How Much Liquid You Should Add To Your Smoothie

Smoothies are everyone’s favourite. They are a pleasure to one’s eyes, heart, and tummy. Plus, they can be a better and healthy breakfast idea for weight loss. However, you may end up with a messy kitchen and an overworked blender if you don’t know the right proportions.

The part that usually people fail to achieve is the consistency of the smoothie. Knowing the right proportions of fruits, sweeteners, and liquids will help you attain the recipe for a perfect smoothie.

Smoothies are literally a mixture of anything and everything good. You can add any fruit or liquid that you like and that you think is healthy and good for you. However, you will need to follow the proportions so you don’t mess it up.

You can literally add any liquid of your choice, ranging from juices and milk to sugar-free options such as almond milk, oats milk, and water. Blend it with your favourite fruits, and your smoothie is ready.

Some people also prefer to add sweeteners, thickeners, and ice to their smoothies, trying to save the texture. In this article, we will cover this topic with the most important questions, and we will focus on the right proportions of the liquids in your smoothies.

How Much Water You Should Add to Your Smoothie?

The general idea of making a smoothie is that it should be a smoothie and not become a mocktail or sorbet instead. This may happen if you go a bit overboard in adding the liquids.

When you are adding water as a liquid to your smoothie, then a 3/4 of a cup of water will be more than enough for a cup of fruits. Water is one of the best liquids out there to make a smoothie. It is sugar-free, healthy, and can help you with weight loss. Too much water can spoil the consistency of the smoothie. So stick to the proportions well, to maintain a proper texture.

Adding water as a liquid will not have the same smooth consistency that you usually get with other liquids. Moreover, water will not give any much flavour to your smoothie. So if your main idea is to lose weight and you are sure you are going to stay motivated, then water may be the best choice for you. And hey, by “best” I really mean best.

Like I said earlier, water is healthy, with zero sugar and zero calories. You can always drink a little extra with water as the liquid and not care much about the weight gain, but remember, it will affect the creaminess of the smoothie, and it may cause a separation in your smoothie.

On the other hand, you must limit yourself while adding other liquids as most of them contain calories you don’t need. Also, water can help you burn calories and will keep you hydrated while you are working out.

If you want to add ice to your smoothie with water as the liquid, I recommend you don’t. It may only spoil the consistency more. However, if you wish to replace water with ice, you are always welcome to do so.

How Much Milk You Should Add to Your Smoothie?

Milk is the liquid that is widely used for smoothies. It is added in the proportion of one cup of milk to two cups of fruits. It has got the texture, the protein, and the flavour. It has got all the qualities of an ideal liquid for a smoothie. Especially, the quality amount of protein you get from milk. With that much protein, you can consider skipping your breakfast by adding a little more milk.

Unlike water, that can ruin the consistency of the smoothie even with just a little bit extra of the liquid, milk can be put in a little more and still create a good texture. You can add from 3/4 cup up to 1 and a half cup of milk to your smoothie for two cups of fruits.

Milk, however, contains more calories in it compared to other liquids. So, if you want to lose weight it may not be the best idea to use milk as the liquid in your smoothie, especially if you do not work out.

But if you could put in not much of milk into your smoothie, your smoothie will be able to retain its qualities of helping in weight loss. Milk is not really expensive and is also easy to get. It can also add so much of a flavour and texture to your smoothie, and also enhance the flavours of the fruits you are adding into the smoothie.

How Much Plant-Based Milk You Should Add to Your Smoothie?

Plant-based kinds of milk are healthy, and they are the best option for vegans. They are so much lower in calories compared to milk and still maintain the same consistency as milk (try to avoid the plant-based kinds of milk that are full of sugar).

Generally, you should add a proportion of a cup of plant-based milk to two cups of fruits. Plant-based kinds of milk bring in so much exotic flavour, and when mixed with fruits, can give an amazing splash of taste. They also maintain the smooth, thick, and perfect consistency of the smoothie.

With all the visuals they produce to please our eyes, it is so much more of a pleasure that it can please our heart too, literally. Plant-based kinds of milk are low in cholesterol, fat, and calories (the sugar-free kinds of milk). It is a great substitute to milk that can help you in weight loss, as it does not contain many calories.

Some of the plant-based kinds of milk are almond milk, rice milk, and coconut milk. What’s the most special about the plant-based kinds of milk are the way they can blend in and bring the best flavours out of fruits that are easy to get. Some smoothies require expensive and not so easy to find fruits, however, with plant-based kinds of milk you can get the best of taste even with fruits like banana and apple.

How Much Juice You Should Add to Your Smoothie?

A splash of juice along with another liquid will do much better. So you could add in a 1/4 cup of juice with a half cup of another liquid (water, milk, or plant-based milk) for two cups of fruits.

You might not want to add too much fruit juice for the reasons below:

• It will harm the process of weight loss
  Too much of fruit may contain a lot of fibre which is good for your health. It may also contain all the doze of vitamins you need, and you can easily replace this for your breakfast. However, it contains too much sugar and calories, which will not help you to lose weight. Instead, you may end up gaining some unwanted weight. Fruit juice can contain up to 100 calories per 1 cup.
• It will taste way too sweet
  Fruits contain a lot of sugar, take orange for example. You may find it too sweet

You must always keep the amount of juice to a minimum. The general idea is just to add a splash of flavour to the smoothie.

Fruit juices have their own set of benefits. They are rich in vitamin C and vitamin B and can give you a lot of fibre for your daily requirement. If you wish to have a lot of flavours but maintain the calories, you can go for lime juice. It is considerably lower in calories compared to other fresh juices and also low in calories.

Can Ice Replace Your Smoothie Liquid Base?

Usually, you should not add ice to your smoothie in the blending process at all, it will cause separation, and will make your smoothie more watery.

You can replace your smoothie liquid base with ice. For powerful blenders with strong blades, you can use whole ice cubes, and for weak and cheap blenders you should use only crushed ice. Also, you should not use ice if you are using frozen fruits in your smoothie.

If you are using frozen fruits, then it would be a bad idea to use ice. It might ruin the consistency of the smoothie. Too much of frozen ingredients can make it a mocktail.

Ice or water, instead of the other liquid bases, can help you in losing weight. It does not contain calories nor any sugar. You can make a smoothie taste a lot better with ice instead of using water. However, the texture of the smoothie will not be smooth and thick as in the case of using other liquids.

Bonus Recipe

Smoothies are a great recipe for every season. and if you don’t want to drink a fresh smoothie in the winter, you can make it warm, and there are also some great alternatives.

You can use different fruits, liquids, sweeteners, and can make your own unique smoothie by just following the proper proportions. They can help you cool off the heat by adding in a little bit of crushed ice while also helping you lose weight. Smoothies come with many health benefits.

Here’s a bonus recipe – orange banana smoothie:

Ingredients

• Cold milk – 1 cup
• Orange – 1/2 (peeled, cut, and deseeded)
• Banana – 1
• Honey – 1 tablespoon
• Yogurt – 5 tablespoons

Instructions

Blend all the ingredients in the blender for a minute, blend till smooth and serve chilled.

Have fun and stay healthy!