This extra delicious peanut butter banana smoothie is rich, creamy, and tastes like dessert. It's a perfectly healthy and super decadent treat, all in one. This article will explore the numerous benefits of this delightful smoothie, provide a basic recipe, discuss variations, and offer tips to elevate your smoothie game.
Why Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies are a Great Choice
Peanut butter banana smoothies are a fantastic way to start your day or enjoy a healthy snack. They are quick to prepare, require minimal ingredients, and offer a wealth of nutritional benefits. As an intuitive eating dietitian, I believe that the word healthy must encompass not just physical health, but mental and emotional health. Eating foods that nourish you body, mind, and soul.
Nutritional Powerhouse
This extra delicious peanut butter shake packs in a punch. Healthy and nutritious, it is prepared with natural ingredients only, contains no added sugar, and is a great source of protein, fiber, potassium, and calcium.
The Perfect PFF Combo
This Peanut Butter Banana smoothie has everything you want in a filling and satisfying meal or snack-protein, fiber, and nourishing fats (aka the PFF combo).
A Trip Down Memory Lane
It’s also full of flavor and brings up happy memories for me, and I’m sure you too if you grew up having PB and banana sandwiches. Finally, it’s satisfying and doesn’t leave you hungry 30 minutes later.
Read also: Creamy Keto Dessert
The Basic Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie Recipe
This 3-ingredient smoothie is also the easiest you can make. Ready in no time, it features some creamy peanut butter, bananas (ideally frozen), and milk of choice.
Ingredients:
- Bananas (ripe, ideally frozen)
- Milk of choice (dairy or non-dairy)
- Creamy peanut butter
Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
- You can freeze the bananas ahead of time (even weeks and months in advance). To freeze bananas for smoothies, it’s important to choose overripe bananas, then peel and break them into chunks.
Ingredient Spotlight: Maximizing the Benefits
The great thing about smoothies is that you can use any ingredients you have on hand. For this smoothie I like to use:
- Bananas: I like to peel ripe bananas and stick them in a bag in the freezer so they are ready to go any time I want to make a smoothie. If you don’t have any frozen bananas, you can just use a banana that is at room temperature, but I’d recommend adding some ice as well. Bananas are also an excellent source of potassium, which is great for workout recovery. Bananas are full of the electrolytes potassium and magnesium. These can prevent cramping when exercising and help with muscle recovery which is why you often see people eating one of these yellow fruits before running a marathon or after a workout.
- Peanut Butter: The peanut butter adds a rich, nutty flavor and boosts the protein in the smoothie. Peanut butter provides filling protein and plant-powered fats to keep you satisfied. If you have an allergy to peanuts, you can substitute for whatever nut butter you prefer. You can also substitute with a seed butter like pumpkin or sunflower seed to make it nut free! Adding nut butter to a smoothie is a great way to add protein plus plant-powered fats. Protein is a macronutrient that helps keep our blood sugars stable. It also takes longer to digest than carbohydrates so you will feel full longer. I recommend using natural peanut butter or try making your own.
- Milk: Milk is the base of this smoothie, helping to achieve that desired consistency. These days, I use any milk we have onhand (aka whatever the kids are drinking these days). Milk - Milk is loaded with protein and other nutrients, including an excellent dose of vitamin D. Feel free to use the liquid that is best suited for you and your family. I do recommend using a dairy milk or a milk substitute.
Variations and Add-Ins for Extra Flavor and Nutrition
Keep in mind that this recipe is very forgiving and you can’t really go wrong by adjusting the ingredient quantities. Depending on the size of your bananas, you can add more milk to thin, more banana (or some oats!) for thickness, or more peanut butter for richness.
- Berries: My favorite are blackberries, but any variety will work. Again, use frozen if you have them or if you don’t just add a little ice to the smoothie. For more berry recipes, try my peanut butter berry baked oatmeal!
- Greek Yogurt: I use Greek yogurt, which is higher in protein than regular yogurt, but either will work just fine. Because this smoothie contains fruit, there’s no need to use flavored yogurt; just use plain for less sugar!
- Oats: I often add ¼ cup (25g) to ⅓ cup (30g) oats to my peanut butter banana smoothie. It makes it more filling, fiber-rich, and creamier than the regular version.
- Cinnamon: Add some cinnamon.
