Smoothies are a great way to get a good dose of vitamins and minerals from a range of fruits and vegetables. But, they can get a little boring just sat there in a glass, especially if the color isn’t the most appealing.
A better option is to put your smoothie in a bowl and add additional ingredients to the top. The best smoothie bowl toppings add texture, color, and interest, as well as an extra burst of nutrition. But, what should you put on top of your smoothie bowl?
How to create the best smoothie bowl toppings?
Below, you will learn about some of the best ingredients to use on a smoothie bowl. We will start with the basics with different food groups and ideas to get you started. From there, we move onto the idea of healthy smoothie bowl toppings vs unhealthy smoothie bowl toppings. Both have their place on the menu but it helps to know what to use and when to use it.
Next, we have some ideas on how to make smoothie bowls fun for kids. This is a great way to give kids a healthier breakfast, but only if they can engage with the designs and colors. Following that, we will take about the visual impact of smoothie bowl toppings on Instagram and other visual social networks and the impact of the best pictures. Those that want to get artistic with their food can have a lot of fun here. Finally, we will conclude with some additional thoughts and recommendations.
What do you put on top of a Smoothie Bowl?
The simple answer here is anything that you want. The great thing about creating a bowl of mixed-up ingredients is that you can do whatever you want to it in order to improve the taste or the potential benefits. Popular choices include fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds. But, you really can do anything you want if it adds a flavor you like or visual appeal.
Increase the fruit content with chopped fruits on top.
Normally with a smoothie, all of the fruit is obliterated into that liquid form. While you still get all the taste and vitamins, you don’t get as much interest. Adding chopped fruit to the top makes the smoothie a little more appealing in taste and looks. The sky is the limit when choosing the right fruits. If you want to be sustainable and greener with your choices, opt for seasonal produce, harvest berries, or grow your own fruit.
Create dark tones and texture with seeds.
You can’t go wrong with seeds if you want to add a superfood and some more texture to your smoothie bowl. Superfood toppings will give you a lot of energy during the day, check out this blog post for more information. Chia seeds are the most popular in these recipes because you can sprinkle on as many as you want. Pumpkin seeds are a brilliant alternative for a lighter color and different tastes. The best approach could be to look up the health benefits of certain seeds and see if any are more beneficial for your healthcare needs.
Add a bit of crunch with nuts.
Nuts are a brilliant way to get a bit of protein and a different taste to your smoothie bowls. Flaked almonds are perfect because they are small and go well with the fruits. Chopped hazelnuts can go well with some sweeter smoothie bowls. There are also pecans, macadamia nuts, and a whole host of options.
Can you put flowers on a smoothie bowl?
Yes, as long as they are safe edible flowers. It is important to know what you can and can’t eat when it comes to flowers. Some are perfectly safe, like pansies, lavender, nasturtium, and violets. Others may have hidden toxins so if you aren’t sure, don’t risk it.
While you might not get as much nutritional value from these flowers, they are great for visual appeal. Pansies are very pretty on top of any bowl. Lavender immediately creates something a bit more relaxing. Or, you might want to sprinkle rose petals on a bowl for a loved one as a romantic gesture.
Healthy smoothie bowl toppings.
For most smoothie bowl enthusiasts, these morning meals are the perfect way to get a healthier smoothie breakfast. With all those great fruits and the fibrous content within the blended smoothie, you don’t want to ruin that with the wrong ingredients. The good news is that there are lots of ways that you can create interesting smoothie bowl toppings that are really good for you.
Interesting fruits to use on top of healthy smoothie bowls.
If you want to take the healthy route and create something really interesting, you can experiment with fruits that you might not have tried before. You might decide to go for a pretty standard smoothie mix and then throw on chucks of tropical fruits in the summer, autumnal berries in the fall, or anything else that catches your eye. Pomegranate seeds are a healthy choice and look great. Consider adding in some cinnamon or for flavor in winter.
