How to Make Jugo Verde (BEST Mexican Green Juice)
Jugo verde is a blended Mexican green juice loaded with an assortment of mostly green fruits and vegetables. This nutritious elixir promotes better health, vibrant skin, and overall energy and is one of my favorite Mexican drink recipes.
WHAT IS JUGO VERDE?
Translated as “green juice,” jugo verde is loaded with nutrients and made with fresh fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens that will help you power through your day. This vibrant and refreshing drink is known for its detoxifying properties and nutritional benefits, which is probably why it is so popular among market goers in Mexico.
I’ve tasted quite a few jugos verdes in my day. As a self-proclaimed jugo verde aficionada, I enjoy tasting the various versions different mercados have to offer throughout Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico. The green juice recipe that my tastebuds found most memorable and inspired this one was from a small mercado in a town outside of Oaxaca, called Mitla. Since cactus and aloe vera may not be easily accessible for everyone, I have recreated the flavors I remember, with easy-to-find ingredients so you can make it at home.
Making Mexican green juice is easy to make, but you must get the proportions just right to enjoy the mercado-grade concoction that I have come to love. All you need to make this recipe is a blender! I use the Vitamix, which is a high-powered blender, but the señoras in Mexico never use anything fancy and the jugo comes out delicious.
INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED
- Orange juice is naturally rich in vital nutrients, such as vitamin C and potassium. It is also naturally sweet, so your jugo verde requires no additional sweeteners. If you don’t have time to squeeze your own juice, try to get an orange high-quality orange juice from you grocery store, not one made from concentrate.
- Pineapples contain vitamin C and manganese and also have high amounts of antioxidants. Recently, I’ve been using the jarred pineapple spears from Costco. I love them! They come in a light coconut water syrup, which imparts a very subtle coconut flavor to my jugo verde.
- Green apples are lower in sugar and carbs than other apple varieties, and contain higher amounts of fiber, protein, potassium, iron, and vitamin K. You can use any variety of apple though.
- Dinosaur kale is high in fiber, low in calories, and has zero fat and minimal flavor when blended. If I don’t have kale, I’ll use spinach.
- Cucumbers are packed with water, vitamin K, and antioxidants.
- Parsley is technically an herb and it is a vitamin powerhouse!
- Celery stalk also aids in digestion due to its high fiber content.
For more of my favorite nutritious ingredients to add to drinks and smoothies, check out my article, Rise and Shine: 25 Nutritious Ingredients to Boost Your Morning Smoothie and my Apple Banana Smoothie Recipe.
RECOMMENDED BY LOLA FOR THIS RECIPE
Vitamix Professional-Grade Blender
I have owned a Vitamix blender for nearly 25 years and it is well worth the investment, especially for making smoothies, aguas frescas, and jugo verde! VIEW PRODUCT
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
This easy jugo verde requires a few simple steps and a total of 5 minutes:
1. Prepare the fruits and vegetables
- Wash all of the produce and roughly chop it into large pieces.
2. Add ingredients to blender
- Add the orange juice, fruits, and vegetables to a blender.
3. Blend
- Blend ingredients until completely smooth, for about 30 to 60 seconds.
4. Serve and enjoy
- Serve chilled. You can pour over ice if you like it extra cold.
LOOKING FOR MORE INSPIRATION?
- Rise and Shine: 25 Nutritious Ingredients to Boost Your Morning Smoothie
- Apple Banana Smoothie (Licuado de Manzana y Platano)
- Iskiate (Hydrating Chia Drink from Born to Run Book)
- Mexican Aguas Frescas and Drink Recipes
- Agua Fresca de Tamarindo
- Strawberry Beet Agua Fresca
- Mango Strawberry Agua Fresca
- All About Aguas Frescas
JUGO VERDE (BEST MEXICAN GREEN JUICE RECIPE)
Equipment
- Piitcher or carafe
- Juice glasses
Ingredients
- 2 cups orange juice chilled
- 4 dinosaur kale leaves or 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 pineapple spear
- 1/2 green apple
- 1/3 cucumber with skin
- 10 parsley sprigs
Instructions
- Prepare the fruits and vegetables. Wash all of the produce and chop it into large pieces.
