8 Healthy Smoothies Without Banana shown from overhead on a marbled background

We’re big fans of making fruit smoothies here at Wholefully, but we get so many comments from banana-haters (or banana-lovers who are sadly allergic) looking for smoothie recipes without bananas—well, we’ve got you covered!

While we love the sweetness and creaminess a frozen banana adds to fruit smoothies, we heard you, and we’ve got a whole new set of fruit smoothie recipes for you—and this time, there isn’t a single banana in sight! Even better than that, all the smoothies are dairy-free and contain no added sugar—making them paleo and vegan-friendly.

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Purple smoothie being poured from a blender carafe to a clear glass, surrounded by whole berries.

How do I make smoothies sweet and creamy without bananas?

We did a lot of testing to figure out how to make perfect no-banana smoothies, and here are the main tips we figured out:

  • A good blender is a must: it helps make sure everything is silky smooth.
  • Figure out a way to replace the creaminess of the banana: our favorite options are ripe avocado, canned pears, and Greek yogurt.
  • Adjust the sweetness to taste: banana adds a lot of sweetness to smoothies, so if you’re going without, you might need to add more of another sweet fruit (like pineapple, dates, or canned pears) or add a touch of your favorite sweetener like honey or maple syrup.
Overhead shot of smoothie ingredients in the carafe of a blender.

How can I make my smoothie healthier?

The healthy smoothie recipes below are basic, but you can boost the nutrition even further if you want! Chia seeds, flax seeds, or hemp hearts are great additions. Half an avocado can add healthy fats and even more creaminess. Baby kale or spinach adds vitamins and minerals. If you have a standard set of mix-ins you like, you can even freeze them into booster packs—great for really quick and easy smoothies!

What kind of blender do I need?

I do suggest investing in a high-powered blender to make these smoothies as creamy as possible. I personally use a VitaMix 5200, but I’ve also had a Ninja Professional in the past and loved it.

Ready to start making some banana-free smoothies? Check out all of our kitchen-tested no-banana smoothies below.

Cassie is a holistic nutritionist, cookbook author, and all-around food lover. She grew up cooking dinner with her parents every evening, and her passion for home cooking has been strong ever since. Cassie is the author of two published cookbooks (Cooking with Greek Yogurt and Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My!) and dozens of recipes published in major magazines and newspapers. Cassie has been sharing her award-winning recipes on Wholefully since 2010. She loves dark chocolate, homegrown tomatoes, motorsports, and anything that sparkles. She lives in Indiana with her family on a small homestead.

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43 Comments

  1. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! So very much! I am so against smoothies because as we all know it MUST have bananas in it. I saved this blog, went to grocery store and made the Mango Tango. Ummmm 🤤 my hubby loved it, and my 4 year old said “that tastes like ice cream, can we have these for my birthday?!” Slam dunk. I will be making the Peanut Butter one in the morning! Thank you again

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  2. Hubby has been lifting weights at the gym lately and was online last night looking for protein smoothies but none of them were wfpb. So I did a search and found your shake recipe. I did a test run last night and we both thought it was delicious! So I made 2 more batches this morning. The first one I added a scoop of vegan protein powder for my hubby before he headed to the gym, and my girls and I shared the d. I see myself making this every day now! I ll probably make another today and make popsicles ?.

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  3. I’m glad to see some good options for smoothies without bananas. Almost every recipe I’ve looked at calls for a banana in it. Btw I’m new to the smoothie thing. I tried one of your simple smoothie recipes which I knew better than to do because for some reason I cannot eat bananas, they upset my stomach in the worst way, although it wasn’t that bad it did upset my stomach, so I found these and are going to try them out. Thanks again for the great tips.

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  4. These recipes look amazing! Can’t wait to test them all out 🙂 I’m not a fan of dates though…what can i use as a substitute? Or should i just leave them out?

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    1. Just leave them out, and if the end result isn’t quite sweet enough for you, add some honey or maple syrup to taste. 🙂

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  5. It’s like you heard my heart when you made this post! LOL! I like bananas just not in smoothies, this is lovely. Thanks!!

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  9. I love the title of this post. And you had me at Strawberry Shortcake. I hope those particular dates are easy to find.

    Reply

    1. Super easy to find! They’re sold in the produce section of every grocery store around here (even Aldi).

      Reply