The Best (Mildest) Green Smoothie Ingredients for the Novice Smoothie Maker
If you are new to making green smoothies at home, it may take some time to figure out the best ingredients for your green smoothie. Home-made green smoothies, which feature both fruit and green leafy vegetables, may turn out to be very bitter. One way to reduce the bitterness of your green smoothie is to use more fruit than the recipe calls for. Most basic green smoothie recipes call for 60% fruit and 40% green vegetables, but you may want to increase the fruit portion to 70% in the beginning. As your taste buds adapt, you can gradually step up the proportion of greens in your green smoothies.
Another way to make green smoothies that taste good, even to the novice green smoothie enthusiast, is to use mild greens such as spinach, lettuce or chard. Although strong-tasting ingredients such as arugula, cress and dandelion greens often offer superior health benefits, their overpowering flavor may make smoothies taste bitter. Here's a list of the best (mildest) green smoothie ingredients as well as a list of stronger-tasting greens. Those new to making green smoothies may want to avoid these stronger-tasting greens in the beginning.
- Spinach
- Butter lettuce
- Oakleaf lettuce
- Romaine
- Iceberg
- Baby bok choy
- Chinese cabbage
- Lamb's lettuce
- Swiss chard
- Baby beet greens
- Dandelion
- Turnip greens
- Mustard greens
- Arugula
- Watercress
- Garden cress
- Radicchio
- Radish tops
- Fennel fronds
The best fruit to use in green smoothies include those with a strong flavor (such as mangoes, strawberries and blueberries). However, if you are using mild greens, also milder-tasting fruits such as bananas will make your green smoothie taste great!
One final note: If you want your green smoothies to boast a vibrant green color, avoid mixing red fruits or vegetables with green ingredients, or your smoothies may turn brown. It is better to use green, yellow and orange ingredients with green ingredients. If you are short of ideas for green smoothie ingredients that will yield beautiful, vibrant green smoothies, check out these Mix-and-Match Smoothie Ingredient Charts.
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