Banana smoothies are wonderfully healthy and delicious to enjoy for breakfast or as a snack. And you only need 3 ingredients to blend them up from scratch! This vegan banana smoothie is made with sweet ripe bananas and coconut milk, plus a generous dash of cinnamon. Here you’ll find step-by-step instructions with photos to make a perfect smoothie with bananas – no yogurt or milk needed!
Table of Contents
About This Banana Smoothie
I love cooking with bananas, so I always keep a bunch on hand in my kitchen. In fact, several of my favorite recipes feature this perfectly sweet and starchy fruit! I could eat them practically all day: Eggless Banana Pancakes for breakfast, Banana Cake, Banana Bread, Banana Muffins for desserts and Banana Milkshake for drinks.
Ok, perhaps that is all a bit much for one day. But I still stand by my love for all things banana, and therefore wanted to create a smoothie recipe for a banana-tastic snack to add to my banana-all-day wishlist.
Smoothies (or juices) can be made from just about any piece of produce. You simply need a fairly soft fruit, a liquid for creating the drinkable texture, and a good blender or mixer.
In this easy 3-ingredient banana smoothie, I use ripe bananas that are about to brown, so they are super sweet and no extra sugar needs to be added. The bananas are blended with thin coconut milk for a slightly tropical taste and great creaminess. And a healthy pinch of cinnamon adds a slightly smoky and sweet flavor!
I usually make these vegan banana smoothies for a healthy and filling breakfast. They’re also fantastic to quickly blend up for a satisfying snack on the go, or can be enjoyed as a lighter dessert.
I suggest you try this smoothie recipe whenever you need a tasty, satisfying, and filling drink.
How to Make Banana Smoothie
1. First, peel and chop 3 large bananas. Add them to a blender.
Here I have used over ripened bananas. As they are overly sweet, you won’t need to add any sweetener.
2. Add ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon powder and ½ cup lite coconut milk. You can swap cinnamon powder with ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract or add both.
For a more sweeter taste if you like add 1 to 2 tablespoons of your preferred sweetener.
Continue reading for more recipe variation suggestions!
3. Cover the jar and blend until smooth.
4. The smoothie should be perfectly smooth and creamy. Pour into two serving glasses.
5. Lastly, sprinkle on some toasted nuts and seeds. I sometimes also add chia seeds. This is optional but highly suggested to make the smoothie extra filling, nutritious and add a great bit of crunchiness.
Here I have used a mix of toasted sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, white sesame seeds and flax seeds. Feel free to add your favorite nuts or toasted seeds.
6. Serve banana smoothies immediately.
Banana Smoothie Tips and Variations
- Bananas: Most varieties of ripened sweet bananas work well when making smoothie. You can also opt to use over ripe bananas or frozen bananas. Frozen bananas will make for a thick frosty smoothie. Freeze the bananas for a couple of hours prior to making the smoothie.
- Other fruits: Bananas pair well with some fruits. So fruits like mango, strawberries, blueberries, avocado can be included to make a fiber rich healthy smoothie.
- Sweetness: To make the smoothie sweet, consider adding your preferred sweetener. Some options are maple syrup, raw sugar, coconut sugar or brown sugar. For a non-vegan version you can use honey.
- Nut butters: You could also add some nut butter like almond butter or cashew butter or peanut butter for a more creamy and richer smoothie loaded with healthy fats. Preferably try to add unsweetened nut butters.
- Liquids: While I mostly prefer to make fruit based smoothies or milkshakes with almond milk or coconut milk, you can use plant based milk or non-dairy milk like oats milk, rice milk or soy milk.
- Green smoothie: Sometimes I make a green smoothie with bananas by adding some blanched spinach leaves. On occasions I also add some frozen berries like blueberries or strawberries. Healthy kale leaves are also an option.
- Protein: To add some protein in the smoothie, blend with 1 to 2 tablespoons of protein powder or 1 tablespoon of moringa powder. You can also add some ground flax seeds (flax meal) for more fiber and protein.
- Vegetarian version: You can consider making this smoothie with milk or yogurt or greek yogurt. But keep in mind that this combination of milk or yogurt with banana can be heavy on the stomach according to Ayurvedic principles.
- Chocolaty variant: For a chocolate flavor, add 1 tablespoons of hot chocolate or cocoa powder while blending.
FAQs
I like the consistency and mild, slightly sweet taste of coconut milk. But feel free to use your preferred plant-based! This recipe works well with almond or oats or soy milk.
Yes, feel free to substitute ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract in place of the cinnamon.
Use frozen banana slices to blend up a super thick smoothie. If the smoothie needs to be thinned out a bit, add a splash more coconut milk and blend again.
As-is this recipe is quite sweet thanks to the overripe bananas. However if the bananas are less sweet then you might want to add a teaspoon of maple syrup or your preferred sweetener. You can also use honey for a non-vegan recipe.
No, I do not recommend that you make smoothies far in advance of when you plan to drink. They are best enjoyed freshly blended and cold.
More Healthy Smoothie Recipes
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Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- 3 bananas – large-sized
- ½ cup lite coconut milk – thin or medium consistency coconut milk or almond milk
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon or ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons nuts or toasted seeds, for garnish – optional
Instructions
- Peel and chop the bananas. Add them in a blender.
- Add ground cinnamon powder and lite coconut milk. You can even add vanilla extract instead of cinnamon powder.
- Blend till smooth and to a fine consistency. If the smoothie is too thick for your liking, add a splash of water or lite coconut milk. Blend again.
- For more sweetness, consider adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of your preferred sweetener.
- Pour banana smoothie in two glasses.
- Sprinkle some toasted nuts and seeds. This is an optional step. But it will add some crunch to the smoothie and also make it more healthy and filling.
- Serve banana smoothie straightaway.
Notes
- Bananas: Preferably use sweet bananas. If the bananas are less sweet you may need to add some sweetener. Over ripe bananas also work well. You can also use frozen bananas for a thick frosty smoothie. Freeze the bananas for a few hours before making the smoothie.
- Other fruits: To make the smoothie more healthy and flavorful, add fruits like avocado, strawberries, mango and blueberries.
- Nut butters: To make a richer, creamy smoothie with healthy fats, consider adding unsweetened nut butters like cashew butter, almond butter or peanut butter.
- Liquids: Other plant based milk or non-dairy milk options are oats milk, cashew milk, almond milk, rice milk or soy milk.
- Sweetness: For a more sweeter taste, add your preferred sweetener. A few options are maple syrup, raw sugar, coconut sugar or brown sugar. For a non-vegan smoothie you can use honey.
- Protein: For some protein boost add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of protein powder or 1 tablespoon of moringa powder. You can also add some ground flax seeds (flax meal) for more fiber and protein.
- Vegetarian version: You can opt to make the smoothie with milk or yogurt. But note that that according to Ayurvedic principles the combination of milk or yogurt with banana can be heavy on the stomach.
- Scaling: Make a larger portion of the recipe by scaling the ingredients.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Banana Smoothie post from the archives (March 2018) has been republished and updated on 11 October 2021.
