Flavor add

Coconut oil in a smoothie

Pure fat, no texture role, and it behaves oddly in anything cold.

Short answer

About 1 tsp in a glass — 4.5 g and 39 calories at that amount. The readings are 0 of 3 for thickening, 1 for creaminess and 0 for sweetness. Nothing gets above one, so the texture of a blend is not set by coconut oil — the body has to come from elsewhere in the glass.

Coconut oil is the most calorie-dense thing you can put in a blender, and it does none of the three jobs the other ingredients do — it does not thicken, sweeten or make the drink creamy. It is there for the fat and nothing else, which makes it the one ingredient where the amount matters far more than the placement.

In the ratio model every ingredient fills one of five roles. Coconut oil is a flavor add: nothing in the texture changes when it goes in, so the ratio model gives it no share of the glass. That is what decides how much of it goes in, which is the next question on this page.

How much coconut oil to put in a smoothie

The ratio model does not portion coconut oil at all — it takes up no meaningful room, so it goes in on top of a finished blend rather than instead of something. One tsp is 4.5 g.

There is no texture penalty for using more of it, only a flavor one — and overshooting with coconut oil is easier than people expect. Taste before the second spoonful, not after.

Taking up no room is not the same as costing nothing. One tsp of coconut oil is 39 calories, which lands on top of whatever the rest of the glass already carries — the table below is the whole of it.

4.5 g
Typical, one glass

1 tsp, portioned by the same model as the ratio calculator.

4.5–4.5 g
The whole range

The model portions one amount for this role, so there is no range to work within.

39
Calories per tsp

Change the amount and this moves with it — the calorie calculator does the arithmetic as you build.

What coconut oil does to the texture

Every ingredient on this site is rated out of three on the only three jobs that matter in a blender. Those ratings are what the substitution engine scores against, so they are the same numbers the rest of the site works from.

Thickness 0 / 3
It does not thicken

Adding coconut oil changes nothing about how thick the blend is. Whatever body the drink has comes from the frozen fruit and the base — if it is pouring thin, this is not the ingredient to add more of.

Creaminess 1 / 3
A trace of creaminess

The edges soften slightly. That is the difference between a blend that tastes finished and one that tastes like fruit and water, but the mouthfeel is not being carried here.

Sweetness 0 / 3
No sweetness of its own

None at all. Every bit of sweetness in the glass has to come from the fruit or from something added for the purpose, which is useful when you want to control it.

Nothing gets above one, so the texture of a blend is not set by coconut oil — the body has to come from elsewhere in the glass.

Coconut oil nutrition

Per 100 g so it can be compared against anything, and per tsp so it matches what actually goes in the jar. One tsp of coconut oil weighs 4.5 g.

Basis
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Sugar
Fat
Per 100 g 100 g · 0 g fiber
862 kcal
0 g
0 g
0 g
99.1 g
Per tsp 4.5 g · 0 g fiber
39 kcal
0 g
0 g
0 g
4.5 g

Figures for coconut oil. Everything on the site — every recipe, every calculator — sums from these same numbers, so a total you see elsewhere will always agree with this table.

What goes well with coconut oil

Its best partners

cocoa powder , banana , almond butter , medjool dates and oat milk . Each of those either covers something coconut oil does not do, or leans the same way hard enough to make the drink taste deliberate.

What to use instead of coconut oil

Each stand-in is scored against coconut oil on all three jobs at once, by the same engine behind the substitution calculator. Calories and sugar are for one everyday measure of the replacement; the smaller figure underneath is the difference against the same measure of coconut oil.

Swap
Thickness
Creaminess
Sweetness
Calories
Sugar
Almond Butter Per tbsp · keeps 5 of 9 · listed swap
Differs
Differs
Match
98 +59
1 +1
Peanut Butter Per tbsp · keeps 4 of 9 · listed swap
Differs
Differs
Close
94 +55
1 +1

Build a blend around it

Put coconut oil in, add whatever else is in the kitchen, and watch the calories and macros move as you go.

Open the calorie calculator

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.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

More on blending with coconut oil

Can you drink coconut oil in a smoothie?

You can, and people do it for the fat rather than for any effect on the drink. Two things are worth knowing before you start. It is by far the most energy-dense ingredient in this database for its weight, so a casual spoonful is not a small addition. And claims that it burns fat or speeds up metabolism are not settled — treat it as a fat you are choosing to add, not a tool.

Why does coconut oil go lumpy in a cold smoothie?

Because it sets solid below about 76°F, and a jar of frozen fruit is far colder than that. Poured in melted, it hits the frozen fruit and seizes into little flecks that read as grit. The way round it is to blend the oil with the room-temperature liquid first, then add the frozen fruit — or to use a nut butter instead, which stays soft.

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