By Lindsay Moyer, MS, RDN

Daniel Vincek/stock.adobe.com.

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At shops like Jamba Juice, most smoothies aren’t just fruit plus milk or yogurt. They often contain sugary sherbet, juice, lemonade, frozen yogurt, etc. So even the smallest sizes typically start at 250 to 400 calories. In other words, they just can’t beat the smoothies you whip up at home. Here’s our DIY 8-step guide. Short on time, or on the go? We've also picked out some of the best bottled smoothies and shakes (scroll down for those).

It’s a quick route to an icy, refreshing smoothie. Berries, cherries, mango, pineapple, peaches, bananas, you name it...all fruits are good fruits. And frozen fruits are just as rich in vitamins and minerals as fresh.

Aside from packs of sweetened açaí berry purée and tubs of sugary sliced strawberries, added sugar is rare in the frozen-fruit case. You won’t find any in our frozen Best Bites (see our chart, below). Bonus: Frozen fruit is ready when you are, it’s food-waste-proof, and it’s also at home in your yogurt or cereal bowl.

To make your smoothie prep a snap, grab a frozen fruit blend. See the photos in this section for some of our favorites...or let them inspire your own combos.

Add your own (see No. 8 below). Most frozen fruit-and-vegetable blends don’t add many veggies. For example, Dole Fruit & Veggie Fruit ‘n Greens has more mango, banana, apple, and pineapple than spinach, the Berries ‘n Kale has more strawberries, banana, and blueberries than kale, and the Tropical Avocado with Kale has more banana, pineapple, and mango than avocado or kale.

Do you need vegetables in a smoothie? Nope. But if you bought a blend for its veggies, you may be underwhelmed.

Food-safety tip: Skip frozen vegetables (like spinach, carrots, or kale) if they come with heating instructions on the package. That means they’re not intended to be eaten without cooking.

Fruit is healthier than juice, so blend your real fruit and/or veggies with another liquid (see No. 5).

It’s not just that juice has no intact fiber (it often has no fiber at all). The concentrated dose of fruit sugars in juice also boosts a smoothie’s calorie density—the calories per swallow.

And keep in mind that neither juice nor smoothies may curb your appetite like whole fruit. Studies show that when people drink—rather than chew—their calories, they’re unlikely to fully compensate by eating less food later. Over time, that can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

If you’re aiming for a lower-calorie snack, blend your fruit with water or unsweetened nut milk.

Want more sweetness? Add banana. Or try a splash of coconut water. It has half the calories of other juices (50 per cup), yet as much or more potassium than most. And unlike coconut milk, it’s free of saturated (unhealthy) fat.

Looking for more protein and calcium? Use fat-free or 1% dairy milk or a fortified soy or pea protein plant milk like unsweetened or original Ripple or Silk Protein. Or go with a plain or lower-sugar kefir (scroll down) or yogurt.

A do-it-yourself smoothie isn’t just good for you. It also eliminates a bottled smoothie’s thick plastic, which rarely gets recycled.

Another way to minimize excess packaging: Buy larger bags of frozen fruit. And skip frozen blends that come in individually portioned bags, like Dole Crafted Smoothie Blends.

Or go greener: Freeze your own smoothie ingredients in reusable containers.

Got fresh bananas, berries, or other fruit on the verge of spoiling? Slice or wash them (if needed), then freeze. Ta-dah! A future smoothie awaits.

Blending your own smoothie? For extra nutrients, try:

Cultured dairy drinks don’t have much fruit, but they do deliver a smoothie with calcium and potassium in one easy pour. Some highlights:

Looking for plant-based smoothies? We didn’t find any Best Bites or Honorable Mentions. Siggi’s Plant-Based Probiotic Coconut Drink has 8 grams of (pea) protein—rare in the cultured plant-based aisle. And taste-wise, it’s a convincing dairy dupe. But with 4½ grams of saturated fat per cup—more than our two-gram limit—it’s close to a whole-milk yogurt drink. And since it’s dairy-free (and unfortified), there’s little calcium or potassium.

Perusing protein shakes? Some pointers:

Need it? Do you need the 20-plus grams of protein—40 percent of a day’s worth—in many shakes? Not if it’s just a snack. Our Best Bites and Honorable Mentions have at least 8 grams of protein per cup—what you’d get in a yogurt smoothie. That may be plenty for you.

We didn’t give juice-plus-purée smoothies Best Bites or Honorable Mentions because they’re heavy on juice and not as healthy as they look. Take Bolthouse Blue Goodness:

Frozen fruit blends: Best Bites have no added sugar and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat per serving.

Smoothies & shakes: Best Bites have no added sugar. Honorable Mentions can have up to 2 teaspoons per cup (8 oz.). Both also have at least 8 grams of protein and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat per cup.

We disqualified shakes with acesulfame potassium or sucralose. We also disqualified all juice smoothies. (Why? See No. 4 above.)

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