I originally shared this recipe for what I cheesily dubbed a “power smoothie” back in 2012 when I was pregnant with my youngest. I still love it, but the pictures needed a makeover and the recipe needed some slight tweaking (I cut down on the sugar and upped the fat a little to balance out the macros). If it’s too tart for you, feel free to add a little drizzle of honey or agave! This smoothie is packed with nutrition and has real staying power that won’t leave you with a sugar crash and starving two hours later. It’s a great way to start the day!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Orange juice – Use a good-quality not-from-concentrate variety for best results. I’d avoid shelf-stable bottles or frozen concentrate for this one.
- Steel cut oats – Or oatmeal. Steel cut oats are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and help stabilize your blood sugar. They help keep you feeling full and satisfied. Plus, you don’t have to cook them, which is always a bonus in the morning. You don’t have to use them, and they will add a grainy texture to your smoothie, but I don’t mind it–the oats are sweet and they make me feel like I’m tangibly doing something good for myself. If you like, you can combine the orange juice and oats the night before and store them in the fridge to soften.
- Greek yogurt – Full fat or 2%, plain and unsweetened. Make sure it’s true Greek yogurt that’s twice the protein of traditional yogurt, not just Greek-style which just has added thickeners.
- Frozen blueberries
- Baby spinach leaves – You won’t even taste the spinach at the end but it adds important nutrients!
- Crushed ice
How to Make Kate’s Power Smoothie
- Simply combine everything in a high powered blender and blend. I use the smoothie setting on my Blendtec, which handles it well, but you may need to run it through twice.
Storing and Other Tips
- This smoothie is best enjoyed right away!
Frequently Asked Questions
Not really. You could measure out your orange juice and oats the night before and leave them in your blender pitcher in the fridge overnight, but everything else should be added and blended when you’re ready to enjoy your smoothie!
Definitely! As written this recipe makes two servings. Feel free to cut it in half for one or scale up, as long as the ingredients fit in your blender!
Kate’s Power Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup orange juice preferably the good stuff, like the not-from-concentrate orange juice
- 2 tablespoons steel cut oats or oatmeal
- ¾ cup 2% or full-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 1 ½ cups frozen blueberries
- 3 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 ½ cups crushed ice
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in the jar of your blender and blend. You will probably need to run it through twice. Serve immediately.
- Makes 1 giant smoothie, 2 smaller smoothies, or 3 snack-sized smoothies.
Questions & Reviews
If using steal cut oats in place of oat groats, is the nutritional comparison of the two the same? Meaning an equal exchange?
Going to make one for my teenage son who works out everyday, plays basketball everyday, is so trim abd thin (not fair!) and is ALWAYS starving and looking for high protein foods.
Thanks!
Some people will tell you that it’s not–they say that because steel cut oats are chopped up groats, they lose some of their nutrition when they were cut (after being exposed to oxygen, not because you’re, like, chopping up vitamins and minerals, haha!). This may be true to a certain extent, but I think for all intents and purposes, steel cut oats are probably just as good as groats. 🙂
Delicious recipes aside, I love your little anecdotes as well. Your description of not sending your kids to school looking like orphans made me laugh out loud because I often think the same thing when I’m trying to get my three wee ones up and out in the mornings, looking and feeling groomed and fed. No easy task!! Keep up the great work and the wonderful sense of humor, you’ve got a great thing going!!
Thanks Kate!!! I am so glad you posted this, because guess what! You’re NOT the only one pregnant in the world! So am I! I’m still early in my first trimester, but this is EXACTLY what I need. This is my fourth child and I know what busy mornings feel like with kids and school schedules. Thanks!
Can you use a regular blender or do you have to have a juicer?
Yep, you can use a regular blender! I just added a tip to the printable recipe to make things easier on your blender with the groats…
I’m prego too and need a quick breakfast this smoothie would be great if I didn’t get horrible heartburn. Any suggestions on a different juice rather then OJ? Thanks
You can play around with the juices that work for you; apple is much more mild in flavor, but it’s also great at taking on the flavors around it, so that might be a good option. Juice in general can be pretty acidic (and I completely relate–I get really bad heartburn, too).
I can’t have orange juice because of the acidity, I made mine with apple and it was great 🙂
Thanks for sharing this one Kate! I’ve been doing pumpkin protein shakes based on the OBB pumpkin milkshake recipe since Thanksgiving and adding oatmeal to the top, so I’m excited to try this new version! Went right out today and found oat groats as well as steal cut oats in those big bins at Winco. This is going to be a great summer version 🙂 All your January posts have been FABULOUS … I’m making pretty much every-single-one of them, you girls are the best!!
I wonder if you’ve read up at all on what happens to these “fresh, nonconcentrated” orange juices? They’re stored for months on end, then rejuvenated with some mysterious “flavor packs,” in order to get the flavor they want. It sounded almost worse than buying frozen concentrates. At least those are processed and frozen at the peak of the season.
I have…and I worry about it to a certain extent. But as far as I can tell, the only major company that doesn’t do it is Whole Foods and we don’t have one nearby. Concentrated orange juice does something similar. I love OJ and fresh-squeezed isn’t realistic for me. I don’t know exactly what’s in the flavor packs, but some “insiders” have said it’s the pulp, oils, rinds, etc. from oranges that have been juiced more recently and if that’s the case, while it’s not ideal, I personally don’t find it the WORST thing in the world. A lot of materials I’ve read on it have had a very fear-mongering, one-sided tone to them, so until I see a little more balanced literature on it, I’m not going to freak myself out about it (but I’m also not going to drink excessive OJ. 🙂 )
Since I’m already 33 weeks pregnant, I wish you could have found and posted this recipe sooner! 🙂 Can’t wait to try it.
Kate–You got a Blendtec! Congratulations. When did this happy day occur? I’m jealous of course. (Yeah, you don’t know me. I’m Sara’s friend from the PacU days 🙂
It was a magical day in July and my life has been better since then, hahaha!
This looks so good! I really enjoy smoothies, but so many recipes contain banana, and I can’t stand bananas. Even the smell turns my stomach, and no, I’m not pregnant. Great idea to “sneak” in some greens, too.
I’m so glad I’m not alone! The only time I like banana in smoothies is with chocolate, and that hardly counts as a smoothie, haha! 🙂