My go-to banana smoothie! You need less than five minutes to make this easy banana smoothie. Use our simple recipe on its own or use it as a base for other smoothies. Jump to the Banana Smoothie Recipe
Watch The Video

Why You Should Make This Banana Smoothie
I’ve made a version of this easy banana smoothie recipe more times than I can count. It’s perfect on its own and is the best base recipe for adding more ingredients like fruit, nut butter, and veggies.

Here are a few more reasons we love it:
- You need less than 5 minutes to make it.
- You can use fresh or frozen bananas.
- It’s easy to adapt to what you have in the kitchen.
- This smoothie is perfect for breakfast or a snack.
- Kids love it!
- You can even make the smoothie ahead of time, freeze it, and save it for later.
How to Make the Best Banana Smoothie
My basic smoothie recipe calls for four simple ingredients:
Banana — I use one banana to make one large or two smaller (kid-size) smoothies. For the best tasting smoothie, use a ripe banana. For the creamiest banana smoothie, use frozen banana slices. I’ve shared how I freeze bananas for smoothies below.
Half an orange — When I have oranges in the house, I love adding them to my morning smoothie. It adds extra vitamin C and tropical flavor. If you don’t have oranges on hand, don’t worry, you can substitute other fruits like mango, pineapple, and berries.
Plain or Greek yogurt — I don’t always add yogurt to my smoothies, but when I do have it in the fridge, adding a spoonful ensures a protein-packed and creamy smoothie. For a smoothie without yogurt, add a little extra fruit or include veggies like spinach or kale.
Water or milk — To help the ingredients blend, I like adding a splash of liquid to the blender. For a smoothie without milk, use water. It still tastes amazing. For more creaminess add milk (dairy or non-dairy both work).
To make the smoothie, I add everything into a blender and then blend until smooth. For an icy cold smoothie, throw in a handful of ice or use frozen fruits.

We have more easy smoothie recipes! Try our 5-minute strawberry smoothie or this easy blueberry smoothie.
How To Freeze Fruit For Smoothies
To make smoothies even easier, freeze fresh fruit into portions. You can even prepare smoothie packs and freeze them for a grab-and-blend smoothie option.
To freeze fruit for smoothies, rinse and chop fresh fruit into small pieces. Pat them dry then arrange, in one layer, on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Slide the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until hard (two to three hours).
When the fruit is hard, divide it between freezer-safe bags and keep it in the freezer for your next smoothie.
Banana Smoothie Variations
This smoothie recipe is delicious as written, but it can also be used as a base for other smoothie recipes. We shared a few suggestions in the video, but I’ll add even more below:
Add more fruit (fresh or frozen). I love mango, pineapple, and berries. Here’s our simple strawberry banana smoothie!
Add greens like spinach, kale, or Swiss chard. I add one to two cups.
Add healthy fat with some avocado.
Add more protein and fiber with hemp seeds, chia seeds, or your favorite protein powder.
Add nuttiness and extra sticking power with a tablespoon of peanut butter, almond butter, or other nut butter.
Add some chocolate with a tablespoon of cocoa powder or my favorite, cacao nibs.
Add fresh ginger or turmeric or add dried spices like ground cinnamon or ground turmeric.

More Smoothie Recipes
- Make this protein-packed green smoothie recipe with fresh spinach, banana, orange, and Greek yogurt in under 5 minutes.
- Our easy blueberry smoothie recipe keeps you happy for hours. One small smoothie offers almost 5 grams of fiber as well as 5 grams of protein.
- With 6 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber, this utterly delicious strawberry banana smoothie will keep you full and energized for your day.
- Or try this chocolate chia pudding, a simple breakfast made with chia seeds
Recipe updated, originally posted January 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne

Easy 5-Minute Banana Smoothie
- PREP
- TOTAL
Our banana smoothie is extra creamy and fruity. Depending on how ripe or sweet your banana and orange are, you may need to add a little extra honey, so add based on your taste. There are many additions you can make. For a green smoothie, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of fresh greens like spinach or kale. You can also add more fruit. Add 1/2 cup of strawberries, mango, frozen berries, pineapple, or other favorite fruit.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 banana
1/2 orange, peeled and quartered
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup water or milk (dairy or non-dairy)
1 to 2 teaspoons honey, optional
Directions
1Roughly chop the banana and orange quarters, and then add to a blender. Top with yogurt and water (or milk). Turn blender on and blend until creamy and smooth. Taste, and then adjust with honey if needed.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- How to Freeze or Make Ahead: This recipe makes one smoothie or two kid-size smoothies. Enjoy now, or save for later. To save the smoothie for later, pour each serving into a food-safe resealable plastic bag or container and freeze. Then, about an hour before needing the smoothie, take it out from the freezer.
- Non-Dairy alternatives: If you are looking for a banana smoothie without yogurt, then simply leave the yogurt out of the recipe above and replace it with more banana, a tablespoon or so of nut butter, mango, or a tablespoon of hemp seeds (great protein source). You may need to add additional water or non-dairy milk to thin the smoothie out a little.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
I love the simplicity of this recipe, Can’t wait to go home and prepare it for super
I love this recipe. It was super easy to make with my portable blender cup I got from www dot theblendaway dot com. They even give a free 50 easy healthy smoothie receipe book with every purchase.
Thank you for sharing this easy and delicious recipe!!! The husband and son love this and I’ll be trying out the other smoothies from your site!
This was very refreshing and good. I added vanilla extract and it tasted like an Orange Julius. Next time I will use a frozen banana instead.
Yes, frozen banana does make it a bit more silky. Happy you enjoyed it, DeeDee!
i loved the simplicity of of the recipe and the amazing taste.thank you guys
Loved the smoothie, so good for you and tastes so yummy
This was so good exactly what I needed! I am so excited to try more recipes from this website!!!
I tried the Banana smoothie, and it was so good!!!! I love everything about it, oranges made it so fresh and it gave me so much energy, and the bananas had so much sweetness to it it just powered me up. I wake up in the morning at 6:45 and I am just dead asleep, and that motivated me so much. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Can’t wait to make this banana smoothie for my family tomorrow night! Looks so yummy! Thank you for sharing
Delicious! I think I’ll use ice instead of water next time. Thanks for this simple, great recipe!
I loved it,it was AMAZING