Kale Smoothie

This spring, I was eating kale salads on repeat and still had more kale than I could use coming out of my garden. I decided to try blanching and freezing it with the intent to make a kale smoothie recipe, which is finally here!

There are a lot of kale smoothie recipes on the internet, and not all of them are good, in my opinion. I love kale, its flavor does not bother me. In addition, I’m using blanched kale which naturally should be less bitter, so perhaps my taste buds are biased on what makes a kale smoothie good.

Ok, so what does it take to make a good kale smoothie?

First, use a base of frozen tropical fruit. I found that a fruit melody was better than one fruit alone. I tried it with peaches alone and pineapple alone, then I tried the combination of peaches, pineapple and mango and found it to be best. Banana also adds a creamy texture, so I prefer it in my smoothies. Strawberries were a delicious addition, but they caused the color to turn brown, so I omitted them.

Second, I do not think that the smoothie needs to be sweetened to cover up the kale flavor. The fruit is sweet enough to do that without adding honey or dates. If you find your kale smoothie tastes bitter, try blanching the kale instead of covering it up with a bunch of sugar.

Finally, you need to add something to the smoothie to make it filling, unless you are not consuming it as a meal. I tried different nut butters and hemp seeds and the flavors were all wrong. Plain greek yogurt was best for me. I planed on trying it with vanilla protein powder and never got around to it because I enjoyed it with the greek yogurt so much.

One more thing to note, I tried this recipe with both almond milk and soy milk and I prefered the soy milk because it produced a thicker, creamier smoothie. This difference was subtle, so in reality, either will works

Tips and Tricks for the Kale Smoothie Recipe:

1. I have an inexpensive blender not a fancy expensive brand name, and I have no problems making a smooth and creamy smoothie. You just have to process it longer. Continue to process until the little flecks of kale disappear, about 1-2 minutes. If you have a high powder blender, maybe you won’t need the additional ¼ cup water. I have not tested it.
2. To blanch your kale, remove the stems but leave the leaves in larger pieces so they are easy to remove from the water. Submerge in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, or until the kale is wilted and bright green (I do this in large batches). Transfer to a collander to drain (I did not use an ice water bath). Divide the kale into 30 gram portions, about 1 standard muffin cup, and freeze. I used a silicone muffin tray. Once frozen, place all portions in a zip top bag.
3. The frozen fruit melody I buy comes with strawberries in it, but I omit them because they turn the smoothie brown. The flavor with the strawberries is good, just not appealing to the eye.
4. Freeze bananas that are over-ripe on a parchment lined baking sheet, then transfer to a zip-top bag for storage. Green bananas will not lend a sweet flavor, I do not recommend them.

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