Detoxifying Green Apple Smoothie
Detoxifying Green Apple Smoothie- made with spinach, kale, green apple, cucumber, lemon and agave. Packed full of healthy nutrients and cleansing fiber to help you glow from the inside out.
Happy November! I have a feeling this is going to be a good month.
Because anything that starts with an extra hour is always a plus, am I right?
Right, and anything that starts with a detoxifying green smoothie is even better.
Especially if you’re coming off a weekend filled with pizza, wine and candy, like me.
Those of you that follow me on Snapchat (username: makingthyme) might have seen that we spent part of Halloween in Napa, drinking wine, and picked up pizza on the way home from The Cheeseboard in Berkeley…holy cannoli, that’s some good pizza!
As far as the candy goes, I was actually pretty good and only ate one piece, a mini 3 Musketeers…which tasted awful. I’m not sure if it was because it was stale or because my taste buds have become accustomed to high quality candy like Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, but that was enough for me to keep my hands out of the candy bowl.
But either way, if you had too much candy or too many glasses of wine, this detoxifying green smoothie is just what the (holistic) doctor ordered!
The ingredients in this smoothie make it more like a juice, but you don’t need a juicer to make it and you don’t have waste the pulp.
It’s made with two powerhouse greens, kale and spinach which are packed with fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron and calcium. Pretty much everything you need to feel to a champ!
Because kale can be a little difficult to break down in a smoothie, a high speed blender works best for this recipe. However, if you don’t have one you can always replace the kale with more spinach.
The touch of sweetness from the agave (or honey, if you’re not vegan) cuts the bitterness of the lemon and the kale, leaving a light and refreshing flavor that’s easy to drink. If you want something a little sweeter to share with your children, you can try adding a half of banana.
Trust me, if you’re feeling a little rundown or in need of a pick-me-up, this is the perfect cure. Cheers to good health!
Detoxifying Green Apple Smoothie
Yield: 12 ounces
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup packed kale leaves, stems removed (or spinach*)
- 1 cup packed spinach leaves
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 green apple, cored and diced
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar (or raw honey)**
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 3 ice cubes*
Directions:
Cut the cucumber in quarters lengthwise then slice off the inner corner of each one to remove the seeds. Roughly chop it then add to the blender along with the remaining ingredients.
Blend on high until smooth, transfer to a glass with a straw, then let the detox begin!
*Spinach is much easier to drink in smoothie form than the kale so feel free to omit the kale if you like.
**If you’d like to make this a green juice, simply leave out the ice and agave. Use a fine mesh strainer (with a spatula to help it along) or a nut milk bag to separate the pulp. I like to blend the leftover pulp with another 1/2 cup water then strain once more before composting.
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback! 
Yum!! It’s pretty crazy, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a smoothie (which is so weird for me). This definitely makes me want to get back into the habit of drinking them again!
Now that’s my kind of Halloween! Drinking wine in Napa! This smoothie is spot on. Gorgeous pics!
Thanks Megan! :)
It’s been a while since I’ve put greens in my smoothies, but this looks so tasty and refreshing that it’s making me want to bust out the baby spinach… because I can’t do kale. I had a bad experience with kale and a bad blender early in my healthy living days, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over it :lol:
Me too! My blender wasn’t that great so it left big chunks of kale which wasn’t exactly pleasant. :/
Those ingredients are my favorite combo to make juice with! The lemon makes it, in my opinion.
I managed to not eat a single piece of candy this weekend, but I definitely had pizza and wine!
Ummm your Halloween sounds awesome! ….aaaand now following you on Snap :) This smoothie looks perfect–I could drink one of these for breakfast any day.
This looks amazing! I didn’t go too crazy with the eating over Halloween either, but I have a feeling I’m gonna be back to this post after Thanksgiving ;)
Haha! Me too, Medha! ;)
This is like a quadruple green smoothie! Yum!
Great minds think alike – I started my day with a green juice! It was my first time using my juicer in awhile, and had apple + spinach + lemon + cucumber.
Such a great combo! :)
Wine in Napa? Best. Halloween. Ever. And Pizza. No wonder your body was craving plentiful greens. Sounds like a great green juice! They sell for like $8.00/glass so this is a much budget-friendlier alternative :)
It is so much cheaper to make your own at home! Thanks, Sarah! :)
Sarah it is healthier making it at home but not cheaper.
Sign me up for a vat of this! I drank all the beers and ate all the chips, brie, and chocolate over the weekend, so my body could use a good hard restart. And yeah, I find mass produced candy (like the 3 Musketeers) to taste way too sweet and almost synthetic, ha!! Thankfully we have delicious detox smoothie to set us straight. I’m loving this cucumber-kale-apple sitch!
