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These strawberry lemonade smoothies seriously do taste like lemonade, but have no sugar added, making them a worthy summer treat!

I’m a former smoothie skeptic, but one day earlier this year I suddenly realized that I had almost completely fallen out of the habit of eating fruit. I’m excellent at eating veggies, but have a limited sweet tooth and fruit just wasn’t on my radar. I felt that it would be best for my wellness to incorporate fruit into my life again so I started making fruit smoothies for myself daily. And I feel GREAT!

That started in the winter, but now that it’s definitely official smoothie season, I decided to play around with an old recipe from this site. I published these strawberry lemonade smoothies many years ago and recently, I’ve been making lots of tweaks to my old recipes to improve them.

But honestly, we made these smoothies and written and thought they were already great! The photos definitely needed updates though. Shudder.

For reasons that I don’t fully understand, adding a nice spoonful of lemon zest to these smoothies really creates a lemonade effect. I tried them once without it and it tasted more like a regular strawberry smoothie to me. Still delicious. But not so lemonade-y. So, don’t skip that zest! It also adds lemon flavor without requiring extra lemon juice, which would then make the drink too tangy. Important!

Why the pinch of salt? It just enhances all of the flavors a little bit – the same reason why things like vegan cake include salt too!

When I looked up other strawberry lemonade smoothie recipes online, almost all of them contained actual lemonade. I figure if I’m going to use lemonade in a smoothie, I might as well just have a glass of lemonade to begin with! I like to make these smoothies nutrient-rich. Thankfully, I found that between the lemon zest and adding a ripe banana for sweetness and creaminess, no sugary beverage is really needed here. Enjoy!

5 from 2 votes Print Strawberry Lemonade Smoothies Healthy smoothies that taste JUST like strawberry lemonade, but with no added sugar or sweetener! Take advantage of those fresh spring/summer strawberries to make this refreshing beverage. Plan ahead to leave time for your berries to freeze. Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 0 minutes Freezing Time 2 hours Total Time 15 minutes Total Yield 2 servings Calories Per Serving 137 kcal Author Yup, it's Vegan Ingredients For the strawberry lemonade smoothies: 1 lb fresh strawberries trimmed

1 tsp lemon zest

1 lemon peel and seeds removed

1 ripe banana

1 small pinch of salt Instructions Trim the leafy part off of the strawberries. Grate 1 tsp of zest from the lemon and set aside. Slice off the lemon peel and remove the seeds and pith (the white papery stuff). Peel, and then slice or mash the ripe banana. Set the lemon flesh, strawberries, and banana in the freezer for at least 2 hours to firm up. Add the frozen fruits and the lemon zest, plus a pinch of salt, to your blender, along with ice cubes to preference. (Note: do NOT omit the lemon zest, it's essential for that "strawberry lemonade" flavor). Blend until smooth and enjoy immediately. Nutrition Facts Strawberry Lemonade Smoothies Amount Per Serving (1 half recipe) Calories 137 Calories from Fat 9 % Daily Value* Fat 1g 2% Sodium 4mg 0% Potassium 616mg 18% Carbohydrates 34g 11% Fiber 7g 29% Sugar 19g 21% Protein 3g 6% Vitamin A 200IU 4% Vitamin C 144.4mg 175% Calcium 400mg 40% Iron 0.4mg 2% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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