How to Make a Smoothie

After making and tasting enough smoothies you will inevitably develop your own recipes and taste preferences. In order to make your own smoothies you can read through our favorite list of smoothie recipes, or you can create your own by using the four basic building blocks of the perfect smoothie:

Part I: Liquid

You should start off with between 1 - 2 cups of a liquid such as regular milk. Soy milk is also a great source of protein, calcium, isoflavones, and generally lasts much longer than dairy milk and has no lactose or cholesterol. You could also use any type of fruit juice, but beware of added sugar. We strongly recommend either regular (cow's) or soy milk.

Part II: Powder

Depending on your dietary habits you can help increase your protein intake by adding a half to a whole scoop of any popular protein powder mix. We recommend one without aspartame. There are many popular brands that come in different flavors and vanilla blends right in with the taste of most fruits. Many branded smoothie stores also offer things such as fiber and vitamin supplements in powder form that you can add.

Part III: Fruit & Vegetables

After experimenting with your own favorite fruits and vegetables combined with those of our Nutrition Matrix you will start to realize which fruits contribute to the taste and texture of the smoothie in ways that you like. Testing new combinations should be a fun, creative, and ongoing process. Think of it as walking the path toward smoothie excellence.

Part IV: Ice

If you have more fresh fruit than frozen you may want to add a few extra ice cubes to give the smoothie a cooler temperature and better texture. Mixing ice with fruit makes the smoothie cool, delicious, and refreshing...

How to Blend

You will want to blend the ingredients until the liquid is FULLY CIRCULATING within the blender for at least 5 to 10 seconds. By this we mean that the contents have already been liquefied and are now freely circulating. The liquid at the top should be swirling and diffusing back down to the bottom. It can take up to 45 seconds for this to happen depending on the power of your motor and how full the jar is.

Make sure you don't have too much in your jar or your blender will never achieve proper circulation, even with the most powerful motor. You'll need to put in just enough so your blender can achieve proper liquid circulation in about 30 - 45 seconds. If your blender can't handle frozen or large uncut fruit please look at our list of smoothie blenders that can. You will get the hang of this with experience and practice.

Bonus Tip

Once you settle on your own favorite ingredients remember to buy them in bulk at a major retailer such as Costco or Sam's Club and you'll save significantly. Some vitamin stores such as Hi-Health offer a "buy one, get the second half off" policy on items like protein powder and flax seeds.

Go For It!

If you are ready to dive in and start blending we encourage you to use this as a guide and start experimenting or check out our very own hand picked list of smoothie recipes. We promise you'll love them!