This turmeric mango smoothie recipe is super refreshing! Made with a blend of mango, orange juice, and carrot with coconut water, it’s the perfect little hydrating smoothie for summer. I added ginger and tumeric for a spicy kick, and a boost of antioxidants. Enjoy this for breakfast or a snack!

Antioxidant Rich Turmeric Mango Smoothie

This recipe was originally posted April 2015. Images and text have been updated.

When I went grocery shopping this weekend, I came back with fresh mangoes, frozen mangoes, chili spiced dried mango (do it), and mango Spindrift. Clearly, I was craving mango. I also got mango scented shaving cream, but I won't be eating that.

This turmeric mango smoothie is packed with refreshing, creamy mango goodness. It's exactly what I want to eat this time of year when the temp is in the 90s, for breakfast, or as a hydrating midday snack.

As I've been updating old recipes with new images and text, I've been debating which recipes I want to republish as "new" posts, vs. stealthfully replacing images with new pictures that aren't weirdly out of focus or glowing with orange because I didn't understand white balance (and still don't. HALP). Over the past couple years and since becoming a certified intuitive eating counselor, I've become a lot more mindful of the recipes I share on this site. I try to show a wide variety of foods and intentionally incorporate things like white bread, bacon, and butter, to show that all foods have a place on the table.

When I first started blogging, while I most certainly ate white bread, bacon, and butter (and basically everything else other than papaya and red apples), I often avoided sharing those foods because I was afraid the healthy food blogger police would be out to get me. Some of that fear was in my head, but some of it was founded. Remind me to tell you about the guy who left me a long nasty comment that concluded with "welcome to the real world, sweetheart," when I dared to post a recipe that used white flour. For someone who was actively working on healing her relationship with food, that was fun. F*** him.

This turmeric mango smoothie is creamy and refreshing! Blended with coconut water so it's extra hydrating! #summer #smoothie #mango #turmeric #healthyrecipe #vegan #vegetarian

I used to feel like I had to post recipes for smoothies, despite the fact that I don't make smoothies very often. Don't get me wrong, I really love smoothies when I'm craving them, and the recipe I'm sharing today is one of my absolute favorites (this peach buttermilk chai smoothie is my other favorite). It seemed like all the most successful bloggers and media dietitians were all sharing recipes with "vegan," "gluten free" and "detox" in the title, with instagram feeds were covered with bowls of green puree topped with lots of brightly colored things. I felt like to be a real and successful dietitian blogger, I had to do the same.

Because of that, I almost didn't republish this recipe, because I didn't want to be that person with smoothies all up in her feed, especially not a "superfood" boosted smoothie. But then I was (clearly) craving mango, and refreshing, hydrating foods to beat this insane humidity. And why should diet culture get to claim all the smoothies?? Or salads or kale or quinoa for that matter? Because while sometimes those foods are used as a dieting tool, smoothies and salads and kale and quinoa are all pretty delicious, at least, when they're prepared with taste and not calorie control in mind.

How to Make the BEST Turmeric Mango Smoothie

So alas, I'm bringing you this recipe for my favorite turmeric mango smoothie today. It tastes like being on a tropical island feels like. The turmeric and ginger add a little kick to balance out the sweetness of the mango. The crack of black pepper is for piperine, the phytonutrient in black pepper which helps your body absorb the curcumin in turmeric - frankly, I couldn't tell you if what works in a lab setting translates to this smoothie, but I like sweet and spicy, so why not. Feel free to leave it out, or use cayenne (no piperine but also adds that yummy sweet/spicy thing).

Add Fats for a Filling Smoothie

To make a filling smoothie that lasts longer than 30 minutes, be sure to add fats! The soaked cashews add creaminess and filling fats, but you can also swap a couple tablespoons of cashew butter or almond butter which does the same thing, or use canned coconut milk in lieu of coconut water. The coconut milk just makes the smoothie a lot richer and thicker - not a bad thing, but I love the refreshing kick of the coconut water in here.