Red Velvet Smoothie Recipe
This vibrant and tasty red velvet smoothie can help boost your endurance during a workout, thanks to a surprise ingredient - beets! This red velvet smoothie recipe is packed with antioxidants, and is great for breakfast or as an on-the-go snack!
A couple months ago, I committed to my friends, family and the entire internet to running a half marathon next year. As someone who hasn't run more than 3 miles since high school, this was either a powerful and exciting commitment that will show me what I'm really made of....or a totally boneheaded move. Only time will tell.
As I've started to wean myself back into running, I've been trying to eat like a runner too, getting plenty of healthy carbs before my runs, increasing my protein intake a bit, and including more endurance boosting foods in my diet.
What’s one of those endurance boosting foods? Beets! We’ll get to why in just a minute, but for now, let’s talk about this red velvet smoothie recipe, featuring beets as a secret ingredient!
I know, a smoothie isn't exactly the place you'd expect to see beets - or maybe want to see beets for that matter! But trust me on this one, chocolate and beets are a natural pair (please see these chocolate beet cupcakes for evidence). Plus, both work together to improve endurance and blood flow to muscles during your workout.
Beet Nutrition in this Red Velvet Smoothie Recipe
Beets are one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world! You can add beets to a variety of dishes, by grating them into a salad or soup, roasting, pickling, or you can add grated raw or roasted beets to a smoothie like this recipe. They contain so many nutrients and are an excellent source of folate, which is a very important B vitamin that plays a role in metabolic pathways. Beets are also a good source of manganese, copper, potassium, and fiber.
Research has shown beets may enhance athletic performance by improving oxygen use and extending muscle time to exhaustion. This is because beets also contain nitrates that are known to lower blood pressure and increase blood flow. That improved blood flow to the brain may also improve cognitive function and reduce the risk of dementia.
Tips for Making Smoothies
Smoothies may seem really simple, but I find for a lot of people making a smoothie may seem intimidating at first because there are so many options of what you can add in, and knowing how it will taste together? My advice is to keep it simple to start off! My usual formula is 1 1/2 cups frozen fruit to 1-1 1/2 cups liquid of choice, like milk or juice. If you’d like to add a vegetable, choose one that does not contain a strong flavor, like spinach, carrots, or cauliflower - you don’t want to throw Brussels sprouts or turnips in your smoothie! Trust me, I accidentally threw frozen turnips in my smoothie one morning thinking it was fruit!
For a filling smoothie, I also encourage clients to add a source of fat to the smoothie. You can choose to add coconut milk or almond milk with fat in it, avocado, or any type of nut butter. The fat source will keep you full and satisfied, and also help your body absorb the nutrients in the smoothie.
If you like, try flavor enhancers like cocoa or cacao powder, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, or pumpkin spice, which are all really great choices that will give your smoothie the sweet/rich flavors that are desired.
I prefer to use frozen fruits and vegetables because it gives it a thicker texture and makes the smoothie cold without adding ice and watering down the flavor.
You can see this basic formula at play with this red velvet smoothie recipe, which uses bananas and strawberries for fruit, beet for vegetable, almond milk for a liquid, and dates and cocoa powder for a flavor enhancer. I like to keep this light because I usually drink it before running, but if you want a more filling smoothie, add a scoop of coconut oil or almond butter.
How to Meal Prep Smoothies
Smoothies are a great on-the-go snack or meal. However, making them can be time consuming if you have to chop or prepare the fruits and veggies every time you make them. This is where meal prepping your smoothies will save you TONS of time and energy.
Meal prepping for smoothies is similar to meal prepping other meals with the exception of the actual blending part. For smoothies, you want to go ahead and pre-wash/chop/peel your fruits and vegetables - or just use prechopped and frozen fruits and veggies! Then, fill plastic freezer bags or reusable bags with all the ingredients you would put into one smoothie, minus the liquid. Store the bags in the freezer and when you need them, toss the prepped bag ingredients in the blender, add almond milk, and blend! Having the smoothies already prepped out into individual servings will save you so much time in the morning!
How to Sweeten Smoothies
One thing I love about this red velvet smoothie recipe is that it’s sweet and chocolatey, so if you’re one of those people who think smoothies with vegetables are too…well, vegetable tasting, this is one to convert you! The secret is adding a little bit of sweetener.
One option for a sweeter smoothie is to increase the amount of fruit - IMO smoothies should be mostly fruit. But if you still feel like it needs more sweetness, add honey or maple syrup, which are liquid sweeteners that will blend up nicely. This red velvet smoothie recipe uses dates as a sweetener. Dates are a great addition to smoothies not only for making them sweeter and thicker in texture, but also because dates are packed with nutrients - fiber, potassium, magnesium, and antioxidants.
This red velvet smoothie recipe has been updated to give you the best possible content.
Red Velvet Smoothie Recipe
Serves 1
Ingredients
1 small frozen banana, cut into chunks
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 medium beet peeled and grated
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 dates
Directions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until pureed.
If you like this red velvet smoothie recipe, you might also like:
Turmeric Mango Smoothie
Blueberry Cheesecake Smoothie
Vanilla Chai Smoothie Bowl
