Beetroot Leaf Green Smoothie: Join The Green Side
If you’re lucky enough to have leaves with your beetroot, don’t throw them away. This beetroot leaf green smoothie is an easy, tasty and nutritious way to use them. But if you can’t get hold of beetroot leaves, it works equally well with chard or spinach.
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This beetroot leaf green smoothie was one of the recipes I came up with when putting Froothie’s new Optimum Nutri Force Extractor through its paces. Read on for a review of this small but powerful blender and grinder set as well as the recipe for a nutritious green breakfast smoothie.
Beetroot Leaves
Beetroot leaves are often discarded and it’s a shame as they have great flavour and a good nutritional profile. They’re packed full of antioxidants and are also high in vitamins and minerals, including iron. You can use them in any recipe where you’d normally use chard or even spinach.
Although we put everything biodegradable in the compost heap, so nothing really goes to waste, I do like to make the most of fruit and vegetables. I use the roots, stems and leaves of beetroot in my cooking. All of them make a good smoothie, but I had other plans for the roots and stems this time. Scroll down the post to get the recipe for my beetroot leaf green smoothie.
Beetroot Leaf Green Smoothie
Kefir is my standard base for smoothies. It’s a good all round probiotic and contains high levels of vitamin B12, which can be tricky for vegetarians to get. Vegans even more so. I’m not a nutritionist, but I understand even non-dairy kefir contains significant levels. Goji berries are good for vitamin C which aids the absorption of iron present in the beetroot greens, so a few of those went into the mix.
I also tend to add a little spirulina to my green smoothies. This helps to give the smoothie a brighter and more appealing green colour. Having said that, when I once used spirulina alone, it gave a horrid alien bluey green which was quite off-putting. It has quite a strong flavour too, so I find a little goes a long way.
Oats are almost de rigour in my smoothies, so I added some of those for a bit of substance. Chia seeds went in for extra protein, banana for sweetness and orange & cardamom for flavour. You can, of course, use chard or spinach instead of the beetroot leaves.
May The Force Be With You
The Optimum Nutri Force Extractor* is the latest blender on offer from Froothie. It’s a neat little machine and sits nicely on the counter top. Lookin’ good in red, silver or black and taking up relatively little space – what’s not to like? It also only weighs 3.4 kilos, which is significantly less than its nearest competitor.
Small and light it may be, but it sure is powerful. The 1000W motor, 20,000 rpm speed and six blade stainless steel assembly can cope with pretty much anything you throw at it, I mean in it. Well everything I’ve thrown in it anyway.
It’s sleek in design and simple to use with three one touch buttons. Turn it on, pulse at high speed or blend at low or high speed. You can turn it off at any point, but the motor automatically cuts out at fifty seconds, which I’ve found is just about right to make a good smoothie. You’ll need to wait five minutes before you can use it again. This prevents overheating and burn out.
The Nutri Force is designed to be a single-serve blender, but it has a capacity of one litre, so I find it easily makes enough for two of us. Alternatively consume one serving immediately and put the other in the fridge for the morrow. The photos you can see here were for a garlic mint feta filling I used in these cucumber roll-ups – delicious.
The coffee grinder is an added bonus. It has a 450ml cup and I’ve used it to grind almonds and apricot kernels for a cake I’ll be writing about at some future date and to make pesto. It did the respective jobs perfectly and I’m really pleased with it. I haven’t tried to grind coffee beans, but I’m sure it’s very adept at it.
It’s also meant to be good for making nut butters, but I haven’t tried that either – yet! It has a 4 blade stainless steel assembly which comes apart easily for cleaning and maintenance. Both blender and grinder cups are made of Tritan and are BPA free.
On The Go
One of the many things I like about the Nutri Force, is that I can make a smoothie, take out what I need, then just screw on a lid and place in the fridge for the next day. Much less fuss and mess than when using a large blender. Normally, I have to find an additional container to keep my beetroot leaf green smoothie in. Inevitably, I manage to spill a little when transferring it into the container, which I find very annoying.
