An apple smoothie is simple – apple, a creamy base, a little spice – but raw apple is firmer than banana or mango, and its peel is the part most likely to leave a gritty, flecked texture. Below: why that happens and how to fix it, which apples to use, and five apple smoothies from classic cinnamon to a kefir version.
Why Apple Peel Makes Smoothies Gritty
Apple flesh is crisp but breaks down fairly easily. The peel is thin, tough and waxy, and a standard blender tends to chop it into tiny flecks rather than liquefy it, which you feel as grit or fibrous bits. High-powered blenders cope much better. Your options:
- Blend the apple first. Blend the chopped apple with the liquid on high for 30–60 seconds before adding anything else, so the peel gets the most blade time.
- Cut it small – thin slices or small dice rather than quarters.
- Grate it on a box grater before blending; grated peel blends far more smoothly.
- Freeze it first. Frozen apple slices break down more finely.
- Peel it, or use ½ cup unsweetened applesauce per apple, for a perfectly smooth result.
- Strain through a fine sieve as a last resort.
Peel or not? The peel is where much of an apple’s fiber and many of its polyphenols are concentrated – quercetin in particular is found mainly in the peel (Boyer and Liu, 2004). If your blender can handle it, keep the peel on and blend the apple first; if texture matters more, peel it or use applesauce – you still get the flesh’s fiber and flavor.
Which Apples Work Best?
- Sweet: Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp – no added sweetener needed.
- Balanced: Pink Lady, Braeburn – sweet-tart and aromatic; Braeburn suits spiced smoothies.
- Tart: Granny Smith – best in green smoothies, where its acidity balances the greens.
- Crisp, juicy apples blend more smoothly than mealy, soft ones.
Apples and Health
Whole apples – unlike apple juice – keep their fiber, including pectin. In a randomized crossover trial, 40 adults with mildly raised cholesterol who ate two apples a day for 8 weeks had lower total and LDL cholesterol than when they drank a sugar- and calorie-matched apple drink (Koutsos et al., 2020). Blending keeps the fiber, but drinking is faster than eating, so a smoothie is less filling than the same apples eaten whole.
5 Apple Smoothie Recipes
Each makes one large serving. For every recipe, blend the apple with the liquid first (30–60 seconds), then add the rest.
1. Apple Cinnamon Smoothie
The classic in the recipe card above: apple, frozen banana, milk, Greek yogurt, cinnamon and nutmeg. About 290 kcal and 8 g protein.
2. Green Apple Smoothie
- 1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
- 1 cup baby spinach or kale (stems removed)
- ½ cucumber, chopped
- ½ cup frozen mango or pineapple
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger and 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¾ cup coconut water or water, plus ice
Blend the liquid and greens first until smooth, then the apple, then everything else.
3. Apple Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie
- 1 apple (Fuji or Honeycrisp), chopped
- 2 tbsp peanut or almond butter
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt and ½ cup milk
- 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp rolled oats, ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)
About 30 g protein with the protein powder – a good post-workout option. See also our post-workout smoothie bowls.
4. Apple Ginger Turmeric Smoothie
- 1 apple (Pink Lady or Honeycrisp), chopped
- 1-inch piece fresh ginger
- ½ tsp ground turmeric and a pinch of black pepper
- ½ cup frozen mango, ¾ cup light coconut milk, a squeeze of lemon, 1 tsp honey
Warm and bright. Black pepper and a little fat are commonly added with turmeric to help absorb its curcumin.
5. Apple Kefir Smoothie
- 1 apple (Pink Lady or Honeycrisp), chopped
- ¾ cup plain kefir
- ½ frozen banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp honey, a few drops vanilla
Tangy and creamy, with kefir’s live cultures. Let it stand 3 minutes for the chia to thicken. More in our kefir smoothie recipes; for choosing a kefir, see the best kefir brands.
More Troubleshooting
- Foamy: apple smoothies foam at full speed. Blend on medium-high at the end, or let it stand a minute or two.
- Turning brown: that’s oxidation. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and drink it soon after blending.
- Bland: use a more flavorful apple (Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Braeburn) or add a splash of apple juice.
- Too thin: add frozen banana, frozen apple slices or yogurt. Too thick: add liquid a little at a time.
Meal prep: toss chopped apple with a little lemon juice before freezing in smoothie packs, or freeze applesauce in ice-cube trays. Other fruit smoothies: pineapple smoothie and oatmeal smoothie.