The Best-Ever Green Smoothie is made from just 4 ingredients, and is gluten, dairy, and banana free. Healthy, easy, and kid-approved!
You’ve probably seen 1,001 green smoothie recipes on the internet, including a couple here on IGE, but I’ve officially found the most delicious one yet.
The BEST EVER Green Smoothie, if I do say so myself!
The combination of 4 ingredients that blends into said best green smoothie, comes from a new-to-us smoothie shop we visited last weekend. It was all I could do to prevent a husband-shaped hole from appearing in the doorway when we realized the smoothies were EIGHT DOLLARS a piece.
Y’all, it’s SO much cheaper to make them at home!
Watch How to Make It
Kid-Approved Green Smoothie
Needless to say we got one smoothie to split, but it ended up being so unbelievably delicious that I accidentally drank more than my fair share which made my toddler cry because he didn’t get as much as he wanted.
#MotherOfTheYear
I got back in my baby’s good graces the following day when we recreated the smoothie at home for a fraction of the cost, and it ended up being a dead ringer for the $8 one. I mean, we nailed it!
4 Ingredient Green Smoothie
Just four ingredients are blended until brilliantly green, silky smooth, and tropical tasting:
- Chopped kale
- Baby spinach
- Frozen mango
- No-sugar added apple juice
If you’re a green smoothie skeptic, promise me you’ll try this combo. Even my kiddos slurp it down. It’s is a fantastic, healthy post-nap/school snack.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItNormally I wouldn’t put juice in a smoothie, but for me the pros outweigh the cons in this case. It’s basically a salad in smoothie form that tastes like anything but.
That said, if you want to cut down on sugar you could try using coconut water in place of some of the juice. I’ve tried using water and it tastes a little bland.
Pump Up the Protein
As I mentioned, we like drinking Best-Ever Green Smoothies as an after school or post-nap pick me up. It’s also great as a pre-workout drink because it’s light and energizing. That said, if you’re looking to serve this smoothie for breakfast and want to pump up the protein, try:
- Pairing with scrambled or hard boiled eggs, or piece of peanut butter toast.
- Adding 1/2 cup high-protein Greek yogurt before blending.
- Adding a Tablespoon of chia seeds before blending.
- Add a scoop of your favorite protein powder.
Frozen Green Smoothie Blender Packs
This green smoothie makes great smoothie blender packs too. Add the kale, baby spinach, and mango into ziplock baggies then freeze. When you’re ready to drink, pour the contents into a blender, add the liquid, then blend!
How to Make Best Green Smoothies
Start with curly kale that’s been stripped off the woody stems then roughly torn or chopped.
Recipe Tip
Do not use store-bought, bagged chopped kale, which often comes with big pieces of stems that do not blend fully.
You can either hold the bottom of the stem then use your other hand to strip off the leaves as you pull the stem out, or simply pluck the kale off the stem.
Add the kale plus baby spinach into a high-powered blender with frozen mango hunks.
I have a Blendtec and absolutely love it. Kale can be a bit tough, but it’s blended to smithereens in this high-powered blender.
Finally add no sugar added 100% apple juice.
Pop the lid on top then blend until silky smooth. NO color editing here – the smoothie really is this bright green, but doesn’t taste like it!
Pour the smoothie into glasses then add a straw. The recipe makes 16oz so you could split with a partner, or keep the whole thing for yourself.
Bright, fresh, healthy, and 100% delicious. I hope you love this healthy green smoothie recipe as much as we do – enjoy!
More Healthy Breakfast and Snack Recipes
- Green Smoothie Muffins
- High Protein Overnight Oats
- Blueberry Muffin Smoothie
- Mini Egg Bites
- Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
- Make-Ahead Breakfast Bowls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup lightly packed chopped curly kale
- 1 cup lightly packed baby spinach
- 1 cup frozen chopped mango
- 1 – 2 cups no sugar added 100% apple juice
Directions
- Add the ingredients to a high-powered blender in the order listed above.
- Blend until very smooth — you may need to run the smoothie cycle 2 times — then serve. The Green Smoothie will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days if store in an airtight container or jar.
Notes
- This smoothie makes great smoothie packs! Combine the kale, spinach, and mango into baggies then freeze. When you’re ready to drink, pour the contents of one baggie into a blender then add juice and blend until smooth.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Yep! Very good!! :D I used organic apple juice (the Whole Foods by me is moving so the Uncle Matt’s juice they had left was not sugar-free, bummer).. but, wow! I loved it! Love that there are 2 whole cups of greens.. but the mangos are sooo good, you can’t taste the greens. I can see why kids would like it! Good one, thank you! It’s a keeper!
I HATE bananas and yogurt so smoothies are generally a no-go for me. Thank you for this!
Kinda ruined it with that apple juice. That should be natural as well.
SOOO good :) ! Thanks xxxx
Is it possible to blend this up at night and have it still taste good in the morning? I have to get up much, much earlier than the rest of the house and 5:30am blender use would be frowned upon.
You bet! The smoothie might lose a bit of its brightness, but the taste will still be delicious.
I have a banana allergy so thank you for posting a simple smoothie recipe!
I’ve made countless recipes from your blog, but this one made me feel like Super Mom! I think my three year old just had more greens from one smoothie than his whole life combined. Thank you so much!
Wohoo!! Just what I love to hear!
I was super skeptical about this! Even after making it I was afraid to take a sip but oh my gosh! I do not taste anything but mango and apple! Delicious!!
You’re right, this absolutely delicious. Thanks for the great recipes.
Made this smoothie recipe today for my kids for St. Patrick’s Day (because what better day to convince them to drink something green). They slurped them right up, and my ultra picky son gave them a thumbs up, which is a huge compliment from him. These kids hate most veggies, especially anything that looks like a salad. If anyone is skeptical about how this smoothie might taste, trust me you will not know there is spinach and kale in it.
I had to report back! My family loved this smoothie! It gave my 15.5 month old son incentive to figure out how to use a straw (which he did). But then he decided he just wanted to drink straight from the cup. What can ya do?
That is amazing! Learning how to use a straw AND getting his greens – two birds, one stone!
Have never liked green smoothies until THIS ONE!!! I drink it everyday after my run and it’s so good! All I can taste is the apple juice. I’m not a huge fan of mango so I sub in peaches instead and it’s outstanding! Thank you for the recipe!
Green’s on top! And it wins! Looks sooo good! :)