Looking for a tropical smoothie with a twist? Make this Dragon Fruit Smoothie featuring frozen dragon fruit, mango, and banana in minutes!
"You eat with your eyes!" This saying couldn't be truer, especially when it comes to smoothies and smoothie bowls. Especially when the smoothie is bright pink!🤩
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe If you are looking for an easy pink smoothie recipe, this is it! You just add the ingredients and blend! I've made this smoothie in a NutriBullet blender and Vitamix with success.
- Simple Ingredients A combination of frozen dragon fruit, banana, mango, and coconut milk. Perfect combination of tropical flavors!
- Kid-Approved It's pink! This pitaya smoothie has natural sweetness, incredible flavor, and a super fun, vibrant color that kids love.
Dietitian Tip
Smoothies with a gorgeous color like this aren't just for social media, haha! Oftentimes kids (and adults!) make a decision on whether or not they are going to like a food or drink before they even try it.
What is Dragon Fruit?
Dragon Fruit, also known as Pitaya, is a tropical fruit with bright pink skin and a mild taste. It can have a bright magenta-colored flesh or white flesh. Pink dragon fruit is preferred for making smoothies and pitaya bowls because of its vibrant pink color.
Nutrition Fact: red-flesh pitaya (red dragon fruit) contains more phenols and has a higher antioxidant capacity than white-fleshed pitaya (white dragon fruit).
Ingredient Notes
- Dragon Fruit Use frozen pink dragon fruit (pitaya), which can be found in the frozen aisle in most grocery stores.
- Coconut Milk Adds to the tropical flavor and creamy texture of this smoothie. It also helps to give smoothies without yogurt a nice creamy texture that kids love.
- Banana High in potassium and fiber. Ripe bananas are a 'must' in a lot of smoothies because they are naturally sweet and add help give smoothies a creamy consistency.
- Mango Frozen mango also adds to the creamy texture and adds even more sweetness to this smoothie.
How to Make a Pitaya Smoothie
Here is a summary of how to make this dragon fruit smoothie recipe. For a complete list of ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender.
- Blend until a smooth consistency is reached.
Optional Add Ins
There are so many ways to add protein to smoothies, so I'll list three easy options here:
- Chia Seeds Either blend chia seeds into the smoothie or sprinkle some on top. One tablespoon of chia seeds will add about 5 grams of protein and fiber.
- Hemp Hearts Hemp hearts can be blended in sprinkled on top of the smoothie. One tablespoon of hemp hearts will add 5 grams of protein.
- Kefir Replace half of the coconut milk with vanilla flavored kefir for a small boost of protein and probiotics.
Helpful Tips
- Place the fresh ripe banana in before the frozen fruit, so it's closer to the blades.
- Frozen fruit gives this smoothy a creamy texture.
- If using a frozen banana, let it soften a little before blending.
- If you substitute the type of milk (like almond milk or oat milk), consider adding a splash of orange juice or something else sweet since coconut milk tends to be sweeter than other plant-based milks.
- For even more of a tropical flare, try adding a squeeze of fresh lime juice and, if you like coconut, add a sprinkle of coconut flakes to the top when serving the smoothie.
- Store leftover smoothie refrigerated in an airtight container. I like to serve it in a Yeti with a tight-fitting lid so that it's ready to grab and go the next day.
Questions You May Have
You can use coconut water instead, but the smoothie won't be as thick and creamy.
Blend in one pitted-date, one teaspoon of honey, or maple syrup. Taste and reassess if you think it needs even more.
A lot of smoothie shops add agave as a 'natural' sweetener to smoothies. This is an easy option that you can use at home but it's also easy to overdo it, especially since the flavor tends to blend right in.
Pink dragon fruit is a good source of fiber, magnesium, vitamin C, and lycopene. Fiber helps keep things moving through your digestive tract, while vitamin C and magnesium play several important roles in the human body, especially with regards to our immune system.
More Easy Recipes
📖 Recipe
Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- ½ banana A fresh, very ripe or over-ripe banana.
- ¾ cup Dragon Fruit cubed, frozen. Or one 100g pack of frozen dragon fruit puree (unsweetened).
- 1 cup mango cubed, frozen
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender in the order listed.
- Blend until a smooth consistency is reached.
- Divide evenly and serve!
Notes
- Place the fresh ripe banana in before the frozen fruit, so it's closer to the blades.
- Frozen fruit helps to give smoothies a creamy texture. If you choose to use fresh dragon fruit or mango instead of frozen, use a frozen banana instead of fresh.
- If you substitute the type of milk, you will probably want to add a splash of orange juice or something else sweet since coconut milk tends to be sweeter than other milks.
- For even more of a tropical flare, try adding a squeeze of fresh lime juice and, if you like coconut, add a sprinkle of coconut flakes to the top when serving this smoothie.
- Store leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container. A Yeti with a tight-fitting lid works well for storing smoothies for later 🙂
NH says
Perfect! Needed a pitaya smoothie as I didn't have a nut milk on hand. This was great as I did have coconut water (which I substituted for coconut milk) and then added 1-2 tablespoons of collagen powder at the end. It was delicious and will definitely make it again.
Kristi Ruth RD says
So great! Thank you for your feedback!