Vanilla Fruit Smoothie Bowls can help you start your morning energized
As someone concerned with exercise and fitness, I spent a lot of time trying to maximize my protein to calorie ratio. That’s why I love these Vanilla Fruit Smoothie Bowls. They’re high in protein, which is great for working out, and also have a fair amount of natural sugar from the fruit and yogurt which helps me start the morning.
The other great thing about fruit smoothie bowls is that there is a lot of room for variation. You could tweak the recipe every week and never repeat yourself.
Vanilla Fruit Smoothie Bowl Mix ins and Toppings
These smoothie bowls use both mix ins and toppings. The mix ins get blended into the yogurt and protein to change the flavor and consistency of the smoothie. The toppings provide fun chunks to eat with the smoothie.
Put another way, the mix ins help make the smoothie, the toppings make it a bowl.
Other fun mix ins
Berries and other soft fruits are my go-to mix in choices. While this recipe uses blueberries, you could easily try:
- Bananas: I’ll talk about the benefits of banana in the paragraph on consistency below
- Strawberries: If you have a strawberry protein powder, these can be very flavor complementary.
- Citrus: I would trend toward sweeter citrus like clementines or blood oranges. The flavor can be quite pleasant but will be overpowered by anything with a strong flavor.
In addition to fruits, you can also mix in other more textured ingredients.
- Shredded coconut: I used it as a topping in this recipe, but you can mix it in too for a fun texture.
- Tapioca pearls: I would use the super small pearls in this, but if you like boba tea, you’ll probably like tapioca pearls in your smoothie bowl. I would mix these in after blending, so that they don’t get shredded.
- Chocolate chips: These blend down in the blender in a fun way. You’ll get small chocolate bits like you might find in mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Lastly, you can also substitute the orange juice for other juices or even milk. Milk will give your smoothie bowl more creaminess and another huge protein boost.
Other fun toppings
You can also play with fun topping choices. I used blueberries, shredded coconut, and granola, but there are many more options:
- Cereal: Instead of granola try a handful of your favorite cereal.
- Jelly: If you like “fruit on the bottom” yogurt cups, you’ll probably love a small dollop of jelly in the corner of your smoothie bowl.
- Peanut butter: Similar to the jelly, it provides a great flavor and texture contrast to the main body of the smoothie bowl.
Tips for better smoothie bowl consistency
I generally take the stance that smoothies should be drinkable, but smoothie bowls are eaten with a spoon, and hence can be made a lot thicker than a regular smoothie.
Foremost, bananas will help give Vanilla Fruit Smoothie bowls a thicker, chunkier consistency. Bananas are often used as a binding agent in banana bread and cookies, and they work similarly here.
Further, I recommend freezing your mix in fruit for a while before making the bowl. They’ll still blend fine, but the frozen fruit will help create a more solid smoothie bowl.
Other great breakfast meals
If you want a hot breakfast instead of cold, try out my squash fritters as another good breakfast.
How to make a Vanilla Fruit Smoothie Bowl
Vanilla Fruit Smoothie Bowl
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
Smoothie Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- ½ cup greek yogurt
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Slim Fast brand)
- ¼ Cup Orange Juice (or milk) plus a bit more if needed
Toppings
- 1 tbsp shredded sweetened coconut
- 1.5 tbsp granola
- 2 tbsp blueberries
Instructions
- Start by putting all of the ingredients from the smoothie list into a blender. Take care to use frozen fruits in this step.
- Blend the smoothie ingredients until smooth. You might need to pause and push the sides of the smoothie mix down into the blades to make sure the fruit gets fully blended.
- If the mix comes out too thick, slowly add in more orange juice until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Pour the smoothie mix into a bowl, and then assemble the remaining topping ingredients in small piles on top of the bowl. Serve and enjoy 🙂