We all need a few good smoothie recipes in our breakfast repertoire. There are three on rotation in my house most of the time. A pleasing but subtle green one, a vibrant fruity one, and one that works as a smoothie bowl for days when drinking my breakfast doesn’t seem right.
I have also included a choose-your-own-adventure flavour map. The balance of a smoothie is a very individual thing – this guide should ensure your smoothies are both energising and delicious.
If you are a less experienced cook, smoothies are a good way of experimenting with balancing different flavours without putting too much at stake – a skill that can then be rolled out across the rest of your cooking. If you are a more experienced smoothie maker, then I hope this week’s recipes might provide a couple of new tweaks.
A good smoothie is all about getting the ratio right, I break my smoothie recipes into five parts. I usually stick to one main flavour, which makes the base of my smoothie (two parts); an accent (one part); and then a liquid or ice component (two parts). Finally, I like to add an extra kick of flavour, a mellowing creaminess or some balancing sweetness or acidity. Keep adding and balancing until you have a smoothie that tastes great and is the thickness you like to drink – or eat (such as in the recipe below).
Summer beetroot, raspberry and vanilla smoothie bowl
The consistency of this smoothie is just a little thicker: you’ll need a spoon to eat it. The bowl creates a wider surface area, which provides the perfect canvas for generous scatterings of texture and flavour.
Serves 2
3 prunes, soaked in 100ml hot water
1 small beetroot, peeled and chopped
125g raspberries
150g strawberries
Juice and zest of ½ a lemon
50g oats
1 tsp vanilla extract
120ml water or milk of your choice
A few ice cubes
Toppings
Frozen raspberries
Pomegranate seeds
Raw almond butter/cashew butter
Hemp seeds
Almonds
1 Soak the prunes in water for as long as you have time for – even overnight if you remember.
2 Pour the soaked prunes and their liquid into a blender. Add all the remaining ingredients and blitz on high until completely smooth. Taste and adjust the sweetness, adding a little more vanilla or lemon as desired.
3 Pour the contents into a bowl and scatter over your toppings.
A friendly green smoothie
Despite their ubiquity, green smoothies are really worth considering if you’re looking for a quick, delicious and enlivening breakfast. When I’m in green smoothie mode, here’s what I think about: I want it to be filling, energising and nutritious. I like my smoothie to be packed with greens – so vibrant in colour and velvety in texture. Flavour is always the most important factor for me – I can’t drink something that tastes too worthy. Kale (like other greens) can have a bitter note; balancing the ratio of greens with a little sweetness is what makes a green smoothie.
Serves 2
150g ripe pineapple, peeled
1 banana, peeled
A large handful of kale, spinach or other greens (frozen works too)
½ an avocado
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp almond butter
A small thumb of fresh ginger, grated
250ml coconut water or water
A handful of ice
1 Roughly chop the pineapple and add it to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients.
2 Blend on a high speed until completely smooth. Taste and adjust the spiciness to your liking by adding more ginger, if necessary.
3 Pour into two glasses. Serve chilled.
Sunshine mango and turmeric
This is the smoothie I make when I need a lift in the morning. If goji berries are not something you usually buy, you can leave them out, but I urge you to try them – they taste like slightly sour and more piquant raisins.
Serves 2
1 ripe mango, stone removed
1 tsp goji berries (optional)
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
½ tsp ground turmeric or 1 tsp fresh turmeric, grated
250ml orange juice or coconut water
A good grinding of black pepper
A handful of ice
1 Put all the smoothie ingredients into a blender, then blitz it all together on a high speed until it has become completely smooth. Taste and adjust the flavours to your liking, then add the ice and blitz again.
2 Pour the smoothie into two glasses. Serve chilled.
Flavour map
1 Start with a hero flavour (2/5ths)
Greens (kale, lettuce, spinach, spring greens), banana, mango, pineapple, peach, blueberries, cherries, pear, avocado, persimmon, papaya, apricots strawberries, raspberries, courgette, fennel, beetroot, red pepper
2 Add an accent flavour (1/5th)
(Choose from one ingredient above)
3 Add liquid (2/5ths)
Water, coconut water, cow’s milk, almond milk (unsweetened), fruit or vegetable juice, drinking yoghurt or kefir, tea (chilled), ice
4 Add 1 tbsp of creaminess
Nut or seed butter, tahini, oats, chia seeds, flax seeds, yoghurt
5 Boost the flavour with a pinch of ...
Vanilla, goji berries, fresh grated turmeric, dried spices (ginger, cardamom, turmeric, saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg), fresh grated ginger, nuts, desiccated coconut, seeds, cacao powder or nibs
6 For extra sweetness
A soft date, a squeeze of honey, a little maple syrup, one chopped dried fruit (apricot, fig, prune)
7 For extra acidity
Lemon juice or zest, lime, orange, kiwi
- Anna Jones is a chef, writer and author of A Modern Way to Eat and A Modern Way to Cook. (Fourth Estate); annajones.co.uk; @we_are_food
