Low Carb Bone Broth Smoothie

I love morning smoothies. So do my clients. They're time-saving, tasty, nutritious and you can drink them on the go (though I do recommend taking your time to consume food).

But they can get boring over time. And as we come into winter here, sometimes a cold smoothie isn't the most appealing thing for breakfast.

So what can you do when you're looking for a quick and easy, warm smoothie that keeps your health coach happy?

Simple - make a hot bone broth smoothie!

Note - if you're after a printable version of this recipe, without all the fluff, click HERE to download one.

Low Carb Bone Broth Breakfast Smoothie

If bone broth for breakfast makes you screw your nose up in disgust, bear with me.

Bone broth is not only wonderfully nutritious, it's extremely tasty and is the base of any traditional soup. Pure chicken broth for instance, simply tastes like chicken soup.

As for the health benefits of broth, I go into those in great length in my article Everything You Ought To Know About Bone Broth but for a quick overview broth is great for:

Gut Health
Balancing your methionine (an amino acid from muscle meats) to glycine ratio
Boosting collagen levels (great for skin and bone health as well as joint recovery)
Nutrient rich - it's high in proline, magnesium, calcium, gelatin and sulphur
Amino acids - the building blocks of protein.

Chilled beef broth with fat on top

But a bone broth isn't the only ingredient in this soul warming smoothie. Other ingredients include:

Vegetables - I commonly use cauliflower (steamed or boiled) to help create a creamy smoothie. But green vegetables such as spinach leaves, broccoli and zucchini are all great additions. Just ensure that the vegetables are cooked before blending. Raw vegetables are not great for digestion.

Chopped Cauliflower - my personal favourite in my bone broth smoothie

Saturated Fats - Broth is rich in protein but lacks in fat. The fat is great as a thickener, flavour booster and more importantly, helps with satiety. It's important to have a smoothie that fills you up until lunch time. I use butter or coconut oil (though prefer butter for its creaminess). Plus saturated fats are great for helping with hormonal health. If you're still worried about consuming fat in the fear of getting fat or clogging arteries, please read this - 9 Reasons Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Fat

Salt - For flavour and boosting mineral content of the smoothie
Raw Eggs - So far you may be thinking this is just a glorified soup recipe. But all changes when we add eggs into the mix! Eggs are one of the most nutrient dense foods we can eat. A true 'super food' (and cheap to buy as well). Eggs are rich in choline (important for brain health), vitamin E, A, K2, beta-carotene and include some DHA fatty acids. Plus they're another great source of amino acids and cholesterol.

Blending all of these ingredients together make a delicious, thick, creamy, nutrient-dense smoothie. The added fats, the bulk from the vegetables and the full amino acid complex will keep you full until lunch time and keep your health coach happy (yes this Bone Broth smoothie is program approved for those on my health program).

The end product!

Now you know whats in it, how do you make it?

Ingredients

There is no 'perfect' recipe for this smoothie, quantities of each ingredient depend on your taste and how much you eat. But as a rough starting point, here is what I recommend:

1.5 cups of quality bone broth (beef or chicken is best). If you're unsure how to make this please read THIS otherwise place an order from Kettle & Fire HERE. And use discount code 'alexfergus' to save on your order.
1 cup of vegetables - cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, zucchini all work well here.
1/4 t salt
1T of Grassfed Butter - Or coconut oil if you prefer
1 or 2 Eggs - amount depends on how hungry you are!
Optional Herbs/Spices - Feel free to get creative and add some fresh or dried herbs for added flavour.

Recipe

Like all smoothies, the recipe is simple. Add all the ingredients into a blender and blend! But with this bone broth smoothie there are a few things I recommend doing (or not doing):

Heat the bone broth. A cold broth is not that appealing, and one of the appeals to this low carb bone broth smoothie is its warm temperature! If you have some fresh broth simmering away in the pot or slow cooker, you can use this and add it straight to your blender. If you have chilled broth, then simply heat the broth in a saucepan. If reheating, look at using 2 cups of broth as it may simmer down.
Cook the vegetables. DO NOT use raw vegetables. Firstly, for optimal health, you should minimise your intake of raw vegetables. Secondly, cooked vegetables in this smoothie are much tastier. If your broth is already heated (i.e. from a fresh batch of broth), then steam or boil the vegetables separately. If you need to reheat the broth then simply boil the vegetables in the broth. This way any leeched vitamins will be retained in the liquid. Below I have used cauliflower for its extra creaminess.
Pour broth and vegetables into the blender. Glass is best, if using plastic, ensure it's BPA free (especially as you are using hot liquids).
Add the fat and salt. Now is the time to add the butter or coconut oil to the blender.
Blend for a 15-30seconds. Blend so that the soft vegetables are turned to mush.
Add eggs. Once the vegetables are blended into the broth, crack the egg(s) in and do a brief 2-3 second blend. You don't want to over-blend the eggs as it can oxidise the cholesterol in the yolk. A few seconds is plenty.
Drink. And that is it! You now have a warm, tasty, satisfying, coach approved healthy drink to start your day.

