A berry breakfast smoothie you can build the night before
About 4 minutes, plus overnight prep · 1 bottle (350 ml)
The difficulty with a breakfast smoothie is not the recipe, it is the fifteen minutes in the morning you do not have. This one is built to be assembled the night before as dry ingredients in the bottle, with the liquid added at the last moment, so the actual morning task is pouring milk and pressing a button twice.
Ingredients
- 150 g frozen mixed berries
- 1 small banana, in thick slices
- 1 heaped tbsp rolled oats
- 150 ml milk, added in the morning
Step by step
- Build it dry the night before. Put the frozen berries, banana slices and oats into the bottle and refrigerate. Add no liquid.
- Add milk in the morning. Pour the milk in over the dry ingredients just before blending.
- First cycle. Seat the bottle on the base and double-click for a 30-second cycle.
- Shake and repeat if frozen hard. If the fruit came from the freezer rather than the fridge, lift the bottle off, shake it, and run a second cycle.
- Drink from the cap. Open the cap and drink it from the bottle rather than pouring it into a glass.
Prep dry, add liquid later
The evening before, put the frozen berries, banana slices and oats straight into the bottle and put it in the fridge. Leave the liquid out entirely. Fruit standing in liquid overnight goes soft, the banana browns, and oats sitting in milk turn to porridge.
Dry in a sealed bottle, all three keep perfectly until morning. If you use frozen banana rather than fresh, you can leave the whole thing in the freezer instead and it will still blend after a couple of minutes on the bench.
Why oats belong in a smoothie
A tablespoon of rolled oats gives the drink body without adding sweetness, and it stops a berry smoothie from separating in the bottle while you drink it. It also makes the smoothie feel like breakfast rather than a cold drink.
Use rolled oats, not instant. One heaped tablespoon is the right amount for 350 ml; two makes it noticeably heavy.
The morning blend
Take the bottle out, pour in 150 ml of milk, seat it on the base and double-click. The 30-second cycle runs on its own. If the fruit has been in the freezer, lift the bottle off after the first cycle, shake it, and run a second.
Because the ingredients went in dry, the liquid ends up at the bottom against the blades where you want it and the frozen fruit sits above — which is the correct loading order arrived at by accident.
Which berries
A mixed frozen bag is the easiest and the cheapest. Blackberries and raspberries carry the most flavour, blueberries the least; strawberries are the most watery, so a bag that is mostly strawberry will make a thinner smoothie.
Raspberry and blackberry seeds do not break down in half a minute. If seeds bother you, use blueberries and strawberries only, or strain the finished smoothie — though straining a smoothie this thick loses a lot of it.
Making it more substantial
A scoop of protein powder or a heaped teaspoon of nut butter both fit, but not together with the oats — that overfills a 350 ml bottle. Swap the oats for whichever you prefer rather than adding to them.
If you want it sweeter, the banana is the lever. A large ripe banana instead of a small one does more than any added sugar, and it thickens the drink at the same time.
Cleaning up
Berry pigment stains, and oats leave a starchy film. Rinse with cold water first, then warm water with a drop of dish soap and one 30-second cycle.
Unscrew the base and rinse the blade side directly. Leave both halves to dry apart, then reassemble ready for the next evening.