Banana Peanut Smoothie

Peanut butter in smoothies is all the rage and I have been thinking that some of us might not want to invest in a full jar of peanut butter just for the occasional smoothie. At least in India, peanut butter isn’t a regular in most households – it is expensive and not available in smaller grocery stores.

Is there an alternative? You are in luck – I have a happy solution for you.

Now, when you want to make a peanut butter smoothie – you do not have to have peanut butter on hand. Use peanuts! Let me show you how, in this banana peanut smoothie.

Banana peanut smoothie is packed with energy and nutrients – great for you if you are working out to build strength.

You Need:

[serves 2]

• Banana – 1 ripe
• Peanuts – 1/3 cup
• Milk – just under 2 glasses, chilled
• Honey (or a sweetener of your choice) – to taste (optional)

How To Make Banana Peanut Smoothie:

Freeze the banana: Place the banana in the freezer for two hours before you plan to make the smoothie.

Freezing the banana before blending gives the smoothie a thicker, creamier texture.

The usual technique of freezing bananas is peeling, slicing and then freezing. This is useful when you want to use the bananas much later. But if you plan to make this smoothie in a couple of hours, it is far more convenient to pop a fresh banana skin-on into the freezer. After two hours, take the banana out and peel it. If too hard to peel by hand, use a knife. This method eliminates the need of pans/freezer-safe bags and, since the banana isn’t frozen too hard, it is easier on the blender blades.

Grind the peanuts: Dry roast the peanuts on low flame in a thick-bottomed pan, till they turn a shade darker and give off a pleasant roasted aroma. This should take 4-5 minutes.

Let the peanuts cool. You can remove the skin if you wish: rub the peanuts gently between your dry palms – this will make the skin fall off.

Place the peanuts in the blender first, and pulse for a minute. Open the lid and check if there is ground peanut sticking to the sides of the blender jar (this happens with mine!) – if so, scrape it back in. Pulse for another minute.

Blend it all together! Peel the banana and transfer it into the blender jar. Add half a glass of chilled milk and honey/sweetener (if using). Pulse everything together till the banana has blended.

Now add the rest of the milk and pulse for another minute, or till smooth.

Pour banana peanut smoothie into tall glasses. Drink immediately!

Notes:

Adding a little milk first (instead of all of it in one go) helps to blend the bananas better. If we add all the milk together, we would likely need to blend longer – this has a warming effect, not something we want happening to our chilled smoothie.

Do you know that it is supereasy to make peanut butter at home? You can skip the spices to make basic peanut butter and store it, then use that directly for peanut butter smoothies.

I like about half a banana per glass of smoothie, but go ahead and put a whole banana if you prefer it that way. Adjust the amount of milk/sweetener in that case.

Want other fruity milkshake recipes? Try these: