Super creamy Medjool Date Green Smoothie (or soft-serve style bowl) with good stuff like kale, spinach, yogurt, cashew butter, cinnamon, and ZERO bananas!
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY NATURAL DELIGHTS®
I have more banana-less smoothie recipes on this site than banana inclusive ones, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Bananas – they cool and all. But the smoothie world is oversaturated with banana-y blender recipes, so I am making it my life’s mission to balance that out. One banana-free-but-so-delicious-you-won’t-miss-them creation at a time.
Another one of my life’s missions: make sure every smoothie is as close to ice cream as possible (or at least comes with an almost ice cream option). I actually feel even more strongly about this issue, because eating ice cream for breakfast but feeling healthy about it is one of those tiny but beautiful things in life that we all deserve to experience. At least once…a week….more in the summer months.
I have a few other banana-free smoothie faves in the archives already, but today I wanted to tackle the classic GREEN smoothie.
There are many things I love about this particular combo of ingredients (so many I’ve made it 4 times this week!), but I actually gotta give props to the Natural Delights smoothie nutrition calculator for coming up with this one. It’s a fun tool that gives you ingredient ideas to pick from, throws them in a blender (virtually…no actual throwing involved), and blends while also calculating the stats for your smoothie.
It’s helpful if you have particular nutrition goals, but I also love it for ingredient inspiration outside of my usual smoothie routine.
Pecans in a blueberry smoothie? Don’t mind if I do.
Creamy Medjool Date Green Smoothie Ingredients
- Medjool dates. Just two of these little guys makes the smoothie perfectly sweet without any other fruit, and amps up the creaminess too. I used organic pitted Medjool dates from Natural Delights.
- Yogurt. I used almond milk yogurt, but any non-dairy yogurt is fine or greek yogurt if you roll like that.
- Kale and spinach. For the GREENS. Fresh, or frozen works too.
- Frozen cauliflower. This is where the thick and frosty texture comes from. You can add ice too to make it even thicker.
- Cashew butter. This is key for creaminess, and adds a dessert-y decadence that I love. Almond butter or sunbutter is good too.
- Cinnamon. If you like.
- Almond milk. Enough to blend to your desired consistency (are you a spoon or straw person?), or skip it for a froyo-like smoothie bowl texture.
Yep that’s more veg than fruit. Nope it doesn’t taste like grass. This is one of those best of both worlds moments, friends.
Personally I’m partial to extra creamy, bowl + spoon, and all the fruity toppings. But whatever your smoothie style, if you’re not making smoothies with Medjools you’re missing out on some seriously good, banana-free, dessert (AND VEGGIES) for breakfast moments.
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Super creamy Medjool Date Green Smoothie (or soft-serve style bowl) with good stuff like kale, spinach, yogurt, cashew butter, cinnamon, and ZERO bananas!
Ingredients
- 2 pitted Natural Delights® Medjool Dates (40g)
- 1 cup (25g) kale
- 1 cup (25g) spinach
- 1/2 cup frozen cauliflower
- 2 tbsp (30g) cashew butter
- 1/2 cup (125g) non-dairy yogurt
- 1/2–1 cup almond milk*
- 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a blender (liquids first for easiest blending).
- Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Adjust about of almond milk to achieve desired consistency.
- Pour into a glass or bowl. Add fruit, coconut, or whatever toppings you love. Enjoy!
Notes
*Or skip for a thicker soft serve/smoothie bowl texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 smoothie
- Calories: 425
- Sugar: 29g
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 53g
- Fiber: 8g
- Protein: 12g
Keywords: vegan, dairy free, banana free, easy, blender, breakfast, healthy
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Just finished a green smoothie when I got your email alert about a green smoothie recipe…my smoothie was good but it would have been SO MUCH BETTER with Medjool dates in it! There’s nothing quite like a smoothie made with dates…almost makes it taste like a milkshake, amirite? And brilliant addition of cauliflower…yay for sneaking in veggies into smoothies (milkshakes).
