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Green Vegetable Smoothie Bowl (no fruit)

January 7, 2016 by Monique 15 Comments

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A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It’s surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo.

A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo

One of the best things about whipping up a smoothie is that generally, it’s a pretty forgiving thing to create. It’s not like making a cake; if you’re out of something for your typical smoothie you can find a substitute pretty easy. No spinach? Got some leftover kale. No berries? Chopped up a plum. Frozen peas – why not? (I’ve tried them, really they work pretty well!). But, experimentation aside, it’s nice to have a go-to, a default option. One that you know doesn’t run the risk of turning out like swamp juice.

THIS ONE is mine. I adore it. I eat this green vegetable smoothie more than any other smoothie, by far. I almost always have everything I need for this smoothie ready to go, so I know that when I’m pressed for time, I can easily whip this up for a quick meal.

As this green vegetable smoothie recipe is fruit-free (unless you add fruit on top), you do need to use a sweet-tasting liquid and/or protein powder to give the recipe a little sweetness. Coconut milk or coconut water are ideal for the liquid, but you could also use rice, oat or a nut milk. For the protein, my default for this smoothie is usually a vanilla-flavoured protein powder e.g. SunWarrior Warrior Blend Vanilla Protein but you could use any brand that you prefer the flavour of. Please look for an organic, natural protein that doesn’t contain a lot of weird chemical additives. (If you do normally use a neutral-flavoured protein, you can add a few drops of stevia to balance the flavour.) A few more ace green vegetable smoothie tips:

  • Keep chopped up zucchini and/or cucumber in zip lock bags in the freezer for easy smoothie-making, which is what I do – some frozen veg is actually better because it makes the smoothie thicker, cooler and creamier. I’ve also used store-bought frozen spinach in this.
  • Tip: pre-prep individual freezer bags (i.e. one bag per serve of smoothie veggies) so you can blitz this up in no time.
  • If you are eating this as a meal, which I often do, it really does pay to add some quality carbohydrates on top to keep you fuller for longer and make this a macronutrient-balanced dish. If you need some muesli or granola inspiration try out one of these: Cinnamon and Ginger Granola, Double Buckwheat Toasted Muesli, Grainfree Cacao and Hazelnut Granola or Festive Chocolate Buckwheat Granola.

A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo

A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo. Recipe via wordpress-6440-15949-223058.cloudwaysapps.com

Green Vegetable Smoothie Bowl (no fruit)

A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo. 
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Smoothies and Drinks
Cuisine: dairy free, nut free, paleo, vegan
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1 bowl

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk or water (carton, not canned)
  • 1 cup zucchini, copped (ideally frozen)
  • 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
  • 1 handful baby spinach
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I like Sunwarrior Warrior Blend)
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2-3 tsp almond butter (or any variety)
  • 1 tsp maca powder (optional)
  • Granola, muesli, or banana (to provide carbs)
  • Chopped nuts and/or seeds (to provide crunch and fats)
  • Berries, cacao nibs, bee pollen, etc. (for toppings)

Instructions

  • Pop the chia seeds into a glass or mug and pour over the coconut milk/coconut water, then give it a little stir. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the chia seeds to absorb some of the liquid and form a gel.
  • Place all other smoothie ingredients into the jug of your blender. Pour over the chia gel mix.
  • Blend until you have a thick, creamy smoothie. If your blender won't pulse, add in a splash more liquid just to get it going (you can use more coconut milk/water or just add water).
  • Scoop the smoothie in to a bowl and top with some crunchy, chewy carbohydrates, seeds and whatever else you like.

Notes

*for a nut-free version of this smoothie bowl, simply replace the nut butter with some coconut butter or a seed butter e.g. pumpkin seed butter, tahini, etc. It will still be absolutely delicious!
I’m thrilled to see this recipe featured over on Well + Good’s ‘7 fruitless smoothies for low-sugar sipping’
Have you made this recipe?I love seeing your creations! Take a photo and then tag me @nourish.everyday on Instagram!

A low sugar green vegetable smoothie bowl made without fruit and packed with protein. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious! Dairy free, vegan, paleo

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Filed Under: Recipe, Smoothies and Drinks

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mia

    July 3, 2019 at 1:53 am

    5 stars
    This is really a great recipe for a fruit free smoothie.
    Tastes pleasant, even without any nut butter.
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Monique

      July 4, 2019 at 4:06 pm

      Thanks so much for your positive feedback Mia! This is still a favourite of mine too 🙂

      Reply
      • LYDIA

        July 28, 2022 at 10:16 am

        Are the cucumberd & Zucchini suppose to be peeled?

        Reply
        • Monique

          July 28, 2022 at 1:29 pm

          I don’t peel them Lydia, but you could peel them if you prefer! 🙂

          Reply
        • Monique

          September 16, 2022 at 9:55 am

          Hi Lydia, no I don’t peel either of them!

          Reply
  2. Lynn

    April 14, 2019 at 11:17 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you so much, I am doing an anti-candida/Sibo diet and cannot have fruit – I miss these types of foods so I’m actually looking forward to breakfast (or anytime) for the first time in a while. I’m sure it will be delicious (I’ll add stevia or monk fruit sugar if necessary).

    Reply
    • Monique

      April 22, 2019 at 8:41 pm

      Thanks for your lovely comment Lynn! Stevia or monk fruit is a good choice to sweeten things up if you are going fully sugar free 🙂 Lots of protein powders use stevia which is what makes this smoothie bowl sweet.

      Reply
  3. Laura MacMullin

    January 3, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    I am so hooked on this amazing smoothie!!! It makes me feel incredible every single time I have it. I am allergic to bananas, so it really could not be more perfect for me. Thank you for sharing your wonderful, nutritious, delicious, and creative mix… I surely would not have come up with it on my own 🙂

    Reply
    • Monique

      January 4, 2017 at 6:54 am

      Dear Laura – thank you SO much for this wonderful comment! I have this smoothie a few times a week at least, it’s one of my absolute favourite things. To know that you feel so good from it makes me so happy 🙂 I am so glad you like it!

      Reply
  4. James

    November 10, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    This looks amazing!

    Reply
    • Monique

      November 11, 2016 at 2:26 pm

      Thank you so much James! This smoothie is one of my all time favourites 🙂

      Reply
  5. Anita

    July 16, 2016 at 12:03 am

    I’ve been making veggie smoothies for years. Here are my tips http://earthlychow.com/ultimate-guide-making-fresh-healthy-smoothies

    Reply
    • Monique

      July 17, 2016 at 12:56 pm

      Thank you for sharing Anita 🙂

      Reply
  6. Sus Davy

    January 13, 2016 at 8:47 am

    Love the look of this smoothie bowl! Those colours. Bookmarked for tomorrow’s breakfast 🙂

    Reply
    • moniquec

      January 13, 2016 at 10:08 am

      Thank you so much, Sus! This is honestly my favourite smoothie bowl ever, I never get tired of it 🙂 I hope you enjoy it! Monique x

      Reply

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Monique Cormack

I'm Monique, an accredited clinical nutritionist and creator of Nourish Everyday. I share my favourite healthy recipes on this blog! When I'm not blogging I work as an expert fertility and pregnancy nutritionist.

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