How to Make an Easy Vibrant Pitaya Smoothie Bowl
Who wants a delicious pitaya smoothie bowl?
This pitaya smoothie bowl recipe is an easy and healthy treat that would be perfect for breakfast or dessert! It is full of fruits, frozen, and super refreshing!
Smoothie bowls have become quite popular and trendy in recent years. Most notably açaí bowls. They are always perfectly arranged, super Instagram-worthy, but can also be quite pricey.
Good thing you can find smoothie packs in almost every flavor like pitaya and açaí at your local health food grocery store (Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc). They are really easy to make at home and you can make multiple bowls for the price of one at a restaurant.
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What is Pitaya?
Pitaya is also known as dragon fruit! If you played Fruit Ninja, you probably remember getting really excited every time you see a dragon fruit because you could get a bunch of points for slicing it! Anyways, the flavor is pretty mild and resembles that of a kiwi.
It is most often seen as a fruit with a hot pink outside and white with black seeds on the inside. However a variety with a hot pink inside also exists! This is my favorite to use in smoothie bowls because of the beautiful color!
Where I live, it is not super common to find fresh pitaya with the hot pink insides in grocery stories. Instead of using fresh dragon fruit, I use frozen Pitaya smoothie packs. I found these in a four-pack in the freezer aisle at Sprouts for about $7.
Each pack is one serving of 100%, organic, and non-GMO dragon fruit. I keep it in my freezer for whenever I’m craving a Pitaya Smoothie Bowl. It’s convenient, pure fruit, and the next best thing when I can’t get my hands on fresh pitaya.
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Tips for the Perfect Smoothie Bowl
For the smoothie base you could literally add any fruit! I love using pitaya because of the hot pink color and mild flavor. That way I could add whatever fruits I have or am craving and not worry about the flavor turning out weird.
My biggest tip for making the perfect smoothie bowl is to freeze every ingredient you put into the smoothie and do not add any liquid. Doing this gives it that lusciousness as if you’re eating a frozen dessert with a spoon like ice cream rather than drinking a smoothie! If you’re using fresh fruit, cut it up into small chunks, and freeze a few hours before blending. I always love to include frozen bananas because it gives smoothies a creamy feel without any diary. Frozen greek yogurt is also a great healthy alternative to get that creamy texture. Lastly sweeten with some honey to taste.
After blending the base, it is time to add toppings! This is always a fun little creative challenge for me. To create those picture-perfect bowls you see on IG, thinly slice fruit so it lays nicely on top of the bowl rather than sinking into the smoothie.
Slices of strawberries, kiwis, and bananas look so pretty when they are fanned out! Small berries like blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries look great as is. Other toppings I like to incorporate are coconut flakes and chia seeds for contrasting colors.
Also seeing each ingredient lined up is so satisfying in my opinion! It’s fun to design and take a quick picture to show it off to the ‘gram but totally not necessary. Just remember to top it with what you like because taste is the most important thing!
Did you make this recipe? I would love to see! Tag me on Instagram @feedmi_
Pitaya Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 (100g) frozen pitaya dragon fruit smoothie pack
- 5 frozen strawberries
- 1 frozen banana
- honey to taste
- fresh fruit topping
- coconut flakes
- chia seeds
- collagen or protein powder (optional)
- ¼ cup almond milk (optional to help it blend easier)
Instructions
- blend frozen pitaya dragron fruit smoothie pack, frozen strawberries, and frozen banana together
- add honey to taste
- serve in a bowl
- top with fresh fruit, coconut flakes, and/or chia seeds
