The Healthy Breakfast Trend That You Should Be Making at Home

By Michele Foley

Updated on 3/15/2017 at 5:55 PM

Pitaya Bowl
Rancho Valencia
Rancho Valencia

If your breakfast routine is getting stale, it's time to start eating pitaya (aka dragon fruit). While you can enjoy dragon fruit on its own, it's so much better — and prettier! — when it's part of a pitaya bowl. Much like an acai bowl, frozen pitaya acts as the base for this antioxidant-charged smoothie bowl that helps kick your morning off with an energizing start.

While there are a lot of variations on making a pitaya bowl, I'm in love with this straightforward recipe from Veladora at Rancho Valencia. (So much so, that I had it just about every morning during a recent stay.) The bowl's smoothie base is the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and the toppings are made up of antioxidant- and fiber-filled ingredients like berries and granola. The bowl helped power me through my morning workouts, keeping me full until lunch. I also love the versatility of the dish — while it's tasty on its own, the simplicity makes it easy to build on. I often swap out the orange juice for almond milk, add a scoop of plant-based protein powder, or change up the toppings to what's in season.

Pitaya Bowl

Cook Time10 minutes
Yield1 serving
Calories316

From Rancho Valencia

INGREDIENTS

    • 3 ounces frozen pitaya
    • 1 frozen banana
    • 2 frozen strawberries
    • 1 cup of ice
    • 3 ounces fresh orange juice
    • Suggested toppings:
    • 1/2 banana sliced
    • 2 strawberries
    • 4 blackberries
    • 4 raspberries
    • 8 blueberries
    • Honey to taste
    • Handful of granola

    INSTRUCTIONS

    1. Add the pitaya fruit puree, frozen fruit, orange juice, and ice to a blender. Blend until creamy and smooth, adding extra orange juice (or almond milk) as needed to get the blender running. The finished product should be thicker than a smoothie.

    2. Pour the mixture into a bowl and top with sliced fruit, granola, and honey.