Shamrock Protein Shake: Healthy St. Patrick's Day
I admit, when you’re getting in the St. Patrick’s Day mood, it can be tempting to drive through McDonald’s for a Shamrock Shake. And calorically, a small one (500 calories) is not that bad—provided you don’t eat anything else.
But with only four simple ingredients, this Shamrock Protein Shake will take less time to make than waiting in a fast-food line. The best part—it’s much healthier. Especially when it comes to fat and carbs!
And even when I’m not in the mood to be super healthy (which is happening more and more frequently), I’d still choose my Pistachio Milkshake over anything from a fast-food restaurant.
Shamrock Protein Shake Ingredients
Greek Yogurt
I use non-fat vanilla Greek yogurt. Truth be told, I buy what’s on sale. They are all a little different, but I haven’t met a brand I don’t like.
In addition to flavor variations, you will find differences in thickness, so you may need to adjust the milk-to-yogurt ratio to achieve your desired consistency.
If you can’t have dairy, non-dairy coconut yogurt is a good substitute.
Milk
I use low-fat 1% milk. It’s what I usually have in the refrigerator. You can use whatever you have in your fridge: almond milk, whole milk, skim milk, oat milk—it all works.
Fresh Spinach
The spinach is mainly for color. Since we’re being healthy here, I prefer spinach over food coloring. Make sure to use fresh spinach instead of frozen. Frozen tends to retain water and can make the shake too runny.
Mint Extract
Mint extract is surprisingly powerful, so don’t overpour. And, although I like to garnish my shake with mint leaves, in the blender, they don’t macerate as well as the spinach leaves—so I stick with my spinach for coloring.
Shamrock Protein Shake Recipe
Serves 2
Ingredients
1½ cups vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup milk
½ cup raw spinach
¼ teaspoon mint extract
Instructions
1. Add all ingredients to a blender.
2. Blend on high or liquify, depending on your blender settings, until you don’t see any specs of spinach.
3. Pour the shake into an airtight container and freeze overnight.
4. When ready, return the shake mixture to the blender and blend just enough so that you can pour it into two serving glasses.
5. Serve immediately.
Have a Healthy, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
