This is a reference for all of the low carb smoothies you could ever imagine making!
I have been obsessed with my daily low carb smoothie here lately! I love to have a green smoothie everyday for breakfast. I like the way it taste and I enjoy it.
The thing with most smoothies is they are huge sugar bombs...am I right? A perfect example is the Apple n Greens Smoothie from Jamba Juice. A small(12oz) has 56 net carbs and 45 grams of sugar...OMG! A SMALL! THAT IS MORE SUGAR THAN A 12 OZ CAN OF COKE!
So I have scoured the inter-webs for all of the essential ingredients of a low carb Smoothie! I would recommend picking one from each category to make a smoothie you will love.
How to make Low Carb Smoothies:
- FRUIT
You really want to keep the fruit to a minimum, obviously. I stick to berries like a few frozen strawberries or blueberries. These just add a touch of sweetness.
- GREENS
Spinach, kale, arugula, parsley, romaine, celery, etc. My favorites are spinach or kale. I like to add a lot of greens to my low carb smoothies...at least 2 cups! Have you tried frozen okra in your smoothie? I have been adding that lately and you cannot taste it at all! I have been reading about okra becoming the next superfood
PROTEIN
Feel free to add a scoop of protein powder. Find one that is sweetened with a sugar free sweetener and is lower in carbs.
- SUPERFOODS
Chia seeds, flax seed, cacao nibs (use sparingly), spirulina, hemp seeds, matcha, and Acai. My favorites are chia seeds and matcha. You can add these directly into your low carb smoothie and blend them up, or you can sprinkle the hemp hearts, chia seeds, cacao nibs, or flax seeds on top for a little crunch.
A little note about hemp hearts...these little things are amazing! For 3 tablespoons, your looking at zero net carbs, 15g of fat, and 10g of protein!
- FATS
Coconut oil, Almond butter, natural peanut butter, cashew butter, or avocado. Make sure the nut butters have no added sugar! My favorite to use is almond butter.
- LIQUID
Almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, or just plain ol water (my favorite). Make sure the milks are unsweetened, obv!
- SWEETENER
Stevia, erythritol, monk fruit powder, xylitol (toxic to pets). My favorite is Swerve or liquid stevia! If I have added protein powder to my smoothie then I will reduce or skip the sweetener. It just depends on how sweet your protein powder is and how sweet you like your low carb smoothies!
What else could we need...besides a blender! Here is my favorite blender!
I have a quick recipe down below in the recipe card, but I am also loving this combo:
3-4 strawberries
2 cups fresh spinach
2 tablespoons unsweetened almond butter
1 scoop vanilla Premiere Protein powder
½ to 1 scoop AmazingGrass Green Superfood
1 scoop Innate Magnesium powder
1 cup ice
1 cup water
Low Carb Smoothies (The Essentials!)
This post may contain affiliate links
Ingredients
- 3 frozen organic strawberries
- ½ cup frozen spinach or kale, (whatever I have on hand)
- 1 teaspoon chia seeds
- 2 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar free granulated sweetener (see my favorite on Amazon)
- fill the cup with water or Almond milk
Instructions
- add all to a blender cup and blend until smooth
- enjoy!
Notes
- For any of the other ingredients that I talked about, I would use 1 serving. So if you wanted to add hemp hearts to your smoothie, add 3 tablespoons which is zero net carbs, 13g of fat, and 10g of protein!
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy only. Please re-calculate on your own with the ingredients and amounts you used for the most accurate data.
Ashley says
Made a strawberry and spinach smoothie with naked whey and greek yogurt for the base. I did use some maple syrup but it really good.
Shannon says
Thank you! I am trying to cut the sugar in my smoothie and this helps. I’ve been using raspberry/blueberry herbal iced tea instead of water for extra fruit flavor w/o the sugar. It adds a boost of flavor!
Anne says
Thanks for the inspiration on my journey! You gave me some insight into reformulating my best-loved smoothie for my new low carb path. Love your site!
Deborah Goldman says
Hi Jennifer, I was wondering if fresh verses frozen fruits and vegetables. I notice you have frozen most of the time for your recipes. Is frozen less carbs??
