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Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl | Nutrition Stripped
Eat Well Sep. 8. 2015
Breakfast

Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl

Sep. 8. 2015
Breakfast
McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

Founder of Nutrition Stripped® and the Mindful Nutrition Method™

This Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl recipe uses pitaya, or dragon fruit, for a delicious bowl that packs health benefits.

This one’s a stunner. When I was roaming around the fresh markets and streets of Thailand, dragon fruit was at each corner. It’s one of the most beautiful and eye-catching fruits with it’s hot pink color and green spikes, but what else makes this fruit fantastic besides the beauty?

You’ll have to experience that answer first hand when making this Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl that’s loaded with fiber, antioxidants, healthy fats, and protein (lots of options here!). Warning, don’t wear white when making this recipe…of course, I learned the hard way.

This is no exaggeration, but I ate fresh dragon fruit every single morning while traveling around Thailand since it was so abundant and delicious. It was also a fleeting experience, so I took advantage of every single bite I could get of fresh dragon fruit.

Finding it fresh and affordable here in the U.S. is very difficult and near impossible. Thank goodness for flash frozen pink dragon fruit or else this recipe wouldn’t make it from Thailand to my kitchen…or yours!

What is dragon fruit?

Dragon fruit is naturally grown in Central America and Asia. It’s in the cactus family which makes complete sense when looking at its spikes and unique characteristics. Dragon fruit can also be referred to as pitaya (pit-ah-ya) and the flesh of the fruit comes in both red/pink and white.

The pink variety is shown here and is the most popular in “bowls” for its beautiful color. The flesh of the fruit reminds me of a cross between kiwi fruit and watermelon because it’s very water-rich, juicy, crunchy, and spongy all at once. Just visually looking at it, I had high expectations this would be a very sweet tropical fruit, but on the contrary, it was very mild and only slightly sweet.

Nutritionally speaking, fruit across the board is a great source of fiber that we all need to consume every single day for healthy digestion, metabolism, and making sure we’re getting rid of metabolites, excess water, and others our body doesn’t need. Dragon fruit particularly has high amounts of vitamin C – that alone makes it on the list of my top “beauty foods“!

Vitamin C is so important in keeping free radicals at bay while keeping our skin healthy by protecting and boosting collagen and serves as an overall antioxidant for the body. In addition to vitamin C, dragon fruit also contains vitamin A, B vitamins, and magnesium.

This smoothie bowl contains the frozen puree of dragon fruit, frozen banana rich in potassium, frozen raspberries giving another kick of color and fiber while being low in sugar, and coconut milk with a boost of healthy saturated fats. I also included optional ingredients like a protein powder to keep this macronutrient balanced, bee pollen for added nutrition, maca for added minerals, superfood powders, and medicinal mushroom powders for added antioxidants.

All of these powder ingredients are completely optional, but I typically have them on hand and love popping them in smoothie bowls!

Try These Toppings:

Here’s a picture of fresh dragon fruit I had while in Thailand. You can see I wasn’t being dramatic about their external appearance – spikes, hot pink, and green!

I’ve easily found pureed and frozen dragon fruit at local health food stores like Whole Foods, or you could purchase it online here.

If you can’t get your hands on frozen or fresh dragon fruit another option is to get similar nutrient content by using freeze-dried dragon fruit like this one, although the texture will be a bit different. If you use the freeze-dried option I recommend adding extra ice and 1 cup of raspberries to make it a bit sweeter, more fiber-rich, and more beautiful!

Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl
 
Recipe Type: dessert, breakfast
Author: McKel Hill, MS, RD, LDN
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
A thick and creamy fiber rich smoothie bowl made with dragon fruit (pitaya) and topped with superfood ingredients.
Ingredients
  • 1 pack of frozen and pureed pink dragon fruit ([url href=”http://www.pitayaplus.com/pages/pitaya-plus-smoothie-packs”]pitaya[/url])
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1 cup frozen raspberries
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon bee pollen
  • 1 teaspoon maca powder
  • 1 teaspoon [url href=”https://nutritionstripped.com/ultimate-tonic/” target=”_blank” title=”The Ultimate Tonic”]medicinal mushroom powders[/url], optional
  • Vanilla [url href=”https://nutritionstripped.com/guide-plant-based-protein-supplements/” target=”_blank” title=”Guide to Plant-based Protein Supplements”]protein powder[/url] (optional)
  • Garnish toppings, optional: shredded coconut, bee pollen, cacao nibs, fresh dragon fruit, fresh sliced figs, fresh raspberries, [url href=”https://nutritionstripped.com/maple-banana-nut-granola/” target=”_blank” title=”Maple Banana Nut Granola”]Maple Banana Nut Granola[/url]
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients to a [url href=”https://nutritionstripped.com/vitamix-vs-blendtec/” target=”_blank” title=”Vitamix vs. Blendtec”]Vitamix[/url] or blender and blend until smooth. Add ice to thicken as desired.
  2. Pour into a bowl and top with optional garnish ingredients to add flavor and nutrient density.
  3. Enjoy immediately.
 
Notes
Boost the protein by adding your favorite [url href=”https://nutritionstripped.com/guide-plant-based-protein-supplements/” target=”_blank” title=”Guide to Plant-based Protein Supplements”]protein powders,[/url] vanilla flavor is the best!

I hope you all enjoy this recipe! Share below what toppings you’d use for this recipe! And if you make it for yourself at home, be sure to share on Instagram with #nutritionstripped.

The Recipe

Serves 1

Print

Ingredients:

1 pack of frozen and pureed pink dragon fruit pitaya

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon bee pollen

1 teaspoon maca powder

1 teaspoon medicinal mushroom powders, optional

Vanilla protein powder (optional)

Garnish toppings, optional: shredded coconut, bee pollen, cacao nibs, fresh dragon fruit, fresh sliced figs, fresh raspberries, Maple Banana Nut Granola

 

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Add ice to thicken as desired.

Pour into a bowl and top with optional garnish ingredients to add flavor and nutrient density.

Enjoy immediately.

 

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