Today’s smoothie is all about my love for carrot cake, because if there’s one cake that I could eat over and over again, it would be carrot cake. And hint, hint: if you haven’t made my layered grain free, gluten free carrot cake yet, you absolutely need to put it on your must bake list ASAP!
However, if you happen to be in the mood for something a little lighter and more nutritious, I highly suggest this delicious creamy carrot cake smoothie that tastes like a slice of cake.
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Carrot cake smoothie ingredients
This carrot cake smoothie has all of the delicious flavors of carrot cake, including the cozy spices like cinnamon, natural sweeteners from fruit and carrots and other simple ingredients packed with nutrients. There’s 10g of protein, almost 8g of fiber, and heart-healthy fats making it a perfect breakfast or post-workout smoothie. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Raw carrot: this recipe calls for a large carrot, which will add vitamin A and that delicious, carrot cake flavor. If you don’t have a high powered blender, it might be hard to completely blend the raw carrot.
- Frozen banana: using frozen fruit is best in smoothies and banana helps to sweeten this one!
- Frozen pineapple: if you’ve ever had a carrot cake with pineapple in it, you’ll LOVE this addition. It adds a unique sweetness that brings out the carrot cake flavor.
- Coconut milk (or any milk): I love using coconut milk in this recipe to add a tropical, creamy flavor, but feel free to use any milk you’d like (dairy free or regular).
- Greek yogurt: for a boost of protein and to keep the recipe smooth and creamy, I love using greek yogurt. I typically use plain greek yogurt in my smoothie recipes, but you can use vanilla if you prefer a sweeter smoothie, or feel free to use a dairy free yogurt.
- Oats: this adds a little heartiness to your carrot cake smoothie and will help thicken it, feel free to add in 1/4 cup rolled oats. Do not use steel cut oats as they will not blend well.
- Nut butter: either pecan butter or almond butter will work well in this recipe to create that nice, toasty flavor that’s often found in carrot cake.
- Vanilla: gotta have that boost of vanilla flavor.
- Spices: don’t forget the cinnamon and nutmeg to help bring out that spiced carrot cake flavor!
Add extra nutrition to this carrot cake smoothie
Looking to add a nutrition boost to this smoothie? Here are some great smoothie mix-ins I recommend:
- Flaxseed meal: this is one of my favorite ingredients to add to smoothies for a little boost of fiber and minerals, and is especially great for nursing mamas as flaxseed can help increase milk supply. Usually, a tablespoon is plenty! Here’s a brand I love.
- Chia seeds: feel free to add in a tablespoon of chia seeds to your smoothie for a boost of healthy fats and fiber.
- Hemp seeds: if you’ve been wondering what to do with those hemp seeds lurking in your cupboard, feel free to throw in a tablespoon into your smoothie for a boost of healthy fats, omegas and minerals.
- Spinach: if you’re looking to get more greens in your smoothie, try adding a cup or two of raw or cooked spinach. You’ll never be able to taste it, but just know that it may change the color of your smoothie to brown depending on what other fruit you use.
- Protein: Easily add more protein to a smoothie by adding 1/2 cup greek yogurt or 1 scoop of your favorite protein powder. I recommend Vital Protein collagen peptides or Bob’s Red Mill Plant Based Vanilla Protein Powder.
- Frozen cauliflower: feel free to throw in a cup of frozen cauliflower to thicken your smoothie even more and get extra veggies in. You won’t even be able to taste it!
What does this healthy carrot cake smoothie taste like?
Adding carrot to a smoothie might sound strange, but trust me, it’s delicious! If you’ve ever made my Healthier Carrot Cake Banana Bread, you’ll love the flavors in this toasty, perfectly sweet smoothie. Add a few chopped pecans on top, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or even some coconut flakes for a yummy breakfast that tastes like a treat.
The best way to prep your carrots
If you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, feel free to just chop your carrot and add it into your blender for the smoothie. If your blender isn’t as heavy duty, I’d recommend shredding your carrot first with a hand grater or box grater so that it blends up well with the other ingredients. Use shredded carrots in these amazing recipes, too:
- Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze
- Carrot Cake Pancakes (gluten free + dairy free!)
- Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Healthier Carrot Cake Banana Bread with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- The Best Healthy Carrot Cake You’ll Ever Eat (gluten free & paleo-friendly!)
How to make a creamy carrot cake smoothie
This delicious, creamy carrot cake smoothie is so easy to make! simply add all of our ingredients to a high powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Top with anything you’d like — I love adding my homemade granola, extra shredded carrots, coconut flakes or pecans.
Tips for making smoothies
Here are a few of my favorite tips I like to share in regards to making the best creamy, healthy smoothies:
- Use frozen fruit. Using frozen fruit is best as it helps keeps the smoothie cold and thick. Sometimes ice doesn’t blend as well, so it’s best to skip it unless absolutely necessary.
- Add more liquid. Don’t be afraid to add more liquid if your smoothie is too thick or won’t fully blend. High powered blenders tend to blend frozen fruit much better, so if you have a regular or personal size blender, you may need to add more milk.
- Start on low speed. Start the blender on low speed, then gradually increase to high to help blend all ingredients. Finally, end with the blender on low speed.
