Six Steps to Sensational Savory Smoothies
Oct 23, 2017
This is an excerpt from The Blender Girl Smoothies book and app.
Fruit smoothies are delicious and easy to make. But to reduce sugar spikes and bursts of inflammation, I recommend a moderate intake of these sweet treats and a higher consumption of alkaline-forming savory smoothies. The complex carbohydrates contained in these gazpacho-style blends are more slowly absorbed and metabolized than the sugars in fruits.
Now, before you screw up your nose, remember that savory smoothies are ostensibly cold soups, and can contain flavor profiles that you may be familiar with and perhaps even enjoy!
Savory smoothies can be really tasty when you layer the flavors in appropriate ratios, and utilize herbs, spices, salt, citrus, and other flavor enhancers to create combinations that are dimensional.
But, the most important tip is to get your blenders really, really cold. Our taste buds are temperature sensitive, so chilling smoothies takes the edge off the bitterness and pungency of earthy ingredients like beets and leafy greens.
Rather than blocking your nose, closing your eyes, and drinking a glass of slimy sludge that looks and tastes like swamp water, use my fool-proof formula that will help you create savory smoothies that look and taste amazing.
Step 1: Start With A Liquid
A 32-ounce/2 serving smoothie typically requires 1 to 2 cups of liquid. If your blend contains high-water-content foods like tomato, cucumber, melon, or apple you may need little or no liquid.
Choose from:
- Filtered Water
- Coconut Water
- Milk – Almond, Hemp, or Coconut
- Juices: Tomato, Carrot, Unfiltered Apple, Fresh Orange
- Teas: Green, Black, White, Herbal
- Kefir or Kombucha
Step 2: Choose Your Base
Add 2 to 3 cups of base ingredients to the liquid. I find that a combination of several ingredients yields the tastiest results with savory blends.
Go-to fruits and vegetables for savory smoothies are:
- Melons (watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe)
- Tomatoes (raw and sun-dried)
- Bell peppers (raw red, green, yellow, orange)
- Strawberries (fresh or frozen)
- Carrots (raw or steamed)
- Green Peas (lightly cooked)
- Corn (lightly cooked)
- Cucumber (raw English and mini)
- Zucchini (raw)
- Beets (raw or steamed)
- Sweet potato (steamed)
- Winter Squash (steamed)
Step 3: Get Creamy or Frosty
A smooth texture is a non-negotiable element of a savory smoothie. Raw fruits and vegetables can give you a “wet salad” mealy consistency that can be funky. To prevent this, select one item (or sometimes two) from the list below.
If your base ingredients already deliver a creamy or frosty texture (mashed vegetables, avocado, or frozen fruits), you may not need to add anything.
- Avocado: 1/8 to a whole fruit
- Frozen Fruit: 2 cups strawberries, mango, pineapple, mango
- Coconut: 1/2 to 1 cup raw young thai meat; 1 tablespoon creamed
- Yogurt: 1/4 to 1/2 cup plain coconut or almond yogurt
- Nuts: 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews or blanched almonds
- Nut butters: 1 to 2 tablespoons cashew or almond butter
- Tofu: 1/4 cup silken
- Cooked Vegetables: 1/4 cup to 1 cup cooked mashed carrot, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, or cauliflower
Step 4: Go Green
For maximum nutrition and to alkalize blends, adding some leafy greens. With savory smoothies, you don’t have as much sweet fruit to mask the flavor of greens. So, go easy, and add gradually to taste.
- Mild: 1 cup spinach, romaine, or radish greens, plus more to taste
- Medium: 1/2 cup kale, chard, bok choy, collard greens, or beet greens, plus more to taste
- Strong: 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup arugula or dandelion greens
Steps 5: Boost Your Nutrition
I seize every opportunity to add superfoods, frozen vegetables, and supplements to any blend. Adding the items below in the prescribed quantities won’t change the flavor of your blend unless otherwise specified.
- Frozen Vegetables: 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw cauliflower or broccoli
- Seeds: 1 teaspoon of hemp, chia, or flax
- Cold-Pressed Oils: 1 teaspoon avocado, olive, hemp, flax, coconut, pumpkin seed, or macadamia oil
- Superfood Powders: 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon acai, pomegranate, goji, camu, maqui powder
- Green Powders: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon spirulina or chlorella powder; 1/2 to 1 teaspoon wheatgrass powder, plus more to taste
- Probiotic Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
- Protein Powder: 1 tablespoon to 1 scoop (*This will change the flavor)
Step 6: Add The Magic
Aromatics will be your lifesavers when creating savory smoothies. The ingredients below will transform funky into fabulous. Try some of these additions in the prescribed amounts, and add gradually to taste.
- Fresh Herbs: 1/2 to 1 cup flat-leaf parsley or cilantro; 2 tablespoons to 1?4 cup basil, mint, or chives; 1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
- Spices: 1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, plus more to taste; 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon yellow curry powder; 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder
- Citrus Juice: lemon or lime juice to taste
- Citrus Zest: 1/8 to 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon or lime zest
- Vinegars: 1/2 teaspoon apple cider, balsamic, rice, plus more to taste
- Cultured Vegetables: 1 tablespoon pickles or sauerkraut, plus more to taste
- Fresh Chiles: 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño, serrano, or other chiles, plus more to taste
- Onions: 1 tablespoon chopped green onion; 1 teaspoon chopped red, white, or yellow onion; plus more to taste
- Horseradish: 1 teaspoon minced fresh, plus more to taste
- Soy Sauce/Tamari/Bragg Liquid Aminos: 1/8 teaspoon, plus more to taste
- Tabasco/Chili Sauce: 1/8 teaspoon, plus more to taste
- Tomato Paste: 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
- Salt: A pinch to 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
Here’s the Spicy Tomato Gazpacho smoothie from The Blender Girl Smoothies app.
Spicy Tomato Gazpacho Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 English cucumber, chopped
- 1/2 medium avocado, pitted and peeled
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, more to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro, more to taste
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion, more to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt, more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
- pinch red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1 cup ice cubes
Optional Boosters
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeño chile
- 1/4 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
Instructions
- Throw everything into your blender (including any boosters) and blast on high for 30 to 60 seconds until smooth and creamy. Tweak cilantro, onion, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, cook, lifestyle personality, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies app and book, The Perfect Blend, and The Detox Dynamo Cleanse. She shares her enthusiasm for healthy living at theblendergirl.com.
The Blender Girl and her healthy fast food have been featured in the L.A Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Real Simple, Prevention, Clean Eating, Family Circle, Vegetarian Times, Yoga Journal, VegNews, Home & Family, Fox, WGN, and many others.
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Wonderful!!! At last a savoury smoothie. I do not like drinking anything sweet so have avoided smoothies till now. Thank you , Tess, for your brilliant ideas.