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4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

This 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie is refreshing and massively nutritious. In addition to the beets, it’s got grapefruit and a couple kinds of veggies, so it’s not especially sweet, but the flavors are balanced nicely. Nutrition-wise, it’s loaded with vitamins and helps get more oxygen throughout the body.

Easy Healthy Refreshing 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

The inspiration for the 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

I encountered a beet juice blend recently, marketed as a heart-healthy choice. In addition to the beets, that juice contained grapefruit, several vegetables, and raw garlic. Not kidding. I know garlic is heart-healthy, but that stuff was INTENSE. Though I did enjoy the juice and felt great after drinking it.

I wanted to capture the essence of that juice (minus the garlic) but also simplify it and make it into a smoothie. The core of that juice was beets, grapefruit, and greens – these flavors work really well together and you mostly taste the beet and grapefruit. I added celery because of its high water content and refreshing grassy flavor. Instead of using several greens, I used kale for its high vitamin content.

Ingredients for Easy Healthy 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

The benefits of beets

Beets are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and other nutrients and their benefits are well documented. I got turned on to them as a fitness aid by a vegan bodybuilder I follow. He touted their ability to dramatically improve blood flow due to their high concentration of nitrates. (The word “nitrate” may cause some distress, as the nitrates in deli meats may be carcinogenic; beets do not contain those nitrates.) The nitrates in beets help the blood vessels to relax, which lowers blood pressure and allows more oxygen to be transported throughout the body.

My experience with beets

There have been studies done on beets as a performance enhancer, which generally confirm that they can make a small but meaningful impact in performance. I put this to the test over the course of a week as I worked to develop this recipe. My study was not a formal scientific one, and I admit that I am at least someone susceptible to the placebo effect, but my running training times were measurably faster with beets than without. In two workouts during “beet week” I posted personal records in the mile and the 5k distances. By that, I mean that I ran those distances faster than I ever have in my life. Prior training certainly takes most of the responsibility for that, but the beets, at the very least, gave me a useful psychological boost. I’ll continue to drink beets and see where they take me.

4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie Before Workout

What if I’m not interested in performance gains?

I think the smoothie is still worthwhile. Beets have benefits beyond performance and are helpful for all-around health. And the smoothie is tasty enough, with the grapefruit and veggie flavor, that I’d drink it the way I’d drink any veggie smoothie.

Anything I should know before making the 4-ingredient beet smoothie?

Be sure to clean and peel the beets well before chopping and blending them. It’s not nice to encounter dirt grits in your smoothie.

You can include some raw garlic in the smoothie if you really want to. I wouldn’t recommend more than half a clove per batch. There are easier ways to get your fill of garlic.

You can substitute other greens for the kale, such as spinach or chard.

I found that beet greens actually work quite nicely, flavor-wise, as they’re pretty mild. And they make for a redder final color than does kale. Feel free to skip the kale and just use the raw beet greens if your beets come with greens attached.

The smoothie will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Be careful when working with beets, as they can stain cloth, plastic, wood, stone, and other surfaces. Don’t keep the smoothie in your blender bowl longer than it needs to be there, and rinse the bowl as soon as it’s empty. Glass containers are your best bet.

Easy Healthy 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie for Optimal Blood Flow

Other plant-based blended drinks

If you try this recipe out, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @gastroplant on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.

Easy Healthy 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie
Print Recipe

4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

It’s refreshing and massively nutritious. In addition to the beets, it’s got grapefruit and a couple kinds of veggies, so it’s not especially sweet, but the flavors are balanced nicely. Nutrition-wise, it’s loaded with vitamins and a compound that gets more oxygen throughout the body.
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time1 min
Total Time6 mins
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2
Author: Thomas

Ingredients

  • 1/4 lb beets (125 g) about 1 small beet
  • 1 leaf lacinato kale rib removed
  • 1 rib celery
  • 2/3 cup grapefruit juice about 1 medium pink grapefruit’s worth
  • 2/3 cup water

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend on low for 20 seconds, then on high for 30 seconds until smooth. Drink or store immediately.

