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Carrot Cake Smoothie

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Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

Do you eat baby carrots?

Do you have an opinion about baby carrots?

Up until a month ago, baby carrots were a staple in my fridge and I never thought twice about them. They have been my go-to healthy crunchy snack ever since college, and I regularly toss them in everything from soups to smoothies to my favorite fried rice. No peeling required. No fuss. No problem, right?!

Wrong. Pretty sure that a small, harmless little bag of baby carrots spawned the closest thing to a “fight” that Kathryne and I had as roommates during our month in Austin. She was aghast that I would buy baby carrots, much less enjoy eating them, and went off on her soapbox about how they are the watered-down, less-flavorful, lower-quality, mechanically-shaped counterpart to their full-sized namesakes. She can tend to be pretty opinionated about her vegetables, so I decided to just let it go. And then do the mature thing and, you know, continue chomping on my baby carrots around the house day after day. ;)

Sure enough, a week or so later I was sitting at the kitchen island baby-carrot-snacking away when Kathryne surreptitiously slid an organic, freshly-peeled, non-baby, whole carrot across the counter and said, “Try this.” I rolled my eyes and took a bite, ready to settle this food bloggers’ argument and prove my baby carrots’ worth once and for all. And…

…the bigger carrot was better.

Ugh. I mean, not by a landslide. It was still totally in the same family as my little babies, and didn’t taste any different. But the flavor was definitely stronger, the texture was crisper, and I felt like Bugs Bunny would have probably preferred it. Darn. Of course, I did not admit defeat immediately. But the next time we arrived home from Whole Foods and Kathryne saw that I also pulled a bunch of organic, whole carrots out of my grocery bag, I had to concede. She was right. (Which I’m pretty sure I will never live down.)  ;)

No, she was gracious and happy to have converted me to the world of full-sized carrots. And I was happy that they have made my snacking — and a smoothie like this — all the tastier. So grab some (big) carrots, and let’s make one!

Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

I actually made this smoothie a few times while we were in Austin, and then kept forgetting to share it on the blog. But then I remembered that today is Single Serving Saturday, and with Easter (and carrot cake season!) just around the corner, it seemed like the perfect time.

The inspiration behind the recipe was simple: try to make a healthy protein smoothie that satisfied my (never-ending) cravings for carrot cake! So I gathered up a few of the classic spices, chopped up lots of fresh carrots, froze a banana to thicken the smoothie, added in almond milk and natural sweeteners to keep things healthier (and vegetarian), and then blended it up to see what happened.
Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

It took me a few tries to get the recipe quite right. But once I finally did, the results were delicious.

Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

It’s everything I love about the spicy, fresh-carrot goodness of traditional carrot cake. But of course, made with fresh and healthy ingredients you can feel good about enjoying for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even dessert. And it’s easy to personalize! If you’re a fan of nuts in your carrot cake, you can blend a few toasted walnuts into your smoothie, or use them as a topping. If you love coconut, you can also blend in some shredded coconut into the mix. If you like a super-sweet cake, you can add in more maple syrup to sweeten it.

And the best part for all of my fellow single friends out there? This recipe makes one simple single serving, so no worries about having to freeze and thaw leftovers. Just make a batch for yourself and enjoy every last sip.

Big carrots and all. :)

Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

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Carrot Cake Smoothie

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.3 from 4 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 serving 1x

Description

This healthy Carrot Cake Smoothie is made with lots of fresh carrots and delicious traditional carrot cake spices.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 medium banana, peeled, diced and frozen
  • 1 cup diced carrots* (about 2 medium-sized carrots), peeled if you’d like
  • 2/3 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons maple syrup (or your desired sweetener)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground ginger
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • optional toppings: extra grated carrots, toasted coconut, toasted walnuts

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients to a blender and pulse for 30-60 seconds until smooth.  If the smoothie is too thick, add an extra 1/4 cup of almond milk to thin it out.
  2. Serve immediately, garnished with optional toppings if desired.
  3. *If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you may have to blend this smoothie for a bit longer.  Or you could also shave the carrots (instead of dicing them) beforehand to make blending easier.

