This Carrot Cake Smoothie Brings Dessert Vibes to Breakfast

This carrot cake smoothie is the perfect way to bring dessert vibes to breakfast! With a mix of carrot juice, banana, warm spices like cinnamon and ginger and a hint of vanilla, it captures all the cozy flavors of carrot cake in a glass. Pro tip: Always add your liquids to the blender first before the solid ingredients. This creates a fluid base that helps pull the solid ingredients into the blades, ensuring a smooth and creamy consistency.

Our Carrot Cake Smoothie is a perfect way to start your day—a breakfast that tastes like dessert, but is packed with nutrition. To make it, we combine antioxidant-rich 100% carrot juice with warm spices —ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg—that embrace you like a warm hug. Raisins and maple syrup add sweetness, and the tang of the yogurt mimics the cream cheese frosting that you’d find in your favorite carrot cake dessert. So tasty! To thicken this smoothie, we added a frozen banana for fiber and walnuts for omega-3s. Keep reading for our expert tips, including how to stack ingredients in your blender for the best smoothie consistency. 

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• We prefer store-bought carrot juice for this smoothie because it provides the right consistency, sweetness and earthiness. Using fresh carrots can make it too bitter.
• Pour your smoothies into chilled glasses for an extra-nice touch. This will make a creamy smoothie like this one taste better and stay cold longer.
• You can substitute the plain yogurt with flavored Greek yogurt (we think coconut would be tasty, although it will add more sugar) and replace the walnuts with a dollop of almond butter or pecans.
• The ice and frozen banana will create the proper friction to puree the raisins. Without them, the raisins will just bounce around and ricochet off the blades. 

Nutrition Notes

• Choose 100% carrot juice for this recipe to get the most nutrition and sweetness without added sugar. You won’t get the additional fiber from the whole carrot, but you’ll get all the inflammation-fighting beta carotene and all the hydration benefits. 
• Greek yogurt adds protein to this smoothie. You’ll also get a dose of calcium—great for bone health. If your Greek yogurt has live and active cultures added, that means it comes with a probiotic benefit to keep your microbiome in tip-top shape. 
• Bananas are a smoothie staple, especially when frozen, because they add texture and thickness. Bananas are a good source of fiber and potassium, and also contain magnesium—all nutrients essential for good heart health. 
• Walnuts look like little brains, perhaps as a reminder of their health benefits. Walnuts contain plant-based omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for lowering inflammation in the body. They also contain antioxidant polyphenols that have been shown to be protective against cognitive decline with regular consumption.

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup refrigerated unsweetened carrot juice (such as Bolthouse Farms)
• ¼ cup whole-milk plain strained (Greek-style) yogurt
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk, well-shaken and stirred, divided
• 1 ripe medium banana, sliced and frozen (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1½ teaspoons pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In the order listed, add ⅔ cup carrot juice, ¼ cup yogurt, ¼ cup coconut milk, 1 sliced frozen banana, 1 cup ice, 2 tablespoons walnuts, 2 tablespoons raisins, 1½ teaspoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg and ⅛ teaspoon salt to a blender. Process until smooth, thick and creamy, about 30 seconds. Divide between 2 glasses; drizzle evenly with the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut milk.