Coffee banana smoothie – healthy grab-and-go breakfast

This delicious coffee banana smoothie is super tasty and very filling. If you don’t have time for breakfast before work, this is something for you! You just have to combine all the ingredients in a blender, pulse until smooth and creamy, and take the smoothie with you. It’s coffee and breakfast in one!

What goes into coffee banana smoothie?

• The basic version of this coffee smoothie is made with espresso, banana, oats, milk and is sweetened with maple syrup. To make it taste even better you can add cocoa, almond butter, and cinnamon.
• If you don’t have a coffee machine, you can use instant coffee powder. You can also use caffeine-free coffee if you like the coffee flavor but can’t drink coffee for some reason.
• You can use rolled oats or quick-cooking oats.
• I used cow’s milk, but you can use any plant-based milk that you like. Almond milk would be particularly good with this recipe. Make sure to use unsweetened almond milk. If you use sweetened milk, omit the maple syrup or the smoothie may be too sweet.
• I buy ready-made almond butter, which is a smooth paste made from roasted almonds, it’s delicious and versatile. You can add it to any smoothie or oatmeal, it‘s also included in my healthy chocolate pudding recipe. It can also be very easily made at home, but if you don‘t have a powerful blender/food processor, it will be difficult to achieve a perfectly smooth consistency.
• Instead of almond butter, peanut butter would also be great (we also love this similar chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie!).
• Banana adds sweetness to the smoothie and thickens it, but you can also make it without the banana.
• In winter, I recommend adding a pinch of pumpkin pie spice or gingerbread spice mix instead of cinnamon to this smoothie.
• On hot summer days, you can freeze the banana first to get an amazing chilling coffee smoothie.

How to make a coffee smoothie step by step:

STEP 1: Pour 1 large espresso (1/4 cup/60ml) over 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) oats. If you don‘t have a coffee machine you need to add 1-2 teaspoons of instant coffee (depending on how strong coffee you drink) to 4 tablespoons of boiling water, then stir in the oats. Now, you can add the rest of the ingredients, or if you have time, leave the oats in coffee for about 15 minutes to soften. This way, the smoothie will have a creamier consistency.

If you have high-power blender, soaking the oats is not necessary. This step only ensures that the smoothie has a smooth consistency. You can also leave the oats in coffee overnight, to make preparation of this smoothie quicker.

STEP 2: Measure out all the ingredients and add them into a blender container (you can use a blender or a hand (immersion) blender, but the smoothie will have a better, more smooth consistency if you use stand blender). You will need 1 banana, 3/4 cup milk, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa, 1 heaped teaspoon almond butter and a big pinch of cinnamon.

STEP 3: Mix all the ingredients in a blender until creamy and smooth (I like to blend it for a good couple of minutes to ensure that the smoothie is really smooth and creamy). If you don‘t have a powerful blender, it‘s possible that the smoothie will be just a little clumpy (the oats), but it will still taste very good. Alternatively, you can leave the oats in coffee overnight, which will make them softer.

You can adjust the consistency of your smoothie by adding more milk to make it thinner or more banana/almond butter to make it thicker.

STEP 4: Pour the smoothie into a big glass. Enjoy!

Storage / how to make it ahead:

• Storage: This smoothie can be made the day before, it makes a great make-ahead breakfast. In the morning you will need to add some more milk, because oats absorb the liquid, and the smoothie will be too thick. I prefer to make this smoothie fresh, because even though the smoothie looks fine on the next day, you wouldn’t level unpeeled, mashed banana in the fridge overnight? it wouldn’t look very appetizing.
• How to make it ahead: leave the oats in coffee in the fridge overnight, you can also prepare all the ingredients except the banana, even put them in the blender container and put the container in the fridge. In the morning just combine all the ingredients, add a banana and mix.

Benefits of this smoothie:

It’s healthy, creamy, and naturally:

– vegetarian, or can be made vegan/dairy-free, if you use vegetable milk (almond milk would be best)

– very nutritious

– gluten-free (if you use gluten-free oats)

– refined sugar-free

If you love coffee and chocolate, check out our mocha coffee recipe!

Did you make this recipe? Let me know how you liked it and give it a star rating in the comments below! You can also add a photo of your creation!