Modifications

There are a few ways you can change this recipe, I have listed some potential ideas below. If you have other ideas please leave them in the comments section.

Try different broths

I tend to make a lot of beef broth, so I usually use beef broth for my smoothie. But I have used chicken broth and it went down a treat.

Though I haven't tried this yet, you could make it with fish head broth. I often make soup with fish head broth, adding zucchini noodles, seaweed, diced fish fillets, ginger and occasionally coconut cream. You could experiment and make something similar for you morning drink.

Alternate the fats

I prefer creamier broth smoothies with butter and cauliflower. But you could use coconut oil if you are going dairy free. Coconut oil may actually work better with green veggies if you're not going for that creamy texture.

Ditch the Eggs

The eggs make this a smoothie, otherwise, it's more of a hot soup. There is nothing wrong with making it as a soup (just ensure you still add the fats for the extra substance). Try it one day with eggs, you may actually prefer it.

Add flavours

Get creative here. Add your favourite herbs or spices. Rosemary goes really well with broth so add some of that. Coriander is another personal favourite.

Use a greens powder

For my clients to get full points on their meal, they must include some vegetables. Adding the cooked vegetables to this broth smoothie is the most time-consuming process. if you are really looking for a quick smoothie idea over winter, use a greens powder instead of actually vegetables. For this, I would recommend Nuzest Green Powder.

Tips For The Time Poor

Convenience is a big reason why people go to smoothies. If a smoothie is going to take 30minutes to prepare then you might as well make a 15minute meal and spend 15minutes sitting down to enjoy it.

If you are really looking for a healthy time-saving broth smoothie, here are a few ideas for you to implement:

Make it the night before and leave in a flask

I often did this when I had to get up ultra early for personal training sessions. Before going to bed I would make up my hot broth smoothie and pour the mixture into a well-insulated flask. Then I would leave this flask on the countertop and grab it as I was heading for work in the morning. The flask would keep the broth warm and I would have a nutrient packed smoothie ready to drink on those cold mornings.

The Klean Kanteen is my go to insulated flask for my broth smoothie.

Make it the night before and reheat

You could also make it the night before and leave it in the fridge. Then you just need to reheat it in the morning. No chopping vegetables or cleaning out the blender.

Precook the vegetables

The vegetables are the most time-consuming part of this process. So steam up a big bowl of vegetables and leave that in the fridge. Then just add the cold vegetables to the hot broth, blend and away you go.

Make a big batch

If you like doing a big round of meal prep on the weekend, add the broth smoothie to your cook up. Make up a few litres of the broth smoothie and leave it in the fridge. Then each morning heat up enough for breakfast and away you go for the day.

Use a greens powder

I covered this above, but I'll include it again here. If you would rather skip the vegetable prep, but still wanted to keep the vegetable levels up, simply add a greens powder to the recipe in replacement of actual vegetables.

Go all powder

I don't recommend this, but it is an option. You could buy a powdered/dried broth sachet (found at health stores) or even a collagen powder like Great Lakes Collagen, use this instead of the broth. Add water, add greens powder, add some salt and fat and then an egg. It's a super quick way of making it. Though it's starting to get expensive.

The Bone Broth Smoothie

There we go, my recipe for my bone broth smoothie! For clients of mine, this is another way to include broth in your diet (compulsory on the gut reset diet phase) and also ticks all the boxes when it comes to a quality meal (meaning you will get the 4 stars for your meal).

For those looking for a new smoothie idea as we head into winter, give this a go.

If you come up with any of your own modifications, favourite herbs to add or even tips to save time, please share them below.

If you are looking for a simple to follow one-page recipe guide be sure to CLICK HERE to download it in full resolution.

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This blog post was written by Alex Fergus. Alex is an ISSN Sports Nutrition Specialist, Fitness Professional and certified Superhuman Coach who continues to expand his knowledge base and help people across the world with their health and wellness. Alex is recognized as the National Record Holder in Powerlifting and Indoor Rowing and has earned the title of the Australian National Natural Bodybuilding Champion. Having worked as a health coach and personal trainer for over a decade, Alex now researches all things health and wellness and shares his findings on this blog. Learn more about Alex's Credentials HERE.