If you’re anything like me, you may have tried {and failed} at creating the perfectly thick smoothie bowl.

You know, the picturesque kinds from Insta that have all of those exotic toppings sprinkled artfully along the top in crescent, cascading shapes?  Well, I think we can all agree that that is not real life, HOWEVER, after making enough smoothie bowls for 100 kids this week, I can tell you that I finally believe I have mastered the art of creating a thick enough smoothie bowl to house toppings (beautiful or not).

Here are 5 Great Tips on how to accomplish this task

1.  Use frozen bananas.
2. Use a thickening agent that will absorb liquid as it sits, like oats or chia seeds.
3. Use a fat that coagulates as it gets cold: avocado, coconut oil, cocoa powder, butter, or a bit of olive oil are great choices.
4. Puree in batches so your stuff doesn’t get stuck around the blade.  I found that layering mine in the following way helped: bananas, spinach, oats, dates, peanut butter, then almondmilk.
5. Chill for an hour before serving, or better yet overnight.  This will help the thickening agent to, well, thicken and gel the other ingredients together.

For the exact recipe, follow this link here or view the recipe below.

Happy Smoothie Bowl Making!

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Vegan Smoothie Bowls

We use oats as a great binder to help thicken these bowls.  Also included: lots of bananas, some dates, almond milk and a couple handfuls of spinach + all-natural peanut butter.  Stay tuned for a post coming up on the 5 best practices for making a thick smoothie bowl!

Ingredients

1 bunch bananas (about 6)

1 1/2 cup oats

2 cups almond milk (or more as needed)

2 handfuls spinach, washed

3 dates, pitted

1/4 cup peanut butter

Garnish with:

Sliced bananas, chia seeds, oats, raisins, and granola

Instructions

• Layer ingredients in the order listed to a high-powered blender (we used a Vitamix).  Pulse until all ingredients are brought down to the blade, then flip to high speed to break down the oats.  
• If your blender is giving you trouble, remove the lid (while blender is off) and use a rubber spatula to redistribute ingredients, then place lid back on and pulse again until ingredients begin to mix together nicely.
• Top with chia seeds, oats, raisins, sliced bananas, and granola.