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I am very excited to be creating a copycat recipe of my favorite Tropical Smoothie menu item, the Chia Banana Boost Smoothie.
I don’t know about you, but protein-packed smoothies are an absolute necessity if I want to start my day off right. I’m not really a breakfast person and I’m usually rushing around because I love milking every minute of my sleep (giving myself “just enough” time to get ready). So preparing a balanced breakfast for myself would be hilariously far-fetched. I’m pretty sure that families sitting around a table eating breakfast before heading off to work, sadly only happens in the movies in 2019. But I would also die if I went to work without fueling my body at all. So throwing 6-8 items in a blender is my favorite solution. Then I keep my large smoothie in a insulated stainless steel bottle and drink it throughout my morning, sometimes through lunch.
One of my new favorite smoothies at Tropical Smoothie is their Chia Banana Boost (or Chia Banana Max if you are adding protein). It calls for roasted bananas. This may seem like an ironic ingredient considering that I make my smoothies in a hurry, but I make a bunch of roasted bananas when I have free time in the evenings or weekends, let them cool and then freeze them.
This smoothie is all about the superfoods!
Packed with superfoods, this smoothie has the following amazingly beneficial ingredients:
- Chia Seeds: offer plant-based omega-3 fatty acids along with a boost of fiber.
- Coconut: They are especially high in manganese, which is essential for bone health and the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and cholesterol. They’re also rich in copper and iron, which help form red blood cells, as well as selenium, an important antioxidant that protects your cells
- Natural Peanut Butter: rich in healthy fats and fiber and may contribute to lowering cholesterol. Just be sure to steer clear of those with added sweeteners and opt for those that are 100% ground nuts.
- Bananas: because they’re loaded with several kinds of good-for-you nutrients, Healthline says that bananas may help you flight cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.
- Dates: in addition to being a great source of fiber, dates provide various antioxidants that have a number of health benefits to offer, including a reduced risk of several diseases.
- Almonds: are a natural source of 15 nutrients, including plant proteins and healthy fats. They are rich in vitamin E antioxidants, dietary fiber, riboflavin, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, protein, manganese and calcium. They also contain folate, iron, niacin, thiamine, zinc and potassium.
- Oats: are a natural superfood because they are 100% whole grain with minimal processing, and contain vitamins, minerals and fibre. Oats are unique in that they are one of the richest sources of beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that can help lower cholesterol reabsorption.
Did you try this recipe?
Please let me know if you tried this recipe and be sure to tag me @BadBatchBaking on IG and use #badbatchbaking so I can share your photos on my story! I look forward to your feedback and comments below!
Looking for more copycat recipes? Check these out:
Kiwi Quencher Tropical Smoothie Copycat Recipe
McDonald’s Chicken McGriddle Copycat Recipe
Chicken Alfredo Pizza Fritta Olive Garden Copycat Recipe
Nashville Hot Chicken Nuggets Cheesecake Factory Recipe
KFC Chicken Littles Copycat Recipe
Chia Banana Boost (Max) Tropical Smoothie Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 1 roasted banana - but room temp or cold 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or butter for roasting
- 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
- 1 tablespoon Chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons chopped or shaved almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 1 pitted medjool date chopped
- 1.25 cups of crushed ice
- Squeeze of honey to taste
Instructions
Roast bananas
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a small baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the banana(s) in half, then cut diagonal lengthwise (as shown in the photo). You should end up with a quartered banana. Lay banana pieces flat on baking dish and add small knobs of butter or coconut oil on top of the banana. Roast for 20 minutes, turning halfway through. Allow bananas to cool completely before making smoothie. You can also freeze roasted bananas as well for future usage.
Blend Smoothie
- In a blender, combine all ingredients starting with the almond milk and ending with crushed ice. Blend on a medium-high speed until smooth and no chunks of banana, dates or almond remain. Serve immediately.
Notes
I literally just opened my computer after coming home from TSC with a Chia Banana Max in hand, looking for a recipe. Yours was the top result (as a marketer, well done, haha) and I am so excited to try it! The recipe sounds great and the comments are encouraging.
I also second the comment about getting right into the recipe and not having a long trailing story 🙂 can’t wait to dig through your blog some more now!
Excellent
My favorite smoothie. So good. I added flax seeds and spinach to mine as I do when I order one from tropical smoothie Cafe. Thank You for the recipe.
my smoothie wasn’t cold and the texture was too thick and dry. Is it because i didn’t roast the banana? Any suggestions?
Hi Jake – I am so sorry to hear that! Sounds like something went wrong. Did you use ice? I know that’s a silly question but I am wondering how it wasn’t cold if ice was used. Not roasting the banana shouldn’t really change the texture, temperature or make it dry. It will just affect the flavor a bit. Perhaps try using a bit more almond milk. I find that with smoothies, each time I have to always make small tweaks, they just never come out identical each time. If it’s too thick just add a few splashes of almond milk / milk into your smoothie until it looses up a little. You can also cut back on the oats a bit as well. Sure hope this works out better for you the next time you try it. I usually get rave reviews and wish you had the same experience.
Another thing that just occurred to me – it could be the type of protein powder you are using as some are totally different. Try cutting it back to just one scoop and see how that works. Good Luck!!
Omg! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! This is my favorite TS and now I can make it myself! It’s amazing!! You made my day!
And you just made my day!! Thank you so much. I am thrilled you enjoyed it.
Amazing!
First time to your site. This was amazing! I think it is even better than the orig8nal from TS. Many thanks for posting.
Thanks so much, Sandy. This comment made my day! It’s a recipe in my weekly smoothie rotation, I love it so much. Glad I could share it with you.
OMG! I JUST MADE THIS. ITS MY FAVORITE SMOOTHIE FROM TROPICAL AND NOW I CAN HAVE IT WHENEVER . THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE RECIPE I AM ECSTATIC 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Haha so we had the same reaction then! Lol this is literally the greatest smoothie and will save you tons of time and money! Yay 🙂
Thank you for sharing! Tastes delicious. And thank you sincerely for posting the recipe right away, rather than having a trail of stories and text intermingled with ads, causing the reader to scroll for a while before getting to the ingredients and instructions!
Thanks so much Tiffany! I literally have the same pet peeve with other blogs. I know it’s a way to make some money and all but I really don’t like making people suffer just to get a recipe. Glad to hear you noticed the difference on my blog.
Thank you! This is our family favorite TSC smoothie and I just printed out your copy cat recipe. It’s all there, right down to the optional peanut butter.
Hi Jan! Thank you so much. I hope you had a chance to try it. It’s our absolute favorite recipe as well 🙂
Hello, maybe I’m missing something but where is the recipe located in the post? I see the list of ingredients but not specific amounts. Thanks!
Hi Jessica – it’s been restored thankfully! Just a website bug we were able to fix.