If you dislike the sound of someone slurping through their straw to try to get every last little drop out of their cup, then you probably shouldn’t make these PB&J smoothies. My kids absolutely LOVE them! And it all started when on a recent trip to buy groceries from Earth Fare we decided to also have lunch in their little cafe.
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While paying for our sushi I noticed that they had a surprisingly good smoothie menu, so on a whim, I decided to order their PB&J smoothie for my girls (and me) to share. Well, that was a mistake…I should have gotten a large size for each of us! During the first 5 minutes of the lunch (which was as long as the smoothie lasted) all I could hear—aside from the slurping—was “I want more of it,” ”It’s my turn for some,” “she is drinking it all." Need I say more?
I, of course, don’t have Earth Fare’s exact recipe so this is just my version that emulates theirs as best as I can. My daughters responded very similarly to this version so I would say it went over well. This is the best invention for kids since the original PB&J!!
PB&J Smoothie
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup milk
- ⅓ cup apple juice
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- 2 bananas ((I like using 2, but if you only have 1 on hand, don't let it stop you!))
- 1 cup frozen berries (or fresh)
- 1 handful spinach (optional)
- ice ((only if you use fresh berries))
Instructions
- Mix well in a blender and serve cold with a straw.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Other Smoothie Recipes You Might Like
Check out the recipe suggestions below or view all smoothie related posts and recipes here.
Dana says
I mix & match smoothies a lot. A little oj instead of other juice adds a little tang. I also throw in some avocado for healthy fat & it thickens it some too.
Sandi says
I can't imagine mixing apple juice with milk. I'm not supposed to have milk although I do every once in a while, so I would substitute with almond or coconut milk. Is the apple juice to sweeten?
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Sandi. Most juices would add natural sweetness but smoothie recipes are easy to adapt to your own tastes. Enjoy. ~Amy
stacey says
I am trying to cut out apple juice because of all of the sugar- do you either have a recommendation for a substitute or maybe a recommendation for a 'healthy' apple juice?
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Stacey. A healthy apple juice would be one that is organic, since apples are on the dirty dozen list: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/, and should have no added ingredients. ~Amy
Michelle says
AMAZING - highly addictive!
Meagen says
Just got our molds delivered & made theses smoothies (I snuck in more fruits). They are amazing! My kids don't want to wait until they're 'frozen' lol
Val says
We have allergies to bananas in this house. Any suggestions for a substitute? Do you think just some plain yogurt would taste as good as a substitute for the banana?
Assistant to 100 Days (Jill) says
Hi Val. The banana adds some additional sweetness, so, you may want to substitute another fruit for the banana. Jill
HeatherB says
Very tasty! May sub out greek yogurt for the milk to make it a touch thicker, but the munchkins inhaled this!
Kim says
going to make this one for my breakfast in the morning minus the apple juice dont need the extra calories and with using furit it will be sweet enough.
Kim says
I lov almond milk i also use coconut milk, i always buy the unsweetened kind i have made my own almond milk as well
Kim says
I love making smoothies, i have both the Nutra bullet & the Vitamixer and i use them both.
jennifer says
I was thinking of substituting almond milk for the milk. Has anyone tried it?
natasha says
oh my we love it!!!
Elizabeth says
Made this smoothie for my son and I today. It was very yummy!
Stephanie says
This may have already been asked but 1 of my 4 kids is allergic to peanuts. Have you (or anyone) substituted the PB w/any of the allergy friendly spreads like soy nut butter or Nutella? Thanks!
Assistant to 100 Days (Jill) says
Hi Stephanie. I have not tried a substitution. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try. Jill
Laura J says
I bet it would be good with sun butter or whatever seed/nut butter your child likes. Nutella is not really a nut butter so much as a very sugary choclate srpead with a few nuts in it.
Shelley says
Hi Stephanie! We have tree nut and peanuts allergies in our house. We've done this smoothie with soy butter, sunflower butter, and sesame butter. All three were yummy, but chunky sunflower butter is our favorite. We use those for a 1:1 substitution for all recipes that call for peanut butter (including no bake cookies).
Victoria says
Do you use a regular blender when you add the kale or spinach? If so, what kind? My blender won't turn greens into smoothies.....only frozen fruit.
Assistant to 100 Days (Jill) says
Hi Victoria. Many people love the Vitamix. I personally have a Ninja which is much cheaper than the Vitamix and I think it does a great job. Jill
Maria M. says
Love this recipe! AMAZING. I am very inspired by your website. I have shown my 5 year old all the pictures of your school lunches to get him excited about taking lunch to school this year. We have been testing the freezie pops and he loves them.
