Smoothie Blending Tips & Tricks: Part 1

Achieving the Perfect Blend

Smoothies are one of the easiest and most efficient meals to whip up in the kitchen. They’re also great vessels for veggies and fruit if they aren’t usually your thing. Not to mention, they can be tasty as heck.

There are a lot of moving parts (blender blade included) when making a smoothie, but it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. These are just a few of the most useful things I’ve learned over the last 8 years of smoothie blending.

I hope you find some blending gems in Part 1 of Smoothie Blending Tips & Tricks!

Banana Date Smoothie (recipe in post!)

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Consistency & Texture

Freeze your Bananas for a milkshake consistency. Although it may take a little longer to blend, the consistency that frozen Bananas bring to the table is unmatched. They create an ice-cream like texture that’s absolutely incredible in a smoothie or shake. You can even blend up frozen Bananas by themselves to make a Banana “Ice Cream”— which I highly recommend trying if you haven’t before (just add in some extra Agave, Dates, or Maple Syrup if you wanna sweeten it up).

This Peanut Butter Chocolate Shake highlights the silky texture of Frozen Nanners

If you want a thick smoothie you gotta use a tamper! If you’re working on making a particularly thick smoothie or shake, it really helps to use the tamper to smash everything into the blades. Be absolutely certain that your tamper won’t hit the blades though, we don’t need any injuries over a smoothie— it’s not worth it. If you don’t have a tamper designed for your specific blender, a silicone spatula should do the trick, just remember to please turn your blender off before getting in there.

Soak any Nuts ahead of time to soften them. If you don’t have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, your blender may have some trouble getting Nuts completely smooth. Soak them in Water with a pinch of Salt for about 6 hours to get them super soft. Drain and rinse before use, and throw them into your smoothie!

If you like a perfectly smooth smoothie, avoid seedy or fibrous fruits & veggies. Fruits like Blackberries and Raspberries generally have a tough time getting completely pulverized by a blender, leaving you with a seedy blend. Super fibrous fruits & veggies like Beets, Celery, or Apples will add a slight “chew” to your smoothie. Neither of these things are inherently bad, just a preference thing.

Chop any hearty fruits or veggies beforehand. Although blenders are incredible things, they’re not indestructible-- give them a break by doing some of the legwork. Roughly chop your tougher fruit and veg into pieces no larger than a few inches and your blending time will dramatically decrease. That means you get your smoothie even quicker!

Fruits & Veggies

Always start with a Banana base….unless you can’t. I find that the creaminess that Bananas add to smoothies is incredible. That’s why all my Smoothie recipes include them!

Heck, the Smoothie pictured at the top of this post is almost entirely Bananas! And lemme tell ya, it’s amazing.

Here’s the recipe!

5 x ripe Bananas | 2 x Dates | sprinkle of Cinnamon | dash of Vanilla | 1 cup Water
topped with Cacao Nibs

If you’re sensitive to Bananas, I recommend choosing another Smoothie base that’s similar in creaminess, such as Mango.

Peel & chop your Bananas before freezing. I’ve found that the best way to store Bananas in the freezer is to peel & cut them into 4 pieces. That way, if a recipe calls for 2 x frozen Bananas you know to grab 8 pieces. Also, by peeling them ahead of time, it saves you the trouble of trying to tear into a frozen peel. Wait for your Bananas to get super ripe and sweet, once they’re covered in plenty of brown spots you’re good to start freezin.

The perfect Banana ripeness ft. the perfect me

Spinach = lots of green nutrition with minimal green flavor. Spinach is my favorite leafy green to add to smoothies because it’s so mild in taste. It keeps your fruity smoothies tasting almost exactly the same, but adds in tons of extra nutrition.

Storage

If you’re storing overnight, avoid Berry-based smoothies. The same fruit pectin that turns Berries into Jam gets released when you blend them up. This makes for an unpleasantly gelatinous smoothie if left to sit for too long. Opt for more tropical-based blends if you have to prepare your smoothie ahead of time.

This Mango Spirulina Smoothie was my make-ahead smoothie for 5 am work days, it always held up great.

Use an airtight container for fridge storage. For one reason or another, sometimes we gotta store a pre-made smoothie in the fridge. If you do, use a container with an airtight, seal-able lid and do your best to fill your smoothie all the way to the top of the container. This keeps the oxidation to a minimum and your smoothie as fresh as possible as it waits for your next sip. I think mason jars are the perfect storage container for this.

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