Finding oranges taking over the fruit section at your grocery store or farmer’s market? It must be winter! This Winter Immune Boosting Smoothie will give you the best natural energy boost, and it’s packed with lots of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory ingredients, to support your immune system this holiday season and beyond. And did I mention, it’s delicious?!
Smoothies are one of the best and fastest ways to jam-pack your body with vitamins and nutrients – and in most cases, you can pretty much throw anything in a blender and come up with a decent-tasting concoction. But when it comes to my recipes, I don’t want to provide you with just decent-tasting recipes. I want to provide you with the best-tasting recipes around, so you come back, time and time again, and make them again. And tell all your friends, too.
The thing I love most about this recipe, is that I feel really good about sharing it with you. Why? Because when I see people take control of their health with food, my heart fills up with joy and happiness. Food is healing, and ingredients are everything.
And cold and flu season is fast approaching (I don’t even want to talk about Covid, because we all know that that is still lingering around, so we need to do what we can to consume foods that are packed with ingredients to support a healthy immune system.
There are so many fantastic ingredients in this recipe, let me give you the low down.
- Orange juice: Oranges are packed with antioxidants (hello Vitamin C). They are also anti-inflammatory, and contain fiber, folate, potassium, and calcium. Winter is when oranges really steal the show. One, where I live, it’s pretty much the only fruit in season, but its the fruit that packs a large punch when it comes to their health benefits. If you are going with fresh oranges, try a Naval! And if you want to purchase orange juice, do it, just make sure it contains the pulp, so you get all that fiber too!
- Banana: Frozen bananas are always my go-to ingredient for creamy and naturally-sweetened smoothies. Bananas provide a natural energy boost, along with potassium, and iron. So many people that I know are afraid to eat bananas because of the sugar content, but you guys – it’s natural sugar, with a health benefit! Eat the damn banana!
- Carrots: I’m not sure about you, but I always have boatloads of carrots sitting in my fridge, and that’s because they stick around for a long time, without going bad. But did you know that carrots are also a nutritional powerhouse? Among other things, carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a compound your body changes into Vitamin A, which helps keep your eyes healthy!
- Ginger: Ginger is the best! Ginger is packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also rich with phytochemicals, that help aid digestion and settling upset stomachs. These digestive properties help to stimulate the body’s natural cleansing and detoxifying process by eliminating waste and toxins. In this recipe, I recommend using fresh ginger and taking the extra few minutes to peel and mince it, but if you don’t have it or don’t want to, that’s ok. Ground ginger will be just fine.
- Manuka honey: Manuka honey, ahhhh that liquid gold. If you aren’t familiar with Manuka honey, it is a superfood! Like many of the other ingredients in this smoothie, Manuka honey also contains antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, to support your immune system. For the last 5 + years, my go-to brand is Wedderspoon, and I trust the integrity of their product. Their kFactor Manuka honey is harvested and packed in New Zealand and independently tested to meet or exceed the MPI standards for authentic Manuka honey. This brand works really hard to maintain the complex ecosystem of living enzymes & chemical compounds within our honey as much as humanly possible. I think that’s pretty awesome. And yes, to get the benefits of Manuka honey, you need to purchase Manuka honey. It is a bit pricer than most honey on the market, but that’s for good reason – it is special, and a little goes a long way. Treat yourself!
- Turmeric: Turmeric is another ingredient that is SO GOOD FOR YOU! Turmeric is a spice that comes from the turmeric plant, and it’s main compound, curcumin, is where all the powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties are found. It’s a powerful ingredient known to support the immune system and more. The problem with cucumin, is that it is not absorbed well in the body, which is why you will often see turmeric paired with black pepper.
- Black pepper: Black pepper contains the bioactive compound piperine, which helps boost the absorption of curcumin, so that you get all those good health benefits from it. But don’t worry, your smoothie won’t taste like a peppery mess. You only need a little to get the job done!
Other optional add-ins:
- Lemon, coconut milk and coconut water.
Without further ado, let’s get right into this recipe!
This post is sponsored by Wedderspoon, but all opinions are, as always, 100% my own.
Ingredients
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 teaspoon fresh or ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon Wedderspoon manuka honey
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup shredded carrots
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a high-speed blender, and blend until the smoothie is nice and creamy, about 30-45 seconds.
- Enjoy immediately!
Notes
Photography by LaChicaBites
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What others are saying
Definitely give this a try!! This combination of ingredients is so unique and WORKS. If you’re too lazy to measure like me, you can eyeball the ingredients and it tastes just as delicious. I’m going to combine the dry ingredients in mini-mason jars to make prep time easier! I love how I get so many nutrients from this smoothie that I absolutely would not get otherwise during the day.
Delicious! I love orange carrot juice and the added ingredients here add even more flavor to the drink and have added health benefits! I thought it was bright and refreshing and will definitely be making it again!
Woohoo! I am so happy to hear that, Jules! Thank you so much for making it, and for leaving such a kind review!
Delicious 😋 tasty smoothie with so many benefits. I added some frozen immunity cubes another @kalejunkie recipe to the smoothie for some extra boost.. So refreshing and perfect Monday morning smoothie. I made this as part of my January smoothie challenge 2023 – as my 23. Smoothie 😊 😋 and definitely I will make it again and again all year long!
I am thrilled that you loved this smoothie, Agnes! Thank you for all of your kind reviews, and your support during this smoothie challenge!!
Loved it. Used clementines as that’s what I had on hand and added collagen. I can see making this again. Adding it to my smoothie collection. Thanks for the great recipe!
Yum! That sounds delicious, Bethany! Thank you so much for making this smoothie and for leaving such a kind review!