Notes

The smoothie can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.
Be careful of beet stains on clothes, cutting boards, countertops, and blender bowls. Don’t leave beets on surfaces longer than they need to be.
Be sure to clean and peel beets thoroughly before use.
Since beets vary so much in size, their measurement is given by weight. The weight given is the weight once cleaned and peeled.
You can substitute beet greens for the kale if your beets have greens attached.
Easy Healthy 4-Ingredient Beet Smoothie

Drinks

Jade Mezcal Margarita

The Jade Mezcal Margarita is a complex and bold take on the classic Mexican cocktail. It’s tart, refreshing, and slightly spicy, with a hint of bitterness. The aroma is bright and vegetal. Try this one out if you want something more nuanced than the ordinary.

Refreshing and interesting jade mezcal margarita

Trying to make an interesting cocktail

For my first cocktail recipe on the site, I wanted to share something special. As I’ve (ostensibly) grown up I’ve come to appreciate complex, layered flavors in cocktails. Plenty of places charge fifteen dollars for a cocktail nowadays. In my mind, the drinks worth that high price are the ones that create a flavor and sensation you’ve never experienced before. Sometimes it’s like an entirely new taste that you don’t have a word to describe. Other times it’s a sequence of different flavors, rather than a single simultaneous one.

In any case, it’s hard to make a truly remarkable cocktail. I don’t consider this cocktail truly remarkable, but it has a lot of the flavor elements that I want. It has an unusual jade-green color and it’s not too difficult to make. So I’ll consider it a good start.

Ingredients for jade mezcal margarita

Departing from the usual

Many of the most popular mixed drinks have a sweet-sour flavor profile. Whether it’s a mojito, cosmopolitan, old fashioned, or a margarita, the main flavors are sweet and sour (and boozy). A margarita does add salt to the flavor profile, but it is literally just salt, with not much nuance.

Recently, cocktails with bitter elements are becoming more popular. The Negroni and Aperol spritz, for example, are sweet, sour, and bitter. It can be strangely refreshing. Bitterness is something I wanted to include in this first cocktail. You can get bitterness from liqueurs or from fruits and vegetables.

Tweaking the original

I appreciate the simplicity of the classic margarita, despite its simple(r) flavor profile. It’s really refreshing and doesn’t have to be loaded with sugar if you make your own from fresh limes. I started with the margarita as my basis and started making some tweaks to make it more fun.

I swapped the tequila for joven mezcal, as I love the subtle smoky flavor. I was slightly torn about mixing it like this, knowing that mezcal is a fairly artisanal product that’s also tasty straight-up. But it does pair well the other flavors in the drink.

To add to the refreshingness of the drink and also give it a bit of bite, I added fresh ginger root. I like the bright clean flavor of ginger and it goes well with lime and mezcal.

For a different sort of bite, I added a small amount of green jalapeño. It’s enough to lend a bit of fragrance (fresh jalapeños smell fantastic, just don’t touch your nose to a cut one) but not so much that it’s overwhelming.

Instead of adding a sugary orange liqueur, I opted for fresh clementine (mandarin orange) juice. This adds some sweetness but keeps the drink on the tart side.

Complex craft cocktail jade mezcal margarita

Making it a Jade Mezcal Margarita

The final element in the drink is the one that gives it the bitterness and the gorgeous jade color. It’s kale. Dinosaur kale. It may be cliche but it works really well in this drink. It yields a very mild bitterness, and you see it and smell it more than you taste it. The aroma is pleasantly vegetal but the flavor is balanced between tart, sweet, spicy, and bitter.

Some notes before you begin

The amount of jalapeno in the recipe produces a mild result. You can double it for a pleasantly tangy (but not super intense) spiciness. Do remove the seeds from the jalapeño in any case.

The recipe is portioned so you can taste the smokiness of the mezcal, but it is actually fairly light on the booze. If you want a boozier version, you can increase the amount of mezcal by 50%.

If you want to make a jade margarita but don’t have mezcal, you can use tequila as well. Try to get a tequila that is made from 100% agave. It’ll have better flavor and won’t cause as bad a hangover.

The recipe uses a blender and a shaker. This way it’s possible to get the benefits of the infusion of the ginger, jalapeño, and kale as well as the refreshingness of a margarita on the rocks.

If you have an electric juicer, you can use it with the limes, kale, ginger, and jalapeño and the final texture will come out even smoother. This isn’t a requirement, though. I made it with a blender and it was plenty smooth.

If you want to make a virgin cocktail, I’d recommend replacing the mezcal with sparkling water. Do not shake the cocktail in this case because it will make a mess. (Trust me.)

As always, the recipe plugin can adjust the quantity if you’d like to make a large batch. Just click on the number of servings and drag the slider. A single batch provides just the minimum amount that would blend thoroughly in my blender. You’ll have an easier time if you make a double (or greater) size batch.

