This Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie tastes like a milkshake, but it’s dairy-free and naturally sweetened. All you need is 5 simple ingredients!
Why You’ll Love It
This smoothie recipe is filling and delicious, with 11 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber per serving. It makes a delicious breakfast, or mid-day snack, and it’s easy to customize.
When you use a dairy-free milk, like almond milk or coconut milk, it’s naturally vegan, too!
If you don’t have peanut butter on hand, feel free to swap it for another nut butter, like cashew butter or almond butter. You can add in any other ingredients you love, like greek yogurt, flaxseed, or chia seeds, too.
This shake is totally flexible.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie?
- Peanut butter
- Frozen bananas
- Cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- Almond milk (or milk of choice)
- Vanilla extract
You can add a big handful of spinach, if you’d like to sneak some greens in, too. You can’t taste it at all!
See substitution ideas below if you need them.
Want to add extra protein? Try adding in a tablespoon or two of hemp hearts, which have the 9 essential amino acids your body needs, or a scoop of your favorite protein powder.
How to Make It
- Combine. Add the frozen banana, peanut butter, cacao powder, milk, and vanilla to a blender.
- Blend. Blend everything together until it’s smooth and creamy. If you need to make any adjustments, now is the time to make them. You can add a little ice, if you want a thicker texture, or you can add a little extra milk or water, to thin it out, as needed. Keep in mind that the flavor will be slightly more diluted if you add extra ice and water.
- Enjoy! Serve this smoothie right away for the best taste and texture. You can try serving it as a smoothie bowl with some crunchy granola on top, if you’d like a breakfast you can eat with a spoon!
Note: Smoothies are never quite as delicious after you store them in the fridge, but check out my make-ahead tips below if you want an easier morning.
Make-Ahead Smoothie Bags
Want to make this smoothie ahead of time? Add the frozen banana, sliced into coins, cacao powder, peanut butter, and spinach into a freezer bag or airtight container.
You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 months, so fee free to make as many batches as you’d like to have on hand.
When you’re ready to make a smoothie, dump the contents of the bag into the blender and add the liquid ingredients, like milk and vanilla. When blending a smoothie bag, you’ll sometimes need to add extra liquid, since everything is frozen this time. Feel free to add it a splash at a time, until everything blends.
As a result, smoothie bags can sometimes be slightly less flavorful. Feel free to add a touch of honey or maple syrup, to help boost the flavor, if you need to.
Need a nut-free recipe? Try using sunflower butter, instead.
Tips for Making the Best Smoothie
1. Use frozen bananas. This is the key to creating an ice cream like texture, so make sure you have some bananas stashed in your freeze before you make this recipe.
I’ve covered how to freeze bananas, but it’s important to know that you need to peel your bananas before you freeze them. The peels are nearly impossible to remove after they are frozen.
For the easiest blending, cut the bananas into small pieces (like coins) so they will break down quickly in the blender. I usually freeze banana whole, then cut them later, but you can freeze them as coins first if you prefer.
2. Don’t use too much liquid. If you want a thick and creamy texture, start with less liquid than you might expect to. I typically plan on a 1/2 cup of milk per 1 large frozen banana. You can always add ice later to help thicken up a smoothie, but that will dilute the flavor, so it’s best to start with less liquid, since you can always add more, as needed, to help everything blend.
3. Taste as you go. If you want something sweeter, you can add a squeeze of honey or a splash of maple syrup. If you prefer a darker chocolate flavor, add more cacao powder.
4. Serve right away. Smoothies have the best flavor and texture when you enjoy them straight from the blender. For a make-ahead option, you can freeze the ingredients (minus the liquid) in a storage bag, so they are ready to dump into the blender for a faster morning. Just add liquid and blend!
Prefer a smoothie recipe without banana? Try my favorite chocolate smoothie, which is made with dates instead, for a fruit-sweetened dessert.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 frozen banana , sliced for easy blending
- 1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the banana, milk, cacao powder, peanut butter, and vanilla to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Taste and adjust the texture as needed, adding a little more liquid if you need help blending, or a handful of ice if you'd like a thicker texture. Just keep in mind that adding extra ice or liquid will dilute the flavor slightly. Feel free to add a little more cacao powder for a stronger chocolate flavor, or a squeeze of honey or maple syrup, if you want a sweeter taste.
- Serve right away for the best taste and texture. See the tips in the post above for making smoothie bags that you can store in the freezer, for a make-ahead idea.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below so I’ll know how you like it!
This is my favorite chocolate smoothie recipe to date. I’m a chocoholic, and it’s superb. And I didn’t even freeze the bananas. Did add 1 Tablespoon ground flax/chia. Thank you. I’m going to make your almond flour chocolate cake next, which looks divine.
As satisfying as ice cream! Refreshing and tasty.
This is the best thing thatvhas happened to my family. I add kale and avocado to my 7 year old’s every morning to sneak some veggies into him and the Chocolate peanut butter taste completely hides them. My mother in law, who is a sugar addict, couldn’t believe how good this recipe is and now replaces some of her junk food with this recipe! I have never added ice.
I added a cup of kale to this and you couldn’t even taste the difference-delicious
From my two middle schoolers : “Best smoothie ever – like soft serve ice cream or a milkshake!” I had a taste myself and wholeheartedly agree!
Yay! That’s the best review ever! I’m glad they enjoyed it.
Thank you for this recipe. I cut it in half since it’s just for me, and because I used the bullet blender. I still used 1 tsp of vanilla extract and also added a spoonful of cherry preserves. I will call this my banana split smoothie. I wish I didn’t cut it in half, lol.
This is SO delicious!! I like to add a couple of handfuls of baby spinach to it – with the cocoa powder the shake won’t turn green and you can’t taste it. I also like it with almond butter (Edgar Cayce said if you eat almonds every day you’ll never get cancer!). It’s so good either way! Thanks for the great recipe!!
Very good I would put less choco next
Great stuff! I needed something decadent and this fit the bill! I used almond milk, a heaping tbsof cacao powder and a little bit of agave for extra sweetness. Oh and my vegan pea protein powder which added 100 calories and 22 extra grams of protein. Win! Win!