What a refreshing and healthy smoothie! The green apple must give this such a great tartness. And I love the sound of your Halloween…what wineries did you go to in Napa? I’m always looking for new ideas for when I’m up there! That’s so funny about your Three Musketeers comment…I feel the same way. I had a mini Snickers, but it didn’t taste as amazing as what I remembered from my childhood!
One, this smoothie sounds awesome and is definitely what I need after the wine that happened this weekend!! haha And two, I had the exact same reaction when I had a regular peanut butter cup on Halloween … apparently I’ve gotten snotty about my candy because that will just not do after the justin’s cups!!
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Oh my gosh. Totally feel you about the mini chocolate and the uber disappointment after consumption. I used to LOVE milky ways. I had a mini one at lunch last week and was like “WTF. This is not how I remember it…” Real, dark chocolate goodness for the win!
And obvi this juice sounds incredible.
I know, such a let down! :)
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Not a good one! Need some more honey and may be ginger. Too bland. i did not like it!
Sorry you didn’t like it, Vivek. It isn’t supposed to be very sweet because it is detoxifying. All of the sugar comes from the apple so if yours wasn’t very fresh or sweet, it could have made it taste more bland.
How often should we drink it
This smoothie recipe sounds amazing, definitely going to have to try this!! Have you tried this recipe with a combo of greens. (Chard, Kale, Arugula, Spinach) I have lots of greens that I would like to use up. I have the Nutribullet Prime.
Hi A.J.! I haven’t tried it with a mix of greens but you could definitely use a combo in place of the kale! Otherwise, if you use too much of the greens it could alter the flavor and create excess pulp, making it difficult to drink. Romaine is great for this recipe because of it’s high water content.
If you want to use all of your greens then I would suggest adding a little sweetener (agave or honey) then straining it with a fine mesh sieve. I hope that helps!
how often can this be drank
Hi Gina! I personally would feel okay drinking it once per day but that’s just me. I would recommend seeking advice from a certified nutritionist that can help you figure out what’s best based on your personal goals.
Instead of
kale leaves and spinach leaves are there any agave nectar or raw honey are there any alternatives e.g mint leaves
Hi Sanjana- I’m not sure how to make that many substitutions to this recipe. Sorry!
When does one drink this smoothie? What is the purpose of drinking it?
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Would it be necessary to peel the apple & cucumber? Also in the interest of detox, how do you think dandelion greens would fit into a smoothie like this?
Hey Danny! You can skip the peeling just keep in mind that it will affect the texture of the smoothie. You will have more pulp which sinks to the bottom. As for the dandelion greens, you could add them as well but it will make it bitter and possibly difficult to drink. It’s up to you if you want to experiment and see if you can handle it, haha!
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Wow first time I’ve ever made a green smoothie !! Swapped the apple with banana because I’m allergic and put orange juic in instead and it is beautiful OMG top marks <3
Amazing, so so healthy and such a cheap smotheone to make overall compared with berrie smoothies, I added some green grapes! So yum
Grapes sound like a delicious addition. Thanks Alicia!
Thanks for sharing your recipe! :)
Needed a quick recipe for a kale & apple smoothie and came across your site.
Just made it – first impressions – tastes like biting into a vegetable, fresh.
I prefer a sweeter taste so I will add less lemon the next time with a bit more honey.
Thanks for the review, Olivia! I tried to make this recipe as low in sugar as possible since it is supposed to be detoxifying. But of course you can add as much sweetener as you prefer.
I made it without the spinach this time and used a whole seedless cucumber. I used 2 or 3 tsp of honey, lime instead of lemon and a pinch of salt. It’s like a green gatorade for the summertime. Nice post. Thanks!
Sounds delicious! :)
Hi it is the first time i did a detox .i did it for my husband ,as you men the don’t like these things .i had some for my self too didn’t have any apples but it drank well. will do it again .how many days per week should i do this
Thanks Judy
I just tried this smoothie before my workout this morning. It was wonderfully refreshing and gave me a great boost of energy. I was excited to use fresh vegetables from my garden. Thanks for sharing!
So happy to hear that! Thank you for the review, Lori!
This smoothie has a very noticeable texture if you are sensitive to textures like i am then this is not the smoothie for you.
calories anybody?? does anybody know
btw I looove this and drink it all the time… the only thing is I do not know the calories
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Sarah it is healthier making it at home but not cheaper.
Hi Sarah, been making this for about a month. It’s very . I add some Chia and flax for more benefits. Do you know the calories in this smoothie?
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This is the one of the best Thyme of my day. #makethyme for my health
Thanks for this very green cleansing recipe! I used two oranges instead of the agave and it turned out quite tasty.
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Loved it. Just tried it,
This is an excellent and very refreshing Smoothie, I was afraid it would be bitter because of the kale, I used raw honey, I have made it 3 times so far this week. Thank you for sharing.
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OMG! what a delicious smoothie you have described here. I love green apples and never have tried a smoothie before. But now I can’t stop myself to make it. Thanks for sharing.:)
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