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Sinfully Delicious Healthy Chocolate Banana Smoothie

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Sinfully delicious yet packed with good-for-your-body ingredients, this healthy chocolate banana smoothie will give you a boost of powerhouse nutrients with every sip! It’s also vegan, whole food plant-based, dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and easy to make. Keep reading to see the recipe!

Sinfully delicious chocolate banana smoothie

This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

I’m a huge chocolate fan, so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across Angela Liddon’s recipe for a plant-based chocolate smoothie. Her recipe is absolutely delicious, but I wanted to make a few tweaks to it to suit my particular tastes and dietary needs.

My version of her chocolate smoothie tastes about the same, but it incorporates a few more ingredients that are super beneficial.

Specifically, I added:

  • Flax seeds to get more Omega-3s and fiber
  • Kale to sneak in some extra greens
  • Extra ice to get a thicker, milkshake-like texture

I’m very happy with the end result! In fact, I’ve been drinking this smoothie almost every morning for the last year! It’s just that good.

Also, this smoothie is perfect for a variety of dietary needs:

  • Whole food, plant-based
  • Vegan (with a vegan sweetener)
  • Gluten-free
  • Dairy-free
  • Refined sugar-free

Basically, it rocks!

Let me tell you how to make my sinfully delicious chocolate banana smoothie.

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How to Make This Healthy Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Chocolate banana smoothie with coconut flake garnish

For this recipe, you’ll need

  • 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 small ripe bananas, peeled
  • 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp. whole flaxseed or ground flaxseed
  • 1 Tbsp. hulled hemp seeds
  • Sweetener of choice (see recipe notes)
  • 2 cups ice
  • 1 handful spinach or kale, washed

Optional: unsweetened coconut flakes for garnish

Add all ingredients except the coconut flakes to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with coconut flakes if you want a prettier presentation. Serve immediately.

This recipe makes 2 servings.

Recipe Notes

1. Make sure your bananas have AT LEAST some brown spots on them. More spots equal a sweeter smoothie!

2. A high-powered blender such as a Vitamix is powerful enough to break down whole flax seeds. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, then your blender probably won’t be able to break down the flax seeds. In that case, be sure to use ground flaxseed.

See, whole flax seeds can actually pass through your digestive tract undigested, so in order to get the maximum nutrients these little seeds have to offer, you either need a powerful blender to break them down, or use already-ground flax seeds.

3. I’ve used a variety of sweeteners with this recipe, and I’ve been pretty pleased with all of them. Here are some options to consider along with my personal experience with each one:

  • 3 medjool dates, pitted
  • 2 Tbsp. agave
  • 2 Tbsp. raw unfiltered honey

Medjool dates taste wonderful, but they can get expensive if you drink this smoothie every morning like I do.

Agave is another good choice, but I find that it doesn’t offer as full a flavor profile as dates or honey.

Honey is my personal favorite sweetener for this recipe because I think it offers the richest flavor. Keep in mind, though, that honey isn’t vegan. It is an acceptable sweetener on a whole food, plant-based diet, but if you consider yourself vegan too, then you should not consume honey.

Printable Recipe

Sinfully delicious chocolate banana smoothie

Sinfully Delicious Healthy Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Summer Sebastian
Sinfully delicious yet packed with good-for-your-body ingredients, this healthy chocolate banana smoothie will give you a boost of powerhouse nutrients with every sip!
Whole food plant-based, vegan (with vegan sweetener), gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Total Time 5 mins
Course Breakfast, Drinks
Cuisine American
Servings 2
Calories 254 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 small ripe bananas, peeled
  • 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp. whole flaxseed or ground flaxseed see recipe notes
  • 1 Tbsp. hulled hemp seeds
  • 2 Tbsp. agave*
  • 2 cups ice
  • 1 handful spinach or kale, washed
  • unsweetened coconut flakes for garnish, optional

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients except the coconut flakes to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with coconut flakes if you want a prettier presentation. Serve immediately.

Notes

1. Make sure your bananas have AT LEAST some brown spots on them. More spots equal a sweeter smoothie!
2. A high-powered blender such as a Vitamix is powerful enough to break down whole flax seeds. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, then your blender probably won’t be able to break down the flax seeds. In that case, be sure to use ground flaxseed.
*You can use 3 pitted medjool dates or 2 Tbsp. raw unfiltered honey instead of agave for a fuller flavor profile. However, honey is not vegan, so choose dates if you want to keep this recipe vegan.
Keyword plant-based, quick, vegan, Vitamix

Other Plant-Based Breakfast Recipes You May Enjoy

  • How to Make Almond Milk the Easy Way (Vitamix Recipe!)
  • Sweet Berry Oatmeal
  • The Best Healthy Vegan Banana Bread Recipe
  • Smoothie Prep for Busy Mornings
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What about you? What’s your favorite healthy chocolate banana smoothie recipe?

XO, Summer

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Sinfully delicious chocolate banana smoothie
Delicious vegan chocolate smoothie

Sinfully Delicious Healthy Chocolate Banana Smoothie

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About Summer Sebastian

Summer Sebastian is a writer, cooking enthusiast, plant-based lifestyle advocate, and proud overcomer of irritable bowel syndrome. In her spare time she loves to watch Doris Day movies, tackle home projects, tend to her many houseplants, and go to the beach. She lives a vibrant, happy life in the small town of Dallas, North Carolina with her husband Josh and their four kitties, Thor, Loki, Oliver, and Pebbles.

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Summer Sebastian

Welcome! I’m Summer, and I’m so happy you’re here! At Pretty Bird Kitchen, I show you simple ways to make the whole food, plant-based lifestyle work for you so you can feel great and live life to the fullest. You can read more about me here.

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