Over the past decade, pomegranates have gone from obscure and expensive to seasonal staples that go on sale often. When they are on discount, usually in the middle of winter, I stock up. Pomegranate arils are a delicious snack, a tasty topping, and I love them in this creamy dairy-free pomegranate smoothie recipe.
A Pomegranate Smoothie that’s Dairy-Free, Creamy, and Sweet on Health
Pomegranate is famed for it’s delicious taste, and it’s unique antioxidants that put green tea and red wine to shame. It’s praised for fighting inflammation, helping to prevent certain types of cancer, and even offering protection against infections.
Pomegranate is typically in season from fall into spring, but some parts of North America have a shorter season or higher price tag. Fortunately, I have two solutions. You can use pomegranate juice, which is usually sold in shelf-stable jars, and is even available at stores like Trader Joe’s. Or you can purchase refrigerated or frozen pomegranate arils. All of these options are usually available year round in most areas of the country.
If you want a very smooth and creamy pomegranate smoothie, it’s actually best to use pomegranate juice in this recipe. Pomegranate arils have tiny little seeds in them that don’t always break up in the blender. We don’t mind them at all, but I wanted to give you a heads up!
Special Diet Notes: Creamy Pomegranate Smoothie
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, optionally nut-free, optionally peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, added sugar-free, and paleo-friendly.
- ¼ cup pomegranate juice or pomegranate arils (see Note below)
- 1 large frozen ripe banana, broken into chunks
- ¾ cup unsweetened vanilla dairy-free milk beverage, plus more if needed (see Note below)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cashew butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter (I use lightly salted)
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon or ground ginger
- Pomegranate seeds, for topping (optional)
- Put the milk beverage, banana, ¼ cup pomegranate juice or arils, nut or seed butter, and cinnamon or ginger in your blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Blend in more milk beverage for a thinner consistency, if desired.
- Pour into a tall glass and top with pomegranate arils, if desired.
Vanilla Milk Beverage: If you can't locate unsweetened vanilla, you can use regular vanilla milk beverage (for sweeter) or plain unsweetened milk beverage plus ⅛ teaspoon pure vanilla flavoring, paste, or extract.
Higher Protein Option: You can substitute 1 to 2 tablespoons dairy-free protein powder for the nut/seed butter, or simply add 1 to 2 tablespoons protein powder. I recommend unflavored plain or vanilla protein powder for this recipe..
More Healthy Dairy-Free Smoothie Recipes
Everyday Turmeric Smoothie
Wild Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie
Tangerine Mango Tango Lassi
4 Comments
I’ve prepared it using fresh bananas instead of frozen and with the help of my newly purchased hand blender in India. And, the taste was pretty awesome.
I need more smoothie recipes in my life! This one is great 🙂 I love the little arils on top too. Gonna try with protein powder, for sure. I’ve been testing a few out these past few weeks
Yes! Hopefully you find your holy grail of protein powders in the process 🙂
Pingback: POM Wonderful Juices and Blends (Review and Recipes)