Cocoa Banana Smoothie
This Cocoa Banana Smoothie (chocolate banana smoothie) is a healthy chocolate banana smoothie recipe to pull together. It’s made with frozen bananas, cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract, almond milk and a couple of dates for added sweetness. And this frozen banana smoothie is rich and luscious and loaded with nutritional benefits.
I love everything about this rich decadent frozen banana smoothie with cocoa powder! It tastes like dessert, but it’s healthy enough to make for breakfast. If you want to add a little protein to this chocolate shake, just add a tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter to the mix.
This Cocoa Banana Smoothie is one of my favorite frozen banana smoothie recipes. I keep a stash of frozen bananas in my freezer to add to all my smoothies because frozen bananas gives smoothies a creamier and more decadent texture than freshly peeled bananas (at room temperature).
Chocolate Banana Smoothie Recipe
This healthy chocolate banana smoothie is made with just 5 ingredients.
- Frozen bananas
- Almond milk
- Cocoa powder (or cacao powder). Cocoa is rich in iron, calcium and magnesium. Once cacao is ingested, the body releases serotonin, a hormone that helps reduce stress and modulate your mood.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Dates. This natural fruit is a good source of antioxidants, B vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.
Variations
- Use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder
- Add a heaping tablespoon of almond butter or peanut butter if you want to add a little more protein to this healthy Cocoa Banana Smoothie
- Replace the almond milk with another nut milk or oat milk.
How to Make a Chocolate Smoothie
This Cocoa Banana Smoothie comes together in about 5 minutes. Almond milk replaces dairy making this a healthy vegan smoothie. The banana and date provide sweetness so there’s no refined sugars added. Adding a little pure vanilla extract makes this chocolate smoothie taste like dessert!
- Place frozen banana, almond milk, cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract and dates in a blender (or NutriBullet).
- Blend together until smooth and creamy. Add more almond milk for a thinner smoothie or add a few ice cubes to the blender if you want a slushier smoothie.
- Pour in glass and enjoy!
What We Love About this Cocoa Banana Smoothie
- Nutritious. This Cocoa Banana Smoothie is made with almond milk (giving you an assortment of vitamins and minerals), cocoa (which is rich with antioxidants) and frozen bananas (rich with potassium).
- Delicious. It tastes like dessert but it makes a perfect wholesome breakfast or mid-afternoon snack.
- Easy to make. We use just 5 simple ingredients for this smoothie
Benefits of Cocoa
- Cocoa is one of the richest sources of polyphenols and flavanols which have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s always best to purchase non-alkalized cocoa powder and dark chocolate containing more than 70% cocoa to maximize nutritional benefits.
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- May help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. (1) (2) (3)
- Improves levels of nitric oxide in blood, which helps to relax and dilate arteries and blood vessels helping to improve blood flow (4)(5)
- May help to lower LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) (6)
- Provides flavanols and conversion of tryptophan to serotonin which ay help improve mood. (7)(8)(9)
Cacao Powder vs Cocoa Powder
So what’s the difference between cacao powder and cocoa powder?
- The only real difference between Cacao powder and cocoa powder is that cocoa is processed at a much higher temperature losing some of its nutritional value, and it may often contain added sugar and dairy.
- Both cacao and cocoa come from cacao plant beans.
- Cacao powder is made from fermented beans that haven’t been roasted. The beans are processed at a lower temperature and then milled into powder Cacao is a little more bitter tasting than cocoa and it is richer in nutritional properties than cocoa.
- Cocoa beans are fermented and roasted and processed at a high temperature losing some of the nutritional value.
- Cocoa typically has a less bitter taste than cacao.
Looking for More Healthy Smoothie Recipes to Make?
Here are a few of my favorite vegan smoothie recipes.
- Acai Bowls
- Chocolate Cherry Oat Smoothie
- Blueberry Spinach Smoothie
- Vegan Strawberry Cacao Nibs Smoothie
- Date Smoothie
- Cranberry Orange Smoothie
- Blueberry Pineapple Smoothie
Cocoa Banana Smoothie
This Cocoa Banana Smoothie (chocolate banana smoothie) is a healthy chocolate banana smoothie recipe to pull together. It's made with frozen bananas, cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract, almond milk and a couple of dates for added sweetness. And this frozen banana smoothie is rich and luscious and loaded with nutritional benefits.
Ingredients
- 3 cups frozen bananas, sliced
- 2 cups almond milk
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 dates, pitted and chopped or 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Place frozen banana, almond milk, cocoa powder, pure vanilla extract and dates in a blender (or NutriBullet).
- Blend together until smooth and creamy. Add more almond milk for a thinner smoothie or add a few ice cubes to the blender if you want a slushier smoothie.
- Pour in glass and enjoy!
Notes
Variations
- Use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder
- Add a heaping tablespoon of almond butter or peanut butter if you want to add a little more protein to this healthy Cocoa Banana Smoothie
- Replace the almond milk with another nut milk or oat milk.
How to Freeze Bananas
- Peel the bananas: Peel ripe organic bananas and discard the peel
- Slice bananas: Slice bananas into in 1/2 – 1-1/2 inch pieces (they don’t have to be perfectly sized)
- Cookie sheet:Â Lay the banana slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet (you can lay down a piece of parchment paper first if you want).
- Freeze bananas:Â Put the cookie sheet with the banana slices in the freezer for 2o minutesÂ
- Loosen banana slices: After 20 minutes lift the banana pieces up from the baking sheet with a spatula so they won’t stick during the remaining freeze time. Then pop them back in the freezer to freeze for about 2 hours
- Transfer to freezer bag: Use a spatula to loosen the frozen banana slices from the cookie sheet and transfer them to a plastic freezer bag