One of my all-time favorite baked treats to indulge in is banana bread. I just can’t get enough of it! So with that in mind, I’m pleased to share a recipe today that takes the great taste of banana bread that you know and love and makes an incredibly yummy smoothie out of it. Using a tasty mix of ingredients that includes a frozen banana, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and rolled oats, I’m positive that this peanut butter banana bread breakfast smoothie will quickly become one of your favorite smoothie recipes. On top of providing a delicious banana bread flavor in smoothie format, you can also optionally drizzle some melted dark chocolate over top of it for a real decadent treat.

Banana Bread in a Glass

In order to make the ‘banana bread’ aspect of this smoothie recipe, you’re going to need to use two things — one small frozen ripe banana that’s been sliced and some rolled oats. These two ingredients are fantastic for providing an authentic banana bread taste, and they’re each nutritionally sound options as well. The banana provides plenty of potassium, fiber, and B-vitamins while rolled oats are an exceptionally solid option for breakfast meals in general. Rolled oats are a potent source of antioxidants, they’re packed full of heart healthy fiber as well, and they’ve been proven to help lower cholesterol levels. (1) Together, the banana and rolled oats provide an excellent one-two nutritional combination to get this smoothie off to a great start.

If you’ve ever had chocolate chip banana bread then you already know how much better the simple act of adding chocolate can make things. This smoothie is no exception as you’ll be mixing in a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips. By using dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, you’ll be able to minimize the sugar content of this recipe while also providing it with a few other incredible health benefits. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants, polyphenols, and other bioactive compounds that have been found to improve blood pressure and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. (2) In addition, it’s also an excellent source of healthy fat that helps to make this breakfast smoothie even more satisfying.

Speaking of making this recipe more satisfying, you’ll be tossing in a few other ingredients that will all be working to guarantee you won’t be feeling hungry for a while after this breakfast. You’ll be adding in a bit of extra protein thanks to the addition of Greek yogurt. A tablespoon of natural peanut butter is added to provide even more quality fats with a moderate amount of protein. And finally, you’ll be using ½ cup of milk for your liquid base, which will add even more protein and saturated fat into the mix.

Before blending your smoothie however, there’s still a couple of extra ingredients to add that will help to give it a better overall flavor. You’ll want to throw in a small amount of vanilla extract along with just a bit of ground cinnamon. After blending everything together, you can also optionally drizzle a serving glass with a bit of melted dark chocolate if you really want to treat yourself (and I often do!) when enjoying this breakfast smoothie.