9 Simple Smoothie Recipes for Holiday Season Sipping

Smoothies don’t always have to be all about bananas and blueberries (and greens!). Just like with the rest of your diet, seasonal ingredients can up the health factor and flavor in your glass. And, as it turns out, warming winter produce and spices like butternut squash, turmeric, and cardamom blend perfectly into smoothies, creating healthy concoctions that can be reminiscent of pumpkin and apple pie, egg nog, or gingerbread cookies. (But not of their added sugar or calories, say.)

Here are nine easy recipes for totally festive cold-weather smoothies—all from top healthy food bloggers, super-cool nutritionists, and wellness goddesses—to sip all season long.

1. Pumpkin pie smoothie

Pumpkin-filled everything doesn’t have to stop after October, especially if it’s this vegan pumpkin pie smoothie recipe from healthy recipe blog Breakfast Criminals, with ingredients like cashew butter, fresh ginger root, and dates. It’s certainly better for you than any pie.

Get the recipe: pumpkin pie smoothie

2. Fall-inspired turmeric smoothie

Best-selling author Kris Carr battled cancer by using food as medicine. Now a best-selling author and expert on what to eat for maximum health, her seasonal smoothie recipe with warming super-spice turmeric is exactly what you need to help stave off the common winter cold.

Get the recipe: fall-inspired turmeric smoothie

3. Egg-not nog

For many of us, the holidays aren’t the holidays without egg nog. But what you probably don’t need is the combination of heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, and alcohol right before or after a big feast. Nutrition Stripped serves up an equally delicious wholesome version, with ingredients like almond milk, cashews, and maple extract. Whether you add a splash of bourbon or not is up to you.

Get the recipe: egg-not nog

4. Paleo superfood smoothie

Being Paleo (or having any major dietary restrictions) is especially hard over the holidays, when people practically shove refined sugar and gluten in your face. Beat peer pressure with this dessert-y Paleo smoothie made with raw cacao powder, coconut oil, and a handful of your favorite berries. Pillsbury who?

Get the recipe: Paleo superfood smoothie

5. Winter smoothie

Persimmons, pomegranate, and cinnamon make this otherwise green, healthy blend super festive. And you can pour it into glasses for a few servings or spoon it from a bowl. The pomegranate is also full of vitamin C, making this smoothie an immunity-supporting breakfast during the time of the year when staying healthy is on everyone’s mind.

Get the recipe: winter smoothie

6. Velvety butternut cinnamon date smoothie

Butternut squash isn’t just a roasted veggie side or soup. Oh She Glows’ Angela Liddon proves it’s also delicious in a smoothie with this creamy recipe that calls for butternut squash and spices and is sweetened with nature’s candy, dates. Liddon suggests it for a holiday-themed brunch (and we wholeheartedly agree).

Get the recipe: velvety butternut cinnamon date smoothie

7. Gingerbread spiced shake

Green Kitchen Stories promises that their Gingerbread Spiced Shake “literally tastes like Christmas in a glass” with key ingredients such as coarse sea salt, ground cardamom, and ground clove. The best part, other than its clean nutrition profile? It only takes three minutes to make, and unlike gingerbread cookies, there’s absolutely no flour cleanup involved.

Get the recipe: gingerbread spiced shake

8. Apple pie smoothie

What to do with that giant bag of apples from the orchard? Blend them up with nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg for the taste of freshly-baked pie (sans crust) in every sip. (We totally understand if you save a few for some apple crisp, too.)

Get the recipe: apple pie smoothie

9. Cranberry kale smoothie

While the holidays are usually a time when your body is craving rich, warming foods, antioxidant-packed cranberries are also very much in season. Get your fix with this kale and coconut-cranberry smoothie from Tasty Yummies, instead of reaching for the sugary, canned sauce version.

Get the recipe: cranberry kale smoothie

Originally published December 2, 2014. Updated October 30, 2020.

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