Sometimes people ask me, “Can I put vegetables into my fruit smoothies?”. And I say “Well that depends”. I wouldn’t necessarily tell a novice that they should try broccoli or carrots in a smoothie, because those vegetables are pretty hard to blend and you may not like it. Same goes for beets. Don’t just toss them into your blender (unless you have a really high powered one and like a gritty chewy smoothie). So instead I recommend for those wanting to up the nutrition of their fruit smoothies that you juice some veggies like carrots or beets and use that as a base for blending. That way you can get the added nutrition of veggies in your fruit smoothies just like a V8 juice, but a much much healthier version.
Normally I only use water to blend my smoothies (because I use sweet fruit like ripe bananas I can get away without using packaged fruit juice), but using a fresh pressed veggie juice is an idea you can try as well. We all know you can certainly drink more beets or carrots than you can chew, so once in a while this may be a good option for you to sneak in some more veggies to your diet. (Or the diets of your loved ones!)
I decided to try it out, and it’s a very interesting taste, you get the earthiness from the beets, without the smoothie being too overly sweet and it’s a cross between a smoothie and plain veggie juice. It’s nice actually. So this way you are still keeping a lot of the fiber intact and this helps create bulk and fullness so your smoothie is much more satisfying as a meal than just a plain old juice.
Here is my beet juice smoothie creation:
Beet Banana Mango Strawberry Smoothie
Serves 1-2
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fresh beet juice (about a bunch of small beets juiced, tops optional)
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup fresh or frozen mango
1/2 cup strawberries
Directions:
Pour beet juice into blender and add remaining ingredients. Blend on high until smooth. You can either juice the beet tops or you can chop them up and blend them in.
Additional Tips:
Remember beet greens are a little stronger tasting than lettuce so start out with a little at first and taste test and see what you think. To make this even sweeter add another banana.
Other veggies you can consider juicing to add to your fruit smoothies:
- carrots
- golden beets
- cucumbers
- celery
- greens (but you can always blend them in too)
- other mild veggies
I don’t recommend strong vegetables from the brassica family such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower etc. You CAN however make a savory blended salad or savory veggie stew if you use things like tomatoes for the base and skip the fruit. I just don’t find strong sulphur containing vegetables go well with fruit.
Have you ever had beet juice or beet greens in a smoothie before? What did you think?
I AM ELDERLY SO PROBABLY DON’T HAVE AS MANY WORKING TASTE BUDS ANYMORE BUT I USE WHOLE RAW BEETS AND BROCCOLI IN MY SMOOTHIES
I’ve never used beetroot greens in a smoothie before – because they are my absolute favourite salad green – so I save them for my salads and that way I can taste them fully.
Your smoothie looks incredible – the colour is so gorgeous!
Thanks for the recipe – I doubt I’d have come up with this combination on my own:)
Oh I’ve never eaten beet greens raw, I have steamed them though. These ones were pretty small from my garden, so not much greens on them. Thanks for checking it out Em.
I have been using carot & beet juice for several years along with frozen bananas, strawberries, other frozen fruits, and some kale or spinnach.
willet
I made smoothies with beet greens just this morning for my family. They’re almost interchangeable with kale, which I love!
Hi Veronica
Yes have added grated carrot/red beets to
my banana fruit smoothies and they
are really great.
Makes them like a a vege stew.
Thank you for this recipe too.
Warmest wishes from Springtime in NZ
Margaret
as a diabetic, I would like to know about the sugars, carbohydrates and calorie in take with these recipes
Hi Shellia
I don’t calculate that info on my free recipes on the blog, for smoothies most people use different amounts and don’t follow the recipe strictly, so it would probably be safer to calculate the info yourself of what you’re actually putting in the smoothie. A great tool I like is http://www.sparkpeople.com because you can calculate nutritional info, save nutritional info of recipes, and calculate calories burned working out too.
Generally low fat and fat free recipes are not a problem for diabetics if they follow that kind of program. If you are on a high fat diet or eat a lot of high fat processed foods and then throw a lot of sugar on top of that, then you have problems with absorbing the sugar efficiently, so then you get blood sugar spikes. Having blended smoothies with fruit do not cause blood sugar spikes unlike fruit juice.
I do use any type of green vegetables well as wild herbs and grasses and juice them. Then add half a lemon with the skin( unwaxed and organic) and one or two fruits and blend it all together. Sometimes I’ll add coconut milk but only when it replaces a meal.
The color of your smoothie is so vivid and looks delicious. I’ve used broccoli, green beans and brussel sprouts in my smoothies as well. I always include a banana for some sweetness.
Give thanks for this vital tip. It was one I was already incorporating in my smoothies.