What is the ratio for a green smoothie?

A reliable beginner ratio is roughly two parts liquid to one and a half parts fruit to one part greens by volume, which is enough fruit to hide the greens completely. As you get used to the taste you can push the greens up and the fruit down. Set your own amounts above and the taste-strength meter shows how green it will actually taste.

How much spinach should I put in a smoothie?

One packed cup, about a large handful, is plenty for a single smoothie and blends away under any sweet fruit. Two cups is a strong, properly green smoothie. Because spinach weighs so little, the amount matters less for texture than it does for taste, so adjust it to how green you want the flavour.

Why does my green smoothie taste bitter?

Usually too much green for the fruit, or a stronger green like kale without enough sweetness to balance it. Add more ripe fruit, a squeeze of lemon to brighten it, or a date for sweetness, and drop the greens back a little. The taste meter above tells you when the balance has tipped too far toward the greens.

Which greens are best for a smoothie?

Spinach is the mildest and the easiest to hide, so it is the best place to start. Cucumber and celery are light and fresh, kale is stronger and more fibrous, and avocado brings a creamy, near-flavourless green richness. Rotating between them keeps the taste interesting and spreads out the oxalate from spinach and kale.

Greens you cannot taste

Green smoothie ratio calculator

The whole trick to a green smoothie is the ratio. Pick your greens, fruit and liquid, set the amounts, and see whether you will taste the spinach.

Greens

1× 1 cup 1

Fruit

1.5× 1 cup 1.5

Liquid

1× 1 cup 1

Your green smoothie

Taste strength

Can't taste the greens

191Calories

4gProtein

34gSugar

5.6gFiber

Greens to fruit sits near 0.1 by weight. The fruit leads, so the greens hide completely. Great for beginners and kids. Spinach and kale are high in oxalate, so rotate your greens across the week.

Greens add color and nutrients but almost no calories or body, so you can adjust them freely without changing the texture. If it comes out thin, add more frozen fruit rather than less liquid.

The ratio that hides the spinach

A green smoothie only works if you cannot taste that it is green, and that is a question of balance, not of willpower. Enough sweet, ripe fruit will bury a handful of spinach completely, while too many leaves for the fruit tips it into something you have to talk yourself into drinking. Dial the greens up as your taste adjusts, keep the fruit doing the heavy lifting, and the meter tells you exactly where the line is.

Fruit hides the greens, ripe fruit hides them best

Sweet, strong fruit like mango, pineapple and banana masks the grassy note of spinach far better than a subtle berry does. When you are starting out, let the fruit lead and keep the greens to a single handful.

Spinach is the training-wheel green

It is the mildest of the leafy greens, which is why it is the one that disappears into fruit. Kale is stronger and more fibrous, so ease into it once spinach has stopped tasting like anything.

Greens do not thicken, so do not add liquid for them

A handful of leaves weighs almost nothing and blends to nothing, so it does not change how thick the smoothie is. Keep your liquid and fruit where they are and add the greens on top.

Rotate your greens through the week

Spinach and kale are high in oxalate, and eating the same green every single day is not the point of variety anyway. Swap in cucumber, celery or a different leaf so no one plant dominates.

Counting the calories in your greens?

See exactly how a green smoothie stacks up on calories, protein, carbs and fat with the green smoothie calorie guide, or open the full calorie calculator for any blend.

Calories in a green smoothie

Estimates, not advice. Every figure on this page is calculated from published per-100 g reference values and standard household measures, so your own brands, portions and equipment will move it. Nothing here is medical, nutritional or dietetic advice — talk to a qualified professional before acting on it, particularly if you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or feeding a child.