Craft cocktail jade mezcal margarita

Plant-based Tex-Mex food to pair with the Jade Mezcal Margarita

If you try this recipe out, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @gastroplant on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.

Refreshing and unusual jade mezcal margarita
Print Recipe

Jade Mezcal Margarita

This is a complex and bold take on the classic Mexican cocktail. It’s tart, refreshing, and slightly spicy, with a hint of bitterness. The aroma is bright and vegetal. Try this one out if you want something more nuanced than the ordinary.
Prep Time6 mins
Cook Time2 mins
Total Time8 mins
Course: Drink
Cuisine: American, Mexican, Tex-Mex
Servings: 2 drinks

Ingredients

Mixture

  • 3 leaves dinosaur aka lacinato kale, ribs removed
  • 1/3 cup lime juice about 2 limes’ worth
  • 3 Tablespoons mandarin orange juice one orange’s worth
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
  • 1/4 jalapeno pepper seeds removed
  • 1 Tablespoon maple syrup (or agave nectar)
  • 1/4 cup water

Shake

  • 1/4 cup mezcal
  • 2 cups large ice cubes

Garnish

  • 2 jalapeno slices optional garnish
  • 2 baby kale leaves optional garnish

Instructions

  • Combine all the ingredients for the Mixture in a blender. Blend on low for 20 seconds, then on high for 40 seconds, until the texture is consistent. You may need to use a scraper to push the ingredients down toward the blade if you’re just making a single batch. You can gradually add water to the blender if it isn't combining well.
  • Transfer the contents of the blender to a cocktail shaker. Add mezcal and ice. Close shaker. Shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Pour into serving glasses. Do not strain out the ice. Serve immediately.

Notes

The prescribed amount of jalapeno does not create an especially spicy flavor. You can double the amount prescribed and the drink will be pleasantly, but not overwhelmingly spicy. Always take care to remove the seeds from the jalapeno in any case.
The drink is formulated to not be especially boozy. You can increase the amount of mezcal by 50% if you prefer a more alcoholic drink.
You can substitute tequila for the mezcal. Try to choose a tequila that is 100% agave.
If you want a sweeter drink, you can add more maple syrup (or agave nectar), up to 50% more.
To make a virgin cocktail, replace the mezcal with sparkling water. Do not shake the cocktail in this case. You may stir it.
The recipe plugin can adjust the quantity if you’d like to make a large batch. Just click on the number of servings and drag the slider.
Refreshing and complex jade mezcal margarita

Drinks

Vegan Turmeric Latte

This vegan turmeric latte, with its bright and fresh flavors, is invigorating and refreshing. Containing just turmeric, ginger, plant milk, and a touch of maple, it’s extremely simple to make. You can drink it any time of day, hot or cold, and it’s sure to be delicious and comforting.

Calming vegan turmeric latte

The origins of this vegan turmeric latte

I wanted to develop this recipe after an experience I had dining at an Indian restaurant in New York recently. The place had a pretty decent plant-based menu and made us a really flavorful and filling dinner. After dinner, it can be nice to drink something hot. I usually go for decaf coffee, being a slow metabolizer of caffeine, but they had an intriguing-sounding turmeric latte. I’d never tried one before, so I asked if they could make it using plant milk. To my surprise, they weren’t able to make a plant-based version. I’m probably spoiled by the fact that so many places, coffee places especially, offer alternatives to dairy milk.

In any case, I still wanted to try a turmeric latte, so a few days later, I bought some fresh turmeric root, ginger, and almond milk and started experimenting. I tried different ratios of turmeric to ginger to milk, different levels of sweetness, I even tried powdered spices to see how it compared. I got turmeric stains on my hands, cutting board, blender bowl, and even my laptop. And it was totally worth it in the end, though. The final result was creamy, aromatic, and satisfying, with a bright golden color.

Ingredients for vegan turmeric latte

Some notes on making the vegan turmeric latte

While I made this drink hot, it can be drunk cold as well. Because the blending process itself creates some heat, you may need to chill the drink if you want it to be cold.

If you don’t have access to fresh turmeric and ginger, it’s possible to use powdered versions of those spices and still make a drink that tastes alright. But I highly recommend using fresh spices if you can. It will make a world of difference to the flavor and aroma of the drink.