- Blend orange juice, fruits, and vegetables until completely smooth.
- Serve chilled.
A Note from Lola
STORAGE & OTHER TIPS
- Ideally, it’s best to consume jugo verde immediately after preparation to retain its maximum nutritional value. However, I like to make enough to last 2-3 days and store it in a mason jar with a lid in the refrigerator.
- If using cold orange juice and ingredients, your juice should be ready right out of the blender.
- Reduce the sugar in this recipe by swapping out the orange juice with water or coconut water, which contains natural electrolytes.
- For extra potassium, add a banana to your Jugo Verde!
- For extra fiber and vitamins C, K, and E, add 1/4 cup of chopped cactus paddle.
- For digestive support and antioxidants, add about a tablespoon of fresh aloe vera pulp or a few fresh mint leaves.
- For additional immunity support, add fresh lemon or lime juice, before blending.
- For an extra kick of anti-inflammatory properties, add about an inch of peeled ginger.
Nutrition
Recipe originally published March 17, 2021 and updated with more clear instructions and step-by-step instructions and images on December 12, 2024
Lola’s Cocina is a small business that earns various revenue streams. This includes sponsored posts and affiliate commissions from linked products, which I use and love. This commission is an agreement between Lola’s Cocina and retailers, with no extra cost to readers. This income helps sustains the site.
Photography + Styling: Cacey McReavy (process shots by Lola)
Lola Wiarco Dweck
Lola is a Mexican-American recipe developer, writer, and cooking instructor who loves sharing her culture with the world. Growing up in California and spending summers in Mexico, Lola celebrates her family’s Mexican recipes and vibrant culture through Lola’s Cocina.
This recipe looks very close to what we drank over and over and over in Mexico City and Oaxaca and Guanajuato.
My favorite part of this smoothie is that you can’t taste the kale. I love the addition of ice cubes so that it’s nice and cold.
I had spare time at work (i work at a juice bar) so I whipped this bad boy up! We don’t have dinosaur kale just common curly kale but I still think it came out the same. Super delish, easy to make, and very refreshing!
Glad to hear you liked it! It’s great for your skin.:)
I really loved the juice, it was delicious. I love all the recipes that Lola puts on here.
Thank you, Darlene! Cheers to 2024.
I really love the pineapple in this jugo as it masks the bitter flavor of the kale! I personally don’t eat many greens so I kill many birds with one stone when drinking this. Yummy!
Yes, all of the fresh fruit overpowers the greens in this recipe so it’s delicious!
Good golly Miss Molly this is a well written and comprehensive recipe on all the natural goodness that comes from jugos verdes. I’ve been wanting to incorpoate a jugo verde into my weekly diet for quite some time now and this just gave me the boost I needed to make it happen. XOXO 💚
Stock up on the ingredients and get started ASAP! I usually make a quadruple batch.
I used regular kale (didn’t think to look up dinosaur variety before the store) and also used squeezed juice from the store. Still turned out great- though the kale I had was quite large, I used 2 1/2 large branches instead of 4.
That’s great – I’m glad you were able to adjust the recipe with regular kale and it still turned out great. I usually use dinosaur kale or spinach – whichever I have on hand. I like dinosaur kale because it lasts at least an entire week without wilting as long as I keep it in a mason jar with water.
I love this! Do you have a recipe for someone who DOES have regular access to nopal and aloe? I’d love to try it out that way.
Hi, Jay – my recommendation would be to add the equivalent of half of a small nopal paddle (about 1/3 cup nopal that has been cleaned and diced) and a tablespoon of aloe pulp to this recipe! That’s how the señoras in Oaxaca make it.
Wow, these are the exact flavors I crave in my jugo verde. It’s the perfect texture too, just like the ones I’ve tasted in Mexico. Thanks for sharing and making it with ingredients that are accessible to all of us.
So happy to hear that you love it! It’s the best.
This is as good as it gets! I’ve never tasted another recipe that comes so close to the ones in Mexico.