Name: Pumpkin & Chia Breakfast Smoothie
Prep time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 cup milk (any milk, including plant based - soya, rice or almond milk); 1 tablespoon chia seeds; 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; 1 cup fresh pumpkin or use 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree; tiny pinch salt; 2-3 teaspoons maple syrup date or rice syrup is also fine to use (or sugar)

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This Pumpkin & Chia Breakfast Smoothie Recipe is perfect if you don’t want to have any carbs in the morning. Full of natural fibre and protein, this smoothie is made from pumpkin puree, chia seeds, plant-based milk and delicious pumpkin pie spice.

Why make this recipe ?

Great pumpkin flavour
Low calorie, very low carbohydrates
Can be made dairy free & high in natural protein

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Preparing the chia seeds

You’ll need to get a little bit organised to make this recipe as you’ll need to soak the chia seeds for about 12 hrs.

The best thing is to do this in the evening – all you need to do is to measure out about 1 cup of plant based milk and one tablespoon of chia seeds. Stir it in a suitable container (I use a glass with a reusable plastic lid) and stick it in the fridge.

In the morning, you’ll just need to mix all the other ingredients in and you have a breakfast on the go!

I have also soaked chia seeds in water and that worked really well. Especially if I don’t have a lot of milk or want to use the chia seeds as a replacements for eggs for vegan baking.

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Time saving tip

I make quite a lot of smoothies with chia seeds or use them in my breakfast oatmeal. To get myself organised, I have about three lots of chia seeds soaked in plant based milk in a large tub in my fridge.

You can use any kind of milk, but plant based milk lasts longer than regular milk and won’t go off before you use the chia seeds.

Notes on ingredients

Pumpkin

You are welcome to use fresh pumpkin if you’ve just carved your Halloween pumpkin or use canned or preserved pumpkin in a tin.

I’ve also used my own homemade pumpkin butter for this recipe (or you can use a shop bought). If you are using pumpkin butter, add only 1/2 cup and don’t use any extra sugar or sweetener and use less pumpkin pie spice as there is sugar and spice in the pumpkin butter already.

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Milk

Diary milk any milk, including plant based – soya, rice or almond milk

Chia seeds

You will need to prepare these the night before by soaking them in the milk and leaving them in the fridge for at least 12 hrs (see my notes above).

Sweetener

You can use maple syrup date or rice syrup. It’s absolutely fine to use a regular sugar, especially dark sugar gives wonderful deep flavour.

If you are using sweetened canned pumpkin or pumpkin butter, don’t add any extra sweetener to your smoothie unless you’ve tasted it at the end you really think that the smoothie needs it.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

I’ve used my own homemade mix of pumpkin pie spice, but you can also buy the mix in the shops. Alternatively if you don’t have a ready made mix, you can use just cinnamon or any of the warming spices such as cloves, aniseed, nutmeg, mace or cinnamon.

Salt

The salt helps to bring all the flavours together and helps to sharpen the slightly bland flavour that pumpkin can sometimes have.

How to make Pumpkin & Chia Breakfast Smoothie

Put the chia seeds in the milk and leave overnight in the fridge to soak. This helps to soften the chia seeds and makes them easier to digest.

In the morning add all the other ingredients – pumpkin puree, maple syrup, tiny pinch of salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

Mix everything together with a fork (if you want your chia seeds to stay intact) or blend the mixture in a handheld blender until all ingredients are smoothly mixed.

Taste and add and adjust the flavour to your liking. I sometimes add more pumpkin puree or extra maple syrup.

How to make this pumpkin smoothie extra filling

This Pumpkin & Chia Breakfast Smoothie is about 320 calories, which is fairly low. The smoothie contains plenty of fibre, fat and protein to make you feel full and give you enough energy for few hours.

If you want to make the smoothie more filling, you can add raw egg to your smoothie (extra 75 cal & extra fat & extra protein) or 1/4 cup of any types of oats (extra fibre) or flavour-free sunflower or rice oil. This will build up the smoothie to about 500 calories, which would be perfect if you want to use it as a meal replacement.

Storing & keeping your smoothie

My Pumpkin & Chia Smoothie is best used straightaway, but if you want to keep your smoothie for a bit longer, it should be fine for 12-24 hrs in the fridge.

This smoothie can sometimes separate, but that’s easily fixed by stirring the smoothie with a fork.

If you can’t finish your smoothie in one day, you can freeze the smoothie and use it within 3 months or so.