Green Smoothie + KitchenAid Blender Review
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the smoothies. A lot of posts on my blog lately have been devoted to these great, blended drinks (Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie, Banana Cashew Smoothie). I have made smoothies a staple of my diet lately and I’m loving it!
A green smoothie is a smoothie made up of fruits and green leafy vegetables. They are quick, nutritious, healthy, portable, easy to drink, and a great way to sneak in your greens… and they taste delicious! I struggle with trying to find healthy food options for breakfast and for snacks and am extremely bad about eating my vegetables, so green smoothies have been a life saver for me. I can taste the greens with the first initial taste and then the taste of greens fades and the taste of the fruits take over. Some people get turned off by green food, but not me. Green is actually my favorite color when it comes to a lot of food and drinks!
Below, you will find my formula for blending up a simple, nutrient-packed smoothie that even the laziest non-breakfast-eater will love and have time for. There are a million different ways to make a green smoothie but if you’re new to drinking your greens, I recommend starting with sweeter, smoother fruits (like bananas) and then as your taste buds adapt, you can get more adventurous.
Thanks to KitchenAid, I got to make this smoothie in my new KitchenAid 5-Speed Blender!
KitchenAid claims that their blenders are the most powerful on the market and I am now a believer. This blender has a 0.9 horsepower motor (about 670 watts) that purees food quickly and evenly. The motor starts slowly and adjusts to the resistance/thickness of the food to maintain consistent speed without straining and reduces the amount of splatters. No mess is always a plus! The food is very quickly pureed to the consistency you want. I always believe that the true test of a good blender is it’s ice-crushing ability and this blender grinds the ice very easily, a task many blenders I’ve tried in the past have had trouble with. Along with no ice chunks, you also you won’t find any chunks of spinach in your green smoothie either (which is also something I’ve had problems with in my old blender). This one works it’s magic and actually makes a really SMOOTH smoothie.
One of my favorite features is the clean touch control pad. One easy swipe cleans it without having to worry about crumbs and liquids getting into the cracks and crevices between buttons…pure genius! It is the quietest blender I have ever had, even when crushing ice. Also, with it’s sleek look, it looks pretty on the counter.
I can’t say enough good things about this blender and I would recommend it to anyone for crushing ice, making smoothies or milkshakes, pureeing soups, and much more. For around $100 the KitchenAid KSB560 is a great blender and doesn’t break the bank. So if you don’t want to drop a ton of money and still was a great performing, sturdy, reliable machine that won’t disappoint during tough tasks – check out a KitchenAid KSB560 5-Speed Blender!
This is one of my new favorite appliances! Many thanks to KitchenAid for the great product. Happy Blending!
Disclaimer: I received a complementary blender from KitchenAid to use and review, but was not paid to write this review and all opinions are 100% my own.
INGREDIENTS:
1 large orange, peeled and segmented
1 medium-large banana, cut into chunks
6 large strawberries
2 cups spinach (2 generous handfuls)
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (or substitute milk/almond milk)
1 cup ice
DIRECTIONS:
Place all of the ingredients in a powerful blender and process until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.
Note: Make sure you use a powerful blender that will puree the orange, spinach, ice, etc. You can pour in an air-tight container and freeze any extras. Otherwise, store the leftover smoothie in the refrigerator.
Yay to green smoothies! I had one a while back and loved it. I felt super healthy after drinking it too. Thanks for reminding to blend some up! 🙂 Have a great week Ashley.
Aww thanks, Anne! So good to hear from you and hope you have a great week, too 🙂
Perfect timing. My husband just surprised me with the blender of my dreams and I’m looking for green smoothie and other healthy recipes. This one looks great! Thanks
Ooo What did you get??!! That’s so exciting! Thanks for stopping by, Wanda 🙂
I forgot to say, please share some more blender recipes:)
I sure will!
I’m going to have to give green smoothies a try. I’ve been skeptical for a long time because it seems like a fad and a quick way to ruin a good smoothie. 😉 BUT . . . I need more vegetables in my life too and adding them to a smoothie does seem like a super easy way to get them!
Also, that first photo is stunning! 🙂 I love anything KitchenAid makes. I’d probably give up my microwave before I’d give up my KitchenAid mixer.
I LOVE my Kitchenaid mixer, as well! I don’t remember what I did before I had it. And certain green smoothies taste “too healthy” for me but it just depends on the green smoothie. They can actually taste sweet!
