Matcha Smoothie Bowl (vegan)

Name: Matcha Smoothie Bowl (vegan)
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 Banana (sliced into 6-8 chunks and frozen); 1 cup/ 150 grams Frozen Mango Chunks; 1/2 tsp Matcha Green Tea Powder; 1/4 cup/ 55 grams Fresh Spinach; 1/4 cup/ 60 ml Almond Milk (or dairy-free milk of choice); 1/4 cup/ 25 grams Blueberries; 1/2 tbsp Cacao Nibs; 1/2 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds

June 15, 2020

This matcha smoothie bowl is thick, creamy, and made with just 5 healthy ingredients. A recipe for a tasty smoothie bowl which is sure to hit the spot!

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Prep Time 5 mins

Total Time 5 mins

Today, my friends, we are making a matcha smoothie bowl.

Hang on, let me say it louder for the people at the back.

WE’RE MAKING A MATCHA SMOOTHIE BOWL. (Capitalisation 100% necessary.)

Grab your blenders, friends, because you’re going to want to make this recipe. It’s creamy, refreshing, and of course it’s super tasty. I mean, smoothie bowls are essentially a socially-acceptable way to have ice cream for breakfast. Though let’s be honest, I would eat ice cream for breakfast anyways. (And maybe I have.)

But first, let’s cover the basics for the few, ahem, unseasoned amongst you who are unfamiliar with 2 pretty important things for this recipe: 1) matcha, and 2) smoothie bowls. LET’S GO!

What is matcha?

Matcha is powdered green tea packed with antioxidants. This is because matcha is the blended form of the entire leaf. So as opposed to making regular brewed tea, where some antioxidants diffuse into the water before you discard the tea bag, making matcha is kind of like blending the tea bag with the water. Except the tea is already blended into a fine powder for you!

There are two main ‘grades’ of Matcha: ceremonial grade and culinary grade. Ceremonial grade is only meant for drinking with water, whereas culinary grade is best for combining with other ingredients to make matcha energy balls, lattes and smoothies like this one.

What is a smoothie bowl?

If you haven’t had a smoothie bowl before, I am giving you my wholehearted permission to click that ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of this blog post and go make one ASAP. Because boy are you missing out.

Smoothie bowls are essentially smoothies made with less liquid than usual, so they have a thick ice cream-like consistency. They’re just as dreamy as they sound, and are similar in texture to a fruit sorbet.

The best thing about smoothie bowls? They’re the perfect vessel for some tasty toppings! My favourites include fresh fruit, cacao nibs, and homemade stovetop granola. (Always granola. In granola we trust.)

What ingredients do I need?

To make a matcha smoothie bowl, you just need 5 healthy ingredients:

Frozen bananas
Frozen mango
Spinach
Matcha green tea powder
Dairy free milk – I love using homemade almond milk!

If you don’t like bananas, I don’t like you. (Who wrote that? Wasn’t me.) I meant to say, if you don’t like bananas, you can sub an extra 1/2 cup of frozen mango. And if you don’t like mango, I don’t like you. (That one actually was me. Lool.)

To turn these healthy ingredients into a smoothie bowl, simply blend them together, add that creamy goodness to your favourite bowl, and load it up with the toppings!

SHivani’s tips for making stress-free smoothie bowls:

Have you ever said to yourself ‘I’m going to make a smoothie bowl for breakfast today’, and proceeded to endure 30 minutes of anger at your blender for not blending those frozen bananas, after finally giving in and adding more liquid but oh wait it’s TOO MUCH and now you basically have a regular smoothie and you get so fed up you just stick your reusable straw in your blender and call it a day?

Cus girl same. We’ve all been there.

But never fear! I have some handy tips to prevent you from punching your Vitamix in frustration. I’m really sharing these tips for blender welfare purposes, you know.

1. Freeze your fruit (the right way).

It only takes freezing 6 bananas in one plastic container so they form a huge clump one time to realise it’s not a wise idea. Breaking those babies apart is like chipping away at an ice block!

The best way to freeze bananas is to slice each banana into 6-8 pieces (or, if you’re feeling lazy-slash-moderately angry, rip the bananas with your bare hands) and transfer them to a freezer bag.

You want to freeze your bananas for at least 2 hours, though I usually batch-freeze bananas when I have a lot of the spotty fellas lying around. And sometimes I’ll save a few to make some vegan chocolate chip banana bread. And sometimes I’ll just eat the chocolate chips straight from the packet, because what a mood that is.

2. Use a high speed blender.

Shivani, which blender is best for making smoothies? Well, I say, purchase the best blender you can afford. Or, if you’re like me, decide one day you really want a Vitamix blender but realise they’re about 500 quid so you proceed to enter every Instagram giveaway until one day you actually win one. True story.

Vitamix blenders really are great for making smoothie bowls as they have a powerful motor and high speed. This is especially useful for blending up hard frozen fruit into creamy ~~ice cream posing as breakfast~~ smoothie bowls.

But even if you don’t have a vitamix, you can still smoothie bowl! (Yes, I hereby announce smoothie bowl a verb. We’re smoothie bowlin’. Someone stop me.) If using a low-power blender to make smoothie bowls, you may need a little more liquid to help the smoothie blend.

3. Don’t add too much liquid. Just don’t.

If you put too much liquid in your smoothie bowl, it will be runny as opposed to the thick and creamy texture we want. So to ensure your smoothie bowl is thicc with two c’s, you’ll want to start with a little liquid and only add more to encourage blending.

If your blender stops blending the fruit, use the tamper or a spatula to carefully shift the fruit around the blade and blend again. Then if it is still not blending, add a little more liquid. The result = super thick and creamy smoothie bowls!

Now you’re ready to make the perfect smoothie bowl! And if you’ve reached this far down the post armed with excitement to make your first smoothie bowl only to realise matcha is expensive AF, I have two pieces of information for you:

You can still make this recipe without matcha to make a tasty green smoothie bowl 🙂
If green just isn’t your colour, I have a blueberry smoothie bowl recipe for you!

As always, if you make this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, let me know if you liked it by leaving a review + rating below. You can also tag me in your food photos on Instagram – it really makes my day!

More smoothie recipes:

Are you addicted to smoothies like me, and are looking for more smoothie recipes? Well, you’re in luck, for I have made a FREE smoothie eBook just for you! With a smoothie recipe for each day of the week and my secret tips for making perfect smoothies, it’s not to be missed! Grab your free copy by signing up to my mailing list below:

Happy smoothie bowlin’, friends!

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