8 Healthy Smoothies Without Banana shown from overhead on a marbled background

We’re big fans of making fruit smoothies here at Wholefully, but we get so many comments from banana-haters (or banana-lovers who are sadly allergic) looking for smoothie recipes without bananas—well, we’ve got you covered!

While we love the sweetness and creaminess a frozen banana adds to fruit smoothies, we heard you, and we’ve got a whole new set of fruit smoothie recipes for you—and this time, there isn’t a single banana in sight! Even better than that, all the smoothies are dairy-free and contain no added sugar—making them paleo and vegan-friendly.

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Purple smoothie being poured from a blender carafe to a clear glass, surrounded by whole berries.

How do I make smoothies sweet and creamy without bananas?

We did a lot of testing to figure out how to make perfect no-banana smoothies, and here are the main tips we figured out:

  • A good blender is a must: it helps make sure everything is silky smooth.
  • Figure out a way to replace the creaminess of the banana: our favorite options are ripe avocado, canned pears, and Greek yogurt.
  • Adjust the sweetness to taste: banana adds a lot of sweetness to smoothies, so if you’re going without, you might need to add more of another sweet fruit (like pineapple, dates, or canned pears) or add a touch of your favorite sweetener like honey or maple syrup.
Overhead shot of smoothie ingredients in the carafe of a blender.

How can I make my smoothie healthier?

The healthy smoothie recipes below are basic, but you can boost the nutrition even further if you want! Chia seeds, flax seeds, or hemp hearts are great additions. Half an avocado can add healthy fats and even more creaminess. Baby kale or spinach adds vitamins and minerals. If you have a standard set of mix-ins you like, you can even freeze them into booster packs—great for really quick and easy smoothies!

What kind of blender do I need?

I do suggest investing in a high-powered blender to make these smoothies as creamy as possible. I personally use a VitaMix 5200, but I’ve also had a Ninja Professional in the past and loved it.

Ready to start making some banana-free smoothies? Check out all of our kitchen-tested no-banana smoothies below.

Cassie is a holistic nutritionist, cookbook author, and all-around food lover. She grew up cooking dinner with her parents every evening, and her passion for home cooking has been strong ever since. Cassie is the author of two published cookbooks (Cooking with Greek Yogurt and Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My!) and dozens of recipes published in major magazines and newspapers. Cassie has been sharing her award-winning recipes on Wholefully since 2010. She loves dark chocolate, homegrown tomatoes, motorsports, and anything that sparkles. She lives in Indiana with her family on a small homestead.

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43 Comments

  1. I can’t wait to try these. Thank you for posting these recipes. I’m allergic to bananas and have always had a hard time finding recipes for smoothies and ready to give up. Our son is cutting weight and meal planning for his senior year of wrestling and just got a ton of spinach and frozen fruit so theses will come in handy.

    Reply

  2. OMG, I can’t wait to try these! I HATE bananas and people always think that’s weird, so I never thought I’d find a smoothie without them, let alone a whole batch of them! I am also on a very difficult diet to follow, for a stomach ailment and smoothies are perfect.
    WOW, THANKS

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    1. Hi, Julia! If the issue is with them being canned, you can use very ripe fresh pears in their place. If the issue is with the pears, you can swap in any other fruit you enjoy that you feel would work well with the other flavors. These recipes are really flexible so feel free to adjust to suit your tastes! The only think you may need to add is more liquid to account for the loss of the juice the pears are canned in. Just add a little more water or fruit juice to thin it out, if needed. Let us know how it turns out for you!

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    1. Yay! You’re very welcome, Sha’Nee! We hope you love them. Let us know how they turn out for you!

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  5. New to the world of smoothies and these have been a great place to start, especially since I don’t like banana. I was skeptical about spinach, but turns out those are my favorite recipes! Thank you for these 🙂

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to give us your feedback, Maria. We’re so happy to hear you loved them!

      Reply

  6. Pls I want to know whether the nut milk is the normal milk extracted from tiger nut or it’s rather extracted from peanut(groundnut) .Thank you

    Reply

    1. Hi, Regina! You can use whatever nut or plant-based milk you choose in these smoothies. We like unsweetened almond milk, but folks have used soy milk, oat milk, and even cashew milk all with great success! Whatever you like and have on hand should be fine. Hope this helps!

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    2. I tried the mango tango as I didn’t have any medjool dates. I added oats to make it a breakfast smoothie and it’s delicious! Thank you! I’m going to try the rest when I get some dates. Even though I love banana in my smoothie, they can be awkward as they need to be frozen when very ripe so this is great for days when I’ve run out.

      Reply

  7. Hi there
    Just got a new blender the ninja professional 1100 hope this will blend nicely
    Question. Can u use frozen spinach instead ? I don’t eat if often or I can buy fresh and freeze then throw in ?
    Tnx
    Looking forward to trying some of these 😉

    Reply

  8. I one and a halved the mango tango recipe to use up the whole can of coconut milk and it actually turned out to be just the right about of smoothie for my 4-person family, with each serving being about 1 cup. It was super easy and delicious 🙂 Thank you for posting these healthy recipes!

    Reply