This 2-ingredient Summer Watermelon Smoothie is Refreshing and your smart bet to fight inflammation, hydrate, and relieve muscle soreness after a beach run.
If you are looking for an excellent summer idea, or simply watermelon recipes to use that big chunk of fruit you just bought, this healthy watermelon smoothie recipe is your ally.
It is made in a blink of an eye and has many benefits that come in handy in Summertime. And guess what? This is exactly when this refreshing fruit is in season. Yes, nature is wise!
We like to use food as our medicine, and you are about to learn some pretty cool things about this real fruit smoothie. Including its seeds!
Ingredients
This Watermelon Juice Recipe is made with only 2 real food ingredients plus one optional. My favorite fresh fruit smoothies are made with fresh produce and are ready in less than 5 minutes.
- Watermelon
- Ginger
- Ice
- Mint (optional)
We make large quantities and store them in the refrigerator. With hot weather, it flies!
Instructions
Step 1: wash and rinse your produce
Cut the edges of the watermelon. Only keep the red fruit flesh. There is no need to de-seed it (watermelon seeds are good for you). Peel the ginger and coarsely chop it. You can optionally add fresh mint for extra freshness, if so, wash it and remove the stems.
Step 2: blend your ingredients
Add the ginger, watermelon and optional mint leaves to a high-speed blender, along with ice and water.
Step 3: store (if not drinking immediately)
You can reserve the juice for up to 2 days in a mason jar or closed bottle.
Tips, replacements and suggestions
Gingeroot Fresh mint Sliced cucumber
Ginger: We like the ginger flavor to be prominent. Feel free to adjust the quantity to your liking. We find that ginger is what makes this juice truly different. We always had regular watermelon juice as a child but a couple of years ago.
While spending summer in Barcelona, we stumbled towards this delicious drink which is regularly sold at the beach. You can freeze Ginger, if struggling to use all your ginger, just freeze it and you can shred it or peel it whenever you need it.
Sweetness: we find that the sweetness from watermelon is enough. However, when we first drank this in Barcelona, as they add tons of ice, they also added a lot of sugar. That makes it unhealthy.
If you want to add some sweetness, we recommend adding maple syrup or agave syrup. These are natural sweeteners and have a lower glycemic index than sugar.
Mint: I started adding mint because I love it, and it is a way to add more freshness in the summertime, and also a little colorful, which is very healthy.
Cucumber: when we want to change things up, we replace some of the watermelon cubes with cucumber, which is equally hydrating and adds additional flavor notes and vitamins and minerals.
Notes on color
Ice. The more ice you add the less pink it will look, as ice adds white notes to the smoothie. As soon as it melts you will see that it becomes pinker.
Mint. The only downside of adding mint is that it may change a bit the smoothie's color. Your smoothie will be less pink. If you are all about the looks, you can simply top the glass with some mint leaves. It will still make you smell it and taste it. Remember, without smell, there is no taste. Garnishing is always a way to add flavor to your meals.
Health benefits of watermelon juice
This Watermelon Smoothie or Juice (depending on how much ice, you blend in) has a vast array of benefits. Let's dig into the details!
Health benefits of watermelon
These are 7 Benefits of Watermelon make it one of the best fruit smoothies as it has a High-Reward/ Low-Calorie Ratio.
- Helps You Hydrate. This is the most apparent benefit of watermelon, as we know this watery masterpiece of nature is 92% water. Pretty close to water itself!
- May Lower Oxidative Stress and Inflammation. Now things start to get more interesting, as so many things cause inflammation in our bodies. Unhealthy food and even exercising are some of the reasons. Inflammation is natural, as it is part of the regeneration mechanism of our bodies. Nevertheless, we need to keep it in line, as a continued state of inflammation is not healthy nor comfortable, especially when summer arrives!
- May Prevent Macular Degeneration, a common eye problem that can lead to blindness in older adults, and watermelon have healthy lycopene compounds that may help keep our eyes healthy.
- May Help Relieve Muscle Soreness. We all should work out, less or more, depending on our goals. After exercising, especially if we do for long periods, or lifting heavyweight,our body feels sore after a couple of days. Watermelon is here to help, as it has Citrulline, an amino acid that may reduce muscle soreness. Also, watermelon juice enhances the absorption of this amino acid commonly used in supplements, making it particularly helpful in the area.
- Suitable for Hair and Skin. watermelon benefits for skin and hair derive from their rich content of Vitamin A and C, which help repair skin cells and help your body create collagen, respectively. As watermelon contain both beta-carotene and lycopene, it can also help protect your skin from sunburn. All great benefits come in very handy in the summertime.
- It may help Improve Digestion. The large amount of water that watermelon has, along with its less prominent fiber, makes it a good partner for our digestive tract.
- Lastly, if you are wondering which vitamins are present in watermelon? Great news, this low-calorie count fruit is an excellent source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Potassium, Magnesium, and in lower amounts, Vitamins B1, B5, and B6. Watermelon also has many healthy Antioxidants, like Cucurbitan C and the previously mentioned lycopene and Vitamin C.
Additional health Bbnefits of mint and ginger
Additionally, the Ginger in this recipe is a great anti-inflammatory and immune system, partner.
Finally, guess what? Mint is also an anti-inflammatory and digestion aiding. Mint is are rich in calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, C, D, and E helping improve our body's immune system.
Watermelon seeds benefits
- Benefits for hair. These seeds are great sources of copper, iron, and magnesium. Copper helps to boos melanin production keeping your hair silky. Magnesium and iron help with hair loss and problems with thinning hair.
- Boosting energy. The healthy fatty acids present in watermelon are a great source of essential nutrients that help to boost your metabolism.
- Benefits for your skin. The nutrients present in these little friends moisturize your skin, prevent acne, dullness, and signs of aging.
- Blood Sugar Control. As watermelon seed help reducing insulin resistance.
I don't know about you,but this summer I want to ensure:
- My body's immune system is powered up
- I want to keep inflammation in line
- My skin and hair to be well nurtured
- Make sure I have no digestion issues while
- keeping myself hydrated with a
- low caloric drink packed with antioxidants and made in minutes.
This watermelon smoothie seems to be the answer!
More refreshing smoothie recipes
If you are into working out, make sure you take a look at our ultimate Post Work Out Smoothie, with all the tips to making it perfect with variations, and also our Beetroot and Celery Juice, the ultimate Pre work out Juice.
If thinking about growing your own Watermelon and some cool tips on Juicing and Freezing it, check out the Minnetonkaorchards helpful post!
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
Recipe: Watermelon Smoothie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 30 oz watermelon cubed, fresh or frozen
- 4 oz ginger fresh, see notes.
- 15 oz ice cubs
- 10 oz water
Optional:
- 15 mint leaves
Instructions
- In a blender, add all the ingredients.
- Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Food safety
We sometimes take for granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.
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