Berry Smoothie Pitaya Bowl

A delicious fiber-rich berry smoothie bowl topped with fresh berries, kiwi, dragonfruit, and nutrient-dense seeds.

I may be a teeny bit obsessed with smoothie bowls. For one thing, the foundation is a healthy smoothie. Second, smoothie bowls taste incredible. Third, they’re pretty – and I admittedly do like eating pretty things. But maybe the biggest reason of all, smoothie bowls are so much fun to make and eat!

If you don’t have time to make a smoothie bowl or you want to take your smoothie with you to work or when you travel, I completely understand. This Berry Smoothie stands well all on its own. It’s filled to the brim with a plethora of frozen fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and bananas.

I use two different bags of frozen fruit blends. I got the Three Berry Blend at Costco – it contains blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I got the Strawberry Banana Blend at Aldi – it contains strawberries and bananas. But you can use any frozen berry blends available at your local grocer carries or you can freeze fresh fruit to make a frozen blend yourself. You need three cups of frozen fruit to make this Berry Smoothie.

The second key component of the Berry Smoothie are three types of seeds and rolled oats. I like using hemp seeds, flax seeds, and chia seeds for their nutrient density – they are all packed full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, an omega fatty acids. This means your body will love the nourishment they provide it. I also like adding some rolled oats to my smoothies. For one thing, they thicken it up a little but they also provide a great deal of fiber which is good for satiety to get you to lunch; they’re also great for your digestive tract. win-win.

Pitaya belongs to the same family as dragonfruit. You can buy pitaya powder in health food stores and Whole Foods, or online via Amazon or the like. It may be a tad more pricy than I’d like, but it adds more antioxidants and nutrients, as well as a nice rich hue. If you can’t find it or don’t want to use it, no problem. It is optional. You’re already getting tons of nutrients and fiber from the Berry Smoothie. And it’s quite delicious.

If you make smoothies a lot, you know you’re going to need a high-speed blender or food processor to get an ultra smooth texture. A regular blender normally doesn’t possess the necessary horsepower to pulverize the frozen fruit, oats, and seeds. I use a Vitamix, but others have found success with their high-speed blenders and food processors.

And it’s important to use a little less milk than you normally would when making a smoothie for a smoothie bowl. It needs to be substantial enough to actually hold your fresh fruit and seeds on top. This fact alone forces your blender or food processor work a little harder. But the reward is worth it. You may need to add a little milk or a little extra frozen pieces of fruit in order to get it nice and thick. It should be thick and smooth.

If your blender or food processor can’t handle it, don’t give up. Simply add a little more milk and try again. If you have time, you can also use a combination of fresh fruit and frozen fruit, pour the smoothie into two bowls, and place each on a level surface in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. This will allow the surface of your bowl to freeze a little to put your toppings on without sinking to the bottom. If that doesn’t work or you’re just not feeling it, pile your toppings on, stir it in to the smoothie, and enjoy!! It’s all good.

It’s also important to note that I normally am a huge advocate for including all types of fresh greens to smoothies. I love adding kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, rainbow chard, and so on. Leafy greens are so healthy and full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. As a result, I use baby spinach and yellow fruits in my Shamrock Smoothie Fruit Bowl to maintain a pretty green smoothie base. I purposely avoid adding any red fruits to that smoothie in order to uphold the green color scheme. In this case, we don’t want to add any green to avoid achieving brown. In this smoothie bowl, green will turn the smoothie into a murky and unpleasant brown.

Up until this point, it’s fairly standard smoothie fare. But once that smoothie is made and you’ve poured it into your bowl, you can add anything on top to dress it up. I like using the same things that went into the smoothie on top of the fruit bowl. So, I usually use fresh berries and seeds. But I also used a kiwi since I couldn’t put that into the smoothie without affecting the color. And since I used pitaya powder in the smoothie, I add fresh dragonfruit on top.

Dragonfruit is a tropical fruit grown on a cactus in the family Cactaceae. It is low in calories, contains lots of essential vitamins and minerals and a hefty bit of dietary fiber. In fact, just one cup of dragonfruit contains a whopping 7 grams of fiber! Researchers found that fiber is important in our digestive tracts, but can also help reduce our risk for cardiac disease, colon cancer, and diabetes.

Dragonfruit also contains prebiotics, which are a specific type of fiber that promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in our guts. It also contains iron and magnesium – both are extremely important in how our bodies function. (Healthline). II think dragonfruit is also really cool looking – inside and out.

This next part is where the fun begins. If your fruit is small like raspberries and blueberries, they’re ready to go. If you’re using kiwi, strawberries, dragonfruit, or bananas, slice your fruit. Now you can make any designs your heart desires by strategically placing your fruit on top of your smoothie bowl.

And if you’re really creative and enjoy playing with your food like I do, you can use cookie cutters to cut your fruit slices into pretty or fun shapes. Kids love this!! And honestly, this is a really fun activity for kids. They can cut their fruit shapes while you make the smoothie. Then, let them place their artwork onto their bowl. Fun and delicious!!

I hope you enjoy this Berry Smoothie Pitaya Bowl as much as I do.  Please leave a comment, rate it, and tag a picture #pebblesandtoast on Instagram! I’d love to see your results. Enjoy!!

Thick Smoothie Ingredients

• 1 cup plant milk
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 cup frozen berries
• ½ cup frozen bananas
• 2 Tbsp hemp seed
• 2 Tbsp rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp flax seed
• 1 Tbsp chia seed
• 1 Tbsp pitaya powder (optional)

Bowl Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh fruit (strawberries, kiwi, raspberries, bananas, dragon fruit, blueberries)
• 1 Tbsp hemp seed
• 1 tsp flax seed
• 1 tsp chia seed

Instructions

1. In a high-speed blender, blend all of the smoothie ingredients together until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
2. Pour smoothie into two bowls.
3. Top each bowl with half of the sliced banana, fresh fruit, granola, and seeds, as desired.

Notes

* One of the bags I purchased contains frozen strawberries and bananas, but you can also freeze your own. I buy and freeze a bunch of bananas at once.   That way, they’re always available when I want to make nice cream or a smoothie.  On a cutting board, peel and slice and place in a freezer bag or container. Freeze until ready to use, up to 3 months.

** You can use any frozen or fresh fruit you like in this smoothie bowl.  However, if you want the smoothie to stay a pretty pink or purple, you need to pick red, purple, and blue fruit (berries).  IF you use green fruit or vegetables (avocado, kiwi, spinach), your smoothie may turn brown – it may be healthier to combine the colors of the rainbow, but your smoothie will be brown.  It’s science.  And it loses the pretty bowl effect we’re going for.  We do eat with our eyes after all.  So I recommend putting your more colorful fruit on top and eating them whole.