Green Smoothies: Mix & Match Ingredient List for Your Inspiration!
Certain fruits and vegetables can mix with the color of green leafy vegetables and turn what was supposed to be a vibrant green smoothie into a brown monster smoothie. The color of the smoothie won't affect the flavor, though, and even the vitamins and minerals will remain intact. However, we do eat with our eyes as well as our palate, and therefore a brown smoothie may end up being thrown down the kitchen sink, no matter how tasty and nutritious it is. To save you trial and error, we have created a Mix-and-Match Ingredient Chart which can act as an easy-to-use green smoothie builder. The ingredient lists it contains should help you pick green smoothie ingredients that will yield beautiful green smoothies!
How to Use the Chart?
With a little bit of imagination and experimentation, you can create countless green smoothie recipes with the help of the Mix-and-Match Ingredient Chart below. Pick one or more greens/vegetables from the first two ingredient categories (vegetables and fruit) and mix them with a liquid of your choice (from the third category) in a high-powered blender or food processor. If you are using a low-powered blender, be also sure to read the article How to Make Green Smoothies in a Regular Blender.
To enhance the texture of your green smoothie, add an ingredient from the fourth category of the Mix-and-Match Ingredient Chart. To boost the flavor and nutrient profile of your smoothie, add one of the healthy smoothie "add-ins" from the fifth category.
Finally, before you start using the Mix-and-March Ingredient List below, keep the following color mixing rules in mind: Green vegetables and green fruit such as kiwifruit will yield smoothies with an intense green color. If you like your smoothies vibrant green, mix green-colored vegetables with yellow fruit. If you don't mind a deeper color, you can also mix greens with orange fruit.
| 1. Vegetables | 2. Fruit | 3. Liquid | 4. Texture | 5. Add-ins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Green(ish): SpinachFennel Kale Celery Broccoli Zucchini Iceberg lettuce Romaine lettuce Parsley Cucumber Mint Purslane Lamb's lettuce (mache) Collard greens Endives Sunflower shoots Baby beet greens Watercress Dandelion greens Swiss chard Garden cress Cabbage Parsley |
Green(ish): KiwifruitPears Green apples Honeydew Green grapes Yellow: PineappleBananas Mango Oranges Grapefruit Starfruit Orange/yellow: PeachesApricots Papaya Cantaloupe Apples |
Green(ish): Green teaYerba mate Lemongrass tea Mint tea Wheatgrass juice Neutral: WaterYoghurt Cow's milk Kefir Soy yogurt Soy milk Oat milk Hemp milk Almond milk Rice milk Coconut milk Coconut water Ginger tea White tea Lemon juice+water Vinegar+water Yellow: Orange juiceApple juice Chamomile tea |
Any color: AvocadoCrushed ice Peanuts Almonds Cashews Pecans Walnuts Ground flaxseed Sunflower seeds Cooked rice Cooked beans Oats |
Any color: Hemp seedsChia seeds Bee pollen Maca powder Spirulina Chlorella Cinnamon Cocoa powder Minced ginger Grated coconut Vanilla extract Matcha Oat bran Rice bran Psyllium husk Wheat bran Wheat germ |
Red Veg-and-Fruit Smoothies, Anyone?
In the strictest sense of the word, green smoothies are made of green leafy vegetables and other common green smoothie ingredients. However, there are plenty of vegetables that are not green but that offer an equally broad range of health benefits. Red vegetables, in particular, are loaded with health boosting nutrients. Red smoothie ingredients don't blend well with green ingredients (unless you like your smoothies brown), but there are plenty of orange and yellow vegetables and fruit that will mix well with red ingredients. Veg-and-fruit smoothies created using red and orange/yellow ingredients will range from light orange to bright red in color.
To use the Mix-and-Match Smoothie Ingredient List below, pick one or more red, orange or yellow vegetables from the first two ingredient categories (vegetables and fruit) and mix them with a liquid of your choice (from the third category). Keep in mind that the more yellow ingredients you use, the more yellow/orange your veg-and-fruit smoothie will be. Focusing on red vegetables and fruit will yield smoothies with a more intense red color.
If you like your red smoothies thick, pick a texture-enhancing ingredient from the fourth category in the below Mix-and-Match Ingredient List and add it to the mix. To finish off your super healthy creation, add one of the healthy smoothie add-ins from the last list.
| 1. Vegetables | 2. Fruit | 3. Liquid | 4. Texture | 5. Add-ins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Red/orange: Tomatoes Carrots Cooked sweet potatoes Cooked beets Red endive Red cabbage Bell peppers |
Red: StrawberriesRaspberries Pomegranates Watermelon Cherries Cranberries Red currants Red gooseberries Lingonberries Orange/yellow: PineappleBananas Mango Oranges Grapefruit Starfruit Peaches Apricots Papaya Cantaloupe Apples |
Red: Rooibos teaCranberry juice Carrot juice Beet juice Tomato juice Hibiscus tea Brownish: Prune juiceKombucha Licorice tea Lavender tea Raspberry leaf tea Lemon verbena Apple juice Neutral: WaterYoghurt Cow's milk Kefir Soy yogurt Soy milk Oat milk Hemp milk Almond milk Rice milk Coconut milk Coconut water Ginger tea White tea Chamomile tea Lemon juice+water Vinegar+water |
Any color: AvocadoCrushed ice Peanuts Almonds Cashews Pecans Walnuts Ground flaxseed Sunflower seeds Cooked rice Cooked beans Oats |
Any color: Maca powderHemp seeds Chia seeds Bee pollen Cinnamon Grated coconut Cocoa powder Minced ginger Vanilla extract Oat bran Rice bran Psyllium husk Wheat bran Wheat germ |
Sponsored Links / Ads
Product You May Like