- Sweeten it up. If a smoothie doesn’t taste sweet enough for your liking, you can add a 1/2 tablespoon of honey, pure maple syrup or 1 pitted Medjool date.
- Use your fav milk. Feel free to use any milk you’d like in smoothie recipes according to your preferences. Almond milk tends to have a neutral taste in smoothies, coconut milk will add a more tropical and creamy flavor, and regular milk will add a boost of protein.
Meal prep this carrot cake smoothie
Yes, you can make this creamy carrot cake smoothie ahead of time! I have three amazing ways to prep & store smoothies right in your freezer. Learn the ice cube tray, mason jar and freezer pack methods.
More smoothie recipes to try
- Almond Cherry Smoothie (my favorite smoothie ever!)
- Coconut Chocolate Zucchini Smoothie (with sneaky veggies)
- Get Your Greens in Smoothie (the best green smoothie!)
- Vitamin C Packed Strawberry Orange Banana Smoothie
- 3-Ingredient Pineapple Mango Smoothie (with a fun boozy option!)
I can’t wait to hear how you like this carrot cake smoothie! Be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked it. And don’t forget to check out our guide on how to prep smoothies ahead of time. xo!
Carrot Cake Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 large raw carrot, sliced (or shred if you don’t have a high-powered blender such as a Vitamix)
- 1 frozen medium ripe banana
- ½ cup frozen pineapple chunks
- ¾ cup light coconut milk, plus more if necessary (use any milk you'd like)
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup gluten free oats
- 1 tablespoon pecan butter or almond butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
Instructions
- In a large high-powered blender, add in all ingredients and blend on high for 1-2 minutes or until all ingredients are well combined. If necessary, add in more almond milk to thin the smoothie. Makes 1 smoothie for a full meal. If you'd like this as a snack, this recipe will serve 2.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on July 13th, 2019, republished on March 4th, 2021, and republished on April 6th, 2022.
This is one of my favorite smoothie recipes! Such a good spring snack. I used lemon juice instead of pineapple chunks for the tanginess.
So happy to hear that! Perfect for spring 🙂
I got this in my email at 10 this morning and whipped it up at 11:30. It’s just what I needed after a week of salty and heavy foods.
I think this is a great recipe and it will be in my smoothie rotation, for sure!
Love that! Such a great breakfast or snack 🙂
I just made the carrot cake smoothie, it was so good.
Happy to hear you loved it, Joseph!
Tastes like candy! I was not expecting that!
So good!!
Loved this recipe! I subbed Orgain plant-based vanilla protein powder for the oats and silk vanilla yogurt for the Greek yogurt. Delicious!
Perfect! Such a great breakfast or snack.
I’m in the minority here, but I couldn’t even finish it. I wanted to like it, but I’m not a fan of the taste of the texture. I didn’t think it tasted like carrot cake. Maybe it would be better if the carrot was cooked? I don’t think I’m willing to give it another chance though since I ended up having to dump it.
Sorry to hear that! I’m not sure where this could’ve gone wrong texture and flavor-wise – was everything smooth?
Can you use cooked carrots?
Sure! I’d recommend freezing them first so that the smoothie doesn’t turn out too “mushy.”
I love your approach to smoothies and your flexible suggestions! Cauliflower -wow.
I used sweet potato/carrot purée (yes I did make that for a furry friend)
5g of coconut is plenty for a flavor boost since I use almond milk. Your style makes it easy for me to predict success in leaving out the higher calorie/trigger ingredients as desired.
I include allspice and will def throw in some chunks of frozen pineapple when I make this again- tomorrow!
Thanks for your cool site. It’s a help on my health journey.
Hi Mary! I am SO glad you found this recipe and you’re loving it. Thank you for sharing your comment, I really appreciate it!
This recipe sounds so good! Do you have any ideas on what I could switch the pineapple out for? I’m just not a Pineapple fan. Thank you! 🙂
Hi! Frozen mango would be fantastic!
I was looking for new smoothie recipe and this one was awesome. Great flavour combination! I used what I had on hand – unsweetened vanilla almond milk and vanilla Greek yogurt, so I did. Or add the vanilla of course, and I added a punch of salt. I loved that it was sweet enough without having to add any sweetener, but I’m sure you could blend a date of you wanted. Love this recipe!
Delicious! So glad you are enjoying this smoothie and it turned out great with your subs, thank you for sharing!
So delicious! Myself and my three young boys all loved!
I’m so glad!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
I loved this smoothie! I wasn’t too sure about the pineapple, but it definitely elevates the flavor of the carrots. This smoothie kept me full too!
So glad you ended up loving it, Ella! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
Yum! I add spinach to all of my smoothies. Will have to give this one a try!
This sounds delish. Hope this isn’t a stupid question, is this really almost 500 cals for one smoothie?
Thanks!
Haha that’s ok! The coconut milk is what adds up here, but feel free to replace with another milk like almond milk 🙂
Wow! It looks so good. I’m sure this is gonna be very refreshing. Just learnt your whole recipe and I’m so excited to share this with my kids. They would love it. Thanks for sharing!
nice set of ingredients, creative too to make them taste like carrot cake, I like the coconut milk too, thank you
wow, this looks so delicious and yummy. i just love this carrot cake smoothie. thanks for sharing this wonderful article and recipe of carrot cake smoothie.