Smoothie guides & recipe ideas
Most smoothie problems come from technique rather than the recipe: too much or too little liquid, ingredients loaded in the wrong order, or frozen fruit that jams the blades. These guides explain the technique first, so you can adapt any combination to your own blender and taste. Where we suggest combinations, we say clearly whether we’ve tested them. Ideas we haven’t tested yet are labelled as starting quantities to adjust.
Start here
- Blender load order and ratios: the order to fill a blender and starting fruit-to-liquid ratios for thin, standard and thick smoothies.
Smoothie guides
- How to make a frozen fruit smoothie: which liquid to use, loading jugs vs personal cups, fixing a stalled blender, and checking frozen fruit labels.
- Smoothie without banana: what banana does in a smoothie and how to replace it, with untested ideas to adjust.
- How to make a smoothie bowl: getting a base thick enough for a spoon in a jug with or without a tamper, or in a personal cup.
- How to blend leafy greens smoothly (untested idea): technique for getting leafy greens to blend without grit, with starting quantities to adjust.
Recipes
- Simple mango and banana smoothie for two: a full recipe with exact quantities.
Choosing a blender?
See our blender buying guides.