This chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie is ridiculously simple, super healthy, and SO delicious! It’s the perfect afternoon pick-me-up!
{Psst! Check out these other creative ways to use up ripe bananas!}
Smoothies make SUCH easy afternoon snacks for kids or adults. And they’re so refreshing during the summer time!
If you’re looking for easy smoothie recipes, you’ll want to stop what you’re doing right now and whip up this ridiculously simple Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie. It only uses three ingredients!
It’s SO delicious and hits the spot every time!! And you can even make it dairy-free by using almond, soy, or oat milk.
Just toss everything into the blender and voila! You have a healthy snack, breakfast, lunch, or even dessert. It’s packed with nutrition!
I originally started making this Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie recipe years ago when I was using the P90X fitness plan. It was an easy way for me to get extra nutrition during a time when I was burning a lot of calories each day with my workouts. And our entire family ended up loving it!
You can even toss things up a little and add some chocolate drizzle, oats, nuts, or chocolate chips on top for extra flavor! Yum!!
Personally? I think it’s better than ice cream — and it’s certainly better for you!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie Recipe
- 2 cups chocolate milk
- 3 bananas, frozen (I buy bananas when they are reduced and then cut them in half and freeze to use in smoothies or baking)
- 2 tablespoon peanut butter
Put everything into the blender (we use a Vitamix) and blend on high until smooth (around 1 minute). Pour into serving glasses and enjoy!
Makes 3 servings. Approximately 250 calories per serving.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Red, White, and Blue Smoothie
- Healthy Homemade Protein Bars
- Oatmeal No-Bake Bars
- Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie
- Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies
- Good For You Peanut Butter Freezer Fudge
- Homemade No-Bake Energy Bites
- Blueberry Ginger Smoothie
- Pick-Me-Up Smoothie
I have one of these for breakfast every morning! It started out as my post-run recovery drink, and since moving my runs from afternoon to morning it’s now become my breakfast.
I use plain almond milk and a tablespoon or two of cocoa instead of chocolate milk – that drastically reduces the amount of sugar in it. I’ve also started adding a teaspoon or so of chia seeds.
Thanks for the tips! That sound delicious! -Jordan, MSM Team
This smoothie is great! As my husband and I recently started Power 90 (a less intense version of P90X to get us started) I have found that I constantly need to be eating and find as much protein as possible. I’m not in this to lose weight, I want to gain muscle. Anyways, I halved the recipe and added a scoop of protein powder to my smoothie. I have a chocolate peanut butter flavored powder and it mixed in nicely! I haven’t like simply adding the powder to milk because I never get it completely dissolved and just has a funky taste, but in this smoothie it is great!
The protein powder is also great with your protein bar recipe!! I used chia seeds instead of flaxseed and cranberries instead of raisins. So yummy!!!
this may sound like a ridiculous question.. but.. how do you record this recipe? the choc milk counts as the recovery drink, bananas= fruit, the peanut butter?
i am getting ready to start p90x on monday and i am trying to get a meal plan together! (and like many others was duped into buying a fake version)
thanks!
I’m using these as a snack or in place of recovery drink.
OMG! This was Delish!! My 5 and 3 year old loved it! I made sep batch with Soy milk for my 2 yr old son who is lactose intollerant and he LOVED IT!
What a great recipe!! Thanks, Crystal, for sharing! My hubby and I are wanting to start P90X, but have to save the money before we invest. We both need the incentive and help getting in shape.
Thank you also for the tips on how you exercise with little underfoot. I’ve started just this week trying to get up early, but I definitely have to have sleep! I need the discipline to also go to bed early!!!
Hey, if you throw in ice cubes, you will bulk up the drink and give it more of an ice-creamy texture. I use Ovaltine instead of chocolate milk, and yogurt. You know you can buy chocolate flavored protein powder too.
is this one serving? for 3 med bananas I get is 300 calories alone. if this is more than 1 serving I understand or when you say 3 bananas did you mean 3 halves?
Three servings as stated at the bottom of the recipe. 🙂 Bananas are somewhere around 85 calories each, depending upon the size. I usually use medium bananas. The total calorie count came directly from my milk jug and peanut butter jar, so it’s going to vary a bit depending upon what kind of milk/PB you use.
i love smoothies…i add spinach, bananas, coffee ice cubes, a dash of honey and yogurt…..totally yummy! and sometimes i’ll have it w/ whipped topping! Ah….delish ;o)
Like a few others, I use almond milk for smoothies instead of cow’s milk. Sometimes I use coconut milk but the taste really varies. Usually I make my own chocolate syrup but if I haven’t gotten around to it then I use cocoa powder and agave syrup. I’ve even used hot cocoa mix in a pinch but that makes for a pretty rich smoothie. More often than not I also throw in a handful of spinach leaves. You hardly taste it, honest; and it adds calcium for us dairy-free folks. But then definitely drink the smoothie while it’s fresh. The spinach does not do well when it sits.