Jennifer Banz says
Frozen is just more convenient
Amy Sears says
How much almond milk do you use and what kind?
jenniferbanz says
I would use enough to cover the ingredients in the container, or about 8 ounces
Chrishara Sutton- Moore says
I love this revelation I received for eating well. Thank you for all this information!
Kristin Warner says
I'm 51 years old. I've been a type 1 diabetic since I was three and no one else in my family has ever had diabetes I can't take care of myself until I was in my thirties I've always been underweight or normal too low. Now I have gastroparesis and there's not very much that can even fit in my stomach if anything even stays down. All I care about is keeping my blood sugar low. so this is the smoothie I can have as much as I can get down and never have to worry about my blood sugar because it is so low carb. I want to wait and end up getting a bypass and they took out 85% of my stomach so that is the other issue that even if there was room ,I couldn't fit enough in there to gain weight. I know this is completely jumbled and I'm sorry about that I just wanted to spit everything out at once. I freeze everything so that it doesn't get diluted and I can just put it back in the freezer and it tastes better. There's never any reason to add water when I could add chicken broth or some kind of low carb, sometimes Fairlife milk for heavy whipping cream mixed with water which is what that carb control milk was I think. The premier protein shakes which I believe are the same as the ensure Max protein boost which is more expensive but sometimes I've heard that Peoples Insurance might pay for it? That would be nice. Both have lower carbs than the same brand of powder so I freeze those in ice cube trays. Unfortunately to me only the chocolate is okay so I can't make a fruit smoothie with it. It's possible the vanilla might not taste so sickeningly sweet and okay in a smoothie but I haven't tried it yet. I just use frozen blackberries Frozen starfruit and frozen raspberries sometimes some kind of low carb yogurt. I need sweetener I only just use what tastes good to me which is and I'm sure you will cringe, equal. I'm not concerned at all about the health aspects I just care about taste and blood sugar at this point. Also good, but not refreshing is the Premier Protein chocolate and peanut butter some low carb milk I guess. Most of the protein powders don't taste so great and they have hidden carbs and they're too damn expensive to experiment with but I probably will. I never post anything online so I'm going to send this before I go back and erase it. The star fruit is horribly expensive I ordered a box of it from somewhere but you really really have to let them ripen which is a killer if your as impatient as I am and actually yell at your microwave to hurry the f up okay so I'm done now. I'm in the hospital and I have no one to talk to you does it show?
Melissa Russell says
New to smoothies but having fun. Thanks to all your great recipes and tips im not wasting alot of ingredients by trial and error! Thankyou!
Liana says
Best recipe ever! Thankyou for all of the recipes you post. You have made a difficult keto journey so much easier for me!❤️
Erica Reilly says
Hi do youave option to subscribe to you?
jenniferbanz says
Yes! Go to jenniferbanz.com and fill out the form on the top of the page
Jeremy says
Can I make these the night before? Or are they best to be made right before consuming?
jenniferbanz says
Best made right before drinking
Romy Hayward says
Could I substitute plain Greek yogurt for protein?
jenniferbanz says
Sure!
Robin says
SO happy I found your site! Thanks for these smoothie ideas. I'm studying up on IF and want to do it.
Suzanne Kennedy says
Hey Jennifer-
Love the green smoothies...working with a nutritionist who would love added avocado.. ginger .... whole lemon to that!
Hope you try it
francesca says
thank you for this inspiration :)!!!!! it's always great to find out new ideas!!!
jenniferbanz says
You're very welcome, Francesca!
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
I don't normally have a smoothie in place of meals but this smoothie certainly sounds very satisfactory. Now I'd like to have it after my workout. It would give me that added boost.
Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts says
Wow!!! These are a powerhouse of nutrition!!!!!!
And your photos are just gorgeous.
Lfostry says
Looks great!!! Trying it for breakfast! Can you tell me what the macros would be?
jenniferbanz says
I added that info to the recipe card. Thanks!
Renna Hanlon says
Do you dissolve your matcha in boiling water first, or just add the powder to your smoothie?
jenniferbanz says
I just put it in there ?