The Smoothie Craze: Ten epic but easy smoothie recipes

As Vinspire's chief 'pinner' (and proud!), I find myself gleefully adding lots of tasty treats to our Vinspire Pinterest page.

I pin everything from cocktails to boozy bakes, incredible bars and amazing wine travel destinations, but the amount of smoothie recipe pins I've seen just keeps on growing. This healthy and filling breakfast trend has taken over on both sides of the pond.

Naturally, I started a Smoothies board, and I've become increasingly excited about the recipes I've found.

Of course, Pinterest being Pinterest, not all of the recipes are focussed on being healthy – some are decadent in the extreme, replacing fruit with ingredients like peanut butter, chocolate and whipped cream – so there really is something for everyone.

Here are ten of the best (but easiest) smoothie recipes I've found, all using easy to find ingredients:

1. Avocado chocolate peanut butter smoothie

YES. You heard right. All the world's best things (aside from booze, obviously) in a glass. This recipe is from the wonderful A Cookie Named Desire blog: she cleverly blends naughty ingredients like peanut butter and cocoa powder with filling, healthy things like banana, avocado and almond milk. Winner.

2. Skinny strawberry shortcake smoothie

A brilliant, three-ingredient smoothie that is thick and creamy but doesn't contain anything unhealthy. MAGIC. This recipe is from Amy's Healthy Baking Blog. The post is worth reading to see how excited she gets as she'd just made an appearance on a big American daytime TV show.

3. Gingerbread Smoothie

I think this one definitely wins on cuteness. There are a few more ingredients to the gingerbread smoothie recipe (which comes from the fabulous Peanut Butter and Peppers blog) but they're all readily available and you probably have most of them in your cupboards already.


4. Thin mint smoothie

This brilliant and simple PopSugar recipe is based on the popular US Girl Scout cookies (like the ones Monica got addicted to on Friends...) and is a suuuuper refreshing way to start the day. It's got some sneaky spinach in as well.


5. Pina colada oat breakfast smoothie

All the fun without the booze. Plus you get two of your five-a-day and plenty of energy-boosting yoghurt and oats. This recipe is from the Cooking Classy blog. Jaclyn (the blog's owner) is pretty good at smoothie recipes so it's worth browsing the rest of her collection...


6. Carrot cake smoothie

Another one of those smoothies where you're surprised to already have all the ingredients handy. This recipe sounds a bit naughty but actually has carrot, banana AND almond milk in it - POW! From Gimme Some Oven.


7. Raspberry and coconut smoothie

Another three-ingredient triumph of a recipe from the A Beautiful Mess blog. What a lovely combination of flavours.


8. Banana and almond smoothie

From British-based My Recipe Book, this super-satisfying four-ingredient recipe is perfect for busy, on-the-go types.

9. Healthy red velvet smoothie

Another cake-inspired smoothie recipe, this is surprisingly chocka with fruit and veg: beetroot, strawberries, banana AND dates. That may sound an odd combination, but it so works. From the Chocolate and Carrots blog.

 10. Espresso banana smoothie

If, like me, you can't quite let go of your morning coffee, this is the smoothie recipe for you. It also has a little dash of sneaky maple syrup. From Move Nourish Believe.