This is the smoothie that made it easy to give up processed snacks in our house. With an easy smoothie recipe as good as this, you won’t miss the processed snacks. I’ve dubbed this a tropical green smoothie, but everyone in my house just calls it “green smoothie”. One taste and you’ll know that drinking your greens is a delight.
Smoothies with orange juice are the best
We have tried a lot of green smoothie recipes in our household. This smoothie made with orange juice is the only one that my kids will drink. Sometimes I can get away with a slight variation if we are low on an ingredient, but one thing must remain constant- the orange juice. If I use any type of liquid other than orange juice, the kids immediately hand it back to me.
Which makes me wonder, why isn’t orange juice a staple in all green smoothie recipes?
I imagine it has something to do with the sugar content. I get it. Non-dairy milk is probably healthier on many accounts, but seeing as how we drink a lot orange juice anyway and we do live in Florida, I feel like adding orange juice to our smoothies isn’t the worst health decision.
How does this smoothie get so green?
The tropical green smoothie gets its vibrant green color from the avocado, spinach, and spirulina powder. While I love the added nutrient boost of the spirulina, you can still get a beautiful green smoothie without it.
I add the sprirulina because the blue-green algae is high in protein, iron, and vitamin B. On top of that there are studies that suggests spirulina is an anti-inflammatory and even helps with seasonal allergies, which is something our entire family endures.
I bought a big jar of spirulina at a local grocery store, but you can easily order it on Amazon. Check out some good buys below:
This tropical green smoothie recipe will make you feel like you are on vacation
I’m convinced that with a little vodka, this could easily pass for a healthy frozen cocktail. Remember when I I turned my healthy frozen lemonade into a boozy frozen lemonade? Same concept- just add booze!
I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on the summer bucket list. Until then, I’ll keep serving this up to the kids daily, sans booze.
Yes, daily.
I make a liter of this daily in my Vitamix as either a morning or afternoon snack.
And yes, this does get expensive. When we have the money in our budget I buy all fresh ingredients. When the budget is tight I opt for canned pineapple, frozen spinach, and OJ from concentrate. It all tastes the same!
I only opt for fresh produce when I can afford it because I like the zero/ low waste aspect and like to support our local farmers. As a community composter, I understand the importance of consuming fresh, local produce that is grown in healthy, local soil. I’m also obsessed with turning my pineapple tops into new plants for my garden. They grow new pineapples! Isn’t that fun!?
What’s in a tropical green smoothie?
My tropical green smoothie is made with bananas, avocados, pineapple, spinach, orange juice, and spirulina.
You can easily play around with the flavors and swap out the pineapple for mango or papaya, or use kale instead of spinach. We like this one just the way it is, but sometimes change it up depending on what we have.
Ingredients
- 2 bananas
- 1/2 of an avocado
- 1 cup of pineapple
- 2 cups of spinach
- 1 tbsp of spiralina
- 2+ cups of orange juice
Instructions
- Add everything to a high speed blender in order. Add more orange juice if needed to just cover up to the pineapple. Blend on high until smooth.
Are green smoothies worth it? They seem so expensive. How can you make a green smoothie on the cheap?
Yes, green smoothies are worth it and they are expensive! This is a great way to get your recommended servings of fruits and vegetables, especially if you have kids or are a picky eater.
Worried about your budget? Opt for making a green smoothie at home instead of buying one. The average smoothie is $5 for one serving, while this smoothie costs about $4.75 and serves two large servings or 5 small ones.
If you really don’t have the money for a green smoothie, stop and think about your food budget for a minute. We have a tendency as Americans to want to decrease our food budget and get it under a certain amount. I’ve been there! I even have old posts about how to spend less on groceries.
But why do we want to spend so little on food, one of the most important components of our health? So we can spend our money on stuff we don’t need? Then spend a lot of money on healthcare because we have poor eating habits?
Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”. I’ve been using this as my guiding thought this year as we embarked on a journey towards cutting out processed foods.
So yes, green smoothies are expensive, but you can decrease the cost by doing the following:
- Use canned pineapple instead of fresh
- Opt for a whole pineapple and cut it yourself- this is usually half the price of a pre-cut one
- Buy frozen spinach in bulk
- Use concentrated orange juice
Stick around for more posts
If you like this post, I think you’ll like these too:
- Easy Smoothie Recipe to Reduce Food Waste
- Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie Bowl
- Apple Slice Cookies
- Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe
Like this post?
Don’t forget to follow me on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) to see more of what I’m up to in real life. If you like this post, you’ll love my social media accounts too! Want to know another way you can see more of what I love? Follow me on Pinterest. I’d also love for you to pin this post to Pinterest if you liked it!
Leave a Reply