I made this smoothie because, well, sometimes you need to break out of the mundane and turn your breakfast into something fun like a stoplight. Or a cookie. Or a muff-cake. See? Who said breakfast should ever be mundane…
The inspiration for this smoothie is none other than my favorite fruit at the moment: MANGO. The base is frozen mango – I bought mine fresh, chopped them up and froze them – then with each layer you introduce a new flavor. In this case it’s strawberry and spinach. But overall, the mango is the dominant flavor. Hooray!
Also, hooray for super cute straws I found at Target (while not shopping for straws – whoops)! Hooray!
As to how you get that layered effect, simply blend your mango base and pour half in the glass; then add strawberries, blend and pour it on top, and lastly add a handful of spinach, blend and pour it on top. BOOM. Yellow, red, green! Stoplight smoothie for the win.
Breakfast? Yes. Lunch? Yes. Snack? Totally. Go wild friends. Go wild with breakfast again. I give you permission.
Stoplight Mango Green Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups frozen mango pieces
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1 cup water / almond milk (I used half of each)
- Frozen banana, honey, stevia, or agave (optional sweeteners)
Instructions
- Place mango into a blender with milk or water and blend until smooth, adding more mango to thicken and more water or milk to thin.
- Pour 2/3 of the smoothie into a serving container and then add strawberries to the blender. Blend until smooth, adding a bit more water or almond milk if needed. Taste to see if it needs to be sweetened. I added 1/2 a small frozen banana at this point.
- Pour 3/4 of the smoothie into the serving glass on top of the mango layer.
- Lastly, add spinach to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into the serving glass, making three distinct layers.
- Sip and enjoy, or freeze for later.
Tara Cockerline says
Hi Dana. My kids love this “rainbow” smoothie but I have a bitch of a time blending the second layer. It takes me FOREVER with the blender being so empty having pouring out most of the mango mixture. I am just wondering what kind of blender you use? The link in the blog no longer works I’m guessing because this is an older recipe. Thanks.
Hi Tara, we’re so glad your kids enjoy it! Here is our blender review: https://minimalistbaker.com/best-blenders-review-vitamix-kitchenaid-blendtec/
Sofia says
Hi! This smothie looks really good, but can I blend all of the ingridients together? Will it still taste good? Thanks:)
Pnina says
My three year old is not a big smoothie fan, no matter the flavours. This smoothie however is such an aesthetically pleasing experience for tongue and eyes, she drank it right down :) I called it a rainbow smoothie. Its soooo nice to make something that is so simple and so beautiful to look at.
Thanks again!
Love to hear it! And I just got your email, Pnina – thanks for the picture! Your daughter is an absolute doll and I’m so glad she enjoyed the smoothie :D
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
This is so gorgeous!!! I love a gorgeous smoothie.
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen says
Love this smoothie – so adorable!
Danielle says
Hi there,
Really REALLY love your blog! Great photos always! Just a quick question, I made a green smoothie yesterday that had a layered thing going on, only the layers wouldn’t happen, it all just blended to unattractive murkiness…Perhaps this is because my smoothie wasn’t freezing cold?
Any ideas why that happened?
Thanks!
Danielle, this has happened to me before, too! The trick is keeping the smoothie as thick as possible at all stages of blending. Otherwise if any one of the layers is too thin, it’ll all meld together! Hope that helps.
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
LOVE those colors!
zosia says
are the nutritional stats using half and half or water?
Mardi says
My guess is she used 1/2 cup water & 1/2 cup almond milk.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Way too cute! And I love the title that refers to “stoplight”. So appropriate :)
Carole says
Omg!! How amazing :) I can’t wait to try this!! Great job!!
dixya@food, pleasure, and health says
every thing about this post is telling me to go make this now and swim in this smoothie.
Morgan says
What a fun idea! Love the bright colors and MANGO! Yum :)
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Love that layered look! So fly!
Nora @ Buttercream Fanatic says
What a great idea! It looks so cute, and sounds pretty tasty. I love those straws too – Target is a dangerous(ly fun) place!
Joy // For the Love of Leaves says
This is so fun! And I bet it’d be a great way to sneak some healthy ingredients into kids haha and yes, target is oh-such a dangerous place!
Ashley says
This is so cute! :)
also, you are so cute ; )
Kathryn says
Oh, what a cool idea! Love the colours of this – it’s almost too pretty to eat!
Tegan says
There is some really nice looking food just not this good.
Tieghan says
So cool! I Love this idea and it sounds delicious!
Tegan says
hi there Tieghan My name is Tegan do you want to be friends
Kierstan @ Life {and running} in Iowa says
Jess said it best – one can never be trusted at Target. You walk in intending to spend $5 on this, and come out with $75 of this and lots of that.
Jess says
This is so fun, Dana – love all those layers and flavors! I swear that things in Target just jump off the shelves and into my waiting shopping cart. You definitely can’t be held responsible.