How to Make Green Thickies

Last Updated: January 31, 2023 Tested

Like your green smoothies, but they don't seem to stick with you, as much as you would like? Try stepping up your smoothies by making 'green thickies'. These are green smoothies with extra carbohydrates and also protein to make them more filling so that you can use them as a meal replacement.

Note: When starting out, you will probably want to have a ratio of about 50/50 (half fruit, half vegetables) when it comes to your fruit and your greens. As you get used to the texture and flavor, consider changing the ratio to more vegetables than fruits.

Ingredients

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) This particular fruit is the easiest to get in bulk or frozen while also being much more affordable.
1 cup greens (fresh or frozen) What you choose to use will probably depend upon what is available to you. Spinach is a great choice for beginners. It is very available and less 'offensive' to people who have never had green smoothies before.
1 banana (or apple or mango) (fresh or frozen) This is added for the sweetening effect and adding bulk and flavor (as well as great nutrients) to your thickie.
About 1 cup of fluids It is better to use water or non-dairy milk. Using fruit juice can add in too much fruit sugars. Add less fluid if you want a thicker thickie.
Any other kind of fruit that you like (or what you determine you need). Fruits such as blackberries, mangoes, papaya, raspberries, etc. Blueberries are an excellent choice because they are much more available and cost-effective.
About 1/3 cup of healthy carbs (buckwheat, oats, sweet potato, quinoa).
1/4 cup of seeds or nuts (you will want unsalted and unroasted ones)
- If avoiding tree nuts, try peanuts or sunflower seeds
- You can also use peanut butter or some other seed butter that you can get in the store.

Quick and Dirty Shopping List

It's all about proportion. If you want to make your smoothies by the batch, try doubling the ingredients and adapt as you go. Your very basic need for ingredients are:

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup greens (fresh or frozen)
1 banana (or apple or mango) (fresh or frozen)
About 1 cup of fluids (filtered water or nondairy milk)
About 2 tablespoons of whatever superfoods that you want to add; such as chia, ground flax, cacao powder, etc.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Making Green Thickies

the greens, the banana(s), and the milk, or whatever you are using. You need to do this first because greens are pretty fibrous and need the extra blending time to get broken down enough. Be sure that the greens are broken down enough. You should have a slurry at this point.
2
Add in the 'extra' ingredients that you want. Some examples are chia seeds, Macao powder, protein powder, ground flax (if you have whole flax, grind it before adding it to a smoothie.), peanut butter, oatmeal, and cacao powder to name a few.
- Use caution when adding cacao powder. While it adds great nutrients and flavor to your smoothie, you can add too much.
Advertisement
3
Add your fruits. You will want to blend it until it is smooth (or at least as smooth as your blender can get it).
- If you have a less powerful blender, you may need to blend for five to ten minutes. With a blender that isn't particularly high powered, it is much more important to blend your ingredients in phases.
4
If you want, you could add more fruit for color and flavor. Remember, the more fruit that is in your thickie, the more sugar (natural sugar) that is in your thickie.
- This makes 1 to 2 green thickies. If you decide that it is something that you can do, try making them by the batch, freezing them, and having them more regularly.
- It helps to become familiar with what you like in your smoothies and thickies before making it in larger batches.
Advertisement

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Getting Healthy with Green Thickies

You want to have a blender that has at least 1000 Watts of power. You want the container to be large enough to make a decent-sized batch of thickies.
Make sure that they are BPA free, if the containers are plastic (which is recommended.)
Once you become familiar with your tastes and needs, you can change the ingredients as required.
This eases the workload on the blender and makes sure that your thickie is processed enough so that you don't have anything that is not fully processed.
There are some that believe that you lose nutrients by freezing. That may, or may not, be true, but you still get more nutrients than you would if you weren't eating them. Freezing them allows you to be able to eat them more regularly which will go a long way to improving your health.
7
Set them out an hour or so before you want to eat them. You don't need to allow them to completely thaw to eat them. If you add things like cacao powder and/or flavored protein powder, it's almost like having a dessert every day.
- Another thing that you can do is bring it to work with you, frozen. You could store it in the refrigerator and it should be fine to eat by lunchtime.
Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

How often can I have this in a day?

Community Answer

You could actually replace three meals a day with these. They are pretty much nutritionally complete, especially if you use nuts or seeds for protein and calcium fortified non-dairy milk.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 0 Helpful 4

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

While they are called thickies, you can add more fluid as needed, or wanted.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
This is a basic recipe. You can adjust it to your needs or wants.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Thickies are designed as a meal replacement. Be sure that your dietary requirements will be met by the thickie before relying on it.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Show More Tips

Things You'll Need

Blender (a good strength is 1100 Watts)
Container(s) for your smoothie

How to Make Green Thickies

Ingredients

Quick and Dirty Shopping List

Steps

Making Green Thickies

Getting Healthy with Green Thickies

Community Q&A

Video

Tips

Things You'll Need

You Might Also Like

References

About this article

Did this article help you?

You Might Also Like

Explore Categories