If you ever get tired of chocolate (I KNOW, when would that happen?)…try coconut milk (or cow or almond) with the frozen bananas, peanut or almond butter, vanilla extract and cinnamon. So yummy!
Thanks ladies who posted alternate recipes, i wanted to try this to but i put in this recipe and came up with 325 calories per serving not 250 and not enough protein per serving to justify the calories, Im sure its great though if your on p90X since your burning allot and building muscle
Jen: It depends on the chocolate milk and peanut butter you use as to the calories. I based the calories on the actual calories of the peanut butter and chocolate milk we use. The calorie info online showed much higher when I inputted this.
If you want to add more protein, I’d suggest adding in 2-3 scoops of protein powder.
And yes, I wouldn’t recommend this recipe for people who are trying to lose weight or counting calories; it’s definitely not low-fat. 🙂
That looks-and sounds- absolutely delicious!
I like to use almond milk instead of cow’s milk and cocoa powder to make it chocolate. (no HFCS) The only produce our grocery store reduces is brown bananas- peel and straight to the freezer for smoothies!
I also add either flaxseed or wheat germ.
Are you still nursing your son? If so, do you add extra calories to make up for that too? Or is that included in the extra 6-700 a day? Just a curious question from a nursing mama!
Yes, I’m still nursing… though Silas is slowly self-weaning so he’s down to two times in a 24-hour period so I’m not really needing to consume much extra in the way of calories for that — probably around 100-200 calories extra most days in addition to the 600-700 extra for exercising.
I love that you post your p90x recipes on here. I am doing the program (trying to stick with it) and I loved the protien bar recipe you had. I would also like to know when you do your workouts and if you get interrupted. I have been doing mine around 8pm after my son goes to bed.
I get up early (usually sometime between 4 and 5 a.m.) to get in my Bible reading, journaling and exercising before the children wake up. I’m blessed that they don’t wake up before 6:30 – 6:45 a.m. most days and sometimes sleep in until 7:00 to 7:30 a.m.!
Please note that I also go to bed very early — usually between 8 and 9 p.m. I cannot survive on less than 7 hours of sleep and prefer to shoot for 8.
Crystal, So excited to read that you are doing Vita-Mix and P90-X–way to go!! I’ve LOVED my Vita-Mix, use it several times a week, and has probably paid for itself these past few years with all the bread I make in it–most nights I’ll grind the cracked wheat, add the other ingredients, let it rise in a bread pan and bake it, and breakfast is ready for the next a.m. So healthy, so yummy and so easy–no kneading.
Thanks for all your encouraging tips–keep up the great work, and may God keep blessing you and your family!
Crystal….how are you finding the time to do all the exercising for the P90x. As a mother of 2 little ones, the thought of devoting all that time to exercising makes it unappealing and kind of impractical. Meaning my kids need my attention for this or that and I would have to keep stopping 😉 But I would still love to try it. any pointers? Do you break up your exercise time?
I usually do it in the morning before they get up. But when that doesn’t happen, I just stick Silas in the playpen and have the girls play in the same room or join me in exercising. On occasion, I’ll break up the workouts, but I usually try to do them straight through (with occasional starts and stops if the children need me for something!).
Honestly, it hasn’t felt like much time at all most days and I’m truly loving it. In fact, I’ve been adding in some extra running or elliptical some days (in the afternoons or evenings) just because I’m enjoying it so much. (Yes, call me weird!)
@Amity, This is something I struggle with as well…with only one child (and one on the way). I would love any tips you may have! I’ve tried to exercise in the morning but I’ve found that I’d need to wake up about 2 hours earlier than my daughter simply because of exercise time, shower time and my Bible reading time and I haven’t had the energy, ever, to do so as she wakes up around 6:30 am.
My best advice is to go to bed early. 🙂 That’s the only way I can wake up early. And I’m so much more productive in the mornings than in the evenings anyway! And maybe save the shower for your daughter’s naptime? Or, put her in a playpen with some special toys (not sure how old she is so that might not work) while you workout. Even just 20 or 30 minutes of exercise can make a world of difference, I think!
I laughed when I saw this post, because when you shared your peanut butter banana smoothie “recipe” however long ago, I made it one night for my husband (who liked it)–but the next time, he suggested adding chocolate and we have done so in one form or another every time since then–which is at least once a week!! He has started adding tons of bananas recently to get it really cold and really thick. And adding flax oil/ground flax seed is yet another way to add more nutrition.
I agree; this recipe is so much better. And it looks less like goop, too. 😉
This is the only smoothie my daughter will drink. It is very tasty and I agree on it being better then ice cream!
