Regardless of your taste preferences or dietary needs, most people can agree that there's no better way to kick off the morning than with a low-sugar, delicious breakfast bowl made with simple, high-quality ingredients. Smoothie bowls are one of our favorite ways to make sure that we check all of these qualities off the list.
Here's our formula for creating a breakfast that you'll not only look forward to every morning, but it will keep you going until lunch.
Healthy base
There's nothing like starting the day with a good protein boost. Using a dairy yogurt as the base for our smoothie bowls is an easy way to add protein, but be sure to choose one with less sugar and simple ingredients.
You can use your favorite yogurt (we love siggi's vanilla, raspberry, or plain). Using yogurt as your base ensures that your smoothie will have protein, calcium, and probiotics—all wonderful nutrients to kick your day off with.
Greens
We love incorporating mild-tasting greens into our smoothies—spinach is especially great for this, but kale works nicely, too. Add them into the blender on top of your base, if using.
Superfoods
Part of the reason we love smoothie bowls is how easy it is to add superfoods to the mix. Try a scoop of any of the super seeds (flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds) or your favorite adaptogen like maca or moringa.
Fruit
The addition of frozen fruit gives our smoothies some extra creaminess and structure (key in a smoothie bowl). We're especially fans of bananas for this, but frozen mango, cherries, and berries are all great too.
Get seasonal
As the weather gets colder, we try to align our smoothie bowls with the spices and produce of the season. A couple of heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree, a good pinch of cinnamon, or some low-sugar apple butter are all warming and grounding.
Toppings that are natural—and don't add too much sugar
Creating a nutrient-rich breakfast that won't cause a midmorning crash is all about being mindful of the components in your smoothie bowl and making sure you're not packing it with too much sugar.
Top your bowl with homemade granola (so you can control the sugar content), nut butter, or toasted nuts and seeds.
Banana Cinnamon Green Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup vanilla yogurt or ¾ cup vanilla filmjolk
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon maca
- 1 frozen banana, broken into pieces
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch nutmeg
Toppings
- Peanut butter
- Granola with minimal added sugar
Preparation
- Place vanilla yogurt or filmjolk in a blender (if using yogurt, add ½ cup of water as well).
- Add in spinach, chia seeds, maca, banana, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and blend until smooth. Scrape down the sides once or twice with a rubber spatula to combine. This may take a few minutes, depending on your blender. Note: Because it's a smoothie bowl, you want the consistency to be thicker, so it will take longer than a standard smoothie.
- Pour into a bowl and top with a scoop of almond butter and granola.