Protein smoothie without protein powder: 29 g per serving

If protein powder upsets your stomach or you simply do not want the expense, breakfast can still land close to 30 g of protein in one glass. This smoothie builds its protein from Greek yoghurt, milk and peanut butter, while oats keep it thick enough to actually feel like a meal. The recipe makes two servings and takes five minutes, with no cooking involved.

Prep time and servings

• Prep: 5 min
• Cooking: 0 min
• Servings: 2 (roughly 400 ml each)

Ingredients

• 300 g Greek yoghurt, 2% fat
• 300 ml semi-skimmed milk (about 2.8% fat)
• 60 g porridge oats
• 120 g banana (1 medium, peeled)
• 150 g frozen raspberries
• 30 g peanut butter (100% peanuts, no added sugar)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3–4 ice cubes (only if you swap in fresh fruit)

Method

1. Blitz the oats on their own for 20–30 seconds until they look like coarse flour. Skip this if a slightly grainy texture does not bother you.
2. Pour in the 300 ml of milk and leave it to sit for 2 minutes. The oats soak up liquid and stop clumping later on.
3. Add the Greek yoghurt, banana and peanut butter. Blend for 30 seconds on a medium speed.
4. Drop in the frozen raspberries and cinnamon, then blend for another 30–45 seconds on full speed until the colour is even.
5. Check the thickness. Too thick to drink, add 30–50 ml of milk or water; too thin, add 20 g more oats or a few ice cubes and blend for 15 seconds.
6. Taste before you sweeten anything. A ripe banana and the berries usually cover it, and if you do add a teaspoon of honey (7 g) that is roughly 21 kcal per serving.
7. Pour into two glasses and drink straight away. If you are making it ahead, keep it in a sealed bottle in the fridge for up to 24 hours and shake it hard first, because the oats settle.

Nutrition per serving

These figures are an estimate per serving, worked out from the quantities listed above. The real numbers shift with the fat content of your yoghurt and milk and with the size of the banana.

• Calories: about 470 kcal
• Protein: about 29 g
• Carbohydrates: about 58 g (roughly 7 g of that is fibre)
• Fat: about 17 g

Variations and swaps

If 470 kcal is too much first thing in the morning, drop the peanut butter and switch to 1.5% milk. That brings a serving down to around 380 kcal while protein stays close to 26 g. Going the other way on a heavy training day, add another 20 g of oats per serving.

Swap the fruit freely, but the choice changes the texture and the sugar. Raspberries give you the most fibre for the fewest calories, while strawberries make a thinner blend, so use slightly less milk with them. Kiwi works too, though blend it briefly — the seeds turn bitter if you overwork them.

No dairy? Soya milk is the only plant option that holds the protein up, at roughly 3 g per 100 ml. Almond and oat milk cut about 7–8 g of protein from the whole recipe, so push the yoghurt up to 400 g or add 20 g of ground flax and hemp seeds to compensate.

Peanut butter can become 30 g of almond butter or 15 g of tahini. If the idea of getting protein from thick yoghurt appeals, the same trick works in solid food — see the Greek yoghurt pizza base.

When to see a doctor

Regular bloating or cramping after yoghurt and milk usually points at lactose and is solved with a lactose-free version. A rash, swollen lips or any difficulty breathing after peanuts is different: stop and speak to a doctor, because that is not a recipe problem.

The short version

Greek yoghurt, milk and peanut butter together deliver roughly 29 g of protein per serving, which is about what a single scoop of powder in water gives you. The difference is the 7 g of fibre that comes along with it, so this one holds you for two to three hours rather than thirty minutes. Weigh everything for the first few goes — peanut butter is the one ingredient that quietly runs 100 kcal over.