I’ve had some requests for a chocolate smoothie, and I love to give my people what they want! So here it is, completely plant-based, dairy free, and with no added sugars. Nutritionally balanced, good for hormone health, and tastes absolutely decadent.

A Chocolate Smoothie That’ll Energize You

This smoothie recipe has a couple ingredients that may be new to you. I encourage you to try the recipe as written. And if you like it, add these new ingredients into your cupboard!

Coconut Manna

Sometimes labeled “coconut butter”, coconut manna comes in a jar. You’d probably find it next to the jars of coconut oil, or near the nut butters. I like the Nutiva brand. All it is is pureed coconut meat. Pure coconut. So it’s got a lot of fat in it, but it’s a whole food fat. I use it in this recipe for both the flavor and the fat. A bit of fat in your morning smoothie will help satisfy your appetite for longer.

Maca

Maca is a cruciferous vegetable native to South America. It kinda looks like a turnip, but we don’t treat it as a vegetable. The cool thing about maca is that it’s an adaptogenic herb. That means, it helps your body adapt to stress better by lowering your cortisol hormone levels. And it also helps boost your energy. It pairs well with chocolate and coconut flavors, so that’s why you see it in this smoothie. You can usually find maca powder in your grocery store near the supplements or next to foods like chia and hemp seeds. The brand I’m using is Navitas, but there are other good brands out there, too.

Frozen Bananas

Nope, this is not a fancy new ingredient, but I wanted to give you a cool tip for freezing your bananas. You may have discovered that you can’t freeze bananas with the skin on. First, buy a big bunch of bananas and allow them to fully ripen, ideally till they have a lot of brown spots. Then get out a large sheet pan, and line it with parchment paper. Make space in your freezer, too!

Slice the bananas into small chunks, place on the sheet pan, and then stick the pan in your freezer for a few hours till the banana chunks are hardened. Then remove them and store in an airtight container in your freezer. Voila! That’s how you freeze bananas so it’s easy to have some on hand to throw into a smoothie or whip up a nice cream dessert.

Cardamom

You probably have this in your spice rack. Cardamom, like many spices, can aid in digestion. But the real reason I like adding it here is for a punch of flavor. It really makes a huge difference, so don’t leave it out!

Ingredients

1 medium-sized frozen banana

2T almond butter

1T raw walnuts

2T raw cacao powder

1/2T coconut manna

1/2T maca

1/4t cinnamon

Pinch cardamom

1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)

*Variations

*add a handful of spinach

*add 1T flaxseed

*add 1T hemp hearts (for more protein)

*add a scoop of chocolate or vanilla protein powder for more protein

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth! Top with a sprinkle of shredded coconut, cacao nibs, or some sliced fresh strawberries.

Enjoy!