This strawberry avocado smoothie is fresh, creamy, and rich. It’s a banana-free smoothie but it certainly doesn’t lack sweetness and creaminess. It’s vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, nut-free, and refined sugar-free.
The art of making a smoothie is a balance of taste and nutrition.
It’s easy to make a great-tasting smoothie with a lot of fruit, especially tropical fruit such as bananas, mangos, or dates. With those ingredients alone (a banana, half a mango, and a couple of dates), a smoothie can contain upwards of 40 grams of sugar!
This is a problem because when blood sugar levels rise quickly, insulin rushes to get excess sugar out of the blood and into the cells. The drop in blood glucose levels causes a blood sugar crash, leading to feelings of fatigue, hunger, and cravings. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make a smoothie that is sweet and delicious. With the right combination of specific fruits and vegetables, you can enjoy your smoothie without having to worry about your sugar intake.
I have been very conscious of the ingredients I use to make sure they don’t send my blood sugar through the roof. Instead of using high-glycemic fruits like bananas and mangoes, I use low-glycemic fruits like berries. I pair these with healthy fats (e.g., avocados, nut butter, or coconut milk), fiber (e.g., leafy greens, zucchini, or flax seeds), and high-quality protein powder, so my blood sugar stays smooth and steady all morning long.
Hopefully, this simple strawberry avocado smoothie recipe will make you feel better about the ingredients you’re putting into your blender (and your body) to ensure you’re getting maximum nutrient benefits without the blood sugar spike.
How to Make Strawberry Avocado Smoothie
Ingredients
This strawberry avocado smoothie contains only a few ingredients to keep the flavor distinct. All you need are:
- Strawberries: you can really use any kind of berries you like, but strawberries create the most beautiful pink color. Frozen berries are best because they make the smoothie cold and refreshing without having to use ice which would water the smoothie down. I like to use in-season strawberries that are bright ripe red and freeze them myself. The riper the strawberries, the sweeter and more flavorful the smoothie will be.
- Avocado: there aren’t many fruits that create a creamy smoothie, but avocado is definitely one of them! You can’t taste the avocado in this smoothie, but it adds a lot of richness.
- Zucchini: this is the perfect vegetable to hide in a smoothie because it has such a bland flavor. Look for small to medium-sized zucchini. Large zucchini tend to be pulpy and have large seeds. You can use green or yellow zucchini but always look for a vibrant, rich color.
- Vanilla extract: vanilla adds an extra flavor element that compliments the strawberries. You can use vanilla paste or powder as well.
- Stevia (optional): I don’t typically add sweeteners to my smoothies but if the strawberries aren’t perfectly ripe, the smoothie is quite tart. I like a few drops of stevia, but you could use any liquid sweetener. If you’d like this smoothie to be exclusively fruit-sweetened, add a couple of Medjool dates.
- Light coconut milk: while you can use macadamia milk, hemp milk, or almond milk (those are the best low-carb milk alternatives), coconut milk gives this strawberry avocado smoothie the best consistency.
How to Make Strawberry Avocado Smoothie
Smoothies are incredibly simple. All you have to do is add all the ingredients into a blender – I use the Vitamix – and blend.
Using a high-speed blender is really important for this recipe because frozen strawberries can cause the blender blade in a standard blender to break and the container to crack. You might think that frozen fruit can’t be worse than ice, but that’s incorrect. Ice tends to break and crack when struck. It can even shatter. Meanwhile, strawberries are very fibrous, meaning there are strands of carbohydrates all throughout them. These strands give strawberries strength and make them hard to blend.
This is why you can safely add ice to a smoothie to blend up, but you may think twice about adding fruit that freezes rock solid. Of course, if you have a high-speed blender, such as the Vitamix, you don’t have to think about it at all. Vitamix is expensive, yes, but this brand is hard to beat for those looking to invest in a blender.
Strawberry Avocado Smoothie Variations
- Vegetables: can’t find zucchini? An unpeeled cucumber would be the best substitute because it’s practically tasteless and won’t impart any color to the smoothie.
- Fruit: replace the strawberries with an equal amount of blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries. Just keep in mind how it will impact flavor (e.g., blueberries will create a sweeter smoothie and will need to be balanced with a splash of lemon juice while raspberries will create a tarter smoothie) and color (blueberries and blackberries will cause the smoothie to turn out darker purple). As far as the avocado goes, the best way to replace the avocado’s creamy texture is a banana. If you’d like to keep this smoothie low in sugar, then plant-based yogurt might be a better alternative.
- Add-ins: a little bit of ginger or adaptogens, such as maca, would add an extra healthy boost.
- Liquid: I love the coconut flavor in this strawberry avocado smoothie, but if you don’t have coconut milk on hand, any plant-based milk will work just fine.
How to Store Avocado Berry Smoothie
- Refrigerating: transfer the smoothie into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
- Freezing: transfer the smoothie into an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.
More Berry Smoothie Recipes
- Acai berry smoothie: coming soon!
- Kale and berry smoothie: coming soon!
If you’d like to learn more about smoothies – how to make a custom smoothie, fix a not-so-good smoothie, build a better (healthier) smoothie, etc. – you can refer to this smoothie guide.
If you try any of these recipes, please, leave a comment and rate the recipe below. It always means a lot when you do.
Strawberry Avocado Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup strawberries , frozen
- 1/2 avocado
- 1/2 zucchini , cubed
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 5 drops stevia *
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk **
Instructions
- Blend. Add the zucchini, avocado, pear, spinach, lemon juice, and coconut milk into a high-speed blender and blend on high until completely smooth.
- Serve immediately.
- Store. Leftover smoothie keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day, though best when fresh. For longer-term storage, freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
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