Rainbow Smoothie

posted by BETH @ THE FIRST YEAR on FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Thank you Beth!!

Beautiful 7 layer rainbow smoothie recipe! Full of tons of fruit and topped with a fruit skewer, it’s the ultimate rainbow smoothie!

I was going to share this rainbow smoothie closer to St. Patrick’s Day, but I couldn’t wait any longer! It’s so fun and makes me smile.

There is just something about rainbow food that makes me feel joyful – anyone else feel that?! It’s probably because rainbows bring about thoughts of sunshine, spring, and baby animals.. hahaha :)

I wouldn’t call this your average breakfast smoothie, I mean it does have 7 layers, but it’s the type of smoothie that would be perfect for special occasions like birthdays or st. patrick’s day!

How fun would it be to stick a gold chocolate coin in the bottom of the glass before adding the smoothie. That way when someone is finished drinking it, they find gold at the end of the rainbow!!

To make this rainbow smoothie you will need quite a bit of fruit.

Some of the items you’ll easily be able to find in the frozen fruit section, like strawberries, blueberries, and mango, but here’s my secret to frosty & thick smoothies.. if a smoothie recipe calls for peaches instead of buying a bag of frozen peaches which can be kind of pricy, buy a can of peaches, drain the juice, place the peaches in a ziploc bag and toss in the freezer. Instant frozen fruit!

I do this with bananas too. I’ll slice up a whole bunch of bananas, place the pieces in a bag and put them in the freezer so I have frozen bananas I can use whenever I want to make a smoothie. I do this with pineapple too. Buy it in a can, drain it, put it in a bag and freeze it.

Since you will be layering each smoothie of top of each other, you want to make sure that each smoothie isn’t too liquidy. If they are too liquidy the smoothies will blend together instead of appearing as separate layers.

But you’re saying “BETH! My smoothie is too liquify, what should I do?” Pour the layer that is too liquidy into a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for a while and it will thicken up.

I want to address the blue layer. I tried to make a blue smoothie using just blueberries, yogurt, and a banana. As much as I wanted it to be blue, it was purple. So to get the blue layer to actually be blue, I simply repeated the yellow layer (since it’s the lightest color) and added blue food coloring. A rainbow just isn’t a rainbow without blue!

If you are opposed to using a small amount of blue food coloring to achieve the blue layer, it’s totally fine to skip that layer! If you want to go the all natural route, here is a tutorial for how to make natural blue food coloring, or you can buy natural blue food coloring here or here as well.

Once you have prepared all of the smoothies, carefully layer each smoothie, in color order in a glass. I like to use a spoon to gradually add each smoothie color, making sure that I don’t pour too much in too fast, otherwise the colors may mix too much.

For a fun presentation, top the smoothie with a toothpick full of leftover fruit.

If you’re wanting to swirl the smoothie together like I did in the above picture, use a straw or stir stick to pull the bottom layers of the smoothie to the top of the glass.

There we have it – the ultimate rainbow smoothie!

Rainbow Smoothie

yield: 3-4 CUPS OF EACH COLOR OF SMOOTHIE

PRINT RECIPE

Ingredients:

RED LAYER

   1 frozen banana

• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• water or liquid for blending

ORANGE LAYER

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1/2 cup frozen peaches
• 1 small orange
• 1/4 cup frozen mango
• water or liquid for blending

YELLOW LAYER

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• water or liquid for blending

GREEN LAYER

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1 handful (or more) spinach
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• water or liquid for blending

BLUE LAYER

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• small amount of blue food coloring
• water or liquid for blending

PURPLE LAYER

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries
• water or liquid for blending

MAGENTA LAYER

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
• 1/2 cup sliced beets
• 1 cup frozen strawberries or raspberries

Directions:

FOR EACH SMOOTHIE

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more liquid to help it blend if it's too thick.
2. Transfer the smoothie to a bowl or container, rinse the blender and prep the next smoothie.

TO ASSEMBLE THE RAINBOW SMOOTHIE

1. Carefully layer each color smoothie in glasses in rainbow order. If desired, blend the smoothie using a straw or stir stick. Top each smoothie with a toothpick filled with leftover fruit.

• I was able to make 8-10 rainbow smoothies using 15.5 oz glasses.
• The recipe can be scaled back to yield a smaller portion. Simply cut each smoothie recipe in half.
• If you'd like to avoid canned fruit, use fresh fruit. I would suggest cutting it up and freezing it so the smoothie will still be frosty and thick.
• If you are opposed to using a small amount of blue food coloring to achieve the blue layer, it's totally fine to skip that layer! If you want to go the all natural route, here is a tutorial for how to make natural blue food coloring, or you can buy natural blue food coloring here or here as well.