Load up on greens with this beet greens smoothie! The healthy green smoothie recipe is a great way to use leftover beet greens from making your favorite beetroot recipes like cucumber and beet salad, beetroot dip, or watermelon beet salad.
What are Beet Greens?
Beet greens are the often-overlooked leafy tops of the beet plant. While you might usually discard them when preparing fresh beets, don’t! These greens are packed with flavor and are a tasty addition to fresh salad recipes and smoothies, like this one! Here’s what you need to make it:
Key Ingredients
- Milk: Choose your favorite liquid for the smoothie—dairy, oat, soy, coconut, almond milk, water, or even fruit juice.
- Lemon Juice: Add the juice from half a fresh lemon for a bright flavor. Select a lemon with a vibrant color that is heavy for its size. Bring it to room temperature and roll it between your palm and the counter to make it easier to juice.
- Avocado: Include half of an avocado or swap it with a banana for an extra creamy smoothie.
- Sweetener: Naturally sweeten the beet greens smoothie with pitted Medjool dates and frozen pineapple or mango chunks.
- Beet Greens: Wash and roughly chop beet greens for the smoothie recipe. If you don’t have enough beet greens, swap for baby spinach, kale, mint leaves, or a combination.
- Cilantro: Add a small handful of fresh cilantro. It may be like an odd addition, but try it! If you are not a fan of the cilantro flavor, replace it with fresh mint leaves.
- Ginger: Fresh ginger is a perfect match for this smoothie. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, grate the ginger first to ensure it blends smoothly.
Additions and Substitutions
- Experiment with mix-ins. Include extras like protein powder, collagen, spirulina, flaxseeds, chia seeds, bee pollen, matcha, or hemp seeds.
- Load up on veggies. Fresh zucchini, celery, and cucumber are a fresh-tasting addition to the green smoothie.
Equipment
I recommend using a high speed blender to process the greens, but you can also use a small blender.
Smoothie Basics
Choose a Liquid. Switch up the liquid in your smoothie, depending on what you’re in the mood for. Use plain or flavored coconut water, your favorite dairy or non-dairy milk, fruit juice, or plain water. If you want to try something different, use chai or green tea as a base.
Add a Thickener. For a thicker, more filling smoothie, try blending it with an avocado, banana, or oats. Seed (sunflower butter) and nut butter (almond butter or peanut butter) are a tasty addition, or stir in some crushed graham crackers. You can’t go wrong with a scoop of protein powder or some chia, flax, or hemp seeds.
Sneak in Some Veggies. Boosting your smoothie with fresh greens is a solid choice—try beet greens, chard, kale, or spinach. You can even mix in veggies like broccoli, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, or zucchini.
Sweeten with Fruit. Naturally sweeten your smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and cherries. Go with mango or pineapple for a tropical twist, or add bananas, peaches, or kiwi.
Toss in Some Extras. Brighten your smoothie with a squeeze of lemon or lime, pomegranate seeds, or freshly grated ginger. Treat yourself to something sweet and add a little agave, chopped dates, cocoa powder, honey, maple syrup, monk fruit, sugar, or a splash of vanilla extract. You can’t go wrong with fresh mint leaves or spice things up with a pinch of black pepper, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, or turmeric.
Blend Everything Together. Combine the ingredients until smooth, and add more liquid as needed. Then, pour the smoothie into drinking glasses to serve.
How to Make Beet Greens Smoothie
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Rinse and dry the beet greens and transfer them to a blender.
Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients to the blender and process until smooth. If the smoothie is too thick, add more liquid as needed.
Expert Tips
- Use frozen fruit. Using frozen fruit is best since it keeps the smoothie cold and thick.
- Adjust the consistency. Add more liquid at the end if the smoothie is too thick.
If you enjoy this green smoothie, try more tasty snack recipes!
Serving Suggestions
A beet greens smoothie is a great way to start your day, or you can enjoy it as a post-workout drink or tasty afternoon snack.
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: The smoothie is best enjoyed fresh, but store any leftovers in an airtight container or glass jar for two days.
- Freeze: Pour the smoothie into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, transfer the frozen smoothie cubes to a freezer-safe container or bag. Beet greens smoothie cubes will freeze for 2-3 months.
- Thaw: Add the frozen cubes to a blender with milk, water, or juice, and process until smooth.
- Repurpose: Make a smoothie bowl with toppings like low FodMap granola, fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, or nut butter like peanut butter or almond butter. You can also pour the leftovers into popsicle molds to make kid-friendly smoothie popsicles!
More Smoothie Recipes:
Beet Greens Smoothie
- Salad Spinner
- 2-3 cups fresh beet greens, washed, stemmed, and roughly chopped
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ medium avocado
- 2-3 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- ½ cup frozen pineapple or mango chunks
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves, washed and roughly chopped
- 1-inch knob of ginger, grated
- ice cubes, as needed
- Use frozen fruit. Using frozen fruit is best since it keeps the smoothie cold and thick.
- Adjust the consistency. Add more liquid at the end if the smoothie is too thick.