Pear Spinach Smoothie (No Banana)

With juicy, ripe pear; spinach; zesty ginger, and milk, this refreshing and delicious green pear smoothie recipe is the perfect, easy way to start your day. Made without banana and with optional protein powder for a protein-boost, it’s ready in just 5 minutes!

This Pear Smoothie Gets a Green + Protein Boost

We are huge fans of breakfast smoothie recipes around here – whether it’s a refreshing lemon smoothie, easy pink smoothie or apple smoothie – the flavor combinations are truly endless. Green smoothie recipes are one of my favorite ways to start the day because they are so simple to throw together.

I often have one most mornings and love that I can start the day off with the feel-good combination of fruits and veggies. This particular pear smoothie is the perfect blend of ripe pears, spicy fresh ginger, handfuls of green spinach, and creamy milk.

Pear Smoothie, But Make it a Green!

All you need to do is add all your ingredients to a blender and let it work it’s magic. Before you know it you’ll be sipping on a delicious, nutrient dense smoothie! Note, this pear shake is only slightly sweet from the natural sweetness of the pear and the vanilla protein powder. I decided to make this smoothie with no banana to keep the sugar content lower and to allow the natural pear flavors to shine through. For a sweeter smoothie option you can add 2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup or 2 pitted dates before blending.

Tip: You can meal prep this fruit smoothie recipe in advance by assembling your ingredients (everything except the lemon juice, almond milk and protein powder) in freezer friendly containers – like lidded mason jars or zip-top bags. Make these ahead of time and just pull them out and blend when ready to use.

Make a Pear Smoothie Bowl

You can also turn this simple green smoothie recipe into a smoothie bowl by making the smoothie thicker using only ¾ cup milk. Also, make sure to use frozen pears, frozen ginger and frozen spinach to help you get that thick consistency. Once blended, pour into a bowl and add your choice of smoothie bowl toppings.

Topping Ideas: Some fun topping ideas would be nuts, seeds, sliced fresh fruit, granola, honey, and and drizzle of nut or seed butter.

Ingredients & Recipe Modifications

Ripe pear: You can use any type or color of fresh, ripe pear for this recipe, including red Anjou, green Anjou, Bartlett (pictured, above). You also use frozen pears (yes, you can freeze pears for smoothies!) for this recipe, so if you have a big harvest of pears, feel free to chop and freeze them to use in this recipe later. If you’re wondering how to quickly ripen pears, you can add them to a paper bag with a few ripe apples. If you can’t find ripe pears, you can substitute 1 cored, chopped apple in its place.

Fresh ginger: I love adding fresh ginger to my smoothie, plus it adds a subtle spiciness that pairs beautifully with the pears. If you have a high powered blender you can cut ginger for your smoothie into small pieces, otherwise I’d suggest grating it first to make it easier to blend. You can also skip or reduce the ginger to reduce the spice level.

Baby spinach: I like to use tender, non-bitter greens for smoothies, but you can use any greens you like that blend easily and work well with these other ingredients. Some baby kale would work well in addition to (or in place of) spinach here too.

Lemon juice: I like how lemon juice pairs with the other ingredients in this smoothie, but you can also use lime juice in its place.

Vanilla protein powder: You can use any protein powder you like the taste of, or skip it if you don’t want to use protein powder. To keep this recipe vegan friendly, be sure to use a plant-based. To keep this recipe paleo friendly, be sure to use a grain-free and dairy-free protein powder.

Milk: Any kind of milk will work. I used my super-fast homemade cashew milk for extra creaminess, but really, anything goes. If you like a thinner consistency in your smoothies, add more milk. For a nut-free option try hemp milk or oat milk.

Tip: If using fresh pear and fresh ginger in place of frozen, be sure to add ice to the blender for better texture.

This Recipe Is…

Dairy FreeGluten FreeNut FreePaleoVeganVegetarian

Share + Save this Recipe