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Kale Pineapple Smoothie (+ How to Prep Make Ahead Smoothies)

This kale pineapple smoothie is packed with fruits and veggies, and can easily be prepped in advance as a make ahead smoothie. So easy and delicious!

Make Ahead Kale Pineapple Smoothie

A few months ago I had the opportunity to add a GE® 16.7 Cu. Ft. Frost-Free Upright Freezer to our home. I didn’t really need extra refrigerator space, but our freezer was always jam packed with no room left over to do any substantial freezer cooking, just a few things here and there.

Now that I have an extra freezer in the basement, I have been able to do a lot of meal preparations ahead of time. It has made my life so much easier to have freezer friendly homemade meals and snacks stashed in the freezer.Especially on days with a lot of after school activities or when I am sick.

I honestly can’t believe it has taken me this long to jump on the freezer cooking train. Between frozen homemade dinners, snacks, breakfast items like frozen pancakes and waffles, and frozen cookie dough, I have everything I need for a day when life doesn’t go as planned. And now I have plenty of room to have more than just a couple of things on hand!

One of my favorite time saving tips for breakfast on busy school mornings is to make freezer smoothies. Madeline is really into smoothies for breakfast and I like them too so this makes figuring breakfast out for the two of us really quick and easy.

Madeline and I have several smoothie flavor combinations that we enjoy. I have assembled a few of each flavor ahead of time in zip top bags and stashed them in the freezer.

Madeline’s absolute favorite smoothie right now is this Kale Pineapple Smoothie. I love it too and I love that she is getting a large serving of green vegetables to start off her morning.

Every time I give her a glass of this she sighs and says “Mom, you make the BEST smoothies.” I like to add a scoop of vanilla protein powder to our kale pineapple smoothies when we have it for breakfast to make it a little more substantial.

I’m honestly not sure if she knows that this kale pineapple smoothie has kale in it. She either knows and doesn’t care or hasn’t realized since she usually doesn’t watch me make it.

When she first asked what kind of fruit it had, I told her it had green apples and pineapple. So, I kind of think she accepted the fact that it is green based on that it has green apples in it. Either way works for me!

kale pineapple smoothie

Click HERE to save this recipe for Kale Pineapple Smoothie!

What’s in Kale Pineapple Smoothies?

For this pineapple and kale apple smoothie, you’ll need:

  • Kale
  • Celery
  • Green apple
  • Lemon
  • Water
  • Frozen pineapple
  • Vanilla protein powder (optional)

How to Prep Make Ahead Smoothies

First, decide what flavor smoothies you’d like. For this post, I made this kale pineapple smoothie, but here are a few of our other favorites:

  • Green Smoothies using Kale or Spinach
  • Berry Smoothies (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry) with or without greens
  • Strawberry Citrus Smoothies (strawberry, oranges, and grapefruit)
  • Tropical Smoothies (kiwi, pineapple, coconut oil and spinach)
  • Orange Pineapple Carrot

Next, if you aren’t able to easily distinguish what the smoothie is based on what you’ve put in the bag or you have specific ingredients you need to add when you prepare the smoothie, such as juice rather than water, be sure to add any additional information on the bag using a permanent marker.

Then, place all of the solid ingredients in a freezer safe plastic zip top bag. This would include ingredients like the fruits and vegetables, grains (like rolled oats), seeds (like flax or chia), nuts or coconut oil.

Squeeze as much air out of the bag as you are able to do and zip. Then, stash all the bags in your freezer.

When it is time to prepare your smoothie, just dump all of the contents of the bag into your blender along with any additional ingredients, such as the liquids, and blend. 

make ahead smoothies in freezer bags

Click HERE to save this recipe for Kale Pineapple Smoothie!

Should I Blanch Vegetables Before Freezing Them?

Some vegetables you definitely do need to blanch before freezing in make ahead smoothies. For a full list of which vegetables should be blanched, please reference this list. Note that you do not need to blanch greens like kale or spinach before freezing in smoothie bags.

Can I Freeze Already Made Smoothies?

