Perfect for a quick breakfast or refreshing snack, a mango smoothie with bananas is creamy, delicious, and easy to make!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Homemade smoothies are more economical and healthier than purchased smoothies.
How long it takes: 5 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: blender
Servings: 2
Ben and I love to go to a great Lebanese place near our home, so much so that they know us. They have a lot of fresh juices and smoothies but let’s be honest, I’m more concerned about the fattoush, shawarma, hummus, and pita bread. If we have any room left in our tummies, we often will get a creamy mango smoothie for the road.
This mango smoothie recipe isn’t an exact replica but I love the fresh taste of mango in it. It’s refreshing and delightful and it’s so easy. It’s made with milk, fruit, and just a bit of honey.
This smoothie could honestly pass for a milkshake. Mango milkshake. The milk and frozen banana give it that thick smooth feeling that you’d expect from a milkshake. You’ll never even notice that it’s skim milk.
A touch of honey is optional, since it is plenty sweet from the fruit. However, I do love the flavor that the honey adds. Just a little something special, you know?
About This Recipe
You’ll notice that there are just four simple ingredients in this mango banana smoothie. There are tons of ways you can customize it. Take a look at the Make It Your Own section below for ideas.
Homemade smoothies are inexpensive, simple, and ridiculously easy to make. You’ll wonder why you ever spent the big bucks buying a smoothie!
Because smoothies are basically just fruit, they’re nutritious, too. It’s a fun way to get those extra servings of fruit in your daily diet. Purchased smoothies are often loaded with (unnecessary) sugar. This smoothie is made with whole fruit, not sugary fruit juices. Whole fruit has numerous health benefits.
Look for the recipe card below for exact measurements and nutrition information.
What You’ll Need
- Mango: Buy a bag of frozen mango chunks for the easiest smoothie. If you have a lot of ripe mangos on the counter, peel them and cut them into chunks. Freeze the chunks for a couple of hours or until firm (or overnight). You’ll need 2 cups of mango chunks.
- Banana: Ripe bananas will be sweeter than green bananas. The recipe calls for half of a large banana. If you happen to have an excess of ripe bananas (sometimes they seem to ripen so quickly!), peel and slice the bananas, and pop them into freezer safe bags or containers, ready for smoothies, banana bread, or banana muffins. Learn more about how to freeze bananas.
- Milk: Use any type of milk you prefer, either dairy or nondairy (nut milks, oat milk, or coconut milk). Yogurt can be substituted, if you prefer. Keep in mind that if you use a flavored milk or yogurt, they often have added sweeteners, so your smoothie will be sweeter.
- Honey: A sweetener is optional; however, honey does enhance the flavors of mango and banana.
How To Make This Smoothie
Simply put all the ingredients into a blender and hit the On button. That’s it!
Pour the smoothie into a couple of glasses and serve.
FAQs
Mango goes well with many different fruits. Try bananas, pineapple, peaches, coconut, berries, citrus fruits, or papaya. If you lean toward savory, try avocado, jalapeño pepper, or tomato.
Smoothies are a perfect vehicle to experiment with different fruit combinations. Be daring and think outside the box a little bit. Use the fruits or vegetables you happen to have. Sometimes the color may be less attractive but simply pour the smoothie into a opaque container, add a lid, and the color becomes unimportant.
You can use an immersion blender (stick blender) if you don’t have a blender. This smoothie recipe does not include ice cubes as one of the ingredients which immersion blenders have a tougher time with, unless you have crushed ice. You may need a bit of extra liquid to keep the immersion blender going and it will take a bit longer to get the mixture nice and smooth.
You can use a food processor but the results may not be quite a smooth. It will get the job done though.
Make It Your Own
- Add a scoop of protein powder to the smoothie. You can add a scoop of oatmeal to the mixture, too. The texture won’t be quite as smooth.
- Use different fruits or add a vegetable. Note: A high powered blender does the best job with vegetables and greens. If you want to make a smoothie without banana, simply add more mango instead.
- Don’t care for a frozen smoothie? You can easily make this smoothie with room temperature mango and banana. It won’t be as thick.
- This smoothie is made without yogurt but if you like smoothies with yogurt, simply substitute any type of yogurt for the milk. If the smoothie is too thick to blend, you may need to thin it with just a little milk or juice.
- Make a smoothie bowl. Pour the smoothie mixture into bowls and top with sliced fresh fruit, granola, toasted coconut, toasted nuts or seeds, flax seeds or chia seeds, whatever you like.
Storage Tips/Make Ahead Ideas
Smoothies can be refrigerated for a day or frozen for up to 3 months. Make sure there’s a bit of extra space in the freezer container (head room) because the mixture will expand a little.
Refrigerated smoothies will have a thinner texture. Frozen smoothies can be eaten frozen or thawed.
Time Saving Tip
Measure out the amount of mango and banana you need for a smoothie. For one smoothie, cut this recipe in half so you’ll need one cup of mango and a quarter of banana. Combine the fruit in individual containers or bags, and freeze. When you’re ready for a smoothie, simply grab a bag from the freezer and proceed with the recipe.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
servings
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Perfect for a quick breakfast or refreshing snack, a mango smoothie with bananas is creamy, delicious, and easy to make!
Notes
- If you don’t have time to freeze the fruits or just don’t feel like it, you can use fresh fruit and add ice cubes to achieve desired thickness.
- Any type of milk can be used, both dairy and nondairy. Plain yogurt, either Greek or regular, can be substituted for the milk, if desired.
- Feel free to omit the honey, if desired, or substitute another sweetener of your choice.
- If mangos aren’t available, try frozen peaches or pineapple.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1.5cups, Calories: 199kcal, Carbohydrates: 46g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 4mg, Sodium: 53mg, Potassium: 593mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 41g, Vitamin A: 2054IU, Vitamin C: 63mg, Calcium: 182mg, Iron: 0.4mg
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.