This article will walk you through how to make an acai bowl at home.

If you’ve never tried making your own acai bowl before and are tired of buying pricey ready-made acai bowls, or if you’re wondering what all the hype over acai bowls is about, this guide is for you!

This guide covers:

With only 5 ingredients for the base, this acai bowl recipe is as easy as it gets…

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What is Acai?

Acai is the name of a berry found in South America. Acai berries are harvested from acai palm trees.

Acai berries are commonly referred to as a superfood, which is why acai bowls are so popular.

Their nutritional health benefits include their high content of fibre, healthy fatty acids, and antioxidants.

As with other berries (like the blueberries and strawberries in this recipe), acai berries contain compounds called polyphenols which are powerful antioxidants that help reduce harmful oxidation and inflammation in your cells and DNA.

For this reason, acai berries are thought to help improve cardiovascular and metabolic health, and fight chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and cancer.

Acai berries spoil quite easily soon after harvesting, so it is hard to get your hands on fresh berries to make your acai bowl with here in North America.

Instead, you can get acai in the form of powder or puree. This recipe will use powder, although you can easily swap in a packet of frozen acai puree in the recipe instead.

What Does Acai Taste Like?

Acai has quite a unique taste.

The taste of acai is probably most similar to the taste of blueberry or blackberry. It’s not particularly sweet, but it does have that berry taste. As opposed to being sweet or sour like most other berries, acai has more of an earthy taste. In fact, some people say that acai tastes like dirt!

Although many people don’t enjoy raw acai on it’s own, acai is an excellent ingredient for smoothies because it goes so well with other smoothie ingredients.

As you’ll see in this acai smoothie bowl recipe, acai pairs wonderfully with sweet fruits like banana, as well as vibrant fruity flavours from other berries.

What is an Acai Bowl?

An acai bowl is essentially a smoothie bowl (a thick smoothie) made with acai berries in it.

Acai bowls are very healthy due to the acai berries as well as the other wholesome ingredients we will be adding. They are also delicious and beautiful, and make for a wonderful breakfast, snack, or even dessert!

Acai bowls are super popular on the California west coast, but they are also quite straightforward to make at home!

So let’s get into it!

How to Make an Acai Bowl at Home

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

Acai bowl ingredients consist mainly of acai berry powder (or puree) and frozen fruits/berries.

Acai bowls work best with frozen fruits, so the best first step to making an acai bowl would be to freeze your fruits.

I use already frozen berries, but I like to cut up my bananas and put them in the freezer beforehand.

See this post for how to freeze bananas for smoothies.

Using frozen fruits helps create that wonderful cold and creamy texture that you want in an acai bowl that you eat with a spoon.

The other key ingredient for a perfect texture, is the yogurt. Thick Greek yogurt to be exact. This is what really makes this smoothie bowl taste like ice cream. Seriously, you won’t believe there is no added sugar here because it literally tastes like ice cream, with the creaminess of the yogurt and the sweetness of the banana and fruits.

Other than that, you just need a bit of milk for some liquid.

ingredients to make an acai bowl in a blender

Step 2: Blend

As with most smoothie bowls, you will want to use a high-powered blender.

Blend all your ingredients together in high-powered blender, using tamper to push down sides and mix thoroughly if needed.

pouring blended acai mixture into a bowl to make an acai bowl

Step 3: Toppings!

Here’s the fun part! Pour your thick smoothie mixture into a bowl and top up with all the toppings of your choosing! Bonus points for making it look beautiful as well as delicious!

There are so many options for toppings, including:

Fruits
Seeds
Nuts
Shredded coconut
Nut butter
Granola
Yogurt

How to Make an Acai Bowl Thicker

If you want you acai bowl to have a thicker consistency, try some of the following tips:

Use frozen fruits
Use thick Greek yogurt
Blend in nut butters
Stir in chia seeds at the end

Check out this guide on how to make a smoothie bowl for more helpful tips.

Are Acai Bowls Healthy?

Like any smoothie, acai bowls can be as healthy as you want them to be.

This recipe has no added sugar, and only uses a handful of healthy and wholesome ingredients.

Plus of course, there are all the nutritional benefits of the acai berry (as mentioned earlier), as well as the blueberries and other healthy ingredients.

The toppings are also a great way to add in bonus nutrients.

For example: Chia seeds are extremely high in fibre. Almond butter adds a bunch of healthy fat and protein. And the yogurt offers wonderful prebiotics to keep your gut happy!

I hope this article clears up the air on how to make an acai bowl at home.

Give this acai bowl recipe below a try and let me know how you like it! (Is it just me, or does it seriously taste like ice cream?!)

Acai Bowl

Yield: 1 Serving

Naturally sweet, creamy, and healthy, this acai bowl is a must-try. It is so easy and quick to make at home! Oh, and it's beautiful.

Ingredients

Base

1 banana, frozen is best
1 cup berries, frozen is best (I used strawberries and blueberries)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
1 heaping tablespoon acai powder

Toppings (all optional)

Fresh fruits (I used strawberry and banana buttons, and frozen blueberries)
Chia seeds
Sprinkle of unsweetened, shredded coconut
Drizzle of almond butter

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender.
Blend until thoroughly smooth (about 30-60 seconds).
Serve in bowls.
Top bowls with toppings.
Enjoy! (with a spoon!)