This Chocolate Maca Smoothie is extra creamy and decadent, and so easy to make! It tastes like having dessert for breakfast, but it has hidden superfoods and no refined sugar! The smoothie is vegan, gluten-free, and so delicious!
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More About This Maca Smoothie
Superfood smoothie - If you want to make your classic chocolate smoothie a little more nutritious with superfood powders, this one is for you! It has maca and lucuma along with raw cacao. It's sweetened with Medjool dates, and you can make it more filling by adding your favorite protein powder!
What's maca? Maca root is a cruciferous vegetable native to South America. It's an adaptogen with many health benefits, like improving one's mood, boosting energy, and many hormonal benefits. Read WebMD's Health Benefits of Maca to see if it's right for you, and always consult your doctor before introducing a new supplement to your diet.
Creamy and decadent - You'd never guess how healthy this smoothie is just by its taste! It's made with frozen bananas, so it's extra creamy. Cacao makes it chocolatey, and lucuma adds a caramel-like flavor to it that goes perfectly with maca. It also has almost 9g of fiber and 5g of protein before adding any protein powder!
Ingredients
- Bananas - Frozen bananas are necessary here because they're the only frozen fruit in this smoothie. They make it silky smooth, thick, and cold. Adding ice won't give you the same texture.
- Milk - I recommend unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk. Alternatively, you can also use whole milk or any other non-dairy milk.
- Maca powder - Maca is sold either in capsules or as a powder. Look for gelatinized maca, which is cooked, not raw. Cooking it breaks down its starches, which makes it easier to digest, and it's how it's traditionally prepared. It's harder to find and might be more expensive, but you wouldn't want to eat raw potatoes either! Maca has a strong, earthy flavor, so I usually add only ½ tsp to my smoothies.
- Cacao powder - I always use raw cacao powder because I prefer it over Dutch-processed cocoa powder, but either one will work.
- Lucuma powder - This is totally optional, but I like adding this to chocolate, coffee, or any other sweet, milky smoothies for added sweetness and flavor. Lucuma is a fruit native to South America. It has an earthy, caramel, maple-like flavor, a little similar to sweet potatoes. It's rich in antioxidants and many other nutrients. Read more about Lucuma's health benefits.
- Protein powder - This is optional, but I like adding a scoop of protein powder. I like Sprout Living's unflavored protein powder. They also have great vanilla and chocolate ones, but the chocolate one already has lucuma and maca. If you prefer, you can just get their chocolate protein powder instead so you don't have to buy anything else!
- Medjool dates - The smoothie is sweetened with 1-2 Medjool dates. You could also use maple syrup, agave, or honey as well.
- Vanilla extract and cinnamon - A little bit of vanilla and ground cinnamon really brings everything together. You can also use vanilla bean paste too.
- Hemp hearts and ground flax seeds - I add a sprinkle of these (along with one Brazil nut) to most of my smoothies for added fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
Variations and Substitutions
- Protein powder that already has everything - My go-to protein is Sprout Living, and I used an unflavored one in this smoothie, but they also have a chocolate protein powder. If you choose the chocolate one, you can skip adding maca, lucuma, and even the cacao (I still like to add a little to make it more chocolatey) because they're all included in it! This is great if you just want to try the flavor of this smoothie without having to go out and buy a big bag of each ingredient.
- Add coffee - You can add 1-2 shots of espresso to the smoothie for a caffeine boost. If you do, add a little less milk so the smoothie isn't too thin. I do recommend cooling it first so it doesn't warm everything up. You can just add an ice cube to the espresso to cool it down.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Into a high-speed blender, add almond milk, frozen banana, maca powder, cacao powder, lucuma powder (if using), pitted dates, protein powder, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
- Blend on high until smooth and creamy. You may need to use your blender’s tamper to help it blend.
- Add more milk or more frozen banana as needed to reach your desired consistency.
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- Serve immediately in a tall glass and enjoy!
Tips & Tricks!
- Don't add ice cubes - This will change the consistency completely. If you don't have a frozen banana and want to use a fresh one with ice, just freeze your bananas and make it another day instead. Ice makes the smoothie icy, watery, and not smooth at all without a stabilizer like xanthan gum.
- A little maca goes a long way - It has a very potent flavor that can overpower everything else very easily. If you're not used to it at all, the flavor can be overwhelming if you add too much, so I recommend starting with just ¼-1/2 tsp. You can always taste the smoothie and add more.
Serving and Storing
The recipe yields a creamy but thin smoothie that's meant to be served in a glass and sipped through a straw.
If you want to serve it in a bowl with toppings instead, there are a few changes you need to make. I recommend adding 2 frozen bananas, or even 2 ½, instead of just 1 ½ for a soft serve consistency so it can hold all your toppings. I also recommend only ½ cup of milk and adding more only as needed. The smoothie will be very thick, so you'll need your blender's tamper to help it blend.
Some of the toppings that would go well with this smoothie are granola, yogurt, nuts, seeds, Homemade Nutella, Caramelized Apples, or caramelized banana. I would also add some berries because I add those to practically everything.
The smoothie is best enjoyed right away while it's still cold. If needed, you can store it in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
FAQs
There's yellow, red, and black maca. The yellow one is most common, but a lot of the powders are a blend. It's generally recommended to go with gelatinized (cooked) maca because it's a root and cooking it makes it easier to digest. I like Ecoideas and Benefits by Nature brands. Another popular one is Organica.
Similar Smoothies
If you want to try other similar chocolatey and decadent smoothies, try any of the three linked below! The mocha is my favorite one! To see all the latest ones, head over to Smoothie Recipes.
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Print📖 Recipe
Chocolate Maca Smoothie
This Chocolate Maca Smoothie is extra creamy and decadent, and so easy to make! It tastes like having dessert for breakfast, but it has hidden superfoods and no refined sugar! The smoothie is vegan, gluten-free, and so delicious!
- Total Time5 minutes
- Yield1 1x
- DietVegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (sub cashew milk, whole milk, or other milk)
- 1 ½ frozen bananas
- ½ tsp maca powder (or less if you're not used to the flavor)
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp lucuma powder (optional)
- 1-2 Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 scoop protein powder (vanilla, chocolate, or unflavored)
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract (sub vanilla bean paste or vanilla powder)
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Into a high-speed blender, add almond milk, frozen banana, maca powder, cacao powder, lucuma powder (if using), pitted dates, protein powder, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
- Blend on high until smooth and creamy. You may need to use your blender’s tamper to help it blend.
- Add more milk as needed to reach your desired consistency.
- Serve immediately in a tall glass and enjoy!
Equipment
Notes
Smoothie bowl: If you want to serve this smoothie in a bowl with toppings like berries or granola, I recommend only starting with ½ cup of milk and adding more as needed. I also recommend adding 2 frozen bananas instead of just 1 ½ for more volume.
Storing: The smoothie is best enjoyed right away, but if needed, you can store it in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
The nutritional facts are counted without any protein powder because they are all different. My favorite is Sprout Living Protein Powder. I use the unflavored here because their chocolate protein powder already has maca and lucuma. The values shown are only an estimate and don't include the superfoods.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Smoothie
- Method: Blender
- Cuisine: American
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