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This spinach banana smoothie is one of our all-time favorite green smoothies! It’s only 280 calories which makes it super healthy and low-cal.
The combination of spinach + banana makes this smoothie fresh and sweet and high in Vitamin A and calcium. The almond milk and almond extract pull it all together to make it perfectly smooth, creamy, and nutty.
If you want a healthy smoothie with spinach and banana – this is the one for you!
The trick to making the best banana green smoothie is to get the right combo of ingredients. If you add too much fruit, you’ll end up with a ton of sugar and it’ll be 500 calories. If you pick the wrong veggies, it’ll be gritty and bitter.
My wife and I have made hundreds of green smoothies for weight loss and this is one of our favorites. It’s also a great smoothie meal prep option! If you want something more high-protein, you should try our high protein green smoothie which has 35g of protein!
Ingredients for the Best Spinach Banana Smoothie
Spinach and banana smoothies are a staple for my wife and I family! The combo of veggies + fruit balanced out by the almond milk makes this one the perfect starter green smoothie recipe.
- Spinach – Spinach is one of the best vegetables for smoothies because it blends incredibly easy, has almost no bitter flavor, and is loaded with Vitamin K, A, fiber, and folic acid. Our green goddess smoothie and detox green smoothie both use spinach.
- Banana – If you need more potassium, bananas are the easiest way! They also help make smoothies smoother and prevent smoothies from getting foamy.
- Almond milk – Almond milk is one of the best liquid bases for smoothies! If you want to make smoothies thicker, then use almond milk. We have a whole list of almond milk smoothies for weight loss if you want more ideas.
- Almond butter – Almond butter is a great way to make your smoothies more filling and tastier! They add a bunch of healthy fats and flavor to this spinach banana smoothie.
- Almond extract – Almond extract is one of the best ways to make sweeter smoothies!
- Honey – Using local honey is a great way to boost your immune system and add sweetness to your banana spinach smoothie without using a bunch of fruit!
Variations to this Recipe
My wife and I tested this spinach banana smoothie recipe several times before we finalized it! There are a few variations or substitutions you can make depending on what ingredients you have on hand.
- Chia or Hemp seeds – Chia and hemp seeds are both high in fiber and protein! Adding a tablespoon of either (or both!) is one of the best way to make high fiber smoothies.
- Kale – If you don’t have spinach, then kale is a great variation! It’s more bitter, but if you soak it for half an hour before blending you’ll be good to go. Check out our list of kale weight loss smoothies if you want more ideas.
- Greek yogurt – If you want to add protein to a smoothie, a ¼ to ½ cup of greek yogurt will give you an extra 5-10g. You can also try making our chocolate green smoothie which is high in protein.
- Vanilla extract – If you don’t have almond extract, you can definitely use vanilla instead!
- Green apple – Apples are great for smoothies! They are high in Vitamin A, C, calcium, and iron. They blend super easily and are a lower GI source of carbs compared to other fruits. Check out our banana apple smoothie if you want a healthy option!
- Avocado – Using chunks of frozen avocado is a great way to make smoothies creamy! We will often add it to this recipe, but it does add some extra fats. It’s really popular on our list of high calorie smoothies.
Health Benefits of Banana Spinach Smoothies
There are tons of health benefits of smoothies, but this one is especially potent. Here are the 5 banana spinach smoothie benefits if you’re interested.
- Low calories – This smoothie is about 280 calories which makes it one of the best meal replacement weight loss smoothies!
- Low sugar – This smoothie only has 27g of sugar which is fairly low compared to most smoothies! Check out our list of diabetic smoothie recipes or low sugar smoothies for more like it.
- High in Vitamin A – This smoothie has almost 3000iu of Vitamin A which is more than the daily recommended amount! If you need more Vitamin A, this spinach banana smoothie is perfect for you.
- High in Potassium – This recipe has 720mg of potassium, which is more than most smoothies! Drink a banana spinach smoothie and you’ll be well on your way to hitting your daily minimum for potassium.
- Rich in Calcium – This banana green smoothie has almost 400mg of calcium which is 30% of your daily value.
Are spinach and banana smoothies good for you?
Spinach and banana smoothies are incredibly healthy! They are loaded with calcium, Vitamin A, potassium, and if you make our recipe then it’ll also be low in sugar and calories.
This recipe is also on our list of whole30 smoothies and paleo smoothie recipes.
Spinach Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 banana
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 Tbsp almond butter
- .25 tsp almond extract
- 2 tsp honey
Instructions
- Add the spinach and almond milk to the blender first. Blend for a minute or until all the green flakes are thoroughly blended.
- Add banana, almond butter, almond extract and honey to the blender.
- Blend for 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
- Pour into a glass and enjoy!!
Nutrition
Tips for Making Smoothies with Spinach and Fruit
I’ve made tons of healthy spinach smoothies over the last couple of years. I made a bunch of mistakes and bad recipes along the way, but we’ve perfected them. Here are 4 tips to help you make the best smoothies with spinach and fruit.
- Cut your frozen fruit – I recommend using frozen fruit because you end up with colder and fresher smoothies! The only downside is that frozen fruit might be too much for some blenders. That’s why we recommend making smoothies in a Vitamix.
- Blend the spinach first – One of our favorite tips is to blend your spinach by itself with your almond milk first. After you’re done, add in the almond butter and blend it some more. This will make sure you get the most difficult ingredients incredibly well-blended. Then add in the rest!
- Use a high wattage blender – Using a powerful blender is critical to making great smoothies! Nothing is worse than chunks of banana or stringy bits of spinach. We’ve done tons of blender reviews, but our favorite blender for green smoothies is the Vitamix E310.
- Make them in advance – If you want to drink smoothies every day it can be a hassle to make them fresh. You can meal prep smoothies on a Sunday afternoon. You can store smoothies in the fridge for the week.