- Cocoa Powder: Add unsweetened cocoa powder. I love to add 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder to this smoothie.
- Flaxseed Meal: Use one Tablespoon of flaxseed for a boost of fiber and minerals.
- Hemp Seeds: Hemp seeds.
- Chia Seeds: Chia seeds. Chia seeds are a small but important ingredient in this recipe. Not only are they packed full of Omega-3s and antioxidants (more on that here), they also act as a thickening agent. You can use either white or black chia seeds for this recipe and either whole or ground will work.
- Dates: Dates are delicious, naturally sweet and a great source fiber, potassium, and antioxidants. All of switch are great additions to your diet! I used Medjool dates in this smoothie, but if you cant find them in store, you can use regular dates. Dates have actually been harvested for centuries….did you know that they are one of the oldest fruits in the world? Well, go ahead and grab some Medjool dates and let’s make my Banana Peanut Butter and Date Smoothie. Oh, and since this smoothie recipe only calls for 3 Medjool dates, you will probably have some leftover, I definitely recommend making these Healthy Oatmeal Date Bars.
- Cauliflower: As a dietitian, one of my favorite smoothie add-ins is the key to upleveling this smoothie-riced cauliflower (I promise you can’t even taste it!). Kicking your day off with two whole servings of Vitamin C and antioxidant-rich veggies, it also lends to the cold & creamy milkshake like texture! I am a huge fan of using cauliflower rice in my smoothie recipes. It’s one of those ingredients that blends right into the other flavors (like in this High Protein Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Smoothie). You’ll want to make sure to use frozen cauliflower (either florets or riced) for this recipe if you can. Did you know that one serving of cauliflower (1 cup) gives you approximately 60% of your daily recommended dose of vitamin C?! Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps support our immune system.
Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Smoothie
- Freeze Your Bananas: The secret to get the creamiest and thick peanut butter banana smoothie is to use frozen bananas rather than fresh ones. To freeze bananas for smoothies, it’s important to choose overripe bananas (the banana peels usually appear partially spotted brown). This ensures your bananas are very sweet. Peel the ripened bananas, and break them in half or chop into pieces. Place the banana chunks in a large ziploc bag, and freeze until ready to use.
- Chill for Extra Creaminess: Another trick: prepare your smoothie 1 hour in advance (no need to use frozen bananas) and chill in the refrigerator. Your smoothie will become creamy once chilled.
- What if I don’t have frozen bananas?: Don’t worry, your peanut butter banana smoothie will still taste delicious using fresh ripened bananas (I do it all the time). Frozen bananas make it extra creamy, but you can also achieve this texture by mixing some oats to your smoothie.
- Sweeten if Needed: Sweeten your smoothie if needed.
- Add a Pinch of Salt: This may seem a little weird to add a pinch of salt to a smoothie but salt enhances the flavor of anything it’s paired with. Here I like to add a little salt to bring out the peanut butter flavor and the sweetness of the banana.
Making it a Habit: Tips for Incorporating Smoothies into Your Routine
Creating smoothies is an easy and nutritious way to start your day. Today’s healthy smoothie recipe is actually a protein smoothie.
Read also: Peanut Butter Powder Nutrition
- Meal Prep: I am a huge fan of meal prepping smoothies, so much so that I wrote an entire blog about it (read it here!). This one is great to batch prep because of the chia seeds. They help keep the smoothie thick (even if you store it in the fridge). I like to double or triple this recipe at the beginning of the week and store in airtight mason jars. When I’m ready to have breakfast or a snack, I shake up the jar and enjoy right away. You can also freeze the smoothie into muffin tin containers and then store in an airtight bag.
- Freeze Produce That’s Starting to Go: Have you ever bought a cauliflower and completely forgotten about it or saw it was starting to brown before you had the chance to use it? Do not let it go to waste! Chop it up and throw it in a reusable freezer bag.
Embrace Nutrition by Addition
This recipe uses an intuitive eating principle I’ve become a huge fan of - nutrition by addition. If you’re not familiar with the term, this practice looks at what you can add to your plate instead of what you need to cut out. For example, I know the addition of cauliflower may seem a little out there but it’s a great way to get some extra veggies in without compromising the overall deliciousness of the smoothie.
Read also: Peanut Butter Keto Recipe