Carrot Cake Smoothie | gimmesomeoven.com

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125 comments on “Carrot Cake Smoothie”

  1. Whoa, I don’t know how you got your carrots so smooth in this, but I definitely need to give it a try! Looks awesome!

    • Thanks, Katrina! It took a good 45 seconds or so of blending them, but they surprisingly pureed quite nicely. A fun way to “drink” your carrots for sure! :)

  2. This is a VERY creative smoothie!!! And I LOVE carrot cake! Can’t wait to try! I bet coconut milk as an alternative to almond would be fab. I think you meant 1/4 tsp cinnamon instead of 1/4, right?

  3. This sounds so good! I’m on such a carrot kick right now, and with this recipe, it’s a full blown obsession. I can’t wait to have carrot cake for breakfast! 

  4. This is such a perfect smoothie for spring. Pinning- can’t wait to try it!

  5. OK…I’ll try it. I’ll use up my present stash of baby carrots to make this and then…reluctantly..try buying some adult carrots.

  6. So intrigued! I totally want to go and do a side-by-side taste comparison of baby carrots to whole carrots now.

  7. Haha…I gotta say I agree with Kathryne when it comes to taste….but you sure can’t beat the convenience of the mini ones (especially for snacking)! 

  8. Hahaaaaa! Grown-up carrots for the win!

  9. yum! I’m a huge carrot cake fan…going to have to try this healthy liquid version! and glad you gave big carrots a try…have to agree they are SO much better (I could probably put my soapbox right next to Kathryne’s..peeling just takes a quick second and the taste /texture (and no chlorine taste like some of the baby carrots get from their cleaning) is worth the small amount of extra effort! looks delicious…I cant wait to try!

  10. Looks like an amazing smoothie flavor! I’d love a glass of this for breakfast :)

  11. This would be a very healthy and delicious thing for breakfast!

  12. This recipe is not vegan…it has yogurt in the ingredients.

  13. Ummm, how is it vegan if there’s greek yoghurt in it?

  14. This looks really good, going to try it for lunch :)
    And I use to love baby carrots but the last couple times half the bag ended up as compost. But I gobble up those grown up carrots I don’t know when or why I made the change lol  

  15. Yes I have to agree. Baby carrots are oh so convenient, but yes those carrots in their natural glory are packed with flavor. I use them both. This smoothie sounds amazing what a great idea and I always have carrots, so this may be a new go to!

  16. Sounds really good, I love carrot cakes, and a smoothie like it would be delicous :) I’ll have to try it *_*

  17. I would love to try this but carrots in a smoothie is a weird one for me! 

  18. Oh my word….I am super excited to try this and I have to say I am a baby carrot lover too :( SAD news for the two bags in my fridge right now…

    I may take a bit more convincing before I can make the switch!! <3

  19. This looks so yummy! Might have to give it a try tonight :-). Thanks for the recipe!

  20. Does the banana have to be frozen?

    • Nope, it just makes the smoothie nice and cold without adding ice (and I typically have frozen bananas on hand anyway). : )

  21. We have a  big bag of carrots from Costco with Carrot Cake Smoothie written all over them. Yay!

  22. My dogs LOVE carrots – it’s their favorite treat!  They come running when they hear me with the peeler.  This smoothie looks so smooth.  Definitely making!!

  23. I cannot eat bananas.  What do you recommend as a substitute?

  24. Just made this and it’s fabulous. love your blog.

  25. Oh this is too funny. I’m with Team Kathryne on this one ;) Somehow the baby ones just always taste odd to me. 

  26. What a great idea! I heart carrot cake as well, so I was very inclined to try this. I did make a couple of changes, and I’m going to note them not becuase you’re recipe isn’t great, but just some fun suggestions! First, I used canned full fat coconut milk in place of almond milk. Instead of syrup or sweetener, I used a tablespoon of raisins. Because to me, it isn’t carrot cake without raisins, and this way, it’s no added sweetener. Finally, I added a 1/4 cup of frozen pineapple. I did this because while I don’t necessarliy need pineapple in carrot cake, I do need more frozen fruit in my smoothies to keep them cold. The VitaMix does a number on frozen fruit and often my smoothies aren’t cold enough. So I added that. 
    One could make this smoothie vegan and paleo-friendly by omitting the yogurt and using all coconut milk or almond milk. I might suggest freezing some of that milk in to ice cubes to help with the consistency. 

    Thanks for the tasty idea! 

  27. I think I would really like this! I agree with your friend about the carrots. Until I ate a fresh carrot I had no idea how good
    or
    even what a real carrot tasted like. Amazing difference. Since I got my new nutribullet I am wild about smoothies!

