25 Simple Hacks To Make A Perfect Smoothie

I love smoothies because they are nutritious and delicious. My husband and I drink this after we work out or jog. When we need a quick but healthy breakfast, we make one on the go as well.

Smoothies are usually made of pureed fruits and vegetables. We get all the right vitamins and minerals from these foods. For an added dose of nutrients, we add protein powder.

Health benefits from fruit and green smoothies (my favorites):

Banana – makes you feel fuller, rich in potassium;
Cucumber – detoxifies and good for liver and kidney;
Kale – antioxidants;
Spinach – anti-cancer properties;
Strawberries – rich in vitamin C.

A perfect smoothie should be:

Delicious since it is food to be enjoyed;
Nutritious, with vitamins and minerals;
Consistently smooth, a delight to enjoy and leaves you full and satisfied.

To make the perfect smoothie, we need:

Top quality ingredients;
Perfect proportion of the right blend;
Efficient blender to make the perfect smoothie the most convenient way.

Yes, we should devote enough attention to the selection of tools.

Smoothie is food on the go and has to be done quickly, with the least possible hassle. For that, we need a very capable blender that will smoothly puree the fruits and vegetables.

A blender of lesser power and efficiency will result in smoothies that are not smooth. It will also take time and effort to prepare.

I want to be out of my home quickly during the mornings, so I need a kitchen partner to rush with me. Honestly, nothing is better than a top blender food processor combo.

How To Make A Smoothie Properly?

We aim to make a smoothie that is delicious, nutritious and prepared efficiently. Follow these simple steps to get your desired results:

1- Choose a recipe to follow

This pretty much depends on a few considerations:

What you’re in the mood for;
Available ingredients you have;
Purpose of the smoothie – whether as a meal replacement or to lose weight;
Specific nutrient you want – if you wish to high fiber, or maybe greens for their anti-oxidant properties.

2- Prepare the ingredients:

Wash the fruits and vegetables;
Cut them into smaller bits:

prepare-smoothie-ingredients-and-blender

If you are using a powerful blender, you don’t have to cut.

If your blender is lesser 1,000 watts, you may have to cut your materials into smaller pieces to avoid too much chunk and to avoid overworking your blender.

3- Add the ingredients in this order:

1 to 2 cups – Liquid ingredients, like yogurt, milk, water, coconut water, fruit juice should be at the base to help the blades move more efficiently;
Protein powder, other powder or sweeteners like sugar or honey. Don’t put these on top to avoid them flying and sticking to the lid;
Fresh fruits and vegetables that are soft. Put in first your base, or the ‘creamy’ fruits like bananas. Watermelon is a ‘watery’ fruit. Put the harder or tougher fruits on top of the softer ones;
Followed by frozen fruits and vegetables;
Add ice cubes to the top if you want thicker smoothies. Their weight will also push the other ingredients down the blade.

This order applies to full-sized blenders with the blades at the bottom of the cups, as opposed to personal blenders.

4- Blend

Depending on the features of your blender, this can be done by pressing PULSE button for a few quick, short spins, or the BLEND button.

Do this step until solids are all pureed.

This step is essential to ensure the ingredients are liquefied and mixed.

Add the ice

The ice can be frozen water or frozen juice or milk. Depending on the quantity you are making, you can try adding half a cup for starters.

You can adjust based on your preference of coolness.

Blend again

Pay particular attention to the ice that needs to be crushed. Also as to how smooth you want your smoothies to be:

If you want it creamy, then the ice should not be pulverized entirely;
If you like it thin in consistency, then you may wish to the ice wholly pureed.

25 Proven Tips For Making A Perfect Smoothie

We will categorize our tips according to:

Ingredients
Preparation process
Mistakes to avoid

Let’s hack!