Monday morning green smoothies just feel right, don’t they 🙂 But yes I totally agree with you on the dates in smoothies thing, very dessert-y tasting even with just a couple of them in there. I call them smoothies, but my smoothies are always much closer to a milkshake than a salad haha!
So can we just talk about how tricky it can be to get an actual GREEN smoothie?! So often whatever else you add can just turn it into a dark purple/gray/brown situation, and it’s so not pretty (though usually still tastes fine). So purely from aesthetics, you are already killingggg it, and just from reading the ingredients there’s no way it can’t taste good!! I’ve recently hopped on the cauliflower in smoothies train, and while I don’t see myself giving up my frozen banana in it too, it always feels good to get some extra veggies in first thing in the morning. Going to have to give this one a try though, it looks incredible, as always!
Oh girl, I feel ya on the color thing! I think the issue is that I have a very hard time resisting not adding berries (especially blueberries, just love them too much) to every blended thing I make and berries + greens = ugly and no chance of saving it😆 I’m all for fruit and veg in there too, can’t do those SUPER green tasing smoothies that are barely even sweet, but I do love the thick frosty texture of frozen cauliflower too!
Hi! This looks so yummy and I’m always hunting for smoothies sans bananas! I’ve only tried one cauliflower smoothie and it fell very short of the mark, BUT I blame the recipe and not the vegetable (for now!). I know it’s recommended to steam and and then freeze cauliflower for digestion, but I’m wondering (since they are kinda expensive at the moment) if I can use store bought frozen cauliflower? How does that work with the non-steaming?
I always use store-bought frozen cauliflower! Or even the riced kind is great and blends up really easily. Most frozen cauliflower you buy has been blanched first so it’s not raw and should be easier to digest 🙂 I hope you try it and love it, cauliflower in smoothies is awesome in my opinion!
Thank you!!! I hate bananas and this sounds really yummy
YAY! I hope you love this one then😋
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that your approach to sweetening your baked goods is FANTASTIC. My husband and I tend to stay away from processed sugars, so dates and fruits are our go-to for sweetening up our day. I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Your recipes have made our lives so much easier and our taste buds so much livelier.
★★★★★
Aw yay! Thanks for the beautiful feedback, Mel💜 I am so happy you guys are loving the recipes–makes me so happy to hear🤗
Ok so I can’t believe I’ve never added dates to my green smoothie until now (I’ve added them in other smoothies but never green ones) and omgg it’s so good!! Thanks for sharing Nat!
★★★★★
With how many stunning green smoothie bowls you’ve made over the many years, that’s hard for me to believe too! Luckily they don’t affect the color too much, otherwise it could get ugly lol. Well never too late🤗🤗
Dates in smoothies are brilliant, especially with a creamy base! Normally I consume dates on their own, pitted, and smothered in almond butter. This sounds just as delicious–green smoothies are absolutely incredible! Definitely have to try this recipe with vegan protein powder because I have a bunch in my pantry!
Ugh yes, dates + almond butter is so dangerously deliciously amazing❤️ I feel ya on that combo, but in smoothies is really yum too! I also find they don’t melt as fast as banana based smoothies so that’s a nice added bonus🤗 It would be great with protein powder in the mix, I gotta try that too!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I had started to hate vegan pancake recipe variations because they never turned out good, and all you could make is a tiny pancake to get it at least somewhat heated throughout fully. I decided to get rid of the various flaxmeal and other trendy flour recipes and give the good old regular flour a try. So I stumbled upon your recipe – and I’m happy I did! Made a classic pancake Sunday for me and my boyfriend using your recipe and they turned out wonderful! I’m so happy with the result that it certainly brought back the joy of making pancakes for me :)) Thanks!
Aw yay! So happy you finally found a recipe that works for you, they definitely can be the perfect little weekend moment of joy🥞☺️