How to make a smoothie perfectly in 5 easy steps

How to make a smoothie healthy and tasty

5 Steps to success

In some ways, making your own smoothie is simple.  Just throw all the ingredients in the blender and whizz it up until smooth.  And after a few disasters, we all know how bad we feel when we waste expensive ingredients and our smoothies are inedible.  So I have created the perfect guide to making a smoothie healthy and tasty every time.

First of all, I’ll explain about the different ingredients that can go in your smoothie, then I’ll show you how to make different types of smoothies:

Follow these 5 steps for adding your smoothie ingredients:

How to make a smoothie in 5 steps

The smoothie you are about to create will be for 2 servings, approximately 2 pints.  So you’ll have some to share or some for later.  If you only want one serving, half all the ingredients.

1: Add your base

Add 2 cups of any of the following liquids:

• Water
• Fruit juice (Orange, Apple, Pineapple Juice)
• Coconut Water
• Dairy free milk (Almond, Oat, Rice, Soya)
• Coconut milk
• Caffeine free tea (Fruit tea, Green tea)
• Ice (Add up to 1 cup of ice at the end to cool down your smoothie)

Or 4 cups of any of the following watery fruits:

• Watermelon
• Pineapple
• Oranges

2: Add your fruit

It depends how much water is in your fruit.  The more water in the fruit the more you can add.  The creamier the fruit, the less you need.  These can be fresh or frozen.  Frozen fruit will make your smoothie cool but you might need more liquid as they will make the smoothie thicker at first.

• 2 Cups of creamy fruit (Banana, Mango, Peaches, Pears)
• 4 Cups of non creamy fruit (Pineapple, Melon, Apple, Berries, Grapes)
• If you are combining fruits, add 1-2 cups of creamy fruit with 1-2 cups of non creamy fruit.

3: Add a filler

You don’t have to include a filler, but it will make your smoothie much more thick, filling and creamy, especially if you’re not using any creamy fruit.  (If you are just having apples in your smoothie, you’ll definitely need a filler).  Add 1 cup of any of the following:

• Oats
• Quinoa
• Buckwheat
• Sweet Potato
• Butternut Squash
• Yoghurt
• Avocado

4: Add extras

This is where your smoothie gets it’s taste and character.  Add some of the following:

• Spinach, Kale or other mild greens: To turn your smoothie into a green smoothie add 2 cups of greens.  These are easier to blend with the liquid before adding the rest of the ingredients.  If using frozen greens add them nearer to the end.
• 1/2 a cup chopped Celery or Cucumber
• Juice of 1-4 limes or lemons.
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla, Ginger or Cinnamon or a pinch of Cayenne 
• 1/4 Cup of fresh herbs such as parsley, mint or basil.
• 1/4 Cup of plain seeds, nuts or nut butters. (Sunflower, chia, pumpkin, flaxseed, hemp, pecans, almonds, cashews)

5: Sweeten to taste

If your smoothie needs sweetener, add sweetener to taste, depending on how sweet the fruit is.  Or you can try the following measurements:

• 1/4 Cup of liquid sweetener (Agave, maple syrup, honey, molasses, date syrup)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried fruit (dates, raisins, dried apricots, other dried fruit)
• Pure Stevia to taste.

How to create different types of smoothies

Creamy Smoothie

If you use Coconut milk as a base it will make all your smoothies taste rich, creamy, and deliciously sweet.  You won’t need much else apart from fruit and coconut milk and perhaps some sweetener if you like it extra sweet.

You will fall in love with this 4 ingredient Creamy Mango Shake once you’ve tried it.

Low fat/calorie Smoothie

If you want a low calorie smoothie, it’s better to use water as your base as it contains no calories.  Use berries for most of your fruit and either sweeten with a few dates or some bananas.  Try this Berry Smoothie recipe.

Filling Smoothie

To make a more filling smoothie, you can’t go wrong with 1 cup of oats.  They are neutral in taste so you can add them to all smoothies and make your smoothie more creamy.  Or you can add more filling fruits such as bananas, mango and dates.  Coconut milk, nuts and seeds will also really fill you up.  For a healthy sweet treat, try this Homemade Cookie Dough Smoothie.

Refreshing Smoothie

One easy to way to make your smoothies more refreshing is to use an orange juice base and citrus in your smoothies, such as lemon and lime.  For a beautifully refreshing smoothie try this Sun Dream Orange and Banana Smoothie, or the ever popular Key Lime Pie Smoothie for a refreshing indulgent treat.

Antioxidant rich smoothie

Berries are full of antioxidants so chuck some frozen berries into any smoothie to give it a healthy boost.  Give this Broccoli and Blueberry smoothie a try for an amazing health kick.

Detox Smoothie

If you want to make a more cleansing smoothie, try adding cucumber, celery or ginger to your smoothie.  Try this gorgeous Pineapple and Strawberry Smoothie with hidden celery.

Warming Smoothie

If you need your cool smoothie to give you a warm glow, try adding a teaspoon of ginger or cinnamon to your smoothie, or a pinch of cayenne to taste.  This Spicy Plum Smoothie will give you a warming treat, or this Lime and Ginger drink will give you a real kick.

Tropical Smoothie

If you want to give any smoothie a tropical flavour, just add either pineapple, coconut, mango, papaya or passion fruit.   Give this lovely tropical smoothie a try.

Indulgent Smoothie

If you want a smoothie to reduce your cravings for desserts, try adding 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and some sweeteners to your smoothie for a healthy yet indulgent treat.  Try this Chocolate Cherry Smoothie to satisfy all your cravings.  You can replace the cherries with other berries, oranges, bananas or whatever fruit you want.

Do you want to try a Green Thickie?  This basic Green Thickie Recipeis the perfect starting point.

How to blend your smoothie

Start off just blending your liquid with some of your fruit slowly at first.  When the fruit is submerged in the liquid add some more of the ingredients at a time until everything is blended.  Depending on your blender you may have to add more liquid or stop and scrape down the sides of the blender after turning it off first.  You may have to blend your smoothie from 1 minute to 5 minutes depending on how good your blender is.

A high speed blender will make the perfect smooth smoothie every time.  Or you can have a look at my resources page for blenders I recommend to suit your budget.

If you want some more smoothie recipes, this smoothie recipe book has got to be my favourite that I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried loads!) If you’ve never tasted Innocent smoothies, they are a British brand sold in mainstream shops, and now they are sharing all their secrets with you.  I’ve loved all the recipes I’ve tried from this book so far, and it’s so beautifully laid out, you’ll be truly inspired into healthiness.

I hope this has helped you to create your own perfect smoothie.  What is your favourite smoothie recipe?

I know you may not have time to digest all this right now, so I wanted to give you a handy print out of this blog post so you can stick it on your fridge to help you on your journey to optimal health.

Click here to download your FREE PDF of this blog post now.

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Katherine Kyle @ Green Thickies

Founder at Green Thickies

Katherine lost 56 pounds and recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Green Thickies.
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