Don’t forget that it is easy to create healthy vegan smoothie bowl toppings too.
While we’re on the subject of healthier choices in smoothie bowl toppings, it is also important to note that this is a really good way to have a vegan breakfast with a perfect plant-based smoothie bowl, especially if you stick with the fruits, seeds, and other purely plant-based ingredients.
This could be helpful for anyone struggling with a breakfast meal after turning vegan. When you can’t put butter on your toast, eat any form of an egg, or have “normal” milk on your cereal, it can feel deflating. But, these vibrant smoothie bowl toppings are a great alternative.
What about some unhealthy smoothie bowl toppings for the weekend?
If you want to, you can balance out your healthier smoothie bowl toppings across the week with something a little less healthy on the weekend. One of the most popular ways to make these smoothie bowls a little less healthy is to use chocolate. Some people blend this into the smoothie itself and then add fruits and nuts to the top. Others have a fruit smoothie, often in banana, and then put chocolate nibs or shaving on the top.
This is fine for an occasional treat. But, others with a sweeter tooth don’t stop there. It isn’t uncommon to see maple syrup drizzled over the top, extra cocoa powder, high-calories peanut butter, or honeycomb. This is the problem with a bowl of things. You can add whatever you like to satisfy your taste.
Fun smoothie bowl toppings.
Just because these smoothie bowls are a healthy option, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have some fun with them. Once you have chopped up the ingredients you can play around with the design as much or as little as you like. This can lead to some really fun ideas that are great for holidays or for kids.
Try out some kid’s smoothie bowl designs for the family.
The best way to create fun kid’s smoothie bowl toppings is to look at the ingredients from another angle. What could they become in a design? When you slice up fruits you get a lot of circles that could turn into scales when stacked together. So why not try a fish or a dragon. Another great idea is to make faces. If you have ever enticed kids to the dinner table by making faces out of their meat, potatoes, and vegetables then you know how this works. You can use a similar approach to create fun animal faces like little pigs, dogs, birds, or anything else they love. Get creative.
Of course, you don’t have to come up with this all on your own if you have children that want to help, and remember, kids, are very curious. Engaging with them and showing them the ingredients could help them enjoy healthier smoothie bowls where they can come up with their own fun ideas. Educate them on the ingredients, let them figure out what they love and hate, and keep adapting the recipes.
Create some unique smoothie bowl toppings on special occasions.
Holiday-themed smoothie bowl pictures are another great way to bring a little fun to breakfast time. For example, you might decide that you want to start Halloween on a healthier note if your kids are off trick-or-treating later that day. A smoothie bowl is a great way to start and you can decorate the bowl in a Halloween theme. Create a rich smoothie in orange color (Here you can find a list of different ideas that will help you blend a quick and easy smoothie with only 3 ingredients) and use different seeds to design a jack-o-lantern, spider’s web, or other spooky design. Bonus points for getting real pumpkin and pumpkin seeds in there.
You can even have a Christmas-themed smoothie bowl with some clever designs. Create their favorite strawberry recipe and add stripes of green for a traditional Christmas look or white for a candy cane feel. A sprinkling of desiccated coconut also looks a lot like snow.
Start kids off with healthy smoothie bowls now and it will pay off in the future.
The more fun that you have with your kid’s smoothie bowl designs, the more likely they will eat more fruit and other healthy ingredients to start their day in the future. It is a brilliant alternative to the sugar-rich cereals that may have otherwise been in their bowl. Also, as you alter the designs each weekend, you can introduce children to new fruits that they haven’t tried before.
Your kids may love strawberries and bananas., but what if you need a good splash of vibrant green or some blue to finish off the design? Kiwi fruit looks amazing when sliced up and has the wow factor kids will appreciate. The vitamin C content is just an added bonus. These detailed designs are also a great way to add some seeds without making a big deal of them. Of course, if you want to give them something a little unhealthier as a treat now and then, by all means, add a little chocolate, peanut butter, and syrup here and there.