Tina Monji says
Lisa, just made the smoothie for the kids. they had a taste, then I filled four smoothie pop molds. They loved it! thanks for a winner!
Jan says
I used powdered peanut butter with mine and it is a lot easier than the peanut butter in a jar.
Katie says
This is seriously DELISH!!! I'm sipping on it now!!! I used coconut milk instead...can't even taste it...and as we don't have access to raw milk...it's also just a tad healthier :) LOVE IT!!
styleezta says
I made this without the banana so yummy!!
Cory says
Does this make just one serving?
100 Days of Real Food says
No...3 or 4 servings depending on how big of a glass you go for.
April H says
We are on Day 4 of mini-challenge #1! I made this today as a snack for my boys (ages 2 and 4) and they slurped it down! I made the rest into Popsicle that they are excited to have after dinner. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!!!!
Rene says
Any ideas on what you can replace the banana with. Most smoothies have bananas as ingredients, but we are super allergic to them. Thanks!!
100 Days of Real Food says
Honey would probably be the best bet...bananas act as a sweetener.
Rene says
Thanks!! I will give that a try. My kids will be really excited when they hear the name!
spaceranger says
Dates are another way to sweeten smoothies, and could be used instead of bananas. I use them to sweeten smoothies all the time.
spaceranger says
Oh! In a pb&j smoothie you could totally use prunes as a sweetener. They have a jellyish flavor to them!
amy says
awesome! thank you! of ocurse I made this for my girls and they didn't like it, so I drank both of theirs! Not so healthy for me! ha! but I will say, that if you freeze this smoothie it's like an ice cream treat! if I make it for myself, maybe i need to not use so much nut butter! i loved it! back to the drawing board for a smoothie my girls will like that tastes healthy (preferrably chocolate or blueberry) with no banana taste, and something that is REAL and healthy.
Thank you!
100 Days of Real Food says
Try plain yogurt, frozen blueberries, 1 banana and some honey...recently discovered this and it's really good (and blueberryish)!
Amy says
You might add spinach too. I've been adding it to all our smoothies to make them healthier. It doesn't have a taste at all so no complaints from my husband or daughter. The blueberries keep it from looking green so they hardly notice
Jennifer Greenwell says
Just tried this and it is great and better than the one I had at the gym once. And I can tell you I watched them make it this is healthier too.
Also just a hint: My family loves Bananas some weeks more than others. So if you start seeing that this week your family is not eating as many and they are starting to brown. Cube them and freeze each banana seperately in storage bag(labled). Great for throwing in to shakes later and your bananas are not wasted.
Chelsea Baker says
I just made this... it is amazing! I used coconut milk (we can't do cows milk), almond butter (totally addicted to it right now), and added some oats and flax seeds ... it is excellent!
amy says
this looks yummy, but my girls didn't like the other smoothie i made because they could taste way too much banana. would it be ok without the banana? Loving your webiste! We made zucchini muffins for breakfast today and had them for snacks and dinner too! Slowly but surely, we are making some good changes. Thank you so much!
100 Days of Real Food says
If you don't put in bananas I would recommend adding a little bit of honey to the smoothie. Glad the blog is helpful!
KatherineLn says
I used to work at a smoothie bar and would often try creations of my own. The PB&J smoothie I created was always my favorite! My 'secret' ingredients were to add oats and flax to the mix to give it a kind of 'breaded' flavor. With a quality machine they'll blend right in, otherwise you have to be okay with a slight grainy texture.
Jillian Arnould says
I think I stumbled on your website through Pinterest and I have been taking time daily to read through all of the wonderful information that you have shared. Thank you first of all for sharing your knowledge and challenging people to eat a healthier, whole diet. I have been a healthy (no fast food, or junk food, liked to cook everything-kinda gal) for a long time. I am just recently taking the time to further educate myself on eating a whole foods diet with no processed foods and comprised of mostly organics. I am a cancer survivor and am very conscientious as to what I put into my body now. I feel like finding your blog was like finding a wealth of knowledge!
I was totally on the brink of caving and dying for something chocolatey or super sweet today, but then I remember I had wanted to try this recipe, so I whipped it up really quickly. It is delicious! I drank it all by myself and then though, shoot! I just ate 1/3 of a cup of peanut butter!! lol.
Thanks for sharing. I will make more next time and do the popsicles!
Anna says
Excellent! I froze some of this in the freezer pops as you have pictured on the snack recipes page and my kids ask for these instead of popsicles!
I would love if you could add a way to "pin" these articles to Pinterest (I think there is a Word Press plugin for that now). Pinterest needs more whole food recipes!
100 Days of Real Food says
So glad it was a hit...and I do have a pinterest button now!
