Pumpkin Smoothie
A thick, creamy Pumpkin Smoothie is a cinnamon-spiced, honey-sweetened fall spin on a healthy oat smoothie!
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin...it's that time of year, y'all. And I'm trying not to go overboard with the pumpkin recipes that I share here. But I must admit that my mind is constantly pondering which of my favorite, tried-and-true recipes I can pumpkin-ify...like a creamy, dreamy Pumpkin Smoothie!
Healthy Oat Smoothies
My kids are obsessed with healthy oat smoothies, and I'm not about to argue with any breakfast or snack consisting of frozen fruit, oats, milk, yogurt, and honey. And this past summer, while whipping up their wholesome Blueberry Muffin Smoothies and Peach Cobbler Smoothies and Strawberry Shortcake Smoothies for the umpteenth time, it occurred to me that pumpkin would make for a great oatmeal-based smoothie.
So I waited until September -- when pumpkin finally feels "official" to me -- and I set out to create a frosty, creamy Pumpkin Smoothie with flavors reminiscent of pumpkin pie.
Ding! Ding! Ding! I did it, folks. I always start my smoothies with frozen fruit, and I wasn't sure how that was going to play out with this pumpkin version. But here's what I came up with and it worked beautifully...
Frozen Pumpkin Is Key
After whipping up a batch of Homemade Pumpkin Puree (or cracking open a can of store-bought pumpkin), simply take a tablespoon and dollop the pumpkin in little mounds onto a wax paper-lined sheet pan. If starting with 2 cups of puree (or one can), this should give you about 22 tablespoon-sized blobs.
Pop the sheet pan in the freezer and freeze until solid. The resulting frozen mounds of pumpkin ended up being perfect for blending into smoothies for that oh-so-desirable thick, frosty texture!
Ingredient Notes
I started out using the same proportions of ingredients as the other oat smoothies in my repertoire, but I soon determined that Pumpkin Smoothies were going to necessitate a few changes.
First off, the disks of frozen pumpkin thickened my smoothie mixture a bit more than expected, so I added some additional milk to correct the consistency.
But just as importantly, pumpkin can be a pretty overwhelming flavor that requires quite a bit more flavoring than usual. So it took a good amount of vanilla and spices plus an extra squeeze of honey before the smoothie tasted more like pumpkin pie and less like plain canned pumpkin.
But here's the thing...use high-quality vanilla (I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Nielsen-Massey is my favorite brand. Because in an uncooked smoothie, you're going to taste it, and pure vanilla flavor trumps an alcohol-ish aftertaste every time.
Yep, Pumpkin Smoothies are fit for...a pumpkin lover!
Or a smoothie lover.
Or someone who appreciates the stereotypical flavors of fall.
Or anyone who cares to enjoy the glories of Thanksgiving dessert for breakfast.
Bottom line?
Make 'em soon, make 'em often, and get all of that pumpkin-craving out of your system before the peppermint recipes hit. 😉
More Healthy Pumpkin Breakfasts
- {Overnight} Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal
- Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Bars
- Homemade Pumpkin Butter
- Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
Pumpkin Smoothie
Ingredients
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- 2 cups Homemade Pumpkin Puree, OR 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Use a tablespoon to dollop canned pumpkin into little mounds (you should get 22 to 24 tablespoon-sized mounds out of one can of pumpkin). Place baking sheet in freezer and freeze for a couple of hours until solid. Peel pumpkin disks from wax paper and set aside.
- Measure oats into blender. Blend until ground into a fine powder. Add frozen pumpkin, yogurt, milk, honey, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Blend until completely smooth. Serve immediately.
Notes
- You may use nonfat, lowfat, or regular vanilla yogurt.
- You may use whole milk, 2%, skim milk, almond milk, or your favorite type of milk.
- Feel free to tweak the honey and spices to your taste.
- For a large single serving, you may cut the recipe in half and use only half a can of pumpkin.
This smoothie recipe is just perfect and amazing. 🙂
Sounds great! but I have a question, for a single smoothie, how many of the frozen Tbspoon discs of pumpkin would you use? I'm watching carbs, so need to know this. Thank you! ?
Hi Kathy! Great question. As indicated at the top of the recipe, this batch makes 2 large (about 16 ounces each) or 4 small (about 8 ounces each) smoothies. So depending on how many ounces you want your smoothie to be, I'd divide the recipe accordingly. If you want to make an (approximately) 8-ounce smoothie, use one-quarter of the amount of each ingredient. If you got 24 dollops out of your can of pumpkin, use 6 of them. Does that make sense? I hope so, and I hope you enjoy your smoothie! 🙂