Be careful with the turmeric because it can easily create stains that are difficult (if not impossible) to remove from plastic, wood, and cloth. Turmeric stains on the hands can last a full day, so handle it carefully or wear gloves. I recommend cutting the turmeric root on a cutting board that you’re not concerned about getting a little stained and don’t leave the cut root on the board for long after you’ve cut it. If your blender has a plastic bowl, take care to only blend the drink long enough to make the texture smooth. Leaving the drink too long in a plastic blender bowl will also stain it. If your blender bowl is made of clear glass, you don’t need to worry about it getting stained.

You can use any plant milk you like. I tried it both with vanilla and unflavored, and both were good. If you used sweetened plant milk, you may need less maple syrup (the recipe assumes the milk is unsweetened).

This drink pairs beautifully with my Vegan Curry Tofu Scramble for breakfast.

Easy vegan golden turmeric latte

If you try this recipe out, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @gastroplant on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.

Healthy vegan turmeric latte
Print Recipe

Vegan Turmeric Latte

This vegan turmeric latte, with its bright and fresh flavors, is invigorating and refreshing. Containing just turmeric, ginger, plant milk, and a touch of maple, it’s extremely simple to make. You can drink it any time of day, hot or cold, and it’s sure to be delicious and comforting.
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time2 mins
Total Time7 mins
Course: Breakfast, Drinks
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 2
Author: Thomas

Ingredients

  • 2 cups plant milk unsweetened
  • 4 teaspoons fresh turmeric minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
  • 1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Instructions

For a hot drink:

  • Pour the plant milk into a microwave-safe glass or bowl. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes until steaming but not boiling. Combine the plant milk, turmeric, ginger, and maple syrup in a high-speed blender. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes until the texture is smooth. Pour into glasses or glazed mugs and serve immediately.

For a cold drink:

  • Combine the plant milk, turmeric, ginger, and maple syrup in a high-speed blender. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes until the texture is smooth. Pour into glasses immediately. Chill drink in refrigerator as needed.

Notes

You should wash your cooking surfaces (cutting board, blender bowl) immediately after removing the turmeric from it, to prevent staining.
Be careful not to get the turmeric root or the finished drink on your clothes.
You can also use sweetened plant milk. In this case, you may need less maple syrup than prescribed.
Though I absolutely recommend using fresh turmeric and ginger if you can acquire them, you can use 2 teaspoons of turmeric powder and 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder as replacements.
Easy golden vegan turmeric latte

 

Drinks

Morning Green Smoothie

This morning green smoothie has been my daily ritual for the past four months because it’s so refreshing and nourishing. It’s got a perfect balance of nutrients and hydration with just enough sweetness to balance the bitterness of the greens. The parsley and ginger add a complexity that I never get tired of.

Morning green smoothie in glasses on table

A different kind of smoothie

When I was growing up, a smoothie was a drink made from yogurt, fruit, and supplements. One might contain yogurt, blueberries, bananas, peanut butter, and some protein or “immune booster” powder. They were always sweet and may have had added sweeteners. They were marketed so that we thought they were healthy, but looking back, they seem more like well-marketed desserts.

Since then, perceptions have changed enough so that the word “smoothie” doesn’t need to contain dairy and doesn’t need to be sweet. As enough people are able to appreciate and prioritize true nutrients, it’s no longer unprofitable to sell drinks that combine grassy and bitter flavors. In certain places, anyway. The perception shift still has a ways to go, and many smoothies still follow the old commercial formula.

The turning point for me was a visit to Juiceland in Austin, TX. Their smoothies and juices are loaded with stuff like parsley, ginger, cayenne, wheatgrass, and celery. Most are not especially sweet. After trying just one green smoothie there, my mind was changed.

Morning green smoothie ingredients

How this smoothie became our staple

My wife had been reading the book “The Beauty Detox Solution” by Kimberly Snyder. It contains some useful information on using raw plant-based foods to detox and look and feel better (if the name didn’t tell you that!). It focuses considerably on probiotics and enzymes, and while it isn’t fully plant-based in its approach, gave us the foundation for this smoothie.

This smoothie is based on the Glowing Green Smoothie from that book. The original recipe combines lettuce, celery, spinach, banana, apple, pear, lemon, and parsley. We added kale and cucumber for some extra nutrients. And ginger both for its flavor and medicinal effects.