Yes, if you’ve already made a smoothie and want to freeze the leftovers, you can definitely do that too! You can make the full pineapple smoothie recipe and freeze the prepared smoothie in small individual serving containers, such as plastic freezer jam jars.

This is a great option for packing smoothies in kids’ lunches. Put the smoothie in frozen in their lunch bag along with a spoon and it will be sorbet consistency by lunchtime.

Tips for Making Kale Pineapple Smoothies

Feel free to adjust the ingredients in this kale smoothie recipe as you see fit. You can play around with the fruit to vegetable ratio, use a different flavor of protein powder, etc.

For a thicker smoothie, add less liquid when blending it up. And for a thinner smoothie, add more liquid. For a more flavorful smoothie, you may want to use a nut milk or flavored milk.

Lastly, you can blend up the entire lemon called for in this recipe, no need to peel it first. However, if your smoothie tastes bitter to you, just remove and discard the lemon peel next time.

kale pineapple smoothie next to sliced green apple, lemon, and celery

Click HERE to save this recipe for Kale Pineapple Smoothie!

More Easy Smoothie Recipes:

This Chocolate Almond Banana Smoothie tastes decadent, but it’s actually refined sugar-free!

Looking for more ways to sneak in your greens? Try making this Berry Mango Kale Smoothie. You’d never guess that there’s kale in it!

I love the tropical flavors of this Pineapple Coconut Kale Smoothie. It reminds me of summertime, even in the dead of winter!

This Pumpkin Oatmeal Smoothie tastes just like fall! It’s lightly spiced and super creamy.

Love the flavors in a piña colada? Then you’ll love this Strawberry Pineapple Coconut Smoothie!

What’s your favorite smoothie combination at the moment?

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pineapple apple kale smoothie

Pineapple Apple Kale Smoothie

Yield: serves 4

You can adjust the ingredient amounts according to your personal preferences - making it more green or less, thicker or more like juice, etc.

Ingredients

  • 1 large handful of kale
  • 1 rib celery
  • 1 green apple, sliced
  • 1/4 of a whole lemon
  • 10 ounces water
  • 3/4 cup frozen pineapple
  • additional water according to your consistency desire
  • vanilla protein powder, if desired

Instructions

  1. Add all of the fruits and vegetables and the 10 ounces of water.
  2. Blend on high (or "smoothie" setting) until smooth.
  3. Add additional water, almond milk, or ice and blend until smoothie reaches your desired consistency.
  4. On low, blend in the protein powder, if using.

Notes

These are easy to make ahead of time and store in the freezer. You can add all of the fruits and vegetables for one recipe into a small freezer friendly zip top bag and freeze and make several bags in advance. Then, when you are ready to make a smoothie, dump the contents of one bag into the blender and follow the remaining instructions.

Alternately, you can prepare the full smoothie recipe and freeze the prepared smoothie in small individual serving containers, such as plastic freezer jam jars. This is a great option for packing smoothies in kids' lunches. Put the smoothie in frozen in their lunch bag along with a spoon and it will be sorbet consistency by lunchtime.

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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 104Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 1mgSodium 35mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 3gSugar 15gProtein 7g

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Click HERE to save this recipe for Kale Pineapple Smoothie!

GE® provided me with the freezer, but all opinions and experiences are 100% mine. Find GE® on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Favorite Smoothie Recipes

Patti

Friday 1st of January 2016

Don't you have to blanch vegetables before you freeze them?

Katie Goodman

Sunday 3rd of January 2016

Some you definitely need to blanch before hand, but for greens like kale or spinach I never do.

Joshua Hampton

Tuesday 11th of March 2014

Thank you for this very handy tip. My wife loves smoothies for breakfast. Freezer smoothie bags will certainly make mornings easier for us.

Lisa

Saturday 8th of March 2014

Great tip! Doesn't it get bitter, when you use whole citrusfruit?

Katie

Friday 14th of March 2014

I have not noticed any bitterness. If you are concerned about that, you can remove the peel and just use the fruit.

Allison

Friday 7th of March 2014

I got a Blendtec for Christmas, so we are all about smoothies here now . . . like every single day! This combination sounds really yummy - especially with that lemon added in. I know what I'm having for breakfast in the morning.

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