Pumpkin smoothies are delicious. We spice the traditional smoothie to make a refreshing vegan pumpkin spice smoothie. This is an easy to make recipe, and I will make use of locally available ingredients this season. Let’s get started!
The Ingredients
- Pumpkin – The Orange Squash is perfect for this recipe
- A banana – To act as the smoothie base
- 1-cup non-dairy milk – I prefer almond milk although coconut milk and soymilk will do just fine
- ½-cup ice cubes
- 1-tablespoon maple syrup to sweeten
The spices:
- 1/8 tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
Procedure
Pre-boil the pumpkin until tender and puree. We will use just 1 cup of this puree in our recipe.
Add the rest of the ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth.
Garnish with freshly ground cinnamon and enjoy your vegan pumpkin spice smoothie.
This recipe serves two. You can double or triple the ingredients quantities for additional servings.
For That Extra Oomph
I like to add chopped nuts for a crunchy texture. Walnuts and pecans go particularly well with pumpkin.
Feel free to experiment with different spices but don’t go overboard. Pumpkin is rather mild in taste, and too much spice will overpower the flavor. In addition, If you’re on a diet, you don’t have to use a sweetener especially with the sweeter pumpkin varieties like butternut. Ideally, maple syrup offsets the cinnamon and nutmeg spice to create a balanced flavor.
If you have trouble with the resulting pumpkin flavor, add a tablespoon of instant espresso powder. You might not distinguish the ingredients in your vegan pumpkin spice smoothie afterwards.
To garnish, add a scoop of whipped coconut cream. It looks just like the non-vegan whipped cream, and it tastes even better.
Finally, for extra probiotics, you can add plain dairy-free kefir.
The Nutritional Value
Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A and C, complex carbohydrates, calcium, iron, anti-oxidants, and dietary fiber. They don’t contain any fats or sodium which makes them a healthier option. To harness even more of this pumpkin goodness, dry the pumpkin seeds and roast them. Then grind the roasted seeds and add this powder to your smoothie. You can use the powder in other meals as well. Pumpkin seeds are higher in nutritional value than soybeans according to this research.
Bananas are rich in potassium, fiber, vitamin C and B6, phytonutrients, and various antioxidants. Like pumpkins, bananas don’t contain any trans fats or sodium.
The spices we used in this recipe have several benefits in the human body:
- Allspice is ground pimento tree berries. The berries are harvested while still unripe and sundried before grinding. It is native to the Caribbean islands and, therefore, some people call it Jamaica pimento. Traditionally, allspice was used to ease indigestion, to relieve intestinal gas and abdominal pain. Allspice is a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties. Studies show that it also has cancer-fighting and antiviral properties.
- Cinnamon is made from the bark of Cinnamomum tree. It is rich in antioxidants, which help our bodies to fight diseases.
- Vanilla is also rich in antioxidants. However, be careful when buying commercially processed vanilla. If possible, buy the vanilla bean pods and use them in your recipes.
- Nutmeg is a spice originating from Indonesia that is rich in essential volatile oils like safrole, myristicin, eugenol, and elemicin. These have anti-inflammatory properties hence ideal for treating joint pains.
The Bottom Line
I’m certain that you can now appreciate the nutritional value of our vegan pumpkin spice smoothie. Feel free to experiment with other ingredients but stick to the basics.