Cool And Refreshing Summer Green Smoothie Recipe

There's nothing quite like a freshly blended smoothie to give you a flavorful and filling health-kick to get you through the day. This cool and refreshing summer green smoothie recipe, from the kitchen of Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, is the perfect way to add a heavy dose of vitamins and minerals to your daily diet without compromising sweet, refreshing, and fruity flavors.

The tropical flavors of fresh pineapple, banana, and coconut are combined with spinach and avocado to make a vibrant smoothie that is as delicious as it is vibrantly green. The flavors are enhanced with fresh mint and lemon juice to give the drink a really cool and zesty finish, and the superfood powerhouse spirulina adds an extra layer of nutrients along with a vivid green color. No need to fuss with loads of meal prep, simply throw the ingredients into your blender and the smoothie will be ready to go in minutes.

To begin this cool and refreshing summer green smoothie recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. You will want a pineapple, fresh spinach, a frozen banana, an avocado, lemon juice, spirulina, mint leaves, and coconut milk. You may also want further mint for a garnish.

Chop the pineapple up to make roughly 1 cup pineapple.

Add all the ingredients to a blender.

Blend the ingredients for 20 to 30 seconds until smooth.

Pour out the smoothie into 2 glasses.

Garnish with the sprigs of mint, if using, and serve immediately.

This green smoothie uses coconut milk to add much needed fluid to the recipe along with a creamy, tropical sweetness which pairs well with the other fruity flavors of the drink. While we highly recommend using coconut milk to get the most out of this recipe, it is perfectly possible to use other varieties depending on what you have available to you. One key thing to remember when switching out this ingredient is to match it with a milk drink that has a similar creamy consistency. Whole cows milk makes a great option, or if you are looking for other dairy-free options, soy milk and oat milk also provide a thicker creamy consistency to the smoothie.

The potential substitutions in this drink don't end there, smoothies are easily adaptable and this recipe is no different. For more chill and less prep time, you can use frozen pineapple in place of the fresh, and similarly, frozen avocado can also be used. Just remember you may need to adapt the volume liquid slightly if adding more frozen ingredients. For a slight nutrient change, kale can be used alongside or in place of the spinach in this recipe, and, to add a different flavor finish, lime juice makes a great zesty replacement for the lemon juice. For bigger flavor changes, papaya and mango make delicious additions alongside the pineapple, leaning into the tropical flavor profile nicely.

If you consider yourself a health-conscious person, you may well have come across spirulina before. This vibrantly colored ingredient can often be found in smoothies and smoothie bowls, green juices, and chia puddings, and is widely considered to be a superfood. Spirulina is in fact a micro-algae, and one of the oldest microorganisms on earth. While we most usually associate algae with fish food, spirulina has been eaten by humans for hundreds of years due to its numerous nutrients, including iron and various vitamins.

With that in mind, it's clear that adding a scoop of spirulina to any smoothie will give you a real health boost. As well as providing a hefty nutritional kick, spirulina is known for its rich green to blue-green coloring, and will add a vibrant hue to any dish in which you include it. Good quality spirulina has a somewhat earthy seaweed taste, which makes sense at it is grown underwater. Thankfully, it isn't overpowering and works wonderfully in smoothie recipes.