This Orange Smoothie with Cacao Nibs is a healthy and flavorful way to add vitamins B and C into your diet.
Orange Smoothie with Cacao Nibs
This cold season has been rough. Actually, that’s an understatement– it’s been ridiculous, and staying healthy has become priority number one. Normally, throughout cold and flu season, I load up on those little vitamin C ‘immune-booster’ powder packets, and drink one every day.
Do I really think they work? Not necessarily, but it made me feel like my immune system was protected with a lovely little layer of immune-boosting vitamins. Plus, they’re tasty.
Recently, however, I looked up the ingredients list for my normal vitamin packets,* and was a little alarmed to see ‘fructose,’ ‘dried cane syrup,’ AND ‘corn syrup solids’ on the list. I checked out a few other brands, and was just as startled. With ingredients like that, how could those possibly help me to stay healthy?
Determined to boost my vitamin intake, I decided, radically, to get my vitamins from food. (Are you shocked at my extremism?) An orange might not technically have as much vitamin C as the immune-booster packets, and a banana has less vitamin B than you’d get from a supplement, but the vitamins are more potent and better absorbed when they come from real food. This vitamin B and C packed Banana Orange Smoothie is a delicious, fast, and easy way to add a few extra vitamins to your diet.
Quick Tip: Are you sick right now? Try this “Get Well Soup,” and feel better!!
Smoothies: Meal Replacements or Meal Supplements?
Some smoothies are designed to replace a meal. They have protein, and will keep you full. This smoothie, on the other hand, was designed to boost my vitamin intake without necessarily replacing any meals. If you want to make this smoothie your entire breakfast, you could add some nuts or protein powder.
This smoothie is also small and deliciously thick (I usually eat it with a spoon)– but if you prefer a larger and thinner smoothie, you could add milk (or a milk replacement), juice, or coconut water.
Making an Orange Smoothie with Cacao Nibs
To make this smoothie, all you need are three ingredients and a blender. Instead of adding ice cubes, this smoothie uses frozen banana slices. Simply slice up ripe (or overripe) bananas ahead of time, and stick them in an airtight container in the freezer.
Next, grab an orange, peel it, and stick it straight into the blender. (You shouldn’t even need to pry the slices apart.) My favorite orange for this smoothie is a blood orange– a dark red, deliciously sweet orange– but any orange will work!
Put the frozen banana slices and orange in your blender. Finally, because chocolate and orange are amazing together– add a tablespoon of cacao nibs** in with the fruit, and blend it all up.
Personally, I don’t add any sweetener to this smoothie. However, since some fruit will naturally be sweeter than others, it’s possible that you’ll grab an orange that isn’t as sweet as you want it to be! If you need to, add a little honey, sugar, or agave to your smoothie. Enjoy, and stay healthy!
Banana Orange Smoothie with Cacao Nibs
*Note: Previously, my normal vitamin-c powder of choice, and the one with an ingredient list I found alarming, was ‘Emergen-C.’ It’s not the only ‘immune boosting’ powder out there. Airborne, another major ‘immune-booster,’ has a lower sugar content, but adds the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) to their powders.
***A Note on Cacao: If you’ve never tried using cacao nibs, they’re similar to tiny, unsweetened chocolate chips. Cacao is similar to cocoa, but is less processed, and supposedly higher in antioxidants. You can substitute mini chocolate chips if you prefer, but the sugar content will be higher.
Orange Smoothie with Cacao Nibs
Ingredients
- 1 orange, peeled (*see recipe notes)
- 1 banana, peeled and frozen
- 1 TB cacao nibs
- Optional: honey, sugar, or agave syrup
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients. Sweeten to taste if desired. Drink while still cold.
Orange and banana are my favorite combo in fruit smoothies! They just taste so good together. Adding a little bit of cacao nibs is a genius move!
These look so delicious and a great way to increase nutrients! Thanks for helping us stay healthy!! 🙂
I love cacao nibs and never thought about putting them in an orange and banana smoothie. I’m trying this tomorrow morning for breakfast!
Now this is a great way to start the day!! Love the addition of the cocoa nibs! It makes this so special!
We bought cacao nibs and haven’t used anywhere yet. This seems like the perfect start. A great smoothie!
I appreciate your attention to the details on your vitamin packs. I’m really surprised that they’re sweetened at all, but then I don’t use them so I guess I hadn’t thought about it much. I try to make sure that I get all my vitamins through my diet as a rule, but I must say that fruit/veggie loaded smoothies are easily one of the best and tastiest ways to stay caught up. My kids love them too, and they’ve even taken a shining to smoothies with loads of spinach in them. So yay. I haven’t done a smoothie with cacao nibs before, but I’m tempted to try, especially given my fondness for the orange/chocolate combo. And now that I have a blender that can actually handle it, it seems like a good time to try! 😀
Thanks! And I don’t know why I was surprised, but I definitely was! I’ve noticed a lot of multivitamins and kids vitamins have added sugars and food coloring too. Yes give it a try!!
What a delicious combo of flavors for a healthy breakfast! I LOVE the cacao nibs on top! You can’t go wrong with that! And the frozen banana slices is genius!
I am so into cacao nibs right now! I never thought to put them in a smoothie, what a great idea. A little honey and a blood orange with this? I know what I’m having tomorrow!