Best Coffee Smoothie Recipe

Two of the best ways to start your day are with a hot cup of coffee and a freshly blended smoothie. Smoothies are delicious, easy-to-digest nutritional powerhouses, while coffee is a little cup of magical energy, sometimes doctored up with a touch of cream and sugar. The only way to make these two drinks even better? Combining them.

Adding coffee to a smoothie is pretty simple, and recipe developer Michelle McGlinn shares the best way to do it in this easy coffee smoothie recipe. A coffee smoothie, unlike a milkshake, has enough nutrients to be considered healthy, as it's filled with bananas, dates, and yogurt instead of ice cream and sugar. For the most robust coffee flavor possible, McGlinn freezes brewed coffee into ice cubes, which makes the smoothie extra thick and never diluted. A dash of cocoa powder creates a mocha-like finish, and a sprinkle of espresso powder on top ensures the coffee flavor is the first thing you taste. 

Before you blend things up, you're free to add in your favorite protein, collagen, or vitamin supplements with no compromise to the smoothie's flavor. A chocolaty morning pick-me-up and a couple vitamins all in one glass make this smoothie a busy-morning breakfast that's hard to beat.

To make the coffee ice cubes, you'll need to start with a little over 1 cup of brewed coffee. We recommend making the coffee slightly stronger than you normally would since it's being mixed with other ingredients — or you can swap in espresso for an especially strong smoothie. 

Once the coffee is brewed, you'll just need frozen bananas (you can freeze these with the ice cubes overnight to be ready by morning), dark cocoa powder, milk, Greek yogurt, pitted medjool dates, and espresso powder. If you'd like to swap the milk for an alternative, any kind will do — we prefer oat milk for creaminess.

Pour coffee into a 12-cube ice tray.

Freeze until solid, about 8 hours or overnight.

To prepare the smoothie, add bananas, cocoa powder, milk, Greek yogurt, dates, and coffee ice cubes to a blender.

Blend on the highest power until smooth, using a tamper to push the ice into the blades. If needed, thin out the smoothie with additional milk or cold coffee.

To serve, sprinkle with espresso powder.

Coffee ice cubes are a great way to achieve a strong coffee flavor and caffeine level without diluting the smoothie, which water-based ice cubes are likelier to do. The problem, however, is that coffee ice cubes have to be made almost 8 hours in advance, enough time to freeze the coffee solid. This is no problem if you're meal planning ahead or happen to keep coffee ice cubes on hand (they do make excellent iced coffee, after all), but it's less convenient for last-minute smoothie making. 

If you want the smoothie without the special ice, simply use water-based ice cubes and cooled brewed coffee or espresso. Use about half the ice and a stronger brew, since this will mean the coffee is diluted. For the strongest, easiest coffee smoothie, swap the coffee for cold brew or concentrate, which doesn't need to be brewed or cooled. You can skip the ice entirely, too, but note that your smoothie may turn out a bit thinner.

Smoothies aren't well known for being leftover-friendly. The texture of a smoothie relies on the frozen elements, like fruit and ice, which thaw quickly after being removed from the freezer. We recommend making your smoothies fresh to avoid a watery, melted consistency, but if you are in a time crunch (or simply don't like waking your roommates to the sound of a blender in the morning), you can store your blended smoothie for about 8 hours in the refrigerator. Keep it in a sealable glass jar for an easy grab-and-go treat — just add a straw and sip straight from the container. 

Smoothies can also be frozen for up to 3 months, which is great news for anyone who wants to make big-batch freezer smoothies. Simply transfer the blended smoothies to freezer-friendly containers, and when ready to enjoy, allow them to thaw at room temperature until soft and sippable, about 10 minutes.