Ange says
Mmm, made this for my kids for lunch with some popcorn to go along with. Secretly I was glad my 18 month old chose his usual cup of milk instead since I only had enough peanut butter for one. Now I get some for lunch too!
Brooke says
I made this today and although it tasted good there were a lot of seeds in the frozen fruit i used (strawberries, raspberries,blackberries). I know I could just use blueberries to avoid that but I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to lower the number of seeds in fruit smoothies with using frozen berries.
100 Days of Real Food says
You could blend the berries first (by themselves), strain out the seeds with a fine mesh sieve, then mix them in with the other stuff. I hope that helps!
Brooke says
If i omitted the apple juice what would you suggest I replace it with?
100 Days of Real Food says
You could just add extra milk instead.
Ashley says
LOVE this. I add a bit of honey to make it a little sweeter, but it's one of my favorite breakfasts now!
Kristin W. says
Hi Again! I was wondering on this recipe about the PB. Does it matter if it is chunky or smooth? I would assume smooth but wasn't sure. Thanks!
100 Days of Real Food says
You know...I've only tried it with smooth PB, but I think both would work with the right blender. Also, with any smoothie the leftovers are best kept in the freezer (per your other comment).
Mallory says
This was exactly what I needed! My one year old has issues with dairy, but I am very unhappy with the alternatives to dairy. I've been trying to get her to like goats milk, but it was not happening. I just made this (with a few tweaks to make it a bit easier for her to swallow) and she loved it. This may be a way to get a little more calcium, protein, and fruits into her day! :) Thank you!
Ginger says
Hi!
I just wanted to let you know that I've made this PB&J smoothie twice now and my 9 year old son just loooooves it! (so do I) I made it for him for breakfast this morning as a matter of fact.
I found you in my research on food and ADD/ADHD as my son was just diagnosed with ADD. I felt like I had to try something here at home other than the prescribed stimulant which I'm not really thrilled about. My husband, son and I also watched Food Inc. and we thought it was truly appalling what is being done to us and the farmers of America, and that no one can do anything about it. Right then we decided to take a stand.
I'm in the Steele Creek area and my son and I visit the Ballantyne Earth Fare frequently. My family has now decided to try going organic/local as much as we possibly can. I don't live far from the Yorkmont Farmer's Market and I'm excited to go see what they have. (It's almost strawberry season, yay!) Having grown up on the NC mountains, I grew up on 'real food' for the most part. We didn't even have a McDonald's there until I was in high school. Our idea of fast food was the drive-in where the food was still basically 'real': homemade buns, locally butchered beef, locally grown vegetables. But my family is now going to try to change the way we eat. No more Pop-Tarts or fake food for us (among other things).
I'm also proud to say I made my first whole chicken in my crock pot thanks to your recipe. I ended up having chicken wraps, chicken salad and chicken tenders using olive oil and organic bread crumbs. I never knew how easy it could be. :)
I hope to see you again soon on Charlotte Today! Please keep the great recipes coming!
100 Days of Real Food says
Thanks so much for joining us and for your comment...the more the merrier!! :)
Karis says
Have you ever tried it without the juice? Another way to get some added nutrients is to throw a handful of spinach into your smoothies of any kind. Can't taste it and if it turns your smoothie green which it sometimes does we call them Popeye drinks and my kids love them!
kathleen says
To lose the green color in a smoothie from adding the spinich or broccili etc, just add beets. My family has no idea that their fruit smoothies contain any of this stuff. I have a small silicone ice tray that I put pureed veggies with the beets and make up frozen premeasured packets in ziplock baggies with cutup fruits, just add milk, juice or water and you have a shake ready to go!
Jill says
nice idea,,,,thanks
Yazmin @ A Pretty Rock says
The beets are a great idea! I love throwing spinach into my smoothies 'cause I can't taste it, but my husband says he can. Personally, I think it's just the coloring that throws him off. I may try the beets on him and see if he can notice anything in the PB & J smoothie. (I just made it today without the apple juice, but with a cup of spinach and it was delish!)
Wendy says
So do you cook and puree the beets and then freeze in an ice cube tray? Do you puree the spinach into the beets? Looking for ways to get more veggies down the kids and this would be great!
Laura J says
I just toss in some grated raw beets. It turns the smoothie a lovely shade of pink or fuschia, depending on how much beet you add.
maggie sanders says
can't wait to try the smoothie...only 2 more days on my cleanse and then gradually start eating real food again...all of your recipes are making me hungry...
Kristi Billingsley Toms says
Made this for snack today! VERY GOOD! 3 yr old still unsure abt it, but me, my son & husband thought it was great! Thx for the recipe!
kt