It’s that time of year again, time for green beer, green pancakes, green smoothies and Shamrock Shakes…As yummy as that looks did you know a SMALL McDonald’s Shamrock Shake has 530 calories, 14g of fat and 77g of sugar!! That’s frightening.
PS the “child”size has 490 calories and 69g of sugar – that’s about 6 times the recommended daily amount. That, my friends, should not be given to any child. Even as a cheat treat I would never go for this. So, what can you do when a minty craving hits?!? Well, I’ve come up with a healthy alternative that is still minty, sweet and 83% less sugar, 79% less fat and 74% fewer calories. It will have you jumping around as happy as a drunk leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day. Here is the Happy Health Freak’s Shamrock Shake Makeover…


- 1 frozen banana (about 100g)
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup spinach - to get that green colour without food colouring!
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Handful of fresh mint or 1-2 drops mint extract (not peppermint) - start with one drop you can add more if you like it minty
- 3-5 drops liquid stevia
- 3 ice cubes
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend on high!
- I made this so it would be quite thick. To make it a smoothie consistency you can add more almond milk or water.
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder (optional) - the McD's version is not chocatley, but who doesn't love chocolate mint?!
- Make it a protein shake! Add a scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder.
- 137 Calories, 26g Carbs, 3g Fat, 3g Protein, 178mg Sodium, 13g Sugar
- Nutritional info is gathered from MyFitnessPal and may not always be 100% accurate. It is meant to be used as a reference only.


gorgeous- and seasonal 😉
Thank you!!
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This looks deliciously healthy. We used to sell green bagels at this time of year at my coffee shop. We also sold a shamrock shake. That shake had so many calories but the high schoolers sucked them down daily, sometimes 2 times a day! AHHHH a teenagers metabolism! I love putting spinach in smoothies! Great recipe!
Thank you! Oh how I wish to have that teenage metabolism again 🙂 Spinach is such a great way to sneak in the greens!