  28. I just made it and IT IS DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It might be my new favorite smoothie! Way to go :)

  29. I know what I’ll be drinking tomorrow. Looks beautiful!

  30. I made this omitting the yogurt and it is surprisingly a very delicious smoothie. Next time I will try with coconut milk yogurt. I actually use my nutribullet and it blended very very well. no carrot trunks at all. this is a great recipe thank you!

  31. I made this omitting the yogurt (*dairy free) and it is surprisingly a very delicious smoothie. Next time I will try with coconut milk yogurt. I actually use my nutribullet and it blended very very well. no carrot trunks at all. this is a great recipe thank you!

  32. do you recommend this as a meal replacement?

    • Hey Elisa, I think it could be, since it has protein from the Greek yogurt, but I guess it depends on how long you’d want it to keep you full. You could always add some protein powder just to make sure!

  33. I bit of pure vanilla extract (homemade is amazing!) would be delicious in this! Going to have to give it a try ASAP. ;)

  34. Suggested addition.  What better fruit to add to carrot cake than pineapple? It’s almost a sure bet. 

  35. Hi! 
    I noticed that greek yogurt is used in this recipe. I really want to try this recipe out, but I am vegan. Is there an alternative I can use? 

  36. Hi,
    Are the carrots cooked or raw?

  37. well I tried it this morning and I must have had one powerful banana because that’s all I could taste. Rats! Still got all take benefits and the carrots do purée nicely. Mine was more like banana bread.

    • Oh no! I’ve totally done that before. Hope you can try it with a less ripe banana and have better results!

  38. Thanks for a great idea. I made it today but used a tablespoon of coconut oil instead of the yogurt, and a handful of almonds and a cup of water in place of the almond milk I didn’t have handy. It was so good. Next time I’ll make sure I have some almond milk made, first, and it will be even better!

  39. Boy was this delicious! I’ve got to say, I am NOT a carrot fan at all but I completely loved this. I steamed the carrots to give them less of a “raw carrot” taste and for easier blending. Also added a dash of vanilla extract, as I do with almost everything (: thanks for the great recipe!!

    • That’s awesome that you’re not a carrot fan and you still loved this! Smart idea by steaming the carrots beforehand. Thanks for giving it a try! : )

  40. Yummylicious! I just tried today 

  41. If anyone is wondering, this recipe has about 300 calories in it, depending on the type of yogurt that you use

  42. How interesting that we would have our baby carrot epiphanies around the same time.  I got tired watery carrots that often tasted strange and spoiled way too easily and went back to whole carrots.  I don’t mind the effort involved in peeling and cutting them at all.  I used to do that all the time before some brilliant marketer invented baby carrots.  I’m looking forward to making this smoothie (with the usual added protein powder).

  43. Just made this and it’s…what’s the word…DELICIOUS! Great low-cal recipe and full of protein, calcium and vitamin A! I’ll post a picture on Instagram and use your hashtag so you can see it! Thanks and keep ’em coming!

  44. Made this today with plain Greek + extra vanilla extract (b/c that’s how I roll) and it was d-lish! Didn’t even need the maple syrup. Thanks Ali!

  45. I’ve been reading and cooking from food blogs for the better part of 10 years. This is the first time something has been so ridiculous that I’ve felt compelled to comment. This smoothie is so freaking good it’s not even funny. It should be a Food52 genius recipe. That’s how good it is. 

    • Elisabeth, that just made our day, thank you very much! : D We’re so happy you loved it!

  46. This sounds absolutely amazing! I make a green smoothie for breakfast every morning. 

    While I was at the farmers market this weekend I bought a couple pounds of carrots, they did not sell just 3 or 4. Anyway, I have had carrot juice and absolutely love it. So NOW, to find this…. I have to try this smoothie. It has my taste buds curious! Thank you for sharing!

  47. Fabulous way to get those carrots – I topped mine with unsweetened shredded coconut and chopped walnuts and I’ll be making this again and again. (I also used some chopped ginger.) Thank you for posting this!

    • Thanks Lorrie, we’re glad you enjoyed this, and that ginger addition sounds fantastic! :)

  48. :/ yogurt is dairy.

    • Yes, this is a vegetarian recipe, not vegan. Michelle, are you allergic? You could leave out the yogurt, and add a frozen banana (to help thicken it)!

  49. tried your smoothie, and I have to say an all-round winner. Congrats