Peanut Paradise Tropical Smoothie (Healthy Copycat Recipe)

This Peanut Paradise Tropical Smoothie recipe is a healthy copycat version of the fan-favorite smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe. It combines banana, peanut butter, and protein packed Greek yogurt to give you a creamy and delicious smoothie. 

Why You’ll Love This 

A delicious drink that’s easy to make and way more affordable to make at home? What’s not to love?! This Peanut Paradise Smoothie is a copycat recipe from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a popular smoothie shop with locations all over the United States. 

It combines easy ingredients that you probably already have on hand or that you can easily find at your local grocery store. 

This peanut paradise smoothie recipe combines banana, yogurt, peanut butter, and protein powder to give you a creamy and thick smoothie, while also being a really healthy option. It’s packed with protein, healthy fats, and fiber to keep you feeling full and keep your blood sugar levels more stable. 

Thanks to its wholesome ingredients, it also provides a good amount of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. 

Use this peanut butter banana smoothie recipe for the perfect meal replacement for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You could also cut the recipe in half and drink it as a healthy snack between meals. 

Ingredients You’ll Need

Simple ingredients are all you’ll need. You probably have these ingredients on hand, but if not, they’re easy to find in your local grocery store! Here’s what you’ll need to make this banana peanut butter smoothie. 

• Banana. I used one fresh banana for this smoothie. You can easily use frozen banana slices though. Using frozen bananas will eliminate the need to add extra ice to your smoothie. 

• Peanut butter. You can use either creamy or chunky peanut butter in this recipe. I chose to use creamy peanut butter (this is my favorite!) because that’s what I had on hand. For a stronger peanut butter flavor, use 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Nut butters are rich in healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals that are great for your overall health. If you’re trying to be mindful of the fat content, you could also use something like PB2, which is a powdered peanut butter.

• Yogurt. The original Tropical Smoothie Café recipe uses non-fat yogurt, however, I recommend using a Greek yogurt for extra protein. You can use non-fat Greek yogurt or full fat Greek yogurt – whichever you prefer! For this smoothie, since it already has the healthy fats from the peanut butter, I used a fat-free plain Greek yogurt. 

• Milk of your choice. You can use traditional dairy milk or dairy-free milk. I usually opt to use unsweetened almond milk in smoothie recipes because it’s light and refreshing. You can easily use whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, rice milk, oat milk, or pea milk though. I used 1 cup of milk in my smoothie. For a more creamy texture and a thicker smoothie, use less milk. 

• Protein powder. I used vanilla protein powder. Tropical Smoothie Cafe offers both whey protein and pea protein powder. Either of these options are a great choice for a smoothie, one scoop of protein powder will usually add about 10 grams of protein. I like to use this plant-based protein powder because it also adds more fiber, which can improve gut health and blood sugar control.

• Vanilla extract. I added a little bit of vanilla for more flavor dimension. You can easily omit this ingredient if you prefer. 

• Optional: maple syrup. The original Tropical Smoothie Cafe recipe adds a significant amount of turbinado sugar to their recipe. While you can certainly add this type of sugar to your smoothie, I’d recommend switching it for maple syrup or even honey. If you’re trying to save on some added sugar or calories though, I’d skip this ingredient. I personally find that using ripe bananas adds enough sweetness to the smoothie. 

• Ice. If you’re using fresh bananas (rather than frozen bananas), you’ll probably want to add some ice to give it that cold and creamy consistency you want with a smoothie. 

How To Make It

One of my favorite parts about this tasty smoothie is that it’s so simple to make. Here’s what you’re going to do:

• Add all of your ingredients to a high speed blender. I usually put the liquid ingredients in first so they’re closer to the bottom. For blenders, I know people love their Ninja or Vitamix blenders, but I’ve had a lot of success using this affordable blender for smoothies.

• Blend on high for 30 to 60 seconds or until smooth. 

• Pour into a glass and enjoy!

That’s seriously all you have to do! 

This smoothie is best enjoyed immediately. If you have any leftover smoothie, you can freeze it into silicone ice cube trays. Then transfer to an airtight container to use for future smoothies!

Variations & Substitutions

I love smoothies for a lot of reasons, but one reason is that they’re incredibly versatile. 

Here’s a few variations and substitutions you could do: 

• Dairy-free. Use dairy free options like plant based milks and non-dairy yogurt. For plant based milks, you can substitute any type of milk you prefer like soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or pea milk. For non-dairy yogurts, I like this one by Siggi’s and this one by Kite Hill because they have more protein. 

• Vegan. To make this smoothie vegan, use dairy-free products (like the first bullet point) and utilize a plant-based protein powder. I like this one by Orgain because it adds some fiber to the smoothie.

• Nut allergy? Substitute sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter. Also, be sure to use a plant-based milk that’s not nut-based like regular dairy milk, oat milk, or soy milk.

• Protein powder. Whey protein, pea protein, hemp seed protein powder, egg protein powder, soy protein powder or even collagen peptides are all acceptable options to use in this smoothie. 

• For my chocolate lovers, you can add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to make it more of a chocolate peanut butter smoothie. Alternatively, you could use a chocolate protein powder to achieve that chocolatey flavor. 

• Increase the nutritional value of this smoothie by adding some frozen berries, cauliflower rice or baby spinach to the blender.

• Add a dash of cinnamon or more maple syrup to add some warm flavors to this smoothie.

• Use fat free or full fat Greek yogurt. Alternatively, swap the Greek yogurt for cottage cheese. 

• Freeze any leftover smoothie into ice cubes to use in future smoothies or freeze into popsicle molds to enjoy as a frozen sweet treat.

Other Smoothie Recipes You’ll Love

Triple Berry Oat Tropical Smoothie (Copycat Recipe)

Detox Island Green Smoothie (Tropical Smoothie Copycat)

Kiwi Quencher Tropical Smoothie Copycat

High Protein Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

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