The Acai bowl has taken the food world by storm over the last 6 months or so. Honestly, I’m a very late adopter to this trend. I know that Acai are healthy, but I wasn’t quite on board with this trend just yet.
Ironically, the thing that got me on board was a ridiculously priced version of this dish. While I was traveling a few weeks ago, I noticed a $10 version of an Acai bowl at a popular juice spot. I actually tried it just to see what could possibly worth $10.
I mean, it was good, but $10!?
I think these places are taking advantage of of trending food right now and your wallet is suffering if you are regularly buying these bowls. When I got home, I did a little research and figured out that (shockingly) you could make a homemade version of these bowls for about $3.
Equally good. A third of the price!
Basic Coconut Acai Breakfast Bowl
Equipment
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 2 100 g packets Acai puree, frozen
- 1 banana
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 cup coconut water
- ½ cup coconut milk, opt.
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup, or honey
- ½ cup granola
- Fresh berries
- Fresh mint
Instructions
- Run Acai packets under hot water for a few seconds. Then break up and add to blender with blueberries, coconut water, coconut milk, banana, and syrup (or honey). Blend until smooth.
- Transfer mixture to two bowls and top with handfuls of granola. Add fresh fruits and fresh mint.
- Serve immediately while very cold.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
What is an Acai Bowl?
Guys, it’s a smoothie that you eat with a spoon. That’s all it is. You can put anything in it that you would put in a smoothie. The idea is to make it slightly thicker though so you can’t drink it. Making it thicker makes it feel more like a meal, but it’s not rocket science (add less liquid).
The hardest part of this whole thing is hunting down the named ingredient. You can’t really find raw Acai or even frozen berries as far as I could tell. At least, they are not commonly available. What is though is this puree stuff that’s already perfectly sized for smoothies and bowls.
Four of these packets will set you back about $6. That seems like a lot until you compare it to the $40 you would spend at a smoothie bar on the same amount.
Making the Bowl
Team, this is just a smoothie. Toss the stuff in your blender. I added a banana, some frozen blueberries, agave syrup, and some coconut water and coconut milk to mine. The coconut milk isn’t totally necessary, but it smooths out some of the bitterness of the acai and makes it really creamy and delicious.
You might have to use a spoon to occasionally stir the smoothie while it blends (turn off the blender first!) because this mixture should be pretty thick.
It sounds crazy, but this finished mixture kind of tastes like slightly melted ice cream.
Toppings Galore
You can pile on whatever toppings you want to this bowl. Any nuts or fruit would go just fine. I went with some delicious fresh berries, a handful of granola for some crunch, and fresh mint.
Toss this all together and you are looking at one delicious breakfast.
I’ll spare you the math, but because you don’t use a ton of ingredients for each bowl serving, the cost per bowl is pretty low. It works out to about $3/bowl or maybe $4/bowl at the max if you use organic berries and stuff.
No matter what though, it’ll be as delicious as anything you buy at a smoothie shop and you can make it your own!
$10 for a smoothie in a bowl?! STOP IT.
Coco Rebelista
Thanks so much for sharing! :) I love açai bowls and will def try your receipe.
Xoxo,
Cíndy
http://bellezarebel.com
Sara
Interesting post; however, 2 Sambazon acai packs alone are $5 if you are buying them in the store, and only slightly lower than $5 from a distributor.
SaraB
Exactly what I was thinking, actually after I did the math a 10$ smoothie bowl from a store is much more cheaper than a homemade one. Acai packets 5$, Berries 5$~, other ingredients 5$+,, we already reached 15$ and the more toppings you add the more expensive it gets..
It’s a great recipe don’t get me wrong, thank you for it! It’s just that it’s not really cheaper, I came to this post hoping that it’s really a 3$ Acai bowl, but turns out nothing different it’s still expensive and not 3$. I tried everything, simply there is nothing called a cheap Acai bowl, or at least that’s what I personally learned after looking for all possible ways.
yinyangmom
Costco is selling 12 packs of it for $13
Lisa
Are they really I haven’t seen it
ERose
But you have to remember that all the ingredients are going to be used over multiple meals/bowls. You aren’t putting $5.00 worth of berries into one bowl, and you’re only using one açaí packet, not two. So when you divide out the servings you are looking at a bowl that is $5.00 or less.
Tiana Allen
A four month pack is six dollars in fresh thyme.
Noelevody
I love acai bowls but I don’t know where to get acai berry…. Please let me know. I live at Waterloo iowa please I want acai
Tito Vasquez
They sell açaí purée in the frozen section at your local health food store.
Trina
Trader Joe’s has them
Morgan Araujo
Check out Nativo Açai on Facebook! They ship and it is as close to Brazilian Açai (the real deal) that you can get! So good!
Brent
You can make anything at home less expensively than in an outlet. Try Starbucks or Macdonalds.
Scott
I would like all the information I can get for this product menus recipes best place to purchase in bulk etc
Missy
Nice but hey dont know the price! My sistwr owns her own vegan spot and her bowls are that expensive bc she hand makes them… with all organic products… fresh… daily… so yeah they are worth the money! Great to make yourself but worth the price of someone else making them too❤❤
Cris Lima
I’m Brazilian and from the Amazon State. I don’t think an $10 is too much for an açaí bowl. You gotta realize that açaí berry is a tropical fruit that has Import/Export costs + other miscellaneous costs.
Also there are costs of making and serving it. Business Costs and so forth.
Now!! If you ask any person that really knows how açaí tastes like he/she will tell you that Sambazon is a water flavored with açaí! ()
Sorry, but this article is a biased opinion!!!
Tina
I agree!!! I just had my 1st Açaí bowl and it was $12!!! yes it was delicious but I will never pay that much again!!! I did the same thing!! I want to make this at home!! Started looking at recipes (yours sounds delicious) and found so many good ones!!! Thanks for sharing!! Now in to making our Açaí bowls at home!!