Vibrant Tropical Smoothie Bowl Recipe

With our increasingly busy lives, it can be hard to get creative when it comes to the first meal of the day. And, although some people are naturally early birds, there are many of us who find getting out of bed to be achievement enough, let alone preparing and consuming a healthy, balanced breakfast. Mornings can be rough, so why not add a little more brightness and nutrition with this vibrant tropical smoothie bowl?

Created by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, this tropical smoothie bowl is a great addition to your mornings, afternoons, evenings — basically, you can't go wrong with this treat. A smoothie bowl is simply a thicker version of a smoothie that is served in a bowl, accompanied by a variety of other fruits. This tropical smoothie bowl has a lovely creamy texture and a super zingy tropical flavor that is guaranteed to add a bit of sunshine to the start of every day. With a blend of pineapple, passion fruit, banana, and mango, this smoothie bowl is bursting with vitamins and minerals, which are further supplemented by the additional topping of tropical fruits and coconut flakes. Super quick to assemble and easy to customize, this tropical smoothie bowl makes a refreshing breakfast option that is perfect all year round.

To begin this vibrant tropical smoothie bowl recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. For the smoothie portion you will need passion fruit, pineapple, frozen banana, frozen mango, and coconut milk. To decorate the bowl, you'll need a kiwi, star fruit, fresh mango, dragon fruit, blueberries, coconut flakes, and golden berries.

Prepare the passion fruits by halving each one and scooping out the pulp.

Add the pineapple, frozen banana, frozen mango, passion fruit pulp, and coconut milk to a food processor.

Blend the mixture for 20 to 30 seconds until it has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

Transfer the smoothie mixture to a serving bowl.

Adorn the smoothie bowl(s) with the kiwi slices, star fruit, cubed mango, dragon fruit, blueberries, golden berries, and coconut flakes.

Serve immediately.

This vibrant tropical smoothie bowl is a great way to celebrate all things tropical. Smoothie bowls are an easily adaptable breakfast option, meaning that you can always customize this dish according to what you have at home, or which fruits are seasonally available to you at the store. For the smoothie base, if you are unable to locate any passion fruit, this ingredient can easily be swapped with orange, papaya, or kiwi, to add heaps of tropical flavor to your bowl.

For the toppings, the world really is your oyster. The main thing to aim for is adding a mixture of colors, tastes, and textures to your smoothie bowl to keep things interesting both visually and flavor-wise. To keep things simple, slices of orange and banana make great alternative tropical toppings, as does melon. If you are struggling to get your hands on a star fruit or dragon fruit, options like guava, soursop, or lychee can work in its place. This tropical smoothie recipe offers a great way to try new and unusual fruits, so don't be afraid to experiment. And, it's always worth asking your local green grocer what they have in store that they can recommend; you never know, you mind end up discovering your new favorite fruit.

When making a smoothie with frozen fruits, it is good practice to add a liquid to make sure that the blended smoothie has a creamy texture that isn't too thick. This tropical smoothie bowl recipe uses a coconut milk to help achieve the perfect creamy consistency, as well as adding a subtle tropical coconut flavor to the mixture. If you would like to use a different milk in this recipe however, there are a variety of options that are available to you.

Soy and oat milk both offer a similar creaminess to your smoothie, blending well with the tropical flavors without overpowering the bowl. Of course, cow's milk is another option that may be more readily available in many people's fridges — whole, skim, or 2% all work here. 

If you would prefer to avoid any sort of milk, whether that is dairy-based or a plant milk, why not try adding coconut water? This will help to loosen up the smoothie to help you create a thick but not-too-thick mixture, as well as adding to the tropical flavor of the dish. While it is possible to use fruit juices such as orange juice in this smoothie recipe, we recommend avoiding these as they might make your bowl a touch too sweet.