This healthy Açai Smoothie is fruit sweetened and uses a sugar free puree. It’s a delicious berry smoothie, featuring the South American superfruit Açai. Made popular in smoothie bars, they are simple to make at home for a nourishing, everyday treat!
Contents
A Healthy, Sugar Free Acai Smoothie Recipe
Smoothies can be sugar bombs, if loaded up with high sugar fruit, juice, and other sweetened additions, like yogurt or flavored milks.
This smoothie recipe features the superfood acai berries, combined with other fruit and protein powder, for a blood sugar stabilizing treat that allows the natural sweetness of fruit to shine.
You’ll love this smoothie because:
- Açai berries are high in antioxidants, very low in sugar, and high in fiber. They are a healthy addition to your diet, and perfect for adding a pop of tart flavor to smoothies.
- This refreshing blend of frozen fruit blends up like a tropical sorbet!
- Keeping Acai berry packs, and other frozen fruit, like bananas, mangos, and berries, in your freezer makes it’s simple to make this 5 minute breakfast or snack!
- Smoothies are a great way to add a pop of protein and fiber to your diet. This has 22 grams of protein and 4 grams of dietary fiber.
Also try this Keto Acai Smoothie, or learn how to make the perfect Acai Bowls.
What is Acai?
Açai berries look similar to a blueberry, but have 3 times the antioxidant content. They are native to South America and grow on açai palm trees.
They are also particularly rich in polyphenols, compounds that reduce inflammation and slow the aging process of cells (source).
Since they are not sold fresh commercially, they are accessible worldwide in frozen berry packs.
Because açai berries are quite tart, companies who sell pouches of frozen açai puree often add sugar. However, sugar free options are available! Be careful when buying acai puree packs and look for the sugar free pouches.
Acai can also be purchased as a powder. Try this freeze dried acai for an option that easy to keep on hand.
What You’ll Need
This simple smoothie recipe uses just 5 ingredients!
- Acai Berry Puree (you can but this frozen in pouches. I always buy the sugar free ones! Or try this Freeze Dried Acai Powder. Use 2-3 tablespoons of the powder as a sub for the acai packs.)
- Frozen Mango (or use frozen banana!)
- Frozen Blueberries (strawberries and raspberries are great too!)
- Almond Milk (unsweetened, or sub cashew milk, or coconut water for an ultra hydrating option.)
- Coconut Milk (Full fat, I buy it in a paper carton for the best flavor!)
- Protein Powder (I recommend grass-fed whey protein isolate, or allulose, a real sugar that is ingestible so has no calories or impact on your blood sugar. A touch of honey is also great!
If you can’t find frozen acai at your grocery stores, you can use this freeze fried acai berry powder in place of the frozen puree!
I buy Sambazon açai puree at Whole Foods, but there is a brand that can ship açai puree to you off Amazon as well.
Once you have your frozen açai puree, choose a fruit to add sweetness, like mango or banana, and another berry to double down on the antioxidant power. I use blueberries, but strawberries and raspberries are delicious as well!
How to Make an Açai Smoothie
Step 1: Add all your chosen ingredients to a blender. I recommend not using ice in açai smoothies, because the puree is very tart and you’ll want the sweetness of the mangos or bananas to come through. Use frozen fruit to make a thick and cold smoothie.
Step 2: Process your fruit and non dairy milks in a blender, until thick and creamy. Add additional almond milk to thin to the desired consistency, if necessary.
Make this the Best Superfood Smoothie
We all have different tastes, and different nutritional needs. Here are some ideas for modifying this smoothie to make it perfect for you!
Make Açaí Bowls: Reduce the liquid by 1/2, and use the tamper stick in a high speed blender to process the smoothie with a very thick texture. Add the smoothie to a bowl, and top with chia seeds, dark chocolate, peanut butter or almond butter, coconut, fresh fruit, or other favorite toppings (like this Keto Granola!). Try this Acai Smoothie Bowl recipe for more tips!
Superfood Additions: Up the nutrient content of this smoothie based on your needs. I add creatine to my daily smoothie. Flax seed and hemp seeds are a great way to add omegas.
Mix up the Fruit: I recommend having 1 sweet fruit in here, so if mango isn’t your thing, try banana. Blueberries are awesome in here, but I’ve also made this with frozen raspberries and frozen strawberries. Any frozen berries work here!
Add Protein: I use BioChem Whey protein isolate. It’s from grass-fed dairy, tastes great, and doesn’t have any other ingredients. It gives smoothies an extra creamy and light texture, so I love adding it to smoothies.
Substitute your favorite protein powder, or try one of these options:
- 1-2 tablespoons chia, hemp or flax seeds
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt (reduce amount of almond milk)
- Soy or hemp milk to replace the almond milk
Add more Healthy Fats: Need more calories in your smoothie? For additional healthy fats, add 1 tablespoon of nut butter, coconut oil, MCT oil, or 1/4 of an avocado into your acai smoothie.
Add Veggies: Try this healthy açai smoothie with 1/2 cup of riced cauliflower, or a couple handfuls of fresh spinach or kale to make this a green smoothie.
You can try this as an Açai Smoothie Bowl, but I prefer to make smoothie bowls extra thick using this method!
Add an Açai Berry Boost without the puree: If you can’t find the Acai Puree from packages where you live, try Acai powder. Add 2-3 tablespoons into your smoothie to benefit from all the antioxidants!
Other Superfood Smoothie Recipes
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Açai Smoothie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup blueberries frozen (sub strawberries or raspberries)
- 1 cup mango frozen (sub 1 frozen banana)
- 1 acai puree packet
- 1 scoop whey protein isolate optional, sub favorite protein powder *see notes
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a blender, and process until smooth and creamy. Add additional milk, if necessary, to reach desired texture.
Video
Notes
- 1-2 tablespoons chia, hemp or flax seeds
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt (reduce amount of almond milk)
- Soy or hemp milk to replace the almond milk
I love this smoothie to start my mornings