Tropical Green Smoothie

So, I’ve kind of dropped the ball on sharing recipes lately - whoops!

I’ve got a huge backlog of high protein smoothie recipes, as well as more recipes for overnight oats and some other fun, tasty protein snacks.

Today’s recipe is probably our favourite green smoothie recipe, and has been since the first time we made it.

We always have a variety of frozen tropical fruits on hand, and those tend to end up being our favorite smoothies, greens or not!

This one is a simple green smoothie recipe, not a lot of extra additives or anything.

I know that people tend to side eye statements like “you can’t taste the ____!” when sneaking veggies into a recipe, but really... the spinach doesn’t come through over the mango.

That’s great for us, though, as we like to let the flavour of the mango take center stage.

We don’t add the spinach for flavour anyway, it’s for the nutritional benefits - and there’s a full serving of spinach in each one of these tropical green protein smoothies!

Possibly the perfect smoothie for busy mornings. Let’s look at what you’ll need:

Ingredients

This high protein green smoothie recipe uses only a few simple, healthy ingredients. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding everything you need in any larger grocery store.

As always, I have a few ingredient notes for you:

Baby Spinach

I’ve only used fresh spinach in my smoothie recipes - or fresh baby spinach that I froze myself. One of these days, I’ll try adding a cube of frozen spinach and see how it goes.

For that matter, I might try other dark leafy greens with this recipe. I’ve made it with kale, but collard greens or Swiss chard might be fun. If you try it, let me know how it goes, in the comments!

Beyond that, just be sure to use baby spinach, rather than regular leaf spinach.

Regular spinach has a more hearty texture, which doesn’t break down as well when blended raw.

Vanilla Flavored Protein Powder

This healthy green smoothie recipe uses Vanilla Flavored Whey Protein Powder.

Personally, I keep a big canister of Revolution Nutrition's High Whey in Vanilla Cake on hand at all times, and use it in a TON of my recipe - baked goods, beverages, etc.

Use whatever vanilla protein powder that you like to drink, is the best protein powder for your macros.

Unsweetened Almond Milk

Unsweetened Almond Milk has been my milk of choice for years now. It was a great dairy-free option when I could no longer handle cow’s milk, and it’s a fantastic, low carb option in general.

When it comes down to it, though... depending on your macros, you can use pretty much any kind of milk as your liquid base for this recipe.

As far as non dairy milk goes, Oat milk, Cashew Milk, Flax Milk, Macadamia Milk and Coconut Milk are all great options.

Almond is the most neutral tasting option, though - so just know that the other plant based milks may change the overall flavour of the spinach protein smoothie a bit.

Anyway, beyond the non-dairy milk options, regular milk works, too - just a bit higher carb.

You can use whatever you like, but I’d recommend at least 2% fat, for texture reasons. Whole milk is great... I find 1% / skim milk to be too watery, IMHO.

Frozen Mango Chunks

Mango is one of my favorite fruits for making smoothies with, as you might have noticed from some of our other recipes!

Not a ton to say here, other than you’re really going to want to use frozen. If you cut up fresh fruit, you’re going to need a LOT - much more economical to buy pre-frozen mango.

On that note, if you prefer to use thawed mango (I get it, I’m not always into having SUPER cold drinks!)... measure first, then thaw.

If you thaw it first, it’ll mush a bit and condense - 2 cups of thawed mango will be WAY more mango than if you measure before thawing.

Delicious, of course - but your macros will be very different!

Banana

I like to use ripe bananas - just starting to have spots and smell sweet, but not anywhere near banana bread levels of ripeness.

So ... ripe, just not OVERripe.

You can use a frozen banana if you want. If used while still frozen, it’ll give you a bit of that slushy texture. If you thaw it before using it, expect the banana to basically self-liquify.

Greek Yogurt

This recipe - and the nutritional info provided - is based on using plain Greek Yogurt.

That said, feel free to use any kind of tropical flavoured Greek yogurt, like a pineapple yogurt, coconut yogurt, etc - just expect that the carb count of the finished smoothie will be a bit higher.

Collagen Peptides

This is entirely optional, but I like to include collagen.

It doesn’t really add anything in terms of flavour or texture, but it’s a convenient way to sneak a dose in!

If you’re not already taking collagen, I wouldn’t bother picking some up just for this recipe.

How to Make High Protein Tropical Green Smoothies

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is a visual walk through.

For best results, I blend this smoothie in two steps:

Measure spinach and almond milk into a high-powered blender, blitz until smooth.

More High Protein Shakes and Smoothie Recipes!

Looking for more high protein smoothies and shakes? Here are a few more delicious recipes for you to try!:

Blueberry Spinach Smoothie
Chocolate Malt Protein Shake
Malted Milk Protein Shake
Mango Daiquiri Protein Smoothie
Mango Lassi Protein Smoothie
Pina Colada Protein Smoothies
Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake
Strawberry Daiquiri Protein Smoothie
Sugar Cookie Protein Shake