My mom works for Vitamix. It is an awesome company. If you need any information or help let me know… 🙂 LOVE MY VITAMIX
That looks and sounds so yummy, Crystal! 🙂 And GREAT job on the photos… drinks are always the most challenging for me 😛 🙂
For freezing bananas — I like to peel and then wrap (a few at a time) in plastic wrap or put in a ziplock baggie. We don’t have a very big freezer so I don’t freeze individually on cookie sheets. 🙂
I have tried freezing unpeeled bananas, after hearing how “easy” it was. Well, it is easy to throw them in the freezer, but then they need to be thawed before using or it’s nearly impossible to peel them! So thaw, then cut off the end, and squeeze out the mushy banana and use for baking. But for smoothies, peeled is the way to go in my opinion!! 🙂
I know, drink photos are hard. I need some props or something, but I didn’t have any bananas left which weren’t frozen to brighten up the picture!
I’m a huge fan of the following variation of this shake! I actually just bought a new Waring Pro Bar Blender (500 watt) blender this weekend becaues my old one finally gave out. I used it for the first time this morning to make the following shake and worked so much faster than my old Cuisinart blender!
3/4 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt
2 Tbsp creamy natural unsalted peanut butter
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 frozen banana
1 Tbsp honey
pinch of cinnamon
ice chips to your liking
Yummy! Thanks for sharing!
I am tickled that you have a Vitamix – I bought one recently too, and it was SO worth the investment. I use it daily. To those looking for a good deal, the company sells refurbished ones (that still offer the 7 year warranty) for about $100 less than brand new. Yay!
As a P90X grad myself I know the feeling of eating a ton! As long as you pick good, clean foods it is an amazing program. I’m actually thinking of starting round two.
There is a product I recently discovered in a magazine and ordered it to try it, since I also love chocolate peanut butter smoothies! It is a powdered peanut butter that tastes great…and has 85% less fat! Anyways, I’m sure if coupon mom contacted them they would give a discount code like the magazine did if anyone is interested. It also comes in chocolate!
http://www.bellplantation.com/
Thanks for a great site!
Thanks for the suggestion!
@Kelly,
They sell this at the local grocery store and had samples of it out one day. I thought the concept a little strange but it tastes good. Using it powdered in smoothies is a great idea that hadn’t occurred to me though. Thanks.
@Vicky,
I loved the idea because it was the taste and protein of regular peanut butter but with WAY less fat and calories.
PB2: Powdered Peanut Butter
Ingredients: Roasted peanuts, sugar and salt.
Serving size: 2 Tablespoons (12 grams)
Servings per container: 15
Amount per 2 Tablespoon serving (when mixed with water):
Calories: 45
Calories from fat: 13
Value and % Daily Value*
Total fat 1.5 g 3%
Saturated fat 0 g 0%
Trans fat < 0.01 g
Cholesterol < 0.01 mg 0%
Sodium 94 mg 4%
Total carbohydrate 5 g 2%
Dietary fiber 2 g 8%
Sugars 1 g
Protein 5 g
Vitamin A < 1%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium <1%
Iron 0%
Just stick the bananas in the freezer with the peel on. When you are ready to use them, you can nuke them for a few seconds or leave them to thaw for 10 – 15 min on the counter. They slide easily out of the peels.
Better than ice cream? THIS I have to try ;o)
This post makes me so happy! As a trainer I have the hardest time convincing people that by eating more frequent meals and doing high intensity training, they can really increase their metabolism so they can eat more and feel great while loosing fat and gaining/maintaning muscle. With all the wacky diet fads and bad advise out there, thanks for setting a good example of a healthy and fit lifestyle!
I’ve been amazed at how much better I feel when I eat *more* when working out at an intense level!
@Sara, I hate to admit it but I used to work at G.N.C. and when you would tell the people who wanted to lose weight to eat more filling and healthy foods 5 to 6 times a day they would give me this blank stare and then ask for the fat burners. They don’t really work unless your eating well and working out. So you might as well save the money and use it on good food. I am so excited to see how well you are doing with this program Crystal. Just eating well will give you more energy I have found. Thanks for the great comment Sara.
I was also wondering how to freeze bananas. Do you peel them before freezing?
Yes, definitely peel before freezing, as I learned, it is REALLY hard to peel them after freezing. I dot mine with a paper towel as well, they get a few ice crystals on them but doesn’t harm them…just adds a bit more ice to our smoothies! Good luck!
@Michele,
Wait til they are super ripe, peel them, cut them in half, and place on cookie sheet. Freeze until solid and then place in a big ziploc bag. When you freeze them on a cookie sheet first, they are easy to pull apart when you only need one or 2. You can also freeze them in the peel, but I find that it hurts my hands (too cold!!!!), and is too messy!