My husband drinks a green smoothie without fail every morning, so he’s always looking for new variations. I know he hasn’t added Greek yogurt before – I’m going to suggest that this morning! 🙂
It was so good with the Greek yogurt! It made it nice and creamy
I’ve definitely been drinking more smoothies now that it is summer, so I’ll have to add this one to the rotation 🙂
I just started drinking them almost every day…especially now that I have my new blender!
Mmmm love a good green smoothie
Me too! Thanks!
Ooh, that’s a neat combination — spinach with Greek yogurt and fruit. I love that it’s an undeniably healthy smoothie, yet it’s delicious too, I’m sure (:
It definitely is! If something tastes too healthy I normally don’t like it 🙂
A beautiful Vitamix. I just want to blend things now. I recently purchased a Breville juicer but there is so much waste. I’m liking the smoothies.
That’s funny because I was debating whether or not to get a Breville juicer! I also looked into a Vitamix…I’ve heard great things about them!
How sad is it that I actually don’t own a blender? I really need to invest in one!
It’s OK – I haven’t had one (that works) for a while now before now!
I love smoothies too and have been eating tons of them. I am going to try spinach in one, but I’m not sure if I’ll like it. I broke my other blender and was thinking about getting one of these, so the review was really interesting. For now, my food processor is doing double duty!
I was using my food processor before I got this one! It did an OK job, I just found the spinach wasn’t getting broken up as well 🙂
What a nice blender! This smoothie sounds perfect, I love adding spinach to my smoothies. I always feel so good after drinking them and you can’t even taste it!
Thanks, Sarah! I do always feel better about myself after one of these smoothies 🙂
Love making smoothies and things! I bet this is a great machine!
It is! Thanks, Nancy!
I need to get on the smoothie band wagon! You’ve totally inspired me. Love your recipe. And great review!
Aww Thanks, Gloria! You’re so sweet 🙂
Awesome review!
Wow, thank you so much, Nessa!
I would love a Kitchen Aid blender but they cost a lot more than $100 here! That’s a very green smoothie that would be so good for you. I must learn to start the day with something like this xx
I’m one of those people who would rather drink my fruits and veggies and get them over with! 🙂
Great smoothie! We eat tons of fruit for breakfast and tons of veggies for dinner, so no need to drink them! But I think smoothies are a wonderful idea for people who don’t have a lot of time and need something really quick, tasty, and nutritious. Good stuff – thanks.
I am weird and prefer to drink my fruits and veggies because otherwise I don’t get nearly enough of them! Thanks, John!
I definitely don’t eat enough veggies either, so drinking smoothies, like this, are a life saver!!
I’m right there with ya! Thanks, Jocelyn!
I love smoothies 🙂 Favourite at the minute is peanut butter banana for breakfast! My husband really wants a KitchenAid blender (and I want a KitchenAid everything!)
Hey Ashley,
I see from the date of your posting that you haven’t had this blender very long. I was wondering if you have noticed leaking? I have the same blender and it’s about a year old. It was only a couple of months old before we started seeing the grease from the bottom side of the blade being slung around underneath the pitcher, and then we noticed that the nut that holds the blade in place was loose, and though we have tightened it up repeatedly, it still comes loose. 🙁 We got it as a gift and it’s only been used to make smoothies – not green ones, but protein ones with fruit, or I also make a protein shake that is a dead ringer for the McDonald’s Mocha Frappe (minus about 3/4 the carbs, plus protein!). 🙂 Nomnomnom… Other than these issues, I agree with you on cleanability, and the power of the motor – this thing rocks!
Yeah, I’ve only had mine for a about a month or so. I hope this doesn’t happen to mine! I’m so sorry to hear about yours leaking! I have been making smoothies in mine almost every day and it works great for those 🙂
HA! I just found the KA box that the blender came in, LOL. I posted on their FB page – if they respond, the box is ready!
Follow-up – KitchenAid responded to my FB query and they are replacing the pitcher part of the blender! We are very excited, ‘cuz as I said, this is my favorite blender I’ve ever had. 🙂 Yay, KitchenAid Customer Service!
I’m so glad to hear this!!
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It sounds great! However, I learned a couple of days ago that you may want to consider orange juice instead of the yogurt/dairy when you’re making smoothies with spinach: http://blogs.webmd.com/eye-on-vision/2006/09/spinach-solution-needed.html I think it also has to do with the fact that spinach inhibits calcium absorption (and somehow it’s not ideal to have calcium-rich liquids with it): http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/nonmilk-sources-of-calcium-topic-overview I haven’t fully investigated, but it’s something to look into. Thanks for the recipe!
