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4-ingredient green smoothie

770 · Jul 21, 2014 · 22 Comments

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So the other day I was googling ‘green smoothies’ because, no matter how hard I try, I’ve never had the ability to create a green smoothie that was actually green.  They always taste delicious, but they come out a gross brown color.

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About halfway through my googling, I came across the secret to creating a green green smoothie.

The Simple Green Smoothie’s website’s “Green Smoothie 101.”  In it they outline “The Simple Green Smoothie Formula” which was literally life-changing for me.

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It seems so ridiculous because it’s SO simple, but I’m telling you, it made all the difference for me.

Their basic formula is as follows:

2 CUPS LEAFY GREENS + 2 CUPS LIQUID BASE + 3 CUPS RIPE FRUIT

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I actually modified mine slightly from that basic formula but it still came out great.

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I can’t wait to experiment with different varieties now that I’ve got the color thing down…the possibilities are endless!  Not to mention the whole thing takes about 5 minutes from start to finish…hard to beat that for a drink that offers protein, fruits, vegetables, vitamins, minerals and fiber!

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4-ingredient green smoothie // cait's plate

4-ingredient green smoothie

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Cait
  • Prep Time: 2 minutes
  • Cook Time: Process Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 7 minutes
  • Yield: 2 large smoothies or 4 small smoothies 1x
  • Category: breakfast
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Description

the base of this easy green smoothie is made up of just 4-ingredients and you can add/swap ingredients as you like to customize it to your preferences & needs!

YOU CAN NOW WATCH MY IGTV VIDEO ON THIS


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups raw spinach
  • 2 frozen medium bananas (I just peeled, placed in a ziploc bag and froze over night)
  • 1 cup fresh, whole strawberries
  • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • Optional add-ins: nut butter, yogurt, chia or hemp seeds, granola, etc.

Instructions

  1. Add frozen banana and strawberries to a food processor and process until completely combined
  2. Add 2 large handfuls of spinach to the blender or food processor and process until well combined.
  3. While processing spinach, stream in milk (as much or as little as needed to reach desired consistency)
  4. Throw any optional add-ins into the mix that you’d like and process until smooth.

Notes

  1. The more spinach you add, the more green the smoothie will be.

Keywords: smoothie, breakfast, vegetarian, snack, toddler-friendly

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @caitsplate on Instagram and hashtag it #caitsplate

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770

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says

    Jul. 21st, 2014 at 8:56 am

    Yum! I love green smoothies but I’ve never tried banana + strawberries!

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jul. 21st, 2014 at 10:22 am

      It’s an awesome combo! Definitely worth trying 🙂

      Reply
  2. Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says

    Jul. 21st, 2014 at 9:52 am

    I LOVE green smoothies! Whether they are GREEN or purple or brown or pink. I love using a green powder in my smoothies sometimes too instead of handfuls of spinach because I feel like I’m getting MORE greens than just the handful or two I can fit in the blender, or more so, in the single serving blender cup.

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jul. 21st, 2014 at 11:43 am

      I’ve never tried using a green powder but I know people that SWEAR by it! I say, whatever way you do it – the more greens the better 🙂

      Reply
  3. Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says

    Jul. 21st, 2014 at 11:36 am

    Green smoothies are definitely a staple of my day. I start off every morning with one. As long as you have some frozen SUPER ripe bananas and some greens, they always turn out amazing! Sometimes mine don’t always turn out super green though… and that’s normally when I add in things like blueberries and blackberries. There is nothing quite like drinking a brownish/green smoothie 😉

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jul. 21st, 2014 at 11:42 am

      Agreed – I definitely think the frozen, super ripe bananas were the key to this smoothie! And haha – I know. I think this is the first really green smoothie I’ve ever made but at least the brown ones still taste delicious – which is really all that matters 🙂

      Reply
  4. char eats greens says

    Jul. 23rd, 2014 at 11:25 am

    Looks SO yummy and green. Love it! And of course, super simple! Who would have thought!! haha

    Reply
  5. Laura Landauer says

    Jul. 31st, 2014 at 10:12 am

    This one sounds delish!
    Great photos too!!
    I actually started a blog about BROWN smoothies as mine always turn brown too!
    http://www.mybrownsmoothies.blogspot.ca

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jul. 31st, 2014 at 10:19 am

      Haha – I love it! Brown smoothies need love too for sure! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Kuhreeseteyn says

    Jul. 11th, 2015 at 2:14 am

    Thank you fr this! I made one for breakfast. ????????

    Reply
  7. Sam W. says

    Aug. 11th, 2015 at 11:22 am

    do you have a suggestion for replacing the banana? I’m allergic to them sadly 🙁

    Reply
    • caitsplate says

      Aug. 11th, 2015 at 1:55 pm

      Hmm – frozen mango might work!

      Reply
  8. Sadie Carmine says

    Jul. 23rd, 2017 at 8:26 am

    Amazing article, thank you so much

    Reply
  9. Sadie Carmine says

    Aug. 22nd, 2017 at 2:42 pm

    You are the master

    Reply
  10. Kathy says

    Jun. 20th, 2019 at 7:29 am

    Delicious!!!!

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jun. 21st, 2019 at 10:53 am

      So glad you think so! 🙂

      Reply
  11. Ali says

    Aug. 1st, 2019 at 1:37 pm

    Great!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  12. Gina says

    Mar. 15th, 2020 at 11:16 am

    I recently started experimenting with green smoothies and have fallen in love with them. Just tried this one this morning and it’s delicious! Thank you for such an easy recipe! 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Mar. 15th, 2020 at 1:21 pm

      Oh yay! I’m so glad to hear it! It’s one of my absolute favorites for sure – so simple and tasty! 🙂

      Reply
  13. Deja Vereen says

    Jul. 10th, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    hey this is amazing but how many calories is it

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Cait says

      Jul. 11th, 2020 at 7:19 am

      So glad you like it! It’s one of my favorites as well. I believe taste and satisfaction are most important in a recipe so I don’t provide calorie content for my recipes. Feel free to plug it in to a calorie counting database if that’s information you feel you need 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Top 17 Deliciously Healthy Weight Loss Smoothie Recipes! - www.thelifestylecure.com says:
    Nov. 23rd, 2019 at 7:32 am

    […] 12. 4 Ingredient Green Smoothie via Caits Plate […]

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