This lychee smoothie is light and refreshing, and perfect for an easy summer breakfast. Made without yogurt or banana, it combines juicy sweet fruit with mint for a slightly tropical feel!
Sometimes I feel as though I'm a little stuck in a rut with breakfast. Now I love my apple and pear smoothie and come winter I'm all about the apple pie porridge, but it's always fun to liven things up with a more unusual fruit (where I live at least!), which is where this lychee pear smoothie comes in!
Fresh, light and perfectly sweet without being overly sugary, lychee is just so delicious. I've combined it with pear and mint so it feels perfect for summer and so refreshing.
Love lychee like me? Try out my lychee mocktail for your summer drinks party!
Jump to:
Why this recipe is so good
Refreshing and light. Lychee has a unique sweetness that feels bright and so perfect for summer. So refreshing with the mint and pear!
Made without banana or yogurt. We leave out these typical smoothie ingredients as they aren't suitable for those on a vegan or low histamine diet. Instead, the hemp seeds help thicken the smoothie.
Quick and easy smoothie. There's barely any prep, then just a quick blend and your tasty breakfast smoothie is ready!
Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
- Lychee - I use lychee from a can in this recipe, but you can of course use fresh too. If using fresh, then you may need to add a little more maple syrup or a spoonful of apple juice for some extra sweetness.
- Pears - any sweet pear will work in the recipe, such as Bartlett pears, Anjou pears or conference pears.
- Mint - definitely use fresh mint leaves and not dried!
- Shelled hemp seeds - make sure they are the shelled hemp (sometimes called hulled hemp) seeds as they are much softer, will blend more easily and have a better taste.
Swaps and variations
Use your favourite variety of pear. This is quite adaptable, so as long as it is fresh, ripe and has some sweetness, any pear will work well with the lychee.
Swap maple syrup for agave syrup. Either type of syrup works well to add a little sweetness to the fruit.
Equipment needed
Blender - to blend your smoothie. I use a Nutribullet but any high speed blender will work well.
Sharp knife - to dice the pears.
Apple corer - if you prefer, you can use a corer to remove the core of the pears.
Step by step instructions
This canned lychee smoothie couldn't be easier to make, and has only two steps:
Step 1
Remove the core, stem and seeds from the pears with a sharp knife. You can also use an apple corer to do this (image 1).
Step 2
Add all the ingredients to your blender, and blend to a thick smoothie (image 2). Add ice to preference, pour into your glasses and serve immediately.
Recipe tips and notes
- Choose ripe pears. Make sure your pears are ripe so they have a nice sweetness to them (and blend more easily).
- Add around a tablespoon of the syrup if using canned lychee. Any more and the smoothie may be overly sweet and too thin in texture.
- Adjust amount of ice to taste. Drop in ice a cube at a time so it doesn't become overly watery and dilute the taste too much.
Frequently asked questions
Lychee is has a light and refreshing taste, with a delicious sweetness. It's slightly floral in flavour with a hint of citrus. Using lychee from a can with syrup will likely make it taste a littler sweeter than fresh lychee.
Lychee are fruit so they will usually be in the produce section. If using canned lychee they will be in the pantry staples section with canned fruit and vegetables.
Sweet pears work well in recipes with lychee, including conference pears, Bartlett pears and Anjou pears.
A note for my low histamine readers
Lychee score 0 on the SIGHI list, and this likely refers to fresh lychee rather than canned lychee. I would suggest that you use fresh lychee in the smoothie unless you know you tolerate canned well.
If using fresh, you may wish to add a touch more milk and/or apple juice to loosen up the smoothie.
More smoothies and juices
Whether it is for breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack, you will find lots of tasty ideas on my smoothies page, including my mango blueberry smoothie and my pomegranate mango smoothie. For another green smoothie, check out my celery cucumber smoothie!
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And please do leave a star rating if you tried the recipe!
Recipe
Lychee smoothie
Equipment
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- ½ can lychee in syrup (about 8 lychee, or fresh lychee)
- 2 small pears diced
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon shelled hemp seeds
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ½ tablespoon mint leaves optional
Instructions
- Dice the pears into small pieces to blend, removing their core, stems and seeds.
- Add all the ingredients to your blender, and blend to a thick smoothie. Pour into your glasses, add ice to taste and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you prefer to use fresh lychee, then I suggest adding a tiny touch of apple juice to give a little more sweetness. You may also need a little more milk for a thinner consistency.
- Add around a tablespoon of the syrup if using canned lychee, not too much more as it will thin the smoothie too much.
- The pears don't need to be even in size when dicing as they will be blended. But make sure to remove the stems, seeds and core.
- Be sure to use shelled hemp seeds as they are softer in texture.
- lychee scores 0 but this will likely refer to fresh. If using canned only do so if you know you tolerate, and check for other ingredients.
- pears score 1.
- non-dairy milk has variable scores.
Leave a Reply