Smoothie In A Bowl

This round up of 50 smoothie bowl recipes will give you lots of ideas for ingredient combinations and toppings to make delicious smoothie bowls at home!

SIAB = Smoothie In A Bowl

Why I like smoothie bowls

I never liked smoothies very much until I started serving them in a bowl, soup style! Eating a smoothie with a spoon is so much more fun than drinking it in a glass – when it disappears in 1 minute flat in my house!

Additionally, adding toppings, some of which sink to the bottom, make the eating process more exciting. Chewing helps me feel satisfied, so I love adding that dimension to smoothies.

Raspberry Lemon Yerba Smoothie Bowl

Reasons bowls are better than cups:

It slows me down. Slurping a smoothie up small spoonful by small spoonful is a lot harder than chugging it down or even using a straw. I appreciate that I savor the meal a bit longer.
Toppings!! You can’t add anything crunchy and then use a straw. Granola is the best of all. I haven’t had any granola on hand lately, but cereal, crumbled crunchy things or nuts make great toppings. So do fresh fruit and seeds like flax, hemp and chia.
Satiety. The more food behaviors I tick off in one meal, the more satisfied I am. So just drinking a meal doesn’t leave me as satisfied as using a spoon, watching what I’m eating, and chewing. Therefore I am psychologically more satisfied after eating a SIAB than drinking one.
You can pack so much goodness inside. This isn’t really an argument for bowls but just for smoothies in general over more classic breakfasts like cereal with milk. I’ve never been one for veggie scrambles or salsa tacos for breakfast, but I can pack some greens into my smoothies!

Mermaid Smoothie Bowl!

My Favorite Smoothie Bowl Toppings

I go nuts for contrasting texture combinations – creamy and crunchy, battery and chewy, frothy with crunchy on top. My ideal breakfast bowl (usually with a creamy base like yogurt, oatmeal or a smoothie) has to have a good crunchy ingredient on top. I think this is because contrasting textures reminds me of loaded ice creams with cookies (soft chew), toffee (hard crunch), or cookie dough (chewy) inside!

Granola
Buckwheat groats
Fresh berries
Melted coconut butter
Thinned out peanut or almond butter
Cereals
Crumbled bars
Anything crunchy!

Coconut butter magic shell

What’s a dough boy smoothie?

One variation on the smoothie in a bowl is the Dough Boy Smoothie. This is where you soak the oats overnight in milk + yogurt [aka overnight oats] and then blend them together in the morning – which creates an incredible doughy taste!