The best smoothie bowl toppings for pictures.
Another reason that smoothie bowls are so popular is that they are very Instagram-friendly. You have this simple round canvas of smoothie in front of you that you can adorn with pretty much anything you want. So, why not turn these morning treats into a work of art?
Bring in some color theory to get more likes on your Instagram smoothie bowl posts.
When choosing the best smoothie toppings for Instagram it helps to consider the best colors and tones. You can either create something with similar tones and focus on the texture of the topping. This is where things like cocoa nibs, seeds, and crushed nuts make a difference. or you could go for contrasting colors to really make a statement. For instance, if you have a nice pale yellow, warm-colored smoothie with honey and banana, you might want to add blueberries or violet flowers on top. A rich red smoothie of strawberries and raspberries looks great with kiwi on top. Or course, you could always go for a rainbow of colors.
Mandalas are always captivating and inspirational.
Mandalas are another fun way to great visually appealing smoothie bowl toppings for the Instagram crowd. This means a series of concentric circles with different shapes, textures, and colors. Use bigger pieces around the edge and smaller items in the middle. You can still focus on color here if you want to, or you can focus on specific types of ingredients. You could have one that focuses on seeds and flowers, or one that is a little more calorific with chocolate, nuts, honeycomb, and other treats.
Play with some wider themes and scenes to show off your breakfast-time experience.
You also might want to take some pictures with a wider theme to show off your culinary skills and photographic skills. Here you can think about matching some of the colors of the smoothie topping with the rest of the scene. Think about the flowers on the table and how they relate to the flowers or fruits in the bowl. Use contrasting colors in the placemats and cutlery. Also, don’t forget about the bowl itself. Unless you take a bird’s eye view for a perfect circle, this will be visible.
Nothing is off-limits as long as it is attractive and edible.
Once you get into the art of creating these smoothie bowls toppings, the sky is the limit. There are other potential benefits in making a smoothie bowl Instagram-friendly too. By putting these patterns and designs out there, you can inspire others to get more creative with their breakfast bowls. Followers may see you use something a little bit different for color or texture and then look into the benefits of that ingredient.
In turn, you may help them to choose a healthier breakfast in the morning than they may have otherwise enjoyed before. They may pass this on to their family, create new habits, and then inspire others. You could start a great chain of smoothie bowl topping creation.
There are benefits in playing around with smoothie bowl toppings.
When you get more involved in choosing the best smoothie bowl toppings, you will start to find that your interest in breakfast-time rises. You aren’t just setting yourself up for the day ahead with a healthy treat and nourishing ingredients. You are also getting up at a better time of day with a sense of purpose and creativity to create something that will bring joy and other positive benefits.
There is as much to gain in the process of blending the smoothie, prepping the topping, and laying it all out as there is from eating it. This could be a great motivational tool for those that struggle with mental health issues or mood disorders.
Get creative with some cool smoothie bowl toppings for yourself, your family, and your followers.
Hopefully, this guide has given you some ideas to play with, as well as greater confidence to create something beautiful and nutritious within your smoothie bowl. If you are doing this purely for health reasons then there are lots of ways that you can create diverse recipes so you aren’t stuck with the same taste or look day after day. This should prove to be motivational enough to help you stick with this dietary choice, especially for any newly converted vegans out there.
If you are doing this for the whole family, consider some of those fun designs to get kids more involved and interested in their food. But, don’t forget that you can use treats in there now and then too. Then there are those of you that get so into the idea of beautiful smoothie bowl topping that you want to share them with the world. Get creative, play around with colors and settings to showcase your artistic talents and better choices. You may even influence others to join in.
Whatever your reason for experimenting with these impressive smoothie bowl toppings, have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to try something new. As long as it tastes good and you have the unhealthier options in moderation, you can’t really go wrong.