I- Ingredients

1) Use fresh ingredients as much as you can for both nutritional value and best taste;
2) Freeze your fruit to enjoy fruits, not in season, or to save up when you buy in bulk. Not only does this preserve the fruit, but it also adds the coolness to your smoothie. You may even forego adding ice;
3) An excellent tip to preserve fruits – peel and cut the fruits and vegetables, put in freezer bags and vacuum-seal by a Foodsaver model to preserve the freshness and the nutrients. Stored in the freezer, it can last up to months;
4) Add protein to building muscles and to maintain the full feeling to avoid eating;
5) Options for protein source – you can use protein powder, peanut butter, and even tofu;
6) The wrong concept to add raw eggs for protein content. We absorb protein from eggs better when it is cooked;
7) Mix and match your fruits and vegetables. This will make it exciting for your taste buds, and you will not grow tired of your smoothies. It will also balance the nutrients you get.
8) Take note of these super foods – maca, bee pollen, aloe vera, acai, kale, cacao and chia seeds. Chia seeds should be soaked in water to get a gel-like consistency before adding it to your smoothie;
9) Options for liquid ingredients include water, milk, juice, yogurt, medicinal tea like ginseng;
10) If you are lactose-intolerant, a good option is to use juices;
11) Milk and coconut water (from a young coconut) combined is good probiotic for better digestion;
12) Options for sweetener – go natural or organic, like dates, honey, maple syrup, fruit juice;
13) Options for other flavors (aside from sweetness) – spices, like cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt and its variants;
14) Options for smoother, creamier smoothies – add cream, avocado, coconut, which are all sources of good fats.

II- Preparation process

15) Depending on your equipment, a good blend can take up to 1 – 3 minutes. If you want more chunks for a little chew, blend for a lesser time;
16) Remember to put the liquid ingredients in first, closest to the blades to it can help turn the blades. Ice go last so it would be heavier on top, pushing down all other ingredients towards blender;
17) It’s good to chop, even coarsely, the solids to lessen the stress on your motor. However, soft fruits and vegetables like ripe banana and can be placed in without cutting;
18) Depending on your blender such as best Ninja blenders, use the feature that starts slow, like PULSE. Do not start on full power to avoid overworking your blender;
19) You can try short bursts at the start then go for longer run as the ingredients become finer. It will avoid food spraying all over the sides and top.

When making smoothies, make sure to relax and have fun.

Mother and daughter making smoothie and having fun

You can have the whole family help. Under your supervision, children can help open the fruits or cut them to bits using fingers or plastic utensils.

Have your pretty daughter open the banana and cut into smaller pieces using her fingers.

For more fun, you can have them taste the smoothie in between blending to check on taste and consistency.

Smoothies are colorful and fun and should get you in a happy mood!

III. Mistakes to avoid

Making smoothies is easy and can be done quickly.

However, for any reason we make mistakes. As a result, our drink loses its health benefits and flavors.

Here are 6 tips to overcome some tricky mistakes:

1- Smoothie that is NOT blended well

Symptoms: smoothie with lumps, ingredients are too chunky, or a smoothie with only one prevailing taste.
20) Do this: start with a good pulse and blend for 2 – 3 minutes. Pause in between pulses and shake the pitcher to bring down ingredients, or open the top and stir.

2- Smoothie that is too thin

Symptoms: smoothie that is not creamy, it’s just watery.
21) Do this: use thickeners like mangos, bananas, or add some soaked chia seeds.

Also, when you put in the liquid at the very base, don’t put too much, just enough to help the blades rotate. You can add more water mid-way to adjust taste and consistency.

3- Smoothie that is too sweet

Symptoms: too much sweetness.
22) Do this: use plain milk, avoid sugar. Remember that berries, bananas and full dairy are sweet by itself. You may not have to add sweetener if you have them.

If you have already mixed it too sweet, can balance by adding some lemon juice to your smoothie.

4- Smoothie with bitter or weird taste

Symptoms: smoothie does not taste good.
23) Do this: do not use under-ripe fruits that you will not eat as this would be bitter. Over-ripe is better as long as it is not bruised entirely or damaged.

5- Smoothie with too much ice

Symptoms: oil from the nuts or coconut that is separate from the liquids.
24) Do this: add ice last, so the other ingredients have already mixed well, or instead of ice water, use frozen juice or frozen milk made into ice cubes.

6- Boring smoothie

Symptoms: no matter how you change your ingredients, all your smoothies seem to taste the same.
25) Do this: an experiment on mixing and matching vegetables, fruits and liquids. A general rule is to separate acidic and sweet fruits.

For example, banana is sweet so don’t combine with the acidic fruits with the sour taste, like pineapple and citrus.

It also helps if you follow tried and tested recipes, so you will know the basics of making smoothies.

When you got the basics down, you can start experimenting to suit your own taste.

Wrap up

At the start, we wanted to know how to make smoothies that are:

Very delicious;
Most nutritious;
Consistently smooth, a delight to enjoy and leaves you full and satisfied.

To achieve this, we need

Top quality ingredients;
Perfect proportion of the right blend;
Efficient blender to make the perfect smoothie the most convenient way.

With all these pro tips we gave you, I am sure that you have all you need to enjoy a tall and cool glass of smoothie!