Green Smoothie 101: How to Make Green Smoothies in a Regular Blender
Sure it's nice to make smoothies using a high-powered blending machine such as Vitamix, but you don't necessarily need fancy, expensive equipment to make green smoothies at home. The following paragraphs will teach you how to make green smoothies in a regular blender at home. Green smoothies, which are essentially fruit smoothies boosted with leafy green vegetables, can make a great, healthy addition to practically any diet plan!
1. Choose your ingredients
Choose your greens, fruit and other smoothie ingredients. The typical fruit-to-veg ratio in a green smoothie is 60% fruit and 40% greens. The purpose of the fruit is to balance the bitterness of the greens. Other ingredients to throw into your green smoothie include liquid (such was water or herbal infusion) and texture booster (such as ground seeds). Some people also like to enhance the nutritional and flavor aspects of their green smoothie by adding superfoods such as spirulina or minced ginger root to the mixture.
When selecting ingredients for your smoothie, avoid mixing red and deep green ingredients unless you're in for a brown smoothie! To help you create delicious fruit-and-vegetable smoothies that also look good, we have created a Mix-and-Match Smoothie Ingredient Chart which helps you pick the best ingredients for your green smoothie.
2. Prepare the ingredients
Prepare the fruit and vegetables by cleaning them thoroughly. Peel the produce only if necessary; one of the advantages of smoothies over juices is that smoothies often incorporate the whole fruit or vegetable, including the peel which is typically one of the most nutrient-dense parts of the plant. After cleaning (and peeling), chop the fruit and vegetables roughly if you think they may be too big for a regular blender to process. Small fruits such as berries can usually be thrown into the blender or food processor without chopping.
3. Blend the ingredients
If you want make a green smoothie in a regular blender, add the liquids first, followed by the fruit and then the greens and other vegetables. You may also have to use the pulse button to get the ingredients mixed if you are using a regular low-powered blender. If you're using a high-powered blender or smoothie maker such as Vitamix, it is usually okay to add all the ingredients at the same time.
There's no one single formula for making the perfect green smoothie, but most recipes call for slightly more fruit than vegetables. And if you're wondering how much water/liquid goes into a green smoothie, try this rule of thumb as a starting point: the amount of liquid should equal the amount of the chopped greens (in cups). However, there are huge differences in the water contents of fruit and vegetables as well as in individual tastes, so it is a good idea to let your taste buds be the ultimate judge!
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