Nutella Smoothie Bowl, Vegan + GF

This Nutella smoothie bowl is creamy, decadent, and tastes like a giant bowl of Nutella ice cream. You won't believe that it's made with healthy ingredients, like bananas.

It doesn't get much more decadent than this healthy Nutella smoothie bowl. It has the creamiest texture that actually made me question whether I should label this as a smoothie bowl. For a solid week, I went back and forth: smoothie or ice cream, smoothie or ice cream...?

I settled on smoothie (clearly) because I felt like expectations for ice cream are WAY high. Is this recipe mind-blowing for ice cream? Probably not. Is this recipe mind-blowing for a smoothie bowl? HELL YES!!

Technically, this recipe is "nice cream," but I assumed most people don't know what that is - right?? And, now that I've brought this up, I might as well explain it. Nice cream is healthy "ice cream" that uses frozen bananas as its base. You can add other fruit and / or flavoring to make it your own. It'll never quite compete with real ice cream, but it's pretty close!

The only reason I know about nice cream is because it was relatively common when I spent time in Copenhagen a few years ago. As you can imagine, it was the perfect guilt-free, indulgent treat. Tell me below in the comments if you've heard of "nice cream" before. I'm so curious!!

Ingredients in this healthy Nutella smoothie bowl:

Frozen banana

Toasted hazelnuts

Almond butter

Plant-based milk

Cocoa Powder

Topping ideas

Fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, etc)

Nutella (because why not!!)

Cacao nibs

Chocolate crispy quinoa

Chocolate chips

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I make this smoothie ahead of time and freeze?

You can certainly make the banana nutella smoothie ahead of time, but it will be very solid when pulled from the freezer. Texture wise, it will feel more like ice cream vs. a smoothie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Can I use whole hazelnuts instead of hazeulnut meal?

Absolutely. However, you will want to toast and de-skin the hazelnuts. It's not 100% necessary to peel them, but a lot of people find that the skin gets stuck at the back of their throat. If you are looking for hazelnut meal, I love the one from Thrive Market (affiliate link).

Can I sub another nut butter for almond butter?

Yep! I thought almond butter paired the best, but this recipe is quite flexible. You can try peanut butter, cashew butter, or even my healthy Nutella.

How can I make this smoothie thinner / more drinkable?

Just add some ice cubes or water to thin it out a little bit.

Craving more chocolate-y goodness? Check out these favorites:

Easy + Healthy Nutella

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cups

Black Bean Brownies w/ Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Skillet Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie