The Ice Tip To Follow For A Perfectly Blended Smoothie
Smoothies are widely loved for being a quick, healthy, customizable way to easily eat your fruits and greens as a tasty drink. But while you can mix and match flavors endlessly to figure out your favorite smoothie combination, there's one component that's key to getting right so you can make a good smoothie every time: texture. It's all in the drink's name — you want a smooth, creamy blend that coats the mouth with a silky texture.
One great way to achieve a perfectly blended smoothie is to add just the right amount of ice at just the right time. Add too much ice, and you'll end up with a watery juice consistency. Add too little, and your smoothie will be chunky and undrinkable. To avoid this conundrum, blend all of your other smoothie ingredients first, saving the ice for last. Then you can assess how much ice the smoothie really needs, ensuring you don't over or under-add.
How ice can help or hinder your smoothie
The purpose of including ice in your smoothie ingredients is to help it reach that desired smooth consistency and get the drink as refreshingly cold as possible. But sometimes, adding ice too early can water down the bright fruity flavors that you want front and center in your smoothie. Adding too many ice cubes too early in the process can also prevent certain beneficial fats from nuts, seeds, or coconut oil from blending well with the other ingredients. Worse yet, the ice cubes can get stuck in the blades of the blender and clog up the whole operation, leaving you with fruit chunks or greens that never fully liquefy. If you add those ice cubes last, this can be avoided.
It's all about timing and a balance of texture in your ingredients. Before you add in your ice cubes at the end, you want enough solid ingredients that will help the smoothie stay thick instead of becoming juice once the ice is added. Creamy fruits like bananas or avocados are perfect candidates for this job. Make sure any fresh fruits are fully ripe before using — if they're too hard, they won't blend well. Proteins like nut butter can help thicken up the smoothie's consistency as well; be sure to check out these other tips to make your smoothie taste way better, too.
Other icy ways to level up your smoothies
If you're using fresh fruit, a frozen element like ice is vital to help keep the smoothie cold and thicken up the texture. In this case, it's essential to blend the smoothie ingredients and choice of liquid first and reserve the ice for the end to doctor up the smoothie just a bit. But you can also opt to skip the ice entirely and get texture and flavor all in one by using frozen fruit instead. Prep your frozen fruit ahead of time by slicing fresh fruit and storing the pieces in the freezer yourself. It's the perfect way to preserve those last two bananas of the bunch before they go bad or enjoy your favorite summer fruits deep into the coldest winter months. You can also purchase bags of pre-cut frozen fruit year-round to take out the prep work.
Some also find that using frozen liquids like milk cubes can level up your smoothies. Not only do you get the benefits of crunchy ice to add texture, but the creamy milk will liquefy and make the smoothie velvety instead of watery. Get creative and freeze ice cube trays of flavored milk or fruit juices to give the smoothie a quick boost of flavor and texture. As long as you add any kind of ice cubes at the correct time, your smoothies will come out silky, creamy, and easy to drink.