Your Guide to Mason Jar Smoothies

Smoothies are the ultimate snack or quick meal. They’re packed with nutrition, fill you up and can keep you going — and glowing — for hours. They can be as simple as the milk of your choice and a handful of blueberries or they can be packed with a half dozen or more ingredients like almond butter, spinach, chia seeds and more.

We’ll take a look at some hacks to make smoothie blending even easier and share a handful of our favorite smoothie recipes. We’ll also highlight some of the bonus ingredients you can add to make your smoothies even healthier, as well as the best way to take your smoothies on the road.

Freezer Safe Mason Jars

Before we get into recipes or tips, let’s start with the basics: What kind of Mason jar should you use and are they safe to go in the freezer? (This is important because many people like to freeze their smoothies before taking them on the road to keep them colder longer.)

The trick is to choose a Mason jar with sides that go straight up, avoid putting warm jars in the freezer and leave at least a half-inch of empty space at the top of your Mason jar to allow for the safe expansion of the jar’s contents as it freezes.

The Best Mason Jar Blender

If you make smoothies every day, it can feel like your blender always needs to be cleaned before you use it.

One way to avoid that — and one of our very favorite smoothie hacks — is to use a Mason jar instead of the container that came with your blender. It doesn’t work with all blenders, but it does work with Magic Bullets, as well as many other brands.

Here’s a quick video of how it works, featuring a banana strawberry smoothie with coconut milk and collagen peptides (for that glowing skin we talked about.) 

 

Another easy way to blend is to use an immersion blender. Here’s another quick video; this time featuring a yummy Nutella smoothie with chia seeds and banana.

More Mason Jar Smoothie Recipes

Smoothies can be as delicious as a dessert or as green as the Grinch. Either way, they’re good for you, quick and easy to take on the road.

Here are a few more of our favorite recipes:

• Pumpkin Spice Smoothie, with a kick of protein to keep you going

• Blitz-n-Go Blueberry Smoothie, with chia seeds and banana

• Tropical Green Smoothie, with a bit of mango to take the edge off

• Cacao and Mint Smoothie, with almond butter

 But you don’t have to limit yourselves to recipes you find online or in a cookbook. In fact, it’s hard to go wrong. Try a cup of kefir (or the milk of your choice) and throw in a handful of frozen (or fresh) blueberries. Delicious and extremely healthy!

You could stop there or you could add half a banana to make it sweeter or a bit of spinach to sneak in more nutrients. In fact, there are all kinds of boosters you can add to your smoothies — and we’ll tackle that next. 

Smoothies for Beginners — What to Add?

Have your New Year’s resolutions come and gone? Whether you’re still going strong or not, smoothie add-ins are an easy way to energize yourself every day — and beat afternoon unhealthy snacking.

Here are seven boosters you can add to virtually any smoothie:

• Collagen peptides are said to promote healthy skin and joint health, plus they offer protein.
• A small handful of spinach provides Vitamin K and folate and you won’t even taste it.
• Almond butter is a good source of healthy monosaturated fats and it will make your smoothies creamier.
• Chia seeds are packed with fiber to keep you feeling fuller longer.
• Cinnamon can help control blood sugar and it pair brilliantly with bananas and many other flavors.

• Matcha powder has been shown to have fat-burning properties in recent studies.
• Flaxseed offers fiber, protein and omega-3 fats.

Freezer Smoothie Pack Recipes

Want to make smoothies — and eating healthy — even easier? Prepare your smoothie ingredients the night before and put them in the freezer in the Mason jar you’re going to drink them in. (Wait till you’re ready to blend to add any liquids or yogurt.)

You can prepare a whole week full of smoothies — and always have some healthy options ready to go.

On the Road with JarJackets

Speaking of being ready to go, JarJackets are an ideal way to take your smoothie with you, whether you’re headed to work or just out on a walk.

These silicone sleeves slip right over Mason jars to make them easier to grip and less prone to the inevitable bumps in the road. They’re also 100 percent non-toxic, environmentally friendly and safe in the dishwasher, microwave and freezer.

Our favorite sized sleeves for mason jar smoothies are the 24oz (1.5 pint) JarJackets. 

 Thanks for reading and happy blending!