Healthy Peanut Butter Smoothie

It’s Monday morning and you snoozed your alarm three times – it’s fine, it happens to the best of us. But now you have five minutes to prep something nutritious before walking out the door. Your best bet? This healthy peanut butter smoothie! You can take it on the go and sip it leisurely during your commute to work.

To make this nutritious smoothie that’s ready in minutes, all you need is a blender and four key ingredients: peanut butter, banana, oats, and milk. This super satisfying quartet provides you with all the nutrients you need to stay energized ‘til lunch. Plus, it blends into a luscious milkshake texture without the super filling milkshake vibes.

What’s nutritious about this smoothie?

What isn’t nutritious about this healthy peanut butter smoothie?! It has fruit, oats, nuts and just the right amount of dairy. Here’s what each key ingredient has to offer:

Bananas

First thing in the morning, it’s great to have some of this fiber-loaded fruit. Pectin, a form of fiber, keeps your gastrointestinal tract healthy. Bananas can also soothe any form of inflammation, help lower your cholesterol, and simultaneously keep you satisfied for longer. If that wasn’t enough, bananas contain potassium, which is one of the main electrolytes in our bodies. Potassium helps regulate fluid balance and heart function, which is beneficial for your blood pressure. One more virtue of bananas is their manganese content. The mineral helps your body produce collagen and shields your skin against free radical damage.

Peanut butter

Packed with healthy, unsaturated fats and nutrient-dense calories, peanut butter gives your smoothie some oomph. Aside from that, peanuts are a good source of fiber and vegetarian protein which both help improve satiety and manage weight loss. Peanuts are also full of minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc, manganese, and selenium, and rich in vitamins like folate, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and vitamin E. That last one, vitamin E, is used in a lot of skincare products due to its anti-aging properties.

Oats

Aside from being a quality plant-based protein source, oats contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fibers form a gel-like substance that benefits blood cholesterol helps keep blood sugar levels stable. Insoluble fibers, on the other hand, promote regular bowel movements. Though carbs often get a bad rap, the carbs in oats can help with weight maintenance and loss. That’s because the whole grains keep you feeling full for longer whilst providing you with the feel-good hormones (serotonin) that carbs elicit.

Milk

Most of us grew up hearing that milk is good for us. That’s because the calcium, vitamin D and potassium found in milk are beneficial for our bone health. It’s also because milk is a complete protein, giving it a well-deserved place in this breakfast smoothie. For extra nutrition, buy grass-fed dairy milk as these contain higher amounts of omega-3 and antioxidants.

Vegan?

Learn about healthy dairy alternatives here.

Vanilla

Bonus ingredient! Vanilla extract contains small amounts of B-complex vitamins like niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. These vitamins play a key role in regulating the body’s metabolism. Additionally, vanilla contains small traces of minerals such as zinc, iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium.

Make your own peanut butter

Now that you have the low down on the pure goodness inside this healthy peanut butter smoothie, how about making your own homemade peanut butter? All you need is a high-powered food processor and one ingredient… peanuts! Follow these super easy steps to create a smooth homemade nut butter in just five minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups raw peanuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spread the raw peanuts onto a lined baking tray and roast them for about 10 minutes — or until lightly golden.

   How do you know when they’re roasted?

   You should spot some oil oozing out of the peanuts.

2. Add the roasted peanuts to a food processor and blend on high speed for a total of 5 minutes, until the peanut butter forms. Every minute, stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Once the texture is perfectly smooth and glossy, you’re done. The recipe should yield around 2 cups of natural peanut butter.

Healthy peanut butter smoothie recipe

Without further ado, it’s time for this nutritious peanut butter smoothie recipe. You’ll notice we added vanilla extract and a sprinkle of cinnamon for flavor, but feel free to stick to the four key ingredients — banana, oats, peanut butter, and milk.

Healthy peanut butter smoothie recipe

5 min400 kcal

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 Tbsp rolled oats
• 5 Tbsp peanut butter
• 2 cups milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Method

1. First, blend the oats to a fine powder
2. Then, add the bananas, peanut butter, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth.
3. Drink your healthy peanut butter smoothie right away, or pour it in a travel container to take on the go. Alternatively, you can blend it at night and store it in the fridge to drink the next morning.

Go nuts!

If you don’t enjoy peanuts or feel like using an alternative to this healthy peanut butter smoothie, try experimenting with other nut butters. Almond, cashew, pecan and even sunflower seed butter would work in place of peanut butter. If you just want to jazz up your healthy peanut butter smoothie, try sprinkling in some cinnamon (like we did above) or add a teaspoon of raw cocoa powder for decadence.

For more healthy smoothie recipes, sign up for 8fit and upgrade to Pro. You’ll get our Chunky Sesame Banana Smoothie, Coffee Coconut Breakfast Smoothie, Almond Mocha Protein Smoothie and Chocolate, Strawberry and Peanut Butter Smoothie.