Coaching Corner Discord to participate in the Eat Your Damn Veggies challenge through the month of October!
