This sweet & creamy Banana Date Smoothie (or smoothie bowl) tastes like ice cream…but it’s simple and healthy enough for breakfast, thanks to a secret veggie: cauliflower! Make yourself a cup or of this paleo and vegan banana date goodness on the next warm morning for a refreshing breakfast.
Sooo…I put cauliflower in your smoothie. Don’t knock it until you try it, guys! Because this veggie-filled banana date smoothie does NOT taste like it’s packing veggies – I promise.
In fact, it tastes more like a sweet banana milkshake, which I am ALL ABOUT. This sweet & simple smoothie bowl was inspired by a local favorite. In San Diego, we’ve got this healthy grocery store, Jimbo’s – they have pretty much all organic everything and have been doing healthy since before it was “cool”.
I LOVE Jimbo’s and get legitimately sad that I don’t have one all that close to me where I live right now so I always swing by when I’m coming back from north county San Diego. The hot prepared foods section and smoothie bar are some of my favorite things about Jimbo’s.
Such delicious smoothies – a long-time fave with my family has been the Palm Desert Smoothie. It’s a simple date-sweetened smoothie. Although it uses mostly healthy ingredients, they do add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream (or Rice Dream, for us dairy-free folks 🙋)
My dad recently requested/suggested a recreation of the Palm Dessert Smoothie, and I of course immediately knew I had to replace that ice cream with something a little more breakfast friendly. Enter: CAULIFLOWER.
The cauliflower blends into the bananas and becomes smooth and creamy. You won’t even notice it’s there! But, do make sure to steam it before you freeze it. You can also purchase frozen cauliflower pre-steamed! I believe Whole Foods brand is already steamed, which streamlines the process a lot. By steaming the cauliflower, we get rid of any odd raw cauliflower taste.
We pair the banana and cauliflower with a date for a little extra sweetness. The smoothie also includes a scoop of almond butter and a spoonful of flax seeds for some extra fat + protein. You can optionally add a splash of vanilla extract and/or a shake (or two) of cinnamon. So good!
If you’re making this a Banana Date Smoothie Bowl, add all the toppings. I went for berries, freeze-dried bananas, flax seeds, and almond butter. Ooooh yeah. This will keep ya full for hours and is sure to satisfy your morning sweet tooth. Hope you love this one as much as I did! :)
Plus, if you like this recipe – try out these other smoothie and smoothie bowl recipes, like this Strawberry Banana Smoothie, this Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowl and this simple Acai Bowl.
Banana Date Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 banana frozen
- ½ cup frozen cauliflower steam before freezing for the best flavor
- 1 Medjool date pitted
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 tablespoons flax seeds
- Optional: ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and/or ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a blender (I used my Vitamix).
- Blend until smooth + garnish with freeze-dried bananas, flax seeds, almond butter, berries of choice, and/or whatever other goodness you feel like!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition facts do NOT include toppings!
Brittany Audra says
You can never have too many smoothie bowl recipes! Excited to try this recipe with ALL the toppings :)
Rachel says
Thanks for the love Brittany! Hope you love the smoothie bowl :)
Jack Smith says
This sounds so delicious! I love banana and have never put it into my smoothies for some reason. Definitely going to try this out!
Rachel says
Wow, then you’ve definitely got to try it! Thanks for the love Jack.
Ashley says
Yummy combo! Especially topped with berries and nut butter <3
Rachel says
Thanks so much Ashley!
Amanda says
This sounds great! Is there anything I could substitute for the cauliflower if I don’t have any on hand?
Rachel says
You can use a little more banana or just leave it out entirely!