3 Healthy High Protein Vegan Smoothie I Drink ALL the time (NO PROTEIN POWDER!) - Blog Vegan

These delicious vegan smoothie recipes are packed full of nutrients and designed to be high protein for those who need or want it! 

How to make vegan green protein smoothie

• 2 cups loosely packed kale, stems removed if not using high speed blender (or sub spinach)
• 1 heaping cup frozen pineapple 
• 1 large frozen ripe banana
• 1/2 block silken tofu 
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk 
• 2 tablespoon chia seeds 
• ½ inch hunk fresh peeled ginger, optional 
• 1-2 tbsp agave, optional

Why smoothies are good for you

Imagine a medicine, uh a supplement if you will, that is just great for the body.

It tastes really good, and it's packed with all types of nutrition, antioxidants, protein, just the works.

Also you could drink it.

That is basically a smoothie.

It's food in its rawest form.

So there is a mute concern that you may accidentally you know pan sear the vitamin c out of your oranges.

Bottom line if you're not eating smoothies today, you should.

If you're not drinking smoothies today.

Add them into your weekly rotation.

I guess you could eat them if you were like using a spoon or something.

There are some caveats so I guess you want to get your smoothie black belt before jumping into the ring.

How to create high protein smoothies

As we talk through the video today we're going to level up our smoothie knowledge.

And learn a basis for how to create high protein smoothies that we can uh blend into our current diet.

For these recipes we're choosing our high protein ingredient or ingredients first.

Then using the basic formula of choosing a liquid, a fruit and or vegetable, and you know some optional add-ins.

This way we can create some son of frankenstein.

In this recipe I started out with tofu which are one of the highest plant-based proteins.

Silken tofu specifically has a very jello-like consistency.

When blended up it is creamy and smooth which is perfect for like soups or gravies but you know in this case a smoothie.

But why start off with choosing your protein first? Choosing your protein first will serve as the foundation to build the rest of your smoothie on.

Imagine pulling out like all the ingredients to make a pina colada smoothie.

You start your blending and then you realize I forgot to add my protein.

You head over to the fridge you see nothing.

Yet over at the pantry your best protein option is say peanut butter.

Now I'm not gonna knock anybody who likes peanut coladas.

While it has a snazzy name my tastebuds are telling me the flavors together may not be as cool.

I gotta say my curiosity is kinda making me uh want to try it out.

Moral of the story, if I started out with peanut butter I would be better you know set up to formulate some type of recipe that works.

In this recipe we're also using chia seeds and kale to help boost that protein.

If you're not a fan of kale, you could swap that out for like spinach and still be able to endure similar protein values.

Chia seeds could also be swapped for like flax seeds but flax seeds come with a bit of a you know a nutty flavor and for this recipe I was trying to strip away anything that would take away from the tropical fruit taste.

I mean who am I fooling? I basically blended up a salad and now I'm drinking it.

I could live with that.

When and if I'm sweetening this one I typically go with agave which is kind of similar to honey in flavor and it doesn't distract from anything that's in the recipe.

How to make vegan peanut butter

• 1 ripe medium banana (frozen if you prefer) 
• 1 cup frozen strawberries 
• 1/4 cup gluten-free oats  
• 2 Tbsp hemp seeds 
• 2 tablespoon peanut butter 
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed or chia seeds 
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, plus more to thin if necessary
• 1 – 2 pitted dates or maple syrup 

What to put into smoothies to stay full

Smoothies can count as a meal but you have to do it right.

Meaning it needs to be balanced.

At its bones, you want not too much sugar and a good amount of protein and fat.

You need simple sugars from fruit and yes fruit and vegetables contain vital micronutrients to boost health and keep the body pumping.

But a common issue with smoothies is 20 to 30 minutes later your body just feels like ugh I skipped lunch.

Since you don't have any long sustainable energy there.

Okay let's talk a little tad bit about health science.

Without protein and fat smoothies on the surface only add sugar and fiber into the system.

Even though the sugar is from a great source, the body basically will absorb the sugar and use what it can and store the rest.

So nut butters, seed butters, oatmeal, avocados, these are all great ideas for adding size to your smoothie which will aid in the smoothie going further.

