Protein Acai Bowl
4
Published Jun 10, 2024, Updated Sep 24, 2024
This post may include affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
Make a high protein acai bowl with banana, berries, frozen acai, greek yogurt, protein powder and all your favorite toppings! It’s healthy, easy to make and packed with 30+ grams of protein.
If you love acai bowls, but are trying to get your protein in, I’ve got the perfect solution for you… this protein acai bowl!
It’s similar to my classic acai bowl recipe, but this one is packed with over 30 grams of protein thanks to the addition of protein powder and greek yogurt! It’s the perfect way to start your day or makes for a great post-workout treat.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Nutrient-Packed – Loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and 30 grams of protein, this bowl will keep you fueled and satisfied for hours.
- Easy – It comes together in minutes… just add everything to a blender, blend, pour into a bowl, add your toppings and enjoy.
- Customizable – The best part about smoothie bowls are the toppings… feel free to get creative and add whatever your heart desires. I love topping this bowl with homemade granola, toasted coconut, fresh berries, chia seeds and nut butter, but the options are endless!
Ingredients Needed
- unsweetened acai packet – acai is a superfood rich in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals. The acai packets are simply acai puree that has been frozen. I personally like the Sambazon brand and always buy the unsweetened variety. The sweetened packs have a lot of sugar added! No thank you!
- frozen banana – frozen banana adds natural sweetness to the smoothie bowl and makes it thick and creamy. Be sure to freeze your bananas after they’ve been peeled. You can freeze them in chunks or chop it into chunks after freezing.
- frozen berries – you can use whatever type of frozen berries you have on hand. I usually use a frozen berry blend, but using either frozen blueberries, strawberries or raspberries works great.
- greek yogurt – this adds creaminess and more protein! I typically use plain full fat Greek yogurt, but low fat would also work. You could also use vanilla Greek yogurt, but it would make the smoothie bowl a bit sweeter.
- vanilla protein powder – the main source of protein in this acai bowl. I personally love Truvani. It’s vegan, has minimal ingredients and tastes delicious. That said, feel free to use your favorite brand of protein powder. (See my favorite protein powders).
- non-dairy milk – I like to use unsweetened almond milk or oat milk, but you can use any type of milk you have on hand. You only need a little bit of liquid for this smoothie.
Recipe Substitutions
- Protein powder: Feel free to use your favorite flavor of protein powder. If you’re not a fan of protein powder, you can leave it out (the Greek yogurt will still give you a good amount of protein) or make my regular acai bowl instead.
- Frozen berries: If you don’t have frozen berries on hand you can totally use a different frozen fruit like pineapple, cherries or peaches to change up the flavor.
- Make it dairy-free: Swap the greek yogurt with a dairy-free yogurt alternative. I love the siggi’s plain plant based yogurt, which has 11 grams of protein per serving.
- Not a fan of bananas? If you don’t love bananas, you can use 1 cup frozen mango instead!
- Want to add greens? Go for it! Add a handful of spinach or kale to the blend for an extra dose of greens without altering the taste too much.
How to Make Protein Acai Bowl
Step 1: Add all ingredients to a high speed blender, like a vitamix.
Step 2: Blend on a low setting for a few seconds while slowly increasing the speed and using a tamper until you have a creamy consistency. Once combined, scoop your mixture into a bowl and add desired toppings.
Brittany’s Tips!
- Make sure you are using unsweetened frozen acai berry packets for this recipe. The sweetened packets will make too sweet.
- I highly recommend using a high-powdered blender with a tamper like a Vitamix blender. The tamper is critical for pushing the ingredients around and you definitely need a machine that has power when you’re working through this amount of frozen fruit.
- Acai bowls are meant to be super thick and scoop-able with a spoon! Using frozen fruit and a small amount of liquid will help ensure your smoothie bowl ends up nice and thick.
Topping Ideas
This is the fun part about smoothie bowls and the options are truly endless here! Here are some of my go-to toppings:
- fresh fruit – I I love adding fresh fruit as a topping to my smoothie bowls! My go-to’s are fresh banana slices and a combination of strawberries and blueberries, but any fresh fruit works. I also love adding kiwi slices and chopped mango when I have those on hand.
- granola – want to add some texture to your smoothie bowl? Add crunchy granola on top! Try my homemade granola or this protein granola for even more protein.
- nut butter – can’t go wrong with a little peanut butter or almond butter drizzled on top. Plus, it adds some protein and healthy fats! For a nut-free option use sunflower seed butter or tahini.
- nuts and seeds – add healthy fats and more protein with chia seeds, hemp seeds or chopped nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews or pecans.
- coconut – add toasted coconut or shredded coconut for added sweetness and crunchy!
- chocolate – for all my chocolate lovers out there add some cacao nibs or chocolate chips.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frozen fruit helps achieve a thick, creamy texture for the acai bowl. If you use fresh fruit, you might need to add ice cubes to help achieve the desired consistency.
Yes! Acai is loaded with antioxidants, healthy fats, fiber and essential vitamins and minerals and this acai bowl specifically, is packed with over 30 grams of protein to help keep you full and satisfied for longer. That said, you can easily overdue it on the toppings and end up with a smoothie bowl that has way too many calories, so just be mindful of your toppings!
More Smoothie Bowls to Try
- Ultimate Green Smoothie Bowl
- Ultimate Healthy Smoothie Bowl
- Blue Smoothie Bowl
- Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl
- Pumpkin Smoothie Bowl
- Maqui Berry Smoothie Bowl
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Protein Acai Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 unsweetened acai packet
- ½ frozen banana, in chunks
- ½ cup frozen berries
- ½ cup full fat greek yogurt
- 1 scoop (25 grams) vanilla protein powder
- 2 Tablespoon-¼ cup milk of choice
Instructions
- Let frozen acai packet sit out at room temperature for a couple minutes, just enough for the packaging to loosen. Remove from the package and cut or break the frozen pack into pieces.
- Add acai, banana chunks, berries, yogurt, protein powder and milk into your blender.
- Pop the lid on your blender and begin on low, slowly increasing speed as everything starts to combine. Use the tamper on your blender to push things around. This might take a bit just because everything is frozen and the smoothie bowl will be thick (but this is what we want)!
- Once everything is combined and smooth, scoop your blended smoothie into a bowl and top with desired toppings.
Notes
- Thick smoothie bowls can be hard to make unless you have a high-powered blender with a tamper. I’ve found that my Vitamix blender works great for smoothie bowls like this one!
- Banana – don’t like banana? Swap the banana for 1 cup frozen mango.
- Yogurt – need this bowl to be dairy-free or vegan? Use a dairy-free yogurt instead.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made my first ever açaí bowl and your açaí protein bowl was so so good! So filling and yummy!
Delicious! This is one of my favorite ways to get protein in, Lucy. I am so glad you are loving it. Thanks for your review & star rating, means so much to me!
Brittany, where do you get frozen açaí packets? Are they frozen purée?
Thank you
Hi Kim! Yes, you can get them in the frozen section at most grocery stores. It is usually with the frozen fruit. Enjoy!