@Michele, You can just freeze them without peeling, I do it all the time. In fact, I have about 10 pounds of frozen (whole, unpeeled) bananas in my freezer as I type. And I only freeze them for Chunky Monkey Smoothies (a name for the chocolate/banana/peanut butter smoothie).
All I do is take them out of the freezer about 5-10 minutes before I make the smoothie. I let them sit on the counter while I get everything else ready. I cut them in half, then cut the halves in half and the peel is pretty easy to get off at that point.
I had heard you could do this, but wasn’t sure about giving it a shot until I came home from a late night run to the store in which the store had discounted a massive amount of bananas. I was very pregnant at the time and did not feel like peeling/slicing them first, so I just threw them in the freezer and hoped for the best. I’ve been freezing my bananas this way ever since.
Could you tell me the tricks of freezing bananas please? And do you thaw them before blending? I would love to make this in the morning.
See my comment below about peeling…definitely do that first and no need to thaw before blending, your blender will chop them up perfectly and it makes a wonderful cold smoothie with a frozen banana. Good luck! :O)
For smoothies, I peel, half and freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once they are frozen, I just dump the bananas in a freezer bag and use them as needed.
Sounds amazing. I love chocolate milk. I think I need to work out more to deserve these often! 😀
my husband drinks protein shakes in the morning too. i also buy the bananas cheap, cut them in half and freeze them.
Looking forward to trying this out. Thanks for sharing!
To avoid the sugar in chocolate milk, I use almond milk. If I use plain (you can buy the chocolate almond milk, too) I add a tablespoon of cocoa powder. It still tastes great because you are sweetening with the banana. This is also good for those not able to do dairy. And if there are nut allergies-go with rice milk.
Do you have a recommendation on the most cost efficient place/way to buy a vita mix? We’ve been wanting one for awhile, but they can be quite expensive!
I would love to know too! We will need to get a new blender soon.
@Amy P, Same here – I was actually surprised to see that you have a Vita-Mix! Do you ever make green smoothies or use it to mill grains? I’d love to save up for one of these wonder blenders someday too. Any tips would be welcome!
@Megan, I would also love any tips on the most affordable way to purchase a Vita- Mix as we are planning to get one for Christmas. It doesn’t seem like there are too many options as far as price. Thanks!
I’m blessed to have a very generous dad who has purchased a Vita-Mix, Bread Machine and Wheat Grinder for me over the past three Christmases. 🙂 So the cheapest way to get a Vita-Mix is to get it as a gift. 😉
However, if that might not be an option for a Christmas or birthday gift, I’d suggest looking into getting one refurbished. They are significantly cheaper. In addition, keep your eyes peeled for used ones at garage sales or on Craigslist. Someone I know found a Vita-Mix for $5 once at a garage sale!
We spent a long time (b/c of unemployment, etc) before finally deciding on a Blendtec. It is significantly cheaper than vitamix and I love that it fits on the counter under standard sized cabinets….this way you use it daily or more often:) Anways…I found you can buy the refurbished ones on line for about $100 bucks cheaper. BTW we use it for green smoothies, making flour,etc and it works wonders:) But whichever one you want, maybe you can use some of your swagbucks or other ‘points’ to go through amazon???
@Marlana, I bought one very reasonably on Ebay. You may want to check into Craigslist too.
Thanks Stephanie….we already have one and I use it sometimes more than once daily!!!! My kids love ‘bug juice’ instead of ‘green smoothies’!!! But maybe some of the other ladies wanting to buy one can check out craigslist and ebay:)
That sounds yummy! If you desired to step up the health factor, you could use raw whole milk, natural peanut butter, the frozen bananas, and chocolate flavored liquid stevia…..I LOVE chocolate milk, but need to try to stay away from the high fructose corn syrup found in many. The chocolate stevia, (you only need a few drops per cup), saves me money and the whole family can have chocolate milk with supper and it’s okay with mama!
@Joy Yelton,
This looks yum but in the direction of Joy’s comment about high fructose corn syrup….it has been linked to many illness. Sugar is not good for us and corn syrup is even worse. Cocoa has many health benefits so using it with stevia sounds like the way to go.
The cool thing is that you can now buy quite a few different brands of chocolate milk which don’t have HFCS in them — or even processed sugar! In addition, I love that this recipe is versatile enough you can tweak it do what works best for your family.
Great suggestions! I was thinking I should give some different options for those who want to “healthify” it a little more.
@Crystal, I’ve made homemade chocolate syrup from the Make a Mix cookbook before – no high fructose corn syrup there! 🙂 (It doesn’t work so well as a topping, but great for chocolate milk, like in your smoothie.)
I am sitting here drinking my own version of this. It is by far my favorite breakfast for weekday mornings. I’ve also taken to adding some yogurt (either plain or vanilla flavored) to my shakes as it help thicken it up some. The additional bananas you added would do the same thing. And yes, it is so yummy.