This tasty and creamy mango turmeric kefir smoothie is not only incredibly healthy with loads of probiotics and immune-supporting ingredients, but also incredibly delicious with the perfect amount of sweet and spice!
How to Make a Mango Turmeric Kefir Smoothie
Step 1: Gather ingredients
Kefir
The liquid base of this smoothie is kefir. If you’re not already familiar with kefir, kefir is a probiotic, milk-based fermented drink with a tangy taste and all sorts of health benefits thanks to the live bacteria and yeast in it. (more on this later)
You can either buy kefir from the store or make it yourself at home using kefir grains.
Mango
Mango is the main fruit in this smoothie. Its tropical flavour and natural sweetness work well with the kefir and other tangy ingredients in this smoothie. Frozen mango chunks are great for blending up a cold and thick smoothie.
Banana
Banana is a great ingredient to add to kefir smoothies. Its natural sweetness is essential for balancing out the sourness and acidity of the kefir. It also adds thickness and creaminess, helping pull everything together into one cohesive blend.
This recipe calls for half a banana, but feel free to add a full one if you want the smoothie to be sweeter or more mild.
You can either use fresh or frozen banana. For a cold and thick smoothie, use at least one frozen fruit – either your mango or banana. If all fruits are frozen, the smoothie will turn out quite thick and can be eaten as a smoothie bowl! If you want it more drinkable, let it defrost a bit or use one fresh fruit and one frozen fruit.
Ginger
Ginger adds a nice freshness and nutritional boost to this smoothie. Depending on how much you like ginger and how much of a kick you want the smoothie to have, add ginger accordingly.
Depending on the power of your blender, you can either add a whole ginger knob to the blender or chop/shred it up first. Leave the skin on the ginger for maximum fibre and nutrition, just make sure to wash it well.
Turmeric
As with the ginger, put as much or as little turmeric as you’d like. Start with half a teaspoon and add more to taste.
Black pepper
I know pepper is a weird ingredient for a smoothie, but trust me, this is added for some pretty cool nutritional benefits (see below). Don’t worry, you don’t need to add much!
Step 2: Blend!
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend on high for about 30-60 seconds until thoroughly smooth.
Pour into glasses (or bowls) and enjoy!
Mango Turmeric Kefir Smoothie Benefits
This smoothie offers many beneficial components, including probiotics, fibre, protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
First of all, kefir is an amazing source of probiotics. All those healthy bacteria and yeast doing the fermenting in the milk end up in your gut where they help maintain a healthy microbiome and work to keep your body functioning optimally. These bacteria also produce many beneficial bioactive by-products during the fermentation process, which also get used by the body.
Additionally, milk- or yogurt-based kefir is going to have plenty of protein, calcium, vitamin D, and other important macro and micronutrients found in dairy.
In addition to probiotics from the kefir, this smoothie also provides prebiotics. The mango, banana, and ginger in this smoothie provide both soluble and insoluble fibre. Many types of fibre pass through the digestive tract undigested and function as prebiotics, which are essentially food for the probiotics in the gut. The combination of prebiotics and probiotics is sure to keep your gut happy and healthy!
Mango and banana are also both quite high in vitamin C, which has antioxidant activity and plays an important role in the immune system.
Ginger is another immune-supporting ingredient. Ginger contains gingerol, which is known for its antioxidant/anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.
Similarly, turmeric is a powerful natural antioxidant, thanks to its active compound curcumin.
A little bit of black pepper is added to this smoothie because it actually helps increase the absorption of curcumin in the body, helping you maximize the health benefits this smoothie has to offer!
Give this mango turmeric kefir smoothie a blend and let me know how you like it in the comments below!
Other Kefir Smoothie Recipes
If you like this kefir smoothie and want more tasty kefir smoothie recipes, you might enjoy these:
Strawberry Banana Kefir Smoothie
Mango Turmeric Kefir Smoothie
This mango turmeric kefir smoothie is packed with all sorts of powerful anti-inflammatory and probiotic ingredients. These nutritious ingredients blend together to form a tasty and creamy smoothie, with just the right amount of sweet and spice!
Ingredients
- 1 cup kefir
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1/2 a banana (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- Pinch of black pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender (frozen ingredients added last).
- Blend until smooth (about 30-60 seconds on high).
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Using both frozen mango and frozen banana will result in quite a thick blend - great for a smoothie bowl.
- For a more drink-like consistency, use one fresh fruit and one frozen fruit.