Simple Coffee Smoothie With a Twist

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m drinking waaaay more coffee since we have all been home together.  How about you? Maybe it’s the restless sleeping, maybe it’s the being “on” all day long or maybe it’s just a little escape from this new reality.  In any case, I decided I should make a least one of those cups of coffee a little healthier and thus the coffee smoothie was born.

You might know that I like to make my own iced mochas with homemade chocolate syrup.  And I like my coffee on the lighter side (don’t judge). As a good friend of mine said often, “sweet and creamy” is the way it should be.  

Anyhoo...that’s what this coffee smoothie is, sweet and creamy, with a twist of filling and healthy.  Call it breakfast, the third of the day, or you oops, I forgot to eat again go to. Whatever it ends up being for you, I hope you love it!

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What goes into a coffee smoothie and what’s the twist?

A coffee smoothie starts with coffee, we’ll talk about what kind in a minute. To that you’ll add a frozen banana, some oats, some almonds, some type of milk (dairy or plant based) and the twist, frozen cauliflower!  I also like to add chocolate syrup to mine, because, well, chocolate. And I’m more of a mocha kinda girl than a straight coffee person.

Yes, you read that right, frozen cauliflower.  It adds a great creaminess to the smoothie in addition to some much needed (for me anyway) nutrition.  A serving of veggies for breakfast? Count me in!

The coffee in this smoothie can come from few different sources:

• You can brew regular coffee, pour it into a mason jar and leave it in your fridge.
• You can brew that same pot of regular coffee and pour it once cooled into ice cube trays and freeze, so you always have cold coffee on hand
• You could use homemade or store bought cold brew (I really like Trader Joe’s cold brew, but use what you like and can find).
• In a pinch, you could even use instant coffee, but brew it stronger than you normally would because it’s going to get even more diluted than normal.

Does this smoothie have enough good stuff in it to count as breakfast?

Sure does!  Anything with fruit, veggies and oats is healthy in my book.  Yes, it does have some added sugar if you add in the chocolate syrup (like I always do), but other than that it's full of good protein and fiber that will keep you full and caffeinated all morning long!

How do you freeze bananas for smoothies?

I like to wait until my bananas have some brown spots so that they are at peak sweetness but aren’t super mushy.  Then, peel the bananas and lay them out in one layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Freeze the bananas until they are solid and then transfer them to a freezer safe air tight container for storage.  I like to use either gallon size zip top bags or large, flat plastic reusable plastic containers. Having frozen bananas that are easily accessible at all times is key to being able to make this and other smoothies at a moment's notice!

Simple Tip:  try to freeze things flat for easier storage in your freezer.  It saves space and allows for better organization in small space

How do you make a coffee smoothie?

This is the best part about the breakfast/snack.  Just gather your ingredients and toss them all into a high speed blender.  Blend for 1-2 minutes, pour into your cup and enjoy.

If you like a thicker smoothie, you can adjust the amount of milk/coffee that you add to this smoothie or can add additional ice cubes at any time.

Like a thinner smoothie, up the amount of liquid or reduce the amount of oats you include.  And then blend an extra minute to make sure it is the consistency you like!

Tips and Tricks:

• Frozen cauliflower can be either bought in the frozen section of your local grocery or you can blanch cut up cauliflower and then freeze it yourself.
• Freeze your coffee into cubes for an even thicker richer smoothie.  I like to do this by making an extra pot of coffee every few weeks that is dedicated to ice cubes, but you could also just freeze whatever you have leftover in the pot from your morning coffee into a few cubes each day.  I like using these silicone ice cube trays for freezing all sorts of things.

Looking for other easy stuck at home breakfast recipes? Check these out!

• homemade iced mocha with homemade chocolate syrup
• challah french toast
• blueberry overnight oats

📖 Recipe

Want to make these now?  Are you missing some ingredients? Amazon Now can get them to you in a few hours,  Instacart can get them to you today.  Or add them to your Peapod grocery list and don't be stuck without them again!