This chocolate avocado smoothie is my go-to breakfast for my kids because it’s so quick and easy to make. If you’re looking for healthy smoothies for picky eaters, just tell them it’s a healthy chocolate milkshake (that they get to have for breakfast!).

This is an easy breakfast idea for anyone following the GAPS diet, or eating primal or vegan, and can easily be made paleo by swapping the peanut butter for almond butter. 

While I had enjoyed the luxury of the kids finally being old enough to get their own cereal in the morning, when we started the GAPS diet last summer that was no longer an option. 

Now I had to make breakfast again.

With all the extra work that I was already doing to make healthy lunches and dinners, I needed something quick and easy for breakfast.  After searching for some ideas for breakfast smoothies for kids, and trying a few out, a chocolate smoothie ended up being the one the kids enjoyed the most.

And 1 year later, even though we are now doing more of a primal diet than GAPS, this chocolate avocado smoothie (or healthy chocolate milkshake as they like to call it) is still what the kids have for breakfast every morning. 

Healthy Breakfast for Kids Before School

Do you know how much sugar is in a bowl of cereal?

Cocoa Pebbles has 10 grams of sugar per ¾ cup serving.  Fruity Pebbles has 9 grams of sugar per ¾ cup serving.  Lucky Charms has 10 grams of sugar per ¾ cups.  Cinnamon toast crunch has 9 grams of sugar ¾ cup serving. 

All with added artificial vitamins and minerals so it can be promoted as a healthy breakfast for kids.

These are all the cereals that I used to buy for my kids.  They didn’t eat a ¾ cup serving either, I’m sure our cereal bowls would hold closer to 1 ½ cups, making each bowl closer to 20 grams of sugar per serving.

And most mornings they had two bowls.

The American Heart Association recommends that children should have less than 25 grams of added sugar per day, and my kids had often eaten more than that before they even got to school. 

Like most parents, I never thought about how much sugar my kids were eating or how this could impact their health.  I bought what I knew they would eat, so they weren’t hungry when they started their school day.

But now that I know better, I can do better.

While Big Sis’s favorite “chocolate cereal” is no longer an option for her, she had no complaints about switching to a chocolate avocado smoothie, even after I stopped telling her it was a healthy chocolate milkshake. 

The kids still get to start their day off with something sweet and I can send them off for the day knowing that they had a breakfast full of healthy carbs, fat, and protein, with natural vitamins and no added sugars.

The Ingredients

Cocoa Powder

While it’s hard to think of anything chocolate as being healthy, unsweetened cocoa powder only has 3 grams of carbs, with up to two grams of fiber, per tablespoon.  It’s also a good source of minerals, like iron and magnesium and is high in antioxidants.  And it’s the best thing to add to a smoothie for picky eaters.

Banana

While honey or maple syrup are often added to sweeten a chocolate avocado smoothie, it really isn’t necessary if you use bananas.  The bananas offer a natural sweetener that makes this chocolate avocado smoothie tasty and gives it a thick and smooth texture.

Peanut Butter

While Peanut butter or almond butter isn’t an essential ingredient (and I leave them out if I am making this smoothie for the kid’s school lunches), Lil Sis insists that it tastes better with peanut butter.  While I don’t notice much difference in the taste without it, it does add more protein and healthy fat to the smoothie, so why not?

Frozen Avocado

I use frozen avocados because it’s more convenient for me to grab a handful of chunks out of the freezer than having to cut one up every morning.  This also eliminates the need to use ice.  While I tell the kids that the avocado makes it creamier and thicker (which it does), my main motivation was sneaking a healthy food into them every day that they otherwise wouldn’t eat. 

Water

Unless I have coconut milk or almond milk I need to use up, I usually just use water for the smoothies.  Using a milk substitute (or just milk if you don’t need it do be dairy-free) will make it more of a healthy chocolate milkshake than a smoothie.  But for a smoothie, water works just fine. 

Tips for Making A Chocolate Avocado Smoothie

Blender

While you don’t need an overly expensive blender like a Vitamix to make a chocolate avocado smoothie, you need something a bit better than a Walmart special one which is what I used to have.  I didn’t realize how much of a difference a good quality blender made until I picked up my Ninja Professional last year on Black Friday. 

With the Walmart blender there were still some small frozen avocado chunks but the Ninja makes it perfectly smooth.

Blending Tip

One morning I forgot to add in the avocados until after I had blended the rest of the ingredients together.  This lucky mistake made me realize that adding the avocado in after the rest of the ingredients were blended actually makes the avocadoes break up easier for a smoother texture. 

When you add the frozen avocadoes, pulse the blender until you don’t hear it breaking up the chunks anymore and can’t see any small pieces swirling around.  Then blend for another minute.    

This is the best method I have found to make the chocolate avocado smoothie creamy and free of any avocado chunks you may be trying to hide from your kids. 

Variations

Healthy Chocolate Popsicles

When the kids asked me to make chocolate popsicles in the summer, I figured using the smoothie recipe would be easier than coming up with a new recipe.  And it worked great, plus it gives me another chance to sneak some avocado into them.

Healthy Chocolate Milkshake

To give the smoothies more of a milkshake consistency, use coconut milk or almond milk instead of water.  Or if you don’t need it to be vegan, paleo or dairy-free you could use milk.  Even the pickiest of eaters won’t say no to a milkshake for breakfast. 

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie Bowl

This smoothie can easily be thickened to make it a smoothie bowl instead of a drink.  Instead of using fresh bananas, cut a banana into chunks and freeze it overnight.  Add a bit less water than you would for a smoothie and it will be thick enough to eat with a spoon.

Chocolate Avocado Protein Smoothie

If the protein from the peanut butter isn’t enough for you, you can easily add in a couple of scoops of this grain and dairy-free protein powder to add another 18 grams of protein

Make it Keto

To lower the carbs, you would have to make this chocolate avocado smoothie with no bananas, which means sweetening it with something else.  I find that the liquid stevia drops work best.  You will also want to use coconut milk or almond milk, as the keto version wasn’t that great with water.  And add some ice cubes to thicken it. 

If you want to add more protein and some extra healthy fats, add in a scoop of this Good Fats shake powder too.

While I was sure that my kids would get tired of having the same chocolate avocado smoothie for breakfast every morning, here we are one year later and they still ask me when I am going to make it for them every day.  It turns out it’s not so hard to get kids to give up the sugary cereal when they get to have a healthy chocolate milkshake instead. 

What’s your kids’ favorite breakfast smoothie?  Any other ideas for sneaking healthy food into smoothies for picky eaters?

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