How about a creamy chocolate smoothie? This classic recipe is one of my favorite easy frozen treats. It’s like a nutritionally redeeming, grown-up chocolate frosty. I love it and my toddler daughter does, too.

This smoothie is made with a few simple ingredients that you might have in your kitchen: your milk of choice, frozen banana, chocolate chips and cocoa powder, and nut butter. You can add a small splash of maple syrup to make it sweeter, although I rarely do.

The end result tastes balanced and not overwhelmingly of banana or nut butter, allowing the chocolate flavor to shine through. You’ll find some fun flavor variations below so you can customize it to suit your preferences.

Chocolate Smoothie Ingredients

You’ll need just a few basic ingredients to make this luscious smoothie. The full recipe is provided further down in the post. Here’s what you’ll need and why:

Milk

Any milk will do—it forms the necessary cold, liquid base of this drink. I’m partial to plain, unsweetened plant-based milks, like cashew milk, almond milk or coconut milk. Cashew milk is the most neutral of the options.

Frozen banana

Frozen banana naturally sweetens this smoothie, making it super creamy and cold. I prefer to use perfectly ripe yellow bananas for smoothies, since I don’t enjoy the flavor of overripe bananas or the overt sweetness that they impart.

Tip: Freeze your banana in one-inch chunks before using (this is a great way to preserve extra bananas). A room-temperature banana won’t be as creamy and will warm up your smoothie.

Chocolate chips and cocoa powder

The combination makes the best chocolate-flavored smoothie! Cocoa powder offers an intense chocolate flavor that is enough to overpower the bananas, and the addition of chocolate chips makes it taste like a decadent treat. This combination is a key element in my Favorite Hot Chocolate recipe, too.

Tip: If you love dark chocolate, choose your chocolate accordingly. Try chocolate chips with 60 percent cacao or higher, and a rich cocoa powder like Droste or Guittard.

Nut butter

Nut butter, like peanut butter, almond butter or cashew butter, thickens the smoothie and makes it taste richer, smoother and more like a milkshake. I recommend it!

Tip: Your nut butter will influence the flavor of your smoothie; you’ll be able to taste and choose whether to add another tablespoon for a more prominent flavor. For the most neutral flavor, use cashew butter. Choose peanut butter for a chocolate peanut butter smoothie, or combine coconut milk and almond butter for an Almond Joy-inspired smoothie.

Watch How to Make Chocolate Smoothies

Recipe Variations

Make it taste like a milkshake: Use the full amount of cashew butter for maximum creaminess. Take a sip, and consider adding the optional maple syrup to make it sweeter. Or, you could add vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder to make it sweeter and even creamier.

Make it a protein smoothie: Add up to 1 scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder. Whey-based protein powders make this smoothie even more creamy (I like Puori). Unfortunately, I’ve never met a plant-based powder that tastes good.

Reduce the carbohydrates: This is challenging because you can’t achieve a proper smoothie texture without the banana, which contributes bulk and creaminess along with its carbs. The best option I’ve found is to use half the amount of frozen banana and substitute frozen slices of zucchini for the rest (don’t bother trying frozen cauliflower—I couldn’t take more than one sip).

Make it dairy free and vegan: Use your favorite non-dairy milk, like cashew or almond milk, and non-dairy chocolate chips, like those from Enjoy Life brand.

Make the raw version: Substitute cacao nibs for the chocolate chips and raw cacao powder for the cocoa powder. You can add one teaspoon of maca powder for a nutritious malted flavor.

Make it spicy: Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper for a flavor profile reminiscent of spiced Mexican chocolate. This version was inspired by a vegan restaurant where I worked over a decade ago; they called it the Oaxaca Chocolate Smoothie, and they used the raw ingredients listed above.

More Smoothies to Enjoy

If you love this smoothie, here are a few more of my top smoothie recipes:

• Banana Almond Smoothie
• Basic Blueberry Smoothie
• Clementine Sunshine Smoothie
• Pineapple Avocado Smoothie
• Simple Strawberry Smoothie

Please let me know how your drink turns out in the comments! I hope it becomes your new favorite cold treat.

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