How to Make a Fruit Smoothie

Learn how to make a fruit smoothie and then you'll always have a healthy breakfast option at your fingertips! As long as you know the right formula, you can throw together your favorite fruit and create delicious fresh smoothies.

How to Make a Fruit Smoothie

It's no secret that smoothie are one of my favorite foods! They're wonderful as an easy breakfast, a mid-day snack, or even a healthy sweet treat. There's just so many options to what you can make, so it never gets old!

The natural sweetness of fruit makes it to where I often don't even need to use sweeteners. So fruit smoothies are always kid-friendly and an easy way to get extra vitamins, minerals, and nutrients into your diet.

Once of our favorites is a strawberry banana smoothie recipe, but there's endless possibilities that you can make. A mixed berry smoothie is always tasty, and green apple smoothies are wildly delicious during apple season!

Healthy smoothie recipes are great, and I have loads of them. But I completely understand the frustration of going to make a smoothie and realizing you don't have some of the ingredients needed.

When you have the right formula of how to make a fruit smoothie, you can pivot and use a variety of different ingredients! Then you'll always have a way to make a delicious drink, no matter what.

Why You'll Love Fruit Smoothies

A great way to include more fruits into your diet is by blending them together with other key ingredients. There's so many great things about smoothies:

• There are dozens and dozens of different health benefits when it comes to fruit. You'll quickly learn that this is a fantastic way to improve your eating habits.
• Good food doesn't have to be difficult to make. Throw some of your favorite ingredients into a high-speed blender and in no time you'll have a creamy smoothie.
• The minimal ingredients in a smoothie make them a wonderful snack or meal for those with dietary restrictions. Easily adapt healthy recipes to make Keto smoothies, Whole30 smoothies, and so much more.

Fruit Smoothie Formula

While you may have a few go-to smoothies that you make, you can create ANY combo when you use a few key ingredients:

• fruit: Fresh fruit and frozen fruit both work to make smoothies. Berries and bananas are most popular type of fruit used in smoothie recipes, but you can use any kind of fruit that you want.
• thickener: The easiest way to create a thick smoothie is to use frozen fruit. However, if you are using fresh fruit you can thicken the smoothie with a handful of ice! If you don't mind adding dairy to your fruit smoothie, some Greek yogurt will thicken it too. Fresh and frozen banana also help thicken a smoothie.
• liquids: Use anything from orange juice to unsweetened almond milk. In fact, you can even use water! You really just need some kind of liquid to help thin out the thicker consistency of your smoothie.
• sweetener: Since fruit has so much natural sweetness, especially ripe fruit, you may not need a sweetener. But if you do, you can use something like honey, maple syrup or agave nectar to healthily sweeten your drink.
• additions: There are dozens of different things you can add to a smoothie powder. Chia seeds and flax seeds add extra nutrients, and things like protein powder and nut butter add extra protein. You can also add greens, like fresh spinach or kale, for extra nutritional benefits.

What Fruit to Use for a Fruit Smoothie

If you dream up a combination, chance are it's been used before! There are hundreds of recipes out there for almost any combo of fruit.

Some of our favorite fruits to use are:

• blueberries
• strawberries
• bananas
• apples
• mango
• peaches
• blackberries
• pineapple
• raspberries

What Liquid to Use in a Fruit Smoothie

If you want your smoothie to have a creamy consistency, your best bet is to blend fruit with some kind of milk. But you can also use fruit juice in your smoothie! Here's a few tasty options to use in a fruit smoothie:

• almond milk
• coconut milk
• oat milk
• soy milk
• dairy milk
• orange juice
• coconut water
• apple juice
• pineapple juice
• kefir

Additional Mix-Ins

If you want your smoothie to be pure fruit, and maybe a milk, then you can skip over this section! But if you're looking for ways to increase the nutrient value even more or add different flavors to your smoothie, here are some tasty additions:

• protein powder
• nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower butter, etc.)
• collagen powder
• flax seeds or chia seeds
• cocoa powder
• yogurt (dairy free yogurt, Greek yogurt, etc.)
• greens

Fruit Smoothie Combinations

So, now the question is — what fruit smoothie combinations actually work? Well, we're glad you asked! Here's a few tasty combos to try:

Fruit and Fruit Juice

Keep in mind, using just fruit and fruit juice can leave a smoothie lacking that super creamy consistency. And if you want this smoothie to be thick, then you'll need to add frozen fruit, ice, or a banana. But there's lots of fun combos to make.

My kale frozen fruit smoothie does have greens in it, but I use applesauce and water in it. So easy, so tasty and packed full of fruit. Or you can try my pineapple smoothie that uses pineapple juice!

Fruit and Milk

With this combination, you can use any type of milk you want. A dairy free milk substitute works wonderfully in smoothies. You can also use whole milk or skim milk. I use unsweetened almond milk and frozen peaches in my peach smoothie and it always has the most incredible flavor and creamy texture.

Other Combinations

You can actually use water in a smoothie and still make it super creamy. My blueberry Greek yogurt smoothie is thickened with yogurt, but thinned out to a drinkable consistency with some water. It's a fun combination that always turns out SO tasty! You could use dairy free yogurt and then have the easiest dairy-free smoothie.

How to Make a Fruit Smoothie

Follow these simple steps to make a yummy fruit smoothie with any and every kind of fruit that you can imagine:

1. liquids first: If you are using any liquids, measure them out and pour them into the blender first, before any other smoothie ingredients.
2. fresh fruits or vegetables: If you're using fresh fruit or veggies, add it directly on top of whatever liquid you've chosen.
3. greens: Using some fresh spinach or fresh kale? This would be the step to add it!
4. frozen fruits and ice: Only add ice cubes if you're using a majority of fresh fruit, otherwise the frozen fruit should be perfectly fine to thicken the smoothie!
5. any powders on top: Add any powders, nut butters, seeds, or extra add-ins on the top of all other ingredients. If you're using yogurt, add it during this step as well.

Blend well until there are no lumps left and everything is well combined. Test the consistency and if you need to make it thicker or thinner, then check out this post. Then pour into glasses and enjoy!

How to Store Fruit Smoothie

I have a whole post with the best tips and tricks on how to store a smoothie. But here's the gist:

• Freezer: You can pour your smoothie into ice cube trays or popsicle molds and freeze it. Then let it thaw, or add it to a blender with milk and drink up! Alternatively, you can do the same by freezing your smoothie in Ziplock bags and laying them flat in the freezer.
• Fridge: Store leftover smoothie in mason jars, or another airtight container, and give it a good shake when you're ready to drink it.
• Freeze ingredients: If you're a fan of a fresh smoothie, you can still make things easier on yourself by freezing the ingredients for your smoothies. Measure out the ingredients for your smoothie, place them in zip-top bags or ice cube trays, and they're ready to pop in the blender as needed!

FAQ

More Smoothie Resources

• How to Make a Smoothie without Banana or Yogurt
• How to Freeze Peaches
• How to Clean a Blender
• How to Make a Thick Smoothie Bowl