Cherry Smoothie Bowl (Vegan, Paleo)

This cherry smoothie bowl is so bright and refreshing yet totally filling. With only a handful of ingredients, this cherry smoothie bowl comes together in just a few minutes. This vegan smoothie bowl is perfect for the spring or summer and will keep you full for hours! Such a fantastic paleo smoothie bowl, too. It tastes so much like cherry pie: the vanilla extract really makes it!

No seasonal food fills me with excitement quite like cherry season.

It happens a bit slowly at first, bags of overpriced cherries carted in from Washington sprouting up in between the 6-ounces package of blueberries and the 2/$5 pints of blackberries. I’m tempted to buy a bag, but at $5.99 a pound, I could only justify a couple handfuls. No… I have to wait.

And then it happens, thwap. The figurative weekly ad for the grocery store slaps the table, isolated shots of perfectly undimpled cherries usurping hierarchy on the front page, a bright yellow badge stabilizing the fruit, proclaiming the store’s willingness to part with an entire pound for less than two dollars.

So I buy pounds and pounds and pounds, always letting one or two cherries expire inside the shiny plastic bag (with handles!), spoiling the bunch. But I still buy them, determined to make as good of use of cherry season as I possibly can. But this year? I’ve adopted a two-pronged approach: buy fresh and buy frozen.

The giant bags of organic frozen cherries are basically being given away at my Costco, and I’ve stuffed our garage freezer full of them. O rolls his eyes, having hoped that with a secondary fridge to catch my stocking-up-is-how-you-actually-save-money-duh-obviously-honey-geez overflow would yield a more flexible freezer. Nope. Between the ever-present ice cream maker bowl (always frozen in case I feel like making paleo chocolate chip ice cream with roasted cherries, which is always) and the four, count them four, frozen pork loins in there (Carnitas, anyone? Everyone? We’ve got enough for all y’all.), and three four-pound bags of frozen, pitted cherries, there’s just no wiggle room.

Sorry, honey.

But with gobs of fresh and frozen cherries on hand, I can always make this fantastic cherry smoothie bowl! And that’s a permission I simply need in my life, the ability to, whenever the mood strikes (which is often), blend together sweet and tart cherries with a creamy banana and a nice glug of vanilla extract, to top it all with fresh cherries, crunchy slivered almonds, fiber-full chia seeds, and a drizzle of almond butter that turns part Magic Shell draped atop a thick smoothie and filling bowl.

Of course, I hopped on the smoothie bowl train late, but I think between my blueberry muffin smoothie bowl and this cherry smoothie bowl, I’ve more than made it up to you. Right?

This cherry smoothie bowl is inspired by cherry pie, including a few simple ingredients that will remind your tastebuds of bakery indulgences: vanilla extra, lemon zest, a pinch of cinnamon. If you skip any, keep the vanilla extract. It takes your cherry smoothie bowl from filling seasonal start to the day to omg must post this on Instagram, have cracked the code to life in general. 

You can top this cherry smoothie bowl with whatever inspires you, but we typically hang with a mélange of seeds and nuts + nut butters + fresh fruit + chocolate chips if feeling naughty/deserving. Unsweetened coconut flakes would also be lovely here, and you could experiment with different types of fresh fruits to suit whatever you have on hand.

To make this cherry smoothie bowl, I used…

5 from 1 vote

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Cherry Smoothie Bowl (Vegan, Paleo)

This cherry smoothie bowl is so bright and refreshing yet totally filling. With only a handful of ingredients, this cherry smoothie bowl comes together in just a few minutes. This vegan smoothie bowl is perfect for the spring or summer and will keep you full for hours! Such a fantastic paleo smoothie bowl, too. It tastes so much like cherry pie: the vanilla extract really makes it!

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen cherries
• 2 tablespoons almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 banana
• pinch lemon zest , optional
• pinch cinnamon , optional

Toppings

• hemp seeds , optional
• chia seeds , optional
• sliced almonds , optional
• almond butter , optional
• dairy-free chocolate chips , optional

Equipment Needed

• high-speed blender
• microplane grater

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth but still quite cold. Finish with plenty of toppings.