Protein in a Sweet Treat – Try Our Low FODMAP Mocha Banana Smoothie
Mocha is the very popular combination of coffee and chocolate, created here by brewed coffee and natural cocoa powder. Frozen banana lends sweetness and body and peanut butter provides protein.
No need for sweetener in this decadent tasting smoothie that we like for breakfast or a mid-day pick-me-up snack. For an extra dose of protein add your choice of seeds. Our Low FODMAP Mocha Banana Smoothie is a great alternative to more fruity smoothies.
Choosing Ingredients
When a recipe has very few ingredients, such as this one, it becomes all the more important to make sure each one is the very best.
For this recipe it means the banana should be ultra-ripe, that the cocoa is of high quality (we like Ghirardelli, Hershey’s and Scharffen Berger for natural cocoas; Valrhona and Bensdorp for Dutch-processed) and that the brewed coffee is in and of itself, excellent!
For your non-dairy milk you can choose from almond, hemp or rice milk but we do highly recommend that you do use unsweetened, as listed.
No Extra Sweetener Needed
You don’t need any extra sweetener here! For the peanut butter, we use natural. The ingredient should just list peanuts and salt. That’s it.
Taking care with each and every one of these choices will elevate this simple smoothie to the level of sublime!
Looking for other smoothies? Then check out our Smooth Move Raspberry Smoothie and our FODMAP Everyday® Green Kiwi Smoothie!
Mocha Banana Smoothie
This smoothie is frosty and decadent and packs in a bit of caffeine; you have been warned.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened almond, hemp or rice milk
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) very strong brewed coffee, cold
- 1/3 frozen very ripe medium-sized banana, cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds or flax seeds, optional
- Ice cubes, optional
Preparation:
-
Place all the ingredients in blender in order listed and blend until smooth. This drink is rich! Pour over ice cubes or blend in some ice cubes if you want to dilute it somewhat and add frostiness.
-
Serve immediately.
Notes:
Tips
- To increase prebiotic fiber and hardiness we like to add oats. In this case we put 2 tablespoons of old fashioned rolled oats in the blender carafe with the almond milk and allow them to soak for 10 minutes. Then proceed with recipe as directed.
- Cocoa, by the way, is a rich source of antioxidants and polyphenols, which are helpful in gut, brain and cardiovascular health. Potassium is a key mineral for digestive health, and bananas, a low FODMAP fruit we eat most everyday are a great source.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more. For a more detailed explanation, please read our article Understanding The Nutrition Panel Within Our Recipes.
v
I can’t use peanut butter as my son has a peanut allergy. Would this still be low in FODMAPs if I used almond butter instead of peanut butter?
Hi Julie, great question. Definitely download the Monash University app if you haven’t already, so that you can look up ingredients and ingredient swaps. Two kinds of peanut butter are listed on the app, each are Green Light low FODMAP at 2 Australian tablespoons. One of the peanut butters in the app becomes excessive for fructose in larger portions, while the other contains fructans and GOS in larger portions. Monash does not give us further info, but if I had to guess, the former is a sweetened peanut butter, while the latter is a “natural” unsweetened type peanut butter, but this is conjecture. When we look up peanuts themselves we are not given any information on Moderate or High FODMAP amounts or what FODMAP peanuts contain. Almonds themselves contain GOS. Almond butter has a smaller serving size than peanut butter – HALF the serving size at 1 Australian tablespoon, so all is not equal. It becomes Moderate for FODMAPs quite quickly at 1 1/2 tablespoons for fructans and GOS. So, to answer your question I would say this: the recipe only calls for 1 tablespoon of nut butter. You could try substituting almond butter with the knowledge that the cocoa, banana and chia seeds can contain fructans and since almond butter does too, you could create a FODMAP overload. BUT, and this is a big but, it is all about the individual’s sensitivity. Read our article, What Is A Low FODMAP Serving Size? to learn more. If it were me, and I were in a stable place generally speaking, I would definitely give it a try. I love that you asked this question because it allowed a discussion about studying FODMAPs, Stacking and how substitutions can change a recipe from a FODMAP perspective. Let us know what you do and how it goes! Bottoms up!
I’m confused how this is a low fod map option when overly ripe bananas are a fod map? Bananas are only approved in the monash university app if they are just at the beginning of turning yellow. Can you clarify please?
Please read our article, Are Bananas Low FODMAP, which explains everything banana in detail, including what Monash has to say, what FODMAP Friendly has to say and also how we develop our banana recipes. 35 g of ripe banana are lab tested as low FODMAP.
Do you have a suggestion on what to use in place of the coffee? My tummy has been quite sensitive to coffee unfortunately. I can do some tea
I, too, am a black tea drinker for the same reasons. I think black tea would be lovely!