Easy Banana Turmeric Smoothie
A delicious recipe to make a turmeric drink as simple as it gets
Turmeric is very appreciated for all its benefits, so turmeric milk (golden milk) has gained a lot of popularity worldwide.
But while preparing a golden milk the traditional way is a nice ritual, it does need some time. And sometimes, you just want something quick & easy.
That’s where this Banana Turmeric Smoothie comes in!
This drink it’s healthy AND tastes good at the same time.
It’s also a great way to use up those ripe bananas that are starting to get brown spots.
So, if you are looking for a naturally sweet drink with a nice yellow color* this is for you!
*my son is in a “yellow phase”: he wants everything yellow, from toys to t-shirts and food, so he often ask me for yellow shakes. This one is his favorite.
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This recipe is:
- gluten-free
- refined sugar-free
- ready in less than five minutes
- easy to adapt to make it dairy-free
Ingredients
As you can see bellow, you basically just need 3 ingredients for this Banana Turmeric Smoothie: bananas, turmeric, milk (dairy or non-dairy).
Ginger, cinnamon and vanilla make for great additions, but they are optional.
Also, in case you are using fat-free or plant-based milk, you may want to add some coconut oil to improve the bioavailability of the turmeric.
Check out the exact ingredient measurements in recipe card below
Benefits of banana turmeric smoothie
This smoothie is a real treat for your body: the main ingredients, turmeric and banana are both considered healthy.
And so are the other complementary ingredients (cinnamon, vanilla and milk).
What is turmeric?
Turmeric is a spice that comes from the root of curcuma (it looks similar to ginger root, but with a different form and color).
Due to its intense yellow and even orange hue, turmeric powder is commonly used as a natural food coloring.
It has a warming, earthy and slightly bitter, black pepper-like flavor and it’s the main ingredient in golden milk and curry.
Turmeric (or its active constituent curcumin) has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
However, curcumin is poorly absorbed by the body unless you add some fat to it, whether from dairy of vegetal oil.
That’s why it may be a good idea to add some coconut oil to this recipe if you use fat-free or vegetal milk.
Adding spices that vasodilates the gastric mucosa like pepper, ginger, cinnamon or cardamom may also help improve the bioavailability of curcumin.
For this smoothie I prefer a milder taste, so I only add a pinch of powdered ginger.
How to make Banana Turmeric Smoothie
Now that you know all the ingredients and benefits of this Banana Turmeric Smoothie, let’s see how easy it is to make it:
Time needed: 5 minutes
How to make a banana turmeric smoothie
- Prepare the banana
Peel and chop a ripe banana. The riper the fruit, the sweeter your smoothie.
- Blend
Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
That’s it!
Tricks
For a thicker texture:
If you would like a thicker smoothie, you may use previously frozen banana instead of normal banana. This will give your smoothie a very creamy, milkshake-like texture.
If you don’t mind watering your smoothie a little, you may blend in some ice cubes: that will give the smoothie a frappé-like texture.
Please note that blending frozen banana or ice cubes may be quite difficult without a strong blender.
For a sweeter flavor:
When I want this smoothie to be sweeter, I like adding a little bit of vanilla extract or my homemade vanilla infused honey.
Make it more or less spicy to your taste:
Turmeric may be very healthy, but some people don’t enjoy its taste in “sweet” beverages so much (I am one of those people).
If you don’t want this smoothie to taste spicy, begin by using less turmeric (around 1/4 teaspoon), less ginger (or skip it altogether) and adding more vanilla.
Banana turmeric smoothie recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana
- ½ tsp. turmeric powder
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 tsp. coconut oil Recommended if using fat-free or plant based milk
- cinnamon powder to taste
- vanilla to taste
- ginger powder optional
Instructions
- Choose a ripe banana, peel and chop roughly.
- Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.
Notes
- For a milkshake texture, use previously frozen banana and a strong blender (if you make this smoothie with room-temperature banana and without ice cubes, you can use a regular blender, even one with low power)
- For a sweeter drink, I recommend adding a teaspoon homemade vanilla honey.
Nutrition
I hope you enjoy this banana turmeric smoothie: it’s as simple as it gets, healthy and it also tastes great (even for people who usually don’t enjoy turmeric like me).
Such a nice idea: a delicious drink but without added sugar and also very healthy because of the turmeric and cinnamon. I love this kind of healthy drinks, thank you for the recipe!
Thank you for this yummy quick and healthy shake. I plan to make this today. If I use coconut milk will that also take care of the addition of coconut oil?
I hope you enjoy it 🙂
In my opinion there’s no need to add coconut oil when making drinks with coconut milk because coconut milk (not coconut water) already contains fat.
But of course, it depends on your taste and preferences.