This healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Green Smoothie has just enough richness from cacao and toasted hazelnuts to make your morning dose of kale taste totally delicious! All you need are 6 ingredients, a blender, and 5 minutes.
I've never really been one to do New Year's Resolutions or January diets, but even still, something about mid-January has me craving extra nutrition. Maybe it's all the holiday desserts and pimento cheese I've been eating recently. So when the urge to create a healthy chocolate smoothie hit, I figured I should roll with it.
I was also brainstorming vegan Nutella recipes recently, so toasted hazelnuts seemed like a natural fit for this chocolate smoothie! When you start adding kale to smoothies, I find that you either need a lot of fruit or other bold flavors to really make it work. Cacao and toasted hazelnuts get the job done nicely!
Ingredients in this Healthy Chocolate Smoothie
You have some options when it comes to the fruit/sweetener you choose for your smoothie. Initially I planned to make mine with dates, until I realized I didn't have any. Thankfully, our freezer is always stocked with frozen bananas.
If you prefer lower glycemic breakfasts and/or less sweet smoothies, you can always use half the amount of banana listed, plus some stevia, monk fruit, or whatever you like. Or if you like your smoothies on the sweeter side, go ahead and double up on the fruit!
The other ingredients you'll need for this smoothie are: raw cacao powder; chia, flax or hemp seeds; toasted hazelnuts; kale (lacinato or regular curly); a cup of your favorite plant milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond); a pinch of sea salt (don't skip this! It reduces the kale's bitterness); and ice.
Blend it all up, and you're ready to roll. Obviously, a high-speed blender makes great smoothies, but a regular blender will work here, too. You may end up with a few pieces of hazelnut left floating around, but I see nothing wrong with a little crunch!
I hope you enjoy this healthy chocolate hazelnut green smoothie! It's:
creamy
lightly sweet
nutritious
nutty
chocolatey
and only mildly green-tasting 😉
More healthy vegan breakfast recipes:
Mango-Mint Yogurt Smoothie
Tropical Carrot Cake Smoothie
Cajun Tofu Scramble
Loaded Breakfast Muffins
Two-Minute Vegan Yogurt Oat Cups
Chocolate Hazelnut Green Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- scant ¼ cup toasted hazelnuts
- 3 or 4 large kale leaves, lacinato (dino) or regular; thick end of stems removed (if not using high-speed blender you may want to remove most of the stems) Add or sub raw spinach if desired.
- 2 ½ Tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 1 frozen banana OR 2 to 3 medjool dates Or other sweetener of choice; for sweeter smoothie use more fruit or add stevia or maple syrup.
- 1 Tbsp chia, flax or hemp seeds
- pinch of sea salt This cuts the bitterness of the kale.
- large handful of ice
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except ice in a blender, and blend until mostly smooth. Add ice, and blend again until thick and creamy.
