Prue Leith's No-Waste Banana Smoothie Uses The Part You Usually Toss
Hate wasting food? So does restaurateur, cookbook writer, and "The Great British Baking Show" judge Prue Leith, who prioritizes using every bit of food — an admirable approach that helps keep food from landfills and also makes home chefs and bakers even more creative with how they use various odds and ends of ingredients. A perfect example is Leith's banana smoothie. As she demonstrated in one of her TikTok videos, the famed food pro whips up a delicious beverage with a banana, including the peel.
@dameprueleith Simple, delicious, banana smoothie- skins and all! Cheers 🍌
Leith does this once a banana starts to move past its prime and brown. You might use bananas at this point to make your best banana bread; this smoothie is another option that's refreshing, healthy, and fast. If you've ever found yourself craving a smoothie but not making one because of all the prep involved, this banana beverage is for you. It's as easy as it is sustainable: Simply chop the ends off of the banana, cut it into a few big chunks, and pop it into your blender with the milk of your choice — or vanilla ice cream for a real treat — plus honey or your preferred sweetener, and a dash of cinnamon. In less than five minutes, you can turn a banana you would just be tossing otherwise into a dreamy drink. Plus, the peels add nutrients like potassium, fiber, vitamin A, and antioxidants. Ripe peels are soft enough to blend and can add some body to your smoothie.
Upgrades for your banana-plus-peel smoothie
Because smoothie recipes don't come easier than this one, it's a great opportunity to get creative and toss in one or two extra ingredients to create fun varieties. You can start with swaps, like Greek yogurt instead of milk or brown sugar or maple syrup instead of honey. You're already most of the way to making this tasty cinnamon banana walnut smoothie, so just add walnuts for that nutty finish — slivered almonds could work, too. Speaking of nuts, a spoonful of peanut butter, almond butter, hazelnut spread, or cookie butter would boost this smoothie's body even more and add a dessert-tinged complexity. On that note, you could add cocoa powder or chocolate milk.
Especially if you're making this for breakfast or a healthy snack, really any fruit would work well. Make it tropical with pineapple or mango, or toss in blueberries or strawberries. As proof of this smoothie's versatility, you could even make it into a dessert cocktail with coffee liqueur. Plenty of spirits turn smoothies into delicious cocktails – think rum for a tropical finish or vodka to let the fruits' flavors take center stage.
If you find yourself excited to try this smoothie, you can ripen your bananas even faster by placing them in a paper bag. If your bananas are already too far gone for making a smoothie, there are still lots of great uses for banana peels. Flavor honey with them, polish silver, or use them as fertilizer.