Morning green smoothie ingredients in blender with lemon juice squeeze

The recipe basically boils down to six components:

  • A vegetable that’s watery and refreshing (lettuce and/or cucumber)
  • A leafy green vegetable that is rich in nutrients (spinach and/or kale)
  • Celery
  • A fruit that is both tart and sweet (green apple and/or pear)
  • A banana
  • Lemon juice

On some occasions, we have added ingredients such as jalapeno, mint, and fresh turmeric root. These all add some bright flavor to the smoothie. But be careful when using jalapeno because it can easily overwhelm the drink.

Morning green smoothie in glasses close-up

What is the preparation like?

There is some work involved, but the good news is that this recipe makes enough for two people to drink two servings (or one person to drink four servings). You will need a knife and a blender.

You’ll need to rinse and chop the lettuce, celery, and kale. Peel the cucumber. Chop the apple and pear. Juice the lemon. Add everything into the blender with some water. Blend. Drink

Morning green smoothie in glasses

Cooking notes

If you’re short on time or ingredients you can make the following simplifications:

  • Use either lettuce OR cucumber. Just double the quantity listed in the recipe.
  • Use either spinach OR kale. Again, double the amount if substituting.
  • Use either apple OR pear. Same thing – double it.
  • Skip the parsley and ginger.

Your blender bowl can get pretty close to full with these ingredients. If the ingredients get stuck above the blender blades, it can be a minor annoyance to have to unload and reload the bowl. So it’s important to pack the bowl correctly. I pack it in the following order:

  • Chop the hardest ingredients (apple, pear, celery, cucumber, ginger) into bite-size pieces and put them on the bottom. Don’t press them down. You want them to be loose so they blend and allow the pieces above to fall down.
  • Break the banana into 3-4 pieces and put it on top of the other ingredients in the bowl.
  • Chop the leaves as needed and roll them into tight bundles before putting them in the bowl. You want these bundles to fall down toward the blade eventually. Don’t put too much pressure when placing the bundles in the bowl.
  • Add lemon juice. If you need, you can squeeze it into a bowl first so you can easily remove the seeds.
  • Add water.

We use romaine lettuce but other types work as well.

We use dinosaur (lacinato) kale because it is the easiest to work with since the leaves are flat. But curly kale is fine, too.

The smoothie may separate into fiber and juice if left to sit for a while. You can either shake it or stir it to recombine the parts.

Morning green smoothie in glasses
Print Recipe
3 from 1 vote

Morning Green Smoothie

This morning green smoothie has been my daily ritual for the past four months because it’s so refreshing and nourishing. It’s got a perfect balance of nutrients and hydration with just enough sweetness to balance the bitterness of the greens. The parsley and ginger add a complexity that I never get tired of.
Prep Time7 mins
Cook Time1 min
Total Time8 mins
Course: Breakfast, Drinks
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4
Author: Thomas

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1/2 apple granny smith
  • 1/2 pear
  • 1 banana ripe, peeled
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 1 tbsp ginger fresh
  • 3 leaves Kale
  • 4 leaves lettuce romaine
  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 cup parsley
  • 1/2 lemon

Instructions

  • Peel the cucumber. Chop into bite-size pieces.
  • Remove core from apple and pear. Chop both into bite-size pieces.
  • Peel ginger.
  • Chop celery into bite-size pieces.
  • Coarsely chop the kale, lettuce, and spinach.
  • Squeeze the juice from the lemon, removing seeds as needed.
  • Place all the solid ingredients into the blender bowl, starting with the hardest ingredients on the bottom. Do not press down on the ingredients in the bowl. Roll the leaves into tight wads before placing them in the bowl. 
  • Add the lemon juice to the blender bowl.
  • Add four cups of water to the blender bowl.
  • Blend on low for 20 seconds, then on high for 30 seconds (or use the Smoothie program on your blender if it has such an option).
  • Drink immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

If you’re short on time or ingredients you can make the following simplifications:
  • Use either lettuce OR cucumber. Just double the quantity listed in the recipe.
  • Use either spinach OR kale. Again, double the amount if substituting.
  • Use either apple OR pear. The same thing - double it.
  • Skip the parsley and ginger.
Romaine lettuce is recommended but other types work as well.
Dinosaur (lacinato) kale is recommended because it is the easiest to work with since the leaves are flat. But curly kale is fine, too.
The smoothie may separate into fiber and juice if left to sit for a while. You can either shake it or stir it to recombine the parts.
Wash all ingredients before using.
All ingredients should be raw and fresh.
Do not use ginger powder.
Morning green smoothie collage