The Nutri Force comes with two storage lids and a flip top lid for drinking on the go. It also has a versatile travel handle that you can attach if needed. The lids and handle are all part of this clever eight piece kit. It enables busy folk to easily have a nutritious breakfast whilst waiting at the bus stop, sitting on the tube or like me, just generally running late.
Other Green Smoothie Recipes You Might Like
- Cucumber & celery smoothie
- Ginger green goddess smoothie (vegan)
- Green smoothie bowl with pear, avocado and almonds (vegan)
- Nettle powder smoothie bowl
- Spring tonic nettle smoothie
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this beetroot leaf green smoothie, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like even more smoothie recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Beetroot Leaf Green Smoothie. PIN IT.
Beetroot Leaf Green Smoothie – The Recipe
Beetroot Leaf Green Smoothie
Equipment
- power blender
Ingredients
- 400 ml kefir
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp rolled oats (porridge oats)
- 2 tsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp goji berries or baobab powder
- ½ tsp spirulina
- 1 handful beetroot leaves (about 50 grams) chard or spinach would work equally well – roughly torn into quarters
- 3 cardamom pods seeds extracted
- 1 tsp orange zest fresh or dried
- 1 tsp honey optional
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz for 50 seconds (I used the Optimum Nutri Force Extractor). You may need to blitz for longer depending on what blender you’re using).
- Pour into glasses and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this beetroot leaf green smoothie with Easy Peasy Foodie for #CookBlogShare.
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I really need to get more into smoothies and we recenrly got a new blender (not a froothie!) so I’ll have to try this!
Not a Froothie? I’m shocked 😉 I’m not sure where I’d be anymore without smoothies. I have them for breakfast now most days.
It sounds delicious and I love the sound of your Nutri Force! I could definitely do with a new blender at the moment!
Not sure where to get beetroot greens because most supermarkets cut off the beetroot tops. Don’t know kefir at all but would like to investigate because of its B12 content.
I love beetroot in smoothies and juices but thanks for letting me know I can use the leaves too!
Beetroot leaves are really tasty and they work brilliantly in smoothies as well as many other things.
Oh this smoothie just sounds fab, Choclette! So many things that I’d never have thought of putting in a smoothie (I am a bit unimaginative when it comes to smoothies!), like kefir and beetroot tops – genius! Bet it tasted FAB!! And totally loving the sound of the Nutri Force Extractor too. Thanks for linking this up with #CookBlogShare. Eb x
Thanks Eb. I try to cram as much nutrition as I can into a morning smoothie so I can feel virtuous for the rest of the day 😉
What a great way of making the most of all of the plant! I like the idea of getting all the goodness out.
Yes, it’s a shame to let those lovely leaves go to waste.
I have to admit that I do discard the leaves but after reading this post that is going to change. I will be trying this next time we have beetroot! x #CookBlogShare
The leaves and stems work wonderfully well in curries, stews and stir fries too – don’t throw them away Kirsty.
I absolutely adore beet greens and think it’s a shame they are so hard to find. Your recipe sounds super delicious and healthy:)
Thanks Monika. It’s feast or famine. I have a whole fridge drawer full of them at the moment. Some went into tonight’s dhal and I’ll be making a smoothie with some of them again tomorrow. But after that I’ll most likely have none until I grow some next year.
That looks like a great blender. I like to use the beet greens too.
I think when you grow your own food, you’re more likely to make the most of it. And it really is a super little blender.
Thats a great blender and mine had just broken, so thanks a lot! Mich x
Well I’m really liking this blender. It’s compact and powerful. But it only takes a litre, so you might need a bigger one depending on what you want to do with it.
What a great way to use beetroot leaves. They are so tasty and packed with nutrients, it’s only great little blenders like the Nutri Force that make using ingredients like beetroot leaves so easy.
As beetroot is one of the few things we’ve managed to grow, I’ve been eating quite a lot of them 🙂 Smoothies are a great way to use some up and the Nutri Force is a star.