The Secret to Making the Perfect Smoothie

Smoothies are without question one of the best food ideas of the last century (maybe they’ve been around for a lot longer; you never know), and boy are they popular now. They’re one of the most compact, versatile, on the go food items, and people love them. 

They are surprisingly easy to make at home. All you need is a blender, nothing fancy, a few inexpensive food items, and almost anyone can make a smoothie.

And you don’t have to pay a ton of money to get one either. Here’s how it’s done.

First – add your liquid

The liquid is considered the base of your smoothie, and it can greatly affect how your smoothie tastes, so choose wisely.

Depending on your diet, you can add quite a number of things as a liquid for your smoothie. You can add water if you have nothing else, but there are lots of other ideas to try out. Milk or almond milk are popular choices, as is coconut milk, coconut water and coffee.

And if you’re a fan of tea, green teas make for an awesome smoothie. Also, fruit juice of any kind is good if you want an extra sweet base.

After you’ve added your liquid to your blender (any blender will do), make sure to add a few ice cubes (2 to 3 max for one smoothie). This will help round it out and make sure your smoothie has just enough moisture.

Two cups of any of the above liquids will be enough for one smoothie, maybe even less. Start with a cup and as you blend your smoothie, you can always add more.

Second – choose your produce

You can add as little or as much fruit or vegetables as you like to your smoothie, and you can really go in any direction your heart desires.

A popular choice is a strawberry and banana smoothie; the perfect combination of a creamy fruit and a watery fruit.

You can use either fresh or frozen produce as well. And if you do use frozen fruit or vegetables, remember you won’t need to use as much liquid/ice.

Three – add a “filler”

In the smoothie world, a filler is known as a thickener; something to make your smoothie more fulfilling. If you had just a pure plum smoothie for example, it would end more up like a fruit slushie without some sort of a filler.

A filler can be anything from yogurt and avocado to oatmeal or even quinoa (both already cooked of course).

A big filler we can’t forget is protein powder. Add a scoop of vanilla or whenever flavor you like, and not only will your smoothie be thicker than it will taste better and give you the benefit of extra protein.

Cocoa powder also works well as a thickener as well.

You could also add peanut butter or Nutella. These will give your smoothie a nice protein-boost.

You could even add sweet potato, considered one of the healthiest vegetables (you can quick-steam a sweet potato in a microwave in under 6 minutes).

Four – blend it up

Make sure your blender is on the “Blend” setting, and blend it up.

Stop every once in awhile to stir it, and get ice cubes or frozen fruit unstuck, which will invariably happen. If seems a bit too thick add a bit of water, and if it’s too thin, add more fruit or more of your filler.

You can also add honey at the end or even maple syrup to make it a bit sweeter.

It may be hard to make a lot of things perfect in life, but making the perfect smoothie isn’t one of them. Just remember to be careful with overdoing it on the liquids; one of the golden rules of making smoothies.

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