Wendy, that is a great suggestion! I am definitely going to try it with orange juice sometime. I wonder if it would make the taste even better?
What a helpful review! I’ve had this blender for several years – I’m guessing four. I only use it for smoothies or making “ice cream” with milk and frozen fruit but I use it almost every day. The ice cream requires ice cubes also. I’ve just recently started using if for green smoothies – about 2 months. It works great. I use kale, arugula, spinach, chia, hemp, flax seeds, frozen fruit, and either almond milk, unsweetened, just water, or tea. I add cinnamon. There is hardly any pulp left in the container.
I bought this originally because I loved the fact that the pitcher was one piece – so easy to wash and so unlikely to leak. But now it’s the power I am hooked on.
I’ve been tempted by the nutribullet, but I don’t think it would do much better than my kitchen aide and who needs all those parts.
Thank you for the nice comment – I’m glad you liked my review!!
I have a Thermomix and have only just started making green smoothies but they don’t seem very “smooth”! The spinach, kale or parsley doesn’t seem to completely purée and I find it a bit chewy. Is this the way it should be or should I invest in a blender as well?
It shouldn’t be that way – a good blender shouldn’t leave chunks of anything….before I got the Kitchenaid I had the same problem!
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Hi Ashley, really nice post you made. Really helpful. I was just wondering if you had any leaking issue from your blender? I want to get one but the online reviews are quite mixed, with loads of people having leaking issues. Thanks in advance for your input!
Hi and thanks for the info. I am wondering what you are doing that makes the veggies smooth? I just used celery, fennel, a pinch of rucola, ginger and apple all pre chopped and it is not smooth after several minutes of blending. I tried it with more water the first time then again with less so that I could first puree the veggies before adding the apple. It all flies up to the top and sits in the cover right away even using the pulse mode.
After switching over to the puree feature and letting it go for a minute or two it is better but it is still very thick and definitely needs to be chewed! I have the same blender that you have and got this instead of a Vitamix or Blendtec and while so far it seems that smoothies with fruit would be great, I could use some tips for making a GREEN smoothy smooth.
That’s so strange! Mine never flies up to the top and I make a point to be sure there’s enough liquid in there otherwise it doesn’t blend at ALL. Or I do it in steps: add the liquid, greens, and fresh fruit. Blend. Then add frozen fruit and blend again.
Hi Ashley, yes, thanks for your info and I have since tried several different ways with some success at the blending. I just think that celery is not at one item that this blender tackles well if you don’t want to feel those bits of fibrous greens in your drink but others are blending better.
I am posting to say that my blender after just one month of use is in for repairs. After countless times that the bottom was maybe not locked in correctly and all ingredients fell out the bottom, frustrating but just that I needed to get used to how this blender works I realised that even if I was locking it into place correctly and not turning to remove it, there was always muck on the bottom gear section after I removed the blender. This continued to ooze out of the bottom of the blender so I thought maybe I washed the ring with too hot of water. I replace the rubber ring and the same thing. We will see how it comes back. There are lots of things I like about it and thank the Lord in heaven that they sealed the bottom buttons so the liquid running over it could not really do damage. Hoping it does not take too long but it has been 10 days or more already….
Wow. I really hope this gets taken care of soon! It’s been this long now and I still haven’t had a problem with mine. Maybe I got lucky!
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This blender is worth to buy. If you consider for household use it will be very useful.
This is a helpful review. I drink smoothie more as it is the summer season. So, i want more blender recipe reviews from you.
Hi! Ashley, Have a nice time. I’ve been skeptical for a long time because it seems like a fad and a quick way to ruin a good smoothie. This smoothie sounds perfect, I love adding spinach to my smoothies……….
This is a useful overview. I drink more cocktail because it’s summer season. So, I want more blender recipe reviews from you.
I’ve had my KitchenAid mixer for years, and it’s been a game-changer in my kitchen. From fluffy cakes to perfect bread dough, it’s a must-have for any serious home baker.
Your blender photos are so nice! I’d like to buy the blender just from the photos. I think I’m in love….with a blender! I was so tired of blenders that didn’t blend; I swore I’d never buy another. I’ve tried making smoothies in a traditional conventional blender but was never satisfied. I’d always get that big “lump” of whatever…! But you’ve convinced me that there IS one worth trying!! This looks amazing! Thanks for such a thorough review
I have enjoyed the green smoothie. Thanks for sharing! Ashley