Children will forgive almost anything in a smoothie except the colour. You can hide half a zucchini, a fistful of spinach and a whole carrot in a glass and get away with all of it — but let the mixture turn a murky greyish brown and it comes straight back to you untouched.
So that’s the first rule, and it’s a rule about appearances rather than nutrition.
If you want to invent your own blends rather than follow these, start from the 3-2-1 smoothie formula: frozen fruit and vegetables, about half as much liquid, and something for body.
The colour rule
Pick a colour and commit to it. Mixing red or purple fruit with green vegetables gives you brown every time, and brown is where negotiations end.
- Pink and red: strawberry, raspberry, cherry, watermelon, beetroot (a very small amount), red berries generally.
- Yellow and orange: mango, peach, pineapple, banana, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin.
- Green: spinach, kiwi, green apple, pineapple, avocado — lean into it and call it a monster or dinosaur smoothie rather than hiding it.
- Chocolate brown: deliberately brown, which is different from accidentally brown. Cocoa covers anything.
The four vegetables that genuinely disappear
Frozen cauliflower rice is the best-kept secret in this entire category. It has essentially no flavour, it thickens beautifully, and half a cup vanishes into any fruit smoothie. Buy it pre-riced and frozen.
Zucchini, chopped and frozen raw with the skin on, does the same job with a slightly creamier result. No peeling needed.
Steamed and frozen sweet potato or pumpkin brings sweetness and a thick, custard-like texture. Cook it first — raw sweet potato is chalky and unpleasant.
Baby spinach disappears in flavour but not in colour, so use it only in green or chocolate smoothies.
Carrot works too, but it needs a high-powered blender or it stays gritty. Steam and freeze it first if your blender is average.
Eight that work
Each makes one child-sized serving plus a bit. Scale up freely.
1. Pink monster
1 cup frozen strawberries · ½ frozen banana · ½ cup frozen cauliflower rice · ¾ cup milk · 1 tsp honey.
The one to start with. Bright pink, entirely familiar-tasting, and a third vegetable by volume.
2. Sunshine
1 cup frozen mango · ½ frozen banana · ¼ cup steamed frozen carrot · ¾ cup orange juice or milk.
3. Chocolate dinosaur
1½ frozen bananas · 2 big handfuls spinach · 1 tbsp cocoa · 1 cup milk · 1 tbsp peanut butter.
Brown enough that the spinach never comes up. If it does, the answer is yes, and it’s dinosaur food.
4. Green goblin
1 cup frozen pineapple · ½ frozen banana · 2 handfuls spinach · ½ cup coconut water · squeeze of lime.
Sold on the colour rather than despite it. Serve it at Halloween and it becomes a treat.
5. Peaches and cream
1½ cups frozen peaches · ½ cup frozen zucchini · ½ cup plain yogurt · ¾ cup milk · ¼ tsp vanilla.
6. Berry blue
1¼ cups frozen blueberries · ½ frozen banana · ½ cup frozen cauliflower rice · ¾ cup milk.
Comes out an alarming purple-blue, which children find excellent and adults find slightly concerning.
7. Pumpkin pie
½ cup pumpkin purée · 1 frozen banana · ¾ cup milk · ¼ tsp cinnamon · 1 tbsp maple syrup.
Tastes like the filling, which is the entire appeal.
8. Strawberry milkshake
1½ cups frozen strawberries · ½ cup vanilla yogurt · ¾ cup milk · ½ cup frozen cauliflower rice.
Thick enough to need a spoon at first. Serve it in a proper milkshake glass and the vegetable question never arises.
Getting a sceptical child to try one
- Let them press the button. Children who operate the blender drink what comes out of it at a much higher rate. This is unscientific and completely reliable.
- Name it something. “Green smoothie” is a health food. “Green goblin” is a drink.
- Serve it in the same cup every time, with a fun straw. Familiarity does a lot of work here.
- Start sweet. Add the vegetables gradually across a couple of weeks rather than all at once on day one.
- Don’t oversell it. The moment you explain why it’s good for them, you’ve told them it’s medicine.
A word on honesty
“Hidden vegetables” is the standard phrase, and it’s how these get searched for, but it’s worth saying plainly: I don’t think you should lie about it if a child asks directly. Say yes, there’s spinach in it, and yes, it tastes like chocolate. A child who learns that vegetables can taste good has learned something more useful than a child who was tricked once.
Hiding it is for getting them to the first sip. After that, honesty works better.
Making them ahead
Every one of these works as a freezer pack — bag up the frozen ingredients, add the liquid in the morning. That process is covered in our guide to freezer smoothie packs. For after-school smoothies that hold until dinner, add yogurt or a spoon of nut butter; see the high-protein smoothies for the reasoning.
