Green Smoothie with Apple and Spinach: Ready in 5 Minutes

A green smoothie with apple is ready in five minutes: chop the apple, tip it into the blender with young spinach leaves, banana, lemon juice and cold water, blitz briefly, and you're done. Nothing gets cooked here – all you need is a knife, a press and a blender.

September is when this really comes into its own: the first home-grown apples are just ripe and pleasantly tart, and the outdoor-grown spinach is still young and tender. Two ingredients from the same season that go together beautifully – the apple brings the freshness, while the spinach stays in the background, mostly there for its colour.

Ingredients

Serves 4:

• 2 tart apples, e.g. Braeburn or Granny Smith (about 350g)
• 150g baby spinach leaves
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 lemon
• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger (optional)
• 400ml cold water
• 200ml cloudy apple juice
• 2 tsp porridge oats or ground linseed
• 4 ice cubes
• 1 tsp maple syrup or honey (to taste)

Method

1. Wash the spinach thoroughly and spin it dry. Pull off any coarser stalks – the tender leaves go into the blender whole.
2. Wash the apples, quarter them and cut out the core. Cut into rough chunks with a chef's knife – leave the skin on, as it adds colour and a bit of bite. Peel the banana and slice it.
3. Halve the lemon and squeeze it with the lemon squeezer. The juice matters more than it sounds like it should: it keeps the smoothie a fresh green instead of turning it brownish.
4. Put the apple, banana, spinach, ginger, lemon juice, oats, water and apple juice into the blender.
5. Blend on the highest speed for about 60 seconds, until no flecks of leaf remain. If the smoothie is too thick, add a little more water.
6. Taste it – depending on the apple variety, you might want to stir in a teaspoon of maple syrup. Pour over the ice cubes into four glasses and drink straightaway.

kjøk tip

Always blend the spinach with the liquid on its own first, before the fruit goes in – that way the leaves break down completely and the smoothie turns out smooth rather than stringy. If you find yourself juicing and pressing often, our Drinks range has the right tools for it. On care: citrus juice is stubborn, so rinse the squeezer under clean water and dry it right after use, before any residue has a chance to dry on. Always wash your knife by hand, never in the dishwasher – heat and harsh detergents wear down the edge. It's better to give the blade a quick sharpen often than a big one rarely. Olive wood handles also only want running water, and appreciate a few drops of food-safe oil every few weeks.

FAQs

Can you taste the spinach?

Barely. Young spinach leaves are very mild, and the apple, banana and lemon cover the rest. If it's your first green smoothie, just use 100g instead of 150g of spinach and work your way up from there.

Can I prepare the smoothie in advance?

It's best drunk fresh, as the colour and consistency change quickly. If you want to save time, chop the apple and banana the evening before and freeze them in portions – in the morning, they go straight into the blender frozen.

Which apples work best?

Tart varieties like Braeburn, Granny Smith or Cox, since they stand up against the banana's sweetness. Very sweet varieties like Gala can make the smoothie taste a bit flat – if you use one of those, add a little more lemon juice.