Coffee Smoothie

Article by Emily Saladino

Whether you’re craving a protein shake for breakfast, or want to upgrade your morning caffeine boost, this coffee smoothie delivers. It’s packed with wholesome bananas, nut butter and an entire cup of coffee to perk up your day. Plus, by using store-bought cold brew or chilling your coffee in advance, this frosty, creamy breakfast drink is ready in just five minutes.

How to Make a Coffee Smoothie Like a Pro

The Food Network Kitchen team tested several approaches to create a coffee protein shake that always turns out creamy, frosty and satisfying. Here are their tips, including ways to customize the coffee smoothie recipe and make it your own.

How to make cold coffee. Our recipe developers recommend using cold brew or iced coffee in this breakfast smoothie. Homemade cold brew is straightforward process, but requires advance planning to steep the beans in room-temperature water for 12-plus hours. Cooling brewed coffee is quicker: Just pour it into a wide-mouthed bowl and pop it in the fridge.

Start with frozen bananas. Frozen fruit gives the coffee smoothie recipe a frosty consistency without watering down its flavor. Look for frozen bananas in the freezer aisle, or make them at home. Remove the peels, and then either put whole bananas into freezer bags, or chop them into 1-inch chunks to freeze on a sheet pan before packing the pieces into airtight bags.

Switch up the milk. Our recipe developers like the flavor and texture of almond milk in smoothies, but you could try coconut, soy, or other alternative milks. Or use cow’s milk for the richest, creamiest results.

Swap in your favorite nut butter. Out of almond butter? Try smooth peanut, cashew, or sunflower butter instead—just make sure to taste the nut butter for saltiness and adjust the amount of kosher salt accordingly.

Taste for sweetness. Different types and sizes of dates have varying amounts of sweetness. Start with four dates in the blender, taste the mixture, and then add another date and blitz it again if needed.

Other Breakfast Protein Drinks to Try

While we love how easy and customizable this coffee smoothie is, it’s not your only option. From Greek yogurt and green tea, to rich chocolate and peanut butter, here are a few other protein-packed shakes for breakfast.

Peanut Butter-Banana Protein Shake: Put that speckled banana ripening on your countertop to good use in this breakfast smoothie. Swap in oat or low-fat cow’s milk, and sweeten it with honey, agave nectar or maple syrup.

Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake. Pantry ingredients star in this breakfast smoothie. It sounds autumnal, but we have it on good authority that it tastes delicious year-round.

Matcha Protein Shake. This nutritious shake gets its eye-catching color from Japanese green tea. Make it vegan by using plant-based yogurt and milk.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Protein Shake. With the classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, this breakfast shake has 43 grams of protein to keep you feeling full all day long.