Further as in you know keeping you more satisfied.

If your smoothie starts to walk just run.

This smoothie we're using peanut butter, oats, hemp seeds, and flax seeds, to create a very hearty protein smoothie.

Peanut butter being the dominant flavor and then simply adding that to the classic strawberry banana to make something that's just delicious.

I've swapped peanut butter out for cashews before and blended that up since cashews have more of a neutral flavor and they blend up really smooth I was not disappointed.

Oats are a slow digestive carb, I've noticed when this is in my smoothies it holds me over for longer.

Hemp seeds I've read may be hard to digest for some folks so you could swap that for chia seeds or again with some flax seeds.

If you find that your smoothie is too thick, don't be afraid to add just a little bit more plant milk.

Depending on your blender, this may be the route you want to go just to support the blending process.

Also notice in the first or second recipe I don't add any ice.

Benefits of frozen fruit versus ice in smoothies

I find it best to use frozen fruit or vegetables if possible.

Although my bananas weren't frozen like I would want them to be.

Ice does help your smoothie get cold but it also dilutes the flavor a bit which ultimately may lead you to add more sweetener because you're going to feel like you can't taste anything.

How to travel with smoothies 

Quick tip if you want to bring smoothies to work.

Blend it up and put it into like an ice cube tray.

Silicone ones I think are like the coolest because they're like super easy to remove.

Fill a mason jar with ice cubes and you can place that right into the freezer.

You know like one of these guys.

About an hour before you need it, toss this guy right into the fridge and let it thaw and once you come back to it, just give it a good shake and it's ready to go.

Alternatively I'm not sure why you couldn't just you know add your smoothie right into this guy and you know stick that in the freezer.

They say these are freezer safe you just gotta you know fill it up to about here and then I guess just ignore everything I said earlier.

I mean who really likes doing things the easy way nowadays.

How to make Vegan Sun Butter Chocolate Smoothie

• 2 Tbsp hemp seeds 
• 1/4 cup gluten-free oats 
• 2 Tbsp sunflower butter 
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds 
• 1 Tbsp cacao powder 
• 1 ½ cup unsweetened soy milk 
• 1 – 2 dates or maple syrup (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Optional banana

Why you need a high powdered blender

When making smoothies a high-powered blender is just phenomenal.

For a plant-based diet or even just to diversify your culinary experience a high-powered blender is everything.

From making smoothies or milks, to making sauces, butters, dips, to making batters, uh dressings, or even making hot things like soup.

I saved for a good while to get my vitamix and after having it I would do it all over again if I needed to.

It's amazing but sticking to the subject I find it can make all the difference on whether or not you actually even like smoothies.

In my prior blender I used to have lumps or you know stringy pieces of fruit left over after blending.

I mean you couldn't even call this thing a smoothie.

It was more like stew, Maybe stewie.

But now I often make things like peanut butter inside of my blender and it saves me a good chunk of change in comparison to going out and buying it.

In this last smoothie we have no fruits or veggies added into this thing which is nice but it's also sad because I thought I had an extra banana prior to making this and I can kind of still feel the disappointment on my face.

As I literally stared at the fruit bowl contemplating if I should go to the store and get one banana.

But this turned out tasty without it.

With the banana added you get kind of like a mocha salted caramel banana flavor.

Without it it's just salted caramel.

The mocha is in there somewhere.

But the downside to no frozen fruit is like a warm smoothie which is kind of like an oxymoron.

Until you hear about iced coffee.

This smoothie is also special because you actually get most of your protein from the plant milk that's added.

I mean just take a second and think about that.

The prior smoothies if we wanted to dive into 30 plus grams of protein all we needed to do was swap the plant milk.

Like what? Wait? That's it? In this recipe I use soy milk but if you need to dodge soy you could also try out pea milk which is another good high protein plant-based milk.

Each of these recipes can be found in the description and I'll have them linked to my website in the following weeks.

If you're looking for some high protein breakfast options that you shouldn't put in a blender check out this video that's here. Somewhere .

Thank you so much for watching. Believe in good. Peace