Matcha Maca Smoothie for Stress Relief and Calm Energy

Meet the newest edition to your stress toolkit: this matcha maca smoothie. This creamy, delicious recipe combines two powerful superfoods with stress-relieving benefits. Matcha supports calm, steady energy while maca promotes stress resilience. Paired together, it’s like sipping zen in a glass. 

Packed with antioxidants, fiber, and 32 grams of protein, this smoothie will sustain you all morning long. Perfect for a quick breakfast, post-workout recovery, and 100% cleanse-approved. Stress relief never tastes so good.

How This Matcha Maca Smoothie Helps With Stress

When most people think of stress relief, meditation and breathwork are often the first things that come to mind. Yet what you eat and drink can also have a powerful effect on how you handle stress.

This maca matcha smoothie is the perfect example. It’s carefully crafted with ingredients that ease stress and support relaxation.

Here’s a look at some of the benefits of this recipe:

Matcha for calm energy

Matcha is having a moment now and for good reason. Made from whole green tea leaves ground into a fine powder, this nutrient-dense drink has become a popular swap for coffee. It’s richer in antioxidants than standard green tea and has a higher caffeine content (70 mg vs 35 mg). Yet unlike coffee, matcha delivers a gentler, steadier boost of energy without the jitters. 

The secret to matcha's calming buzz lies in L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes relaxation. L-theanine creates a state of calm alertness by increasing alpha waves in the brain.2 It's shown to decrease stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and boost mental clarity.3 While all green tea contains some L-theanine, matcha boasts far more than other types of green tea. 

Maca for stress protection

Maca root is a plant native to Peru that grows at high altitudes in the Andes. Indigenous people have used it as a natural remedy for energy, fertility, and stamina for over 2,000 years.4 Rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants, it's boomed in popularity in recent decades. 

Aside from being a superfood, maca root is also an adaptogen. Adaptogens are a group of herbs, roots, or plants that help protect you from stress. They do this by regulating your HPA axis, your body’s stress response system. Chronic stress can dysregulate the HPA axis, which can lead to anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, and cravings. Adaptogens like maca help take the edge off so you can feel more resilient in everyday life.

Spinach is rich in magnesium

Spinach is one of our favorite leafy greens to sneak into smoothies. It's rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but has a neutral flavor that lets the other ingredients shine. 

Spinach is especially high in magnesium, a mineral dubbed "nature's chill pill." It reduces stress and anxiety by regulating cortisol and balancing neurotransmitters.5 This can help you feel calmer and support restful sleep. The problem? Stress depletes your body's magnesium stores. Eating magnesium-rich foods like spinach is an easy way to replenish them and keep stress at bay.

Cauliflower lowers inflammation

Most maca smoothie recipes get their creaminess from frozen bananas. To keep this recipe cleanse-approved for Clean 21 and Clean 7, we’ve used our favorite banana swap: frozen cauliflower. When blended into smoothies, it creates the same creamy consistency but is far gentler on your blood sugar. 

Cauliflower also brings more stress-busting benefits to the table. It’s extremely high in vitamin C, a nutrient that helps the adrenal glands regulate the production of stress hormones.6 Cauliflower also contains sulforaphane, a compound that helps calm inflammation in the brain linked to anxiety and depression.7  

Protein for blood sugar balance

Blood sugar crashes can increase the release of cortisol and adrenaline. Fortunately, protein stabilizes your blood sugar to help keep stress hormones in check. Protein also supplies amino acids, which your body uses to make feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

And this maca smoothie delivers 32 grams of protein per serving. The bulk of that comes from Daily Shake, our probiotic protein powder blend. Each scoop provides 21 grams of plant-based protein, along with 10 billion CFUs of probiotics.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make this matcha maca smoothie:

• Maca root powder: An adaptogen with a delicious malty flavor that supports energy, mood, stress resilience, and hormone balance.
• Matcha powder: Supplies antioxidants and L-theanine for calm, sustained energy. 
• Baby spinach: Adds vitamins, minerals, and fiber as well as a vibrant green hue.
• Cauliflower rice: Gives this smoothie a creamy texture, along with a boost of vitamin C.
• Clean Daily Shake: Delivers 21 grams of plant-based protein plus probiotics. 
• Almond butter: Adds a rich flavor and extra protein.
• Chia seeds: Thickens the smoothie and supplies omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and protein.
• Medjool dates: Adds natural sweetness and a rich caramel-like flavor. 
• Almond milk: The base liquid that helps all the ingredients blend better.

How to Make This Matcha Maca Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1½ cups frozen cauliflower rice
• 1 scoop vanilla Clean Daily Shake
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• ½ tbsp chia seeds
• 1-2 pitted Medjool dates (adjust to desired sweetness)
• 1 tsp maca root powder
• ½ tsp Clean matcha powder
• 1½ cups unsweetened plain almond milk

Directions

1. Prep and measure the baby spinach, frozen cauliflower rice, protein powder, almond butter, chia seeds, dates, maca powder, matcha powder, and almond milk. 

2. Combine all the ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy. Do a taste test and add another date for extra sweetness if desired. 

3. Pour the smoothie into a glass and enjoy!

Nutritional Facts

Per serving (with 1 date)

• Calories: 398
• Protein: 32 g
• Carbohydrates: 31 g
• Fat: 18 g
• Fiber: 11 g
• Sugar: 15 g

Recipe Tips & Variations

• Make it nut-free: If you have a nut allergy or sensitivity, you can still enjoy this recipe. Simply swap the almond butter for sunbutter and substitute almond milk with coconut milk or hemp milk. 
• Thicken it up: Prefer a thicker, slushier smoothie? Add between ½ to 1 cup of ice before blending.
• How to store: This smoothie will keep for about 24 hours when stored in a glass mason jar in the fridge. But like all smoothies, it’s best served fresh. 

Looking for more stress-relieving smoothies? Check out this chocolate ashwaghanda smoothie or this tropical ginseng smoothie.

If you make this recipe, we’d love to see your creations! Tag us on Instagram @Cleanprogram. 

Recipe and photography by Mindy Palmer

Sources:

1. Retrospecting the Antioxidant Activity of Japanese Matcha Green Tea–Lack of Enthusiasm? | MDPI 
2. L-theanine, a natural constituent in tea, and its effect on mental state | PubMed
3. Here’s What You Need To Know About L-Theanine | Cleveland Clinic
4. Exploring the chemical and pharmacological variability of Lepidium meyenii: a comprehensive review of the effects of maca | PMC
5. Magnesium and stress | NIH 
6. The role of vitamin C in stress-related disorders | Science Direct
7. Sulforaphane and Brain Health: From Pathways of Action to Effects on Specific Disorders | PMC