A naturally sweet, green smoothie with carrots and kale (that's quite delicious)
Green smoothies are all the rage now-a-days. (We have a bunch on our Vitamix Recipes page).
Why?
Because they pack a major nutrient punch and because they are delicious!
And, of course, because I make one almost every morning. Helped me reach my “goal” before our wedding.
This one is easy, cheap, and packed with vitamins. Best part is, even your picky eaters will crave them!
Go make this Apple Carrot Kale smoothie in your Vitamix to jumpstart your morning.
An original that needed some updates (and love)
This apple carrot kale smoothie is one of the first green smoothies on this site. Here’s the original pic from 2009.
You wouldn’t believe the junk Lenny suggested putting in this drink. Here’s the original from the 2013 post via web.archive.org.
So you see why I had to say, “I’ll be the author on this post now.”
Anyway, we’ve given it a new photo shoot, veganized it, and confirmed the recipe’s results. We think it’s better than ever.
(Here are the ingredients inside of a 32-ounce container on top of our Vitamix Pro 750.)
Hope you enjoy.
Recipe
Apple Carrot Kale Smoothie
A healthy and naturally sweet green smoothie
Apple, Banana, Carrots, Kale,Ingredients:
- almond milk - 1 cup (240 mL)
- kale - 1 cup (65 g)
- apple (any variety) - 1/2 large with skin
- carrots - 1/2 cup (65 g) with skin
- frozen banana - 1 whole peeled
- ice - 3/4 cup (160 g)
- OPTIONAL
- date (for more sweetness) - 1 whole
- flax, chia, hemp seed, etc - 1 Tbsp. (10 g)
Instructions:
BLEND
- Add ingredients in order listed, liquid first, then soft ingredients, then hard, then frozen
- Ramp your Vitamix from variable speed 1 to high
- Use your tamper to push ingredients into blade (if necessary, it wasn’t for us).
- Blend on high for 60-90 seconds until homogenous
- Snap a pic and tag #lifeisNOYOKE
- Enjoy!
Useful tips for Apple Carrot Kale Smoothie
There’s lots of substitutions you can make here. Some suggestions:
Base: sub almond milk for coconut milk or green tea
Greens: sub kale for spinach or romaine
Texture: sub banana for frozen mango
Sweetener: totally optional, but can sub a date for agave or honey (if not strict vegan)
Seeds: use anything you have on hand, blend in or use for pretty (and healthy) topping
We used a yellow carrot so that the color of the green smoothie remained vibrant and not muddied. Yes, this is important to us because we put pictures of our smoothies all over the internet.
But it should be important to you because we taste with our eyes. If we detect a hint of “brown-ness” that smoothie is going down the drain! (See original pic above.)
Go make yourself (and your family) an Apple Carrot Kale Smoothie and then tomorrow try Carolyne’s Green Smoothie! Another fan favorite 🙂
Nice one, good balance and combination!
Sometimes simple is good!
I’ve been making smoothies in my new Vitamix 7500 for about 6 weeks, since I had abdominal surgery. I’ve used other recipes for kale smoothies, but just discovered your kale-apple-carrot recipe. (Why are the search results so random?) None of the other recipes gave weight measurements, and I learned that what I thought was 2 cups of chopped kale is much less than 65 grams! Using the measured ingredients resulted in a delicious green smoothie, but it tasted much “greener” than the others that I have made. I still liked it, but I stirred in about1 tablespoon of organic maple syrup and liked it even better.
When I am ready to add more solid food to my diet (soon!) I will continue to make smoothies regularly because they are delicious and have helped me to lose weight.
Thanks for your recipes and tips!
I’m so glad you found us. The more you make smoothies the less you measure. We find that throwing in “a handful or two” tastes best but it’s all about personal preference. You want it to taste good so you’ll drink it!
I made this and didn’t listen to the order of ingredients lol. Going to try again next time, but also add some fresh cannabis leaves for the medicinal benefits (will not get you high)
Have never tried that ingredient, just make sure to sub out some other greens so it doesn’t taste too “grassy”.
Need to lose the covid weight and this is delicious. Many thanks.
Our pleasure!
I didn’t have kale, but used this arugula kale mix. I feel like i needed another apple or a little more honey (local from this season!) to make it a bit sweeter and cover the mixed greens taste some more…. Though both the apple and banana I used were a bit small so that might be the issue as well.
I don’t mind a not super green smoothie so the orange carrot was no problem! 😉
Next time try with spinach or kale. Arugula is very peppery and hard to conceal the “greenness” with any amount of fruit. Not my favorite smoothie ingredient 🙁
How many calories are in this recipe?
Thank you!
-Harrison
Hi Harrison, we don’t include calories in our recipes because our audience is international and we find nutritional value of ingredients vary greatly depending on location. Best bet is to put your ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
My husband got me the newest Vitamix and was looking for an easy but yummy smoothie recipe. So glad I found this – it was sooooo good and just enough sweetness! Love love love this recipe!!
So glad to hear you liked it! What a great husband 😉
Made this recipe a couple of times already, I love it!! So glad I found your website!! Keep the recipes coming!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, Tee. Glad you like it 🙂
Heyhey! Glad you like it
You guys are great! Your Youtube channel convinced me to get Vitamix a3500. Don’t worry, I used the NOYOKE code. =)
Amazing! Just what we like to hear. Even better that you’re here looking for healthy smoothie recipes 🙂
Hi Lenny,
I’m trying to loose the last 7 pounds of fat and I love egg whites. But I’m so bored of eating it the same way. I’m looking to get leaner and tighten up muscles. What smoothies you reccomend?
Really any of the smoothies from this list. They’re under Vitamix recipes, but any blender should work fine. https://lifeisnoyoke.com/vitamix-recipes/#smoothies
Update 12/1/16: Most of our Vitamix Recipes have been vegan-ized. Almond milk is the substitute for liquid pasteurized egg whites in equal amounts if you’re wanting to use them 🙂
Since I have had a chronic bout with gout, I am wondering if this much protein can contribute to more problems. I love the egg whites and cook them once in awhile just to eat. But am so worried about too much purine again. Do you know or have you researched the bodies reaction to this type of protein. I eat almost no meat.
Hi Jackie,
I eat very little meat, too. Mostly fish and occasionally chicken or turkey.
I have a very sensitive stomach. Yet, I’ve never had any issues with these smoothies. Have been making them for 10 years.
Maybe try the smoothie with half the required liquid pasteurized egg whites? If it goes well, make the full recipe.
UPDATE (12/1/16): This recipe has been vegan-ized. It no longer uses egg whites (although I still do occasionally). No more chicken or turkey for me 🙂