Berry Protein Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie bowls are all the rage and for good reason in my opinion.  They can be quite healthy depending on what you put in them, all the while providing an ice cream-like experience with lots of fun toppings.  They can be customized for picky eaters and for all kinds of dietary needs.  This Berry Protein Smoothie Bowl has 23 grams of protein per bowl, is naturally sweet and creamy. An easy favorite for me! I prefer this bowl over a protein shake because the protein is coming from real food instead of a powder.  It tastes amazing and is very filling without weighing you down. Great for breakfast, a snack or healthy dessert.

Simple Process

Frozen berries, banana and greek yogurt go into the blender or food processor at the same time.  Then you blend or process it.  That’s all there is to it!  Once it reaches a thick “soft-serve” consistency, scrape it into a cereal bowl.  Top with raspberries, chia seeds, chopped pistachios and a drizzle of peanut butter that has been warmed in the microwave.  Then dig in & enjoy!  

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Fresh, Frozen, Liquid

For really thick and cold smoothie bowls, the majority of the fruit used for the base needs to be frozen.  If possible, I like to use all frozen fruit with just a little liquid or in this case, yogurt. If you have some fresh fruit to use, that’s okay too!  Just try to keep to about 2.5 cups of frozen to ½ cup fresh with ½ cup ”liquid.”  The liquid is purely needed to keep the blender blades moving (more on that below).  However, it can also add a bit of flavor, creaminess, sweetness or tartness depending on what exactly you are using.   

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Blender Method

A high speed blender or smoothie maker like a Vitamix or Ninja is really helpful when making these.  I would hate to hear that you've burned out a motor on a standard blender that isn't made to handle hard frozen fruit!  So by all means, if your blender is overheating while trying to make this Berry Protein Smoothie Bowl, try the food processor or go with a more “liquid” version and pour a little milk so that there is less strain on the blades and motor. That will increase the protein too;-)

That being said, using a blender for a smoothie bowl will require either using a damper to keep the mixture moving into the blades or stopping and scraping down the sides multiple times.  The more juice you add, the easier it will blend.  However, this will also create a thinner smoothie base.  My daughter prefers making smoothie bowls in a blender and they always turn out smooth and thick.  She doesn’t mind using the damper or scraping the sides to get the best results.

Food Processor Method

A food processor will also turn out beautifully thick and smooth fruit bases.  There isn’t any right or wrong way though!  I find that the food processor rarely requires stopping to scrape the sides or additional juice to be added.  It tends to be strong enough to blend the mixture to a smooth consistency in about 90 seconds.  So for someone who can get impatient with the process, like me, the food processor might be the way to go.

However, you do need to pay attention to the size of the food processor bowl.  If you don’t have enough material in there, it just doesn’t seem to have enough to “grab” and pulverize.  As a result, the blades may spin and all of the fruit just sticks to the side.  For my 12 cup capacity processor, the 3.5 cups mixture of fruit and liquid is the bare minimum I can get away with, otherwise it would be better to use a single serving smoothie container. 

How Much Berry Protein Smoothie Bowl?

This Berry Protein Smoothie Bowl recipe makes 1 very large serving or two moderately sized servings.  The final smoothie base is about 3 cups.  Given the “soft serve” texture, leftovers can be stored for an hour or two in the fridge or freezer with modest impact.  Any longer than that and you will find a very different bowl than you started with!  Therefore, if this recipe is too large of a serving for you, it can be cut in half, but I would suggest using a single serve smoothie cup to blend it.  The blender or food processor usually needs more material to work well.

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Options

The options are limitless!  Stick to the amounts in this recipe, just change up the types of fruit and toppings however you’d like.  If you’d like a dairy free version, check out my Sunny Smoothie Bowl, it will brighten up your day for sure!

Recipe