Banana Smoothie Bowl

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This creamy banana smoothie bowl is a naturally sweet, deliciously refreshing, and incredibly easy vegan breakfast that will change your mornings! You only need 5 minutes and 5 ingredients to make this mouth-watering breakfast that tastes more like dessert – with zero guilt and zero added sugar!

I love fruit smoothies in the morning. They’re easy to make, sweet, satisfying, and totally delicious! And this healthy banana smoothie bowl recipe is one of my absolute favorites.

It looks like ice cream, but it’s actually a healthy filling meal that you can feel good about starting your day with! Made with frozen banana slices, creamy nut butter, and sweet warm spices, this nutritious breakfast is a great source of fiber and healthy fats.

While you can make this as a regular smoothie, I like to turn it into a banana bowl because then you can add all kinds of fun toppings to it!

Once you try this recipe, you have to try some of my other favorite smoothies that also taste great as bowls like this blueberry pineapple smoothie, bahama mama tropical smoothie, apple carrot smoothie, avocado peanut butter smoothie, and this dragon fruit smoothie! The best part? This quick breakfast is ready in just 5 minutes!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• 5 minutes of prep time
• Packed with delicious ingredients
• Simple to customize, tons of substitution options
• Healthy breakfast with no added sugar, but also tasty any time of day
• Increase your daily intake of fresh fruit
• Vegan & gluten free
• Creamy, thick consistency
• Add your own favorite toppings
• Satisfy your sweet tooth with zero guilt
• Great way to use up ripe bananas
• Best banana smoothie bowl ever!

Latest Recipe Video!

🥘 Ingredients

This vegan banana smoothie bowl requires simple ingredients and pantry staples that you can easily find at any grocery store, or you might already have on hand. For detailed instructions and nutritional information, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Ripe Bananas: Who isn’t looking for a way to use those bananas sitting on their counter before they go bad? 3 medium bananas is all you need for this recipe.
• Almond Butter: Almond butter can be found with peanut butter in your local grocery store. For a healthier option, grab a natural almond butter if you can – the only ingredients should be almonds and salt.
• Ground Cinnamon: Chances are you already have this in your spice cabinet at home, but if not you can find it in the spice aisle at the grocery store or easily order it online. This adds a warm sweetness to the recipe without needing any sugar.
• Vanilla Extract: Adds sweetness and brings out the flavors of the other ingredients. Vanilla extract is found in the baking aisle of your grocery store. This is another one you might already have on hand. Vanilla extract has a long shelf life and when stored properly will keep indefinitely. For best flavor, it should be no more than five years old.
• Unsweetened Almond Milk: A splash of milk helps to thin out the bowl just slightly, enough to make it scoopable.

📖 Variations

There are so many different smoothie bowl add-ins and toppings! Here are some of our favorite topping ideas and ways to add different ingredients into your healthy smoothie bowl recipe.

• Strawberry Banana Smoothie Bowl: Give your frozen banana smoothie bowl an upgrade by adding about a cup of frozen strawberries. You can always try starting out with less and doing a taste test to see if you need more.
• Green Smoothie Bowl: Add 2 cups of baby spinach into this recipe – it’ll turn your banana bowl green, but you won’t be able to taste the spinach at all!
• Add Protein: A scoop of vegan protein powder, or 1/2 cup of unsweetened Greek yogurt (if you don’t need to keep this recipe vegan) will add up to 20 grams of additional protein to this recipe.
• Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowl: Swapping out the almond butter for creamy peanut butter will give this easy banana bowl recipe that classic, rich nut butter flavor – like a peanut butter banana sandwich! You can also substitute any nut butter you prefer in this recipe instead of peanut or almond butter.
• Banana Chocolate Smoothie Bowls: Add 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder into the banana mixture, and top with dark chocolate shavings.
• Use A Different Milk Alternative: Use any milk of choice if you don’t want to use almond milk. Unsweetened oat milk, coconut milk or soy milk would all add a creamy texture.
• Banana Acai Bowls: Acai berries are packed with antioxidants and can be a tasty addition to your banana almond butter smoothie bowl. You can usually find acai in the frozen fruit section of your grocery store. Add 1/2 cup to the recipe for that popular acai flavor.

Smoothie Bowl Toppings

The possibilities are endless when it comes to toppings. It’s the main difference between a regular smoothie and smoothie bowls! The only question is whether you want a low calorie smoothie bowl or a higher-calorie smoothie bowl. Some of our favorite favorite smoothie bowl toppings are:

• Different types of seeds: Chia seeds, ground flax seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, toasted pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds
• Roasted and chopped nuts: Sliced almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, brazil nuts, peanuts
• Fresh berries: Fresh blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries
• Other fresh fruit: Sliced or diced banana, apples, pear, mango, pineapples, figs, peaches, cherries, plums, nectarines
• Dried fruit: Raisins, currants, diced apricots, cherries, blueberries, figs, dates, cranberries, coconut flakes, goji berries
• Nut & seed butters: peanut butter, almond butter, cashew, walnut, tahini would all taste great drizzled on top
• Other crunchy and sweet toppings: Toasted oats, high protein granola, low calorie granola, dark chocolate chips (vegan chocolate chips), cacao nibs
• Sweeteners: Maple syrup, honey (if you don’t need this to be vegan), agave, monk fruit
• Dessert drizzles: Cookie butter, granola butter, nutella, chocolate sauce, caramel

🔪 Instructions

How To Freeze Bananas

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Slice bananas and add them as a single layer on your prepared baking sheet
3. Freeze overnight. Once frozen, you can transfer the banana slices to a freezer safe container or zip top bag for easy storage.

How To Make A Banana Bowl

Add Ingredients To High Speed Blender: Add the frozen sliced bananas, almond butter, cinnamon and vanilla extract to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Scrape down the edges as needed.

Add Almond Milk: 1 tbsp at a time, add the almond milk. Continue to blend until smooth until desired consistency has been achieved.

Evenly Divide: Pour mixture evenly into serving bowls.

Add Toppings: Top with a variety of delicious toppings such as crushed nuts, sliced banana, fresh berries, toasted coconut and nut butter. Enjoy immediately.

❓Recipe FAQs

💭 Expert Tips

• Use frozen bananas from the store instead of slicing fresh bananas. You could also prep your fresh bananas and keep them good longer by slicing them into small chunks and freezing them in a freezer bag until you’re ready to make your smoothie. This will make your smoothie bowl available immediately after it’s prepared.
• For that perfect, thick texture, use a powerful blender that can completely pulverize the ingredients in your banana nut smoothie bowl.
• This recipe is already quite sweet naturally, but if you need to add more sweetness you can – by adding 1/2 tsp maple syrup when blending.

🥤 More Tasty Smoothie Recipes!

• Healthy Pumpkin Smoothie
• Broccoli Smoothie
• Arugula Smoothie
• Spinach And Banana Smoothie
• Raspberry Smoothie
• Banana Mango Pineapple Smoothie

📋 Recipe Card