Tips For Making The Perfect Acai Bowl Or Smoothie Bowl

Every single time I make an acai bowl or a smoothie bowl on my Instagram stories, I get someone who asks me how I make it, how I get my consistency right each time or just — what the heck is an acai bowl? 

I get it — before I moved to Hawaii, I had absolutely no idea what an acai bowl or smoothie bowl was, much less how to make one. Today I’m sharing the best tips I’ve learned over the years for making the perfect acai bowl or smoothie bowl every single time!

Tips For Making The Perfect Acai Bowl Or Smoothie Bowl

First things first – what is an acai bowl? 

We have Brazil to thank for the delicious acai bowl. “Açaí na tigela is a Brazilian dish made of frozen and mashed açaí palm fruit. It is served as a smoothie in a bowl or glass, and is commonly topped with granola and banana, and then mixed with other fruits and guaraná syrup.” Here in Hawaii, they are incredibly popular and the acai packets can be found at the grocery store (or Costco) in the freezer section. 

And what is a smoothie bowl?

A smoothie bowl can be made from any frozen fruit or vegetables and topped with fruit of your choosing. It’s the same concept as an acai bowl, minus the acai packet. 

Tips For Making The Perfect Acai Bowl Or Smoothie Bowl

For starters, it’s really important that you have a high-powered blender. I will sing the praises of my Vitamix all day long, but any high powered blender with a tamper will work. The tamper is important, because it give you the ability to mash down your ingredients that are mostly frozen. I have the Vitamix Pro 500 and use the frozen desserts setting for my bowls, but there are quite a few different models to choose from.

Going off the importance of having a blender with a tamper, to get the perfect consistency, using a very minimal amount of liquid is essential. This is why a tamper plays a key role, because being able to push down the ingredients against a high powered blade is key to getting them to mix together. 

My rule of thumb is to use fresh fruit or liquid, not both. If you use both, your bowl base will become too soupy. You want the acai base or smoothie base to be the consistency of frozen ice cream. If you are determined to use both, start with one or the other and see how it goes. The rest of your added fruit or acai packets should all be frozen.

The most important step is to add your liquid or fresh fruit FIRST. Then add in your acai packet and frozen fruit or ingredients. When everything is in the blender, I make sure my Vitamix is set to frozen desserts and turn it on. In less than 2 minutes, I have the perfect acai bowl base or smoothie bowl base and it’s time to get creative with my toppings!

I hope these tips are helpful if you are on a mission to make the perfect acai bowl or smoothie bowl! All set with technique and ready to take on some recipes? Check out my Strawberry Mango Smoothie Bowl or Easy Pineapple Acai Bowl!