The Only Green Juice Recipe You’ll Ever Need

I drink green juice so often that my husband likes to joke that my eyes are so green because of how much celery and kale juice I drink. It’s the perfect drink after a workout on a hot day when I feel dehydrated, and I always try to start my mornings with a glass for the vitamins and minerals I need to get through my day.

Not only is celery a fantastic diuretic, which means it helps prevent and correct water retention and bloating, but kale, in particular, is nutritionally dense and packed with vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin B6, vitamin C, copper, calcium, potassium, and manganese which help brighten up your skin and help your nails, hair, and eyes look brighter and healthier.

This green juice recipe is a great way to help fit more servings of vegetables into your diet, it helps fill any nutritional gaps in the typical American diet, and it only takes about 15-20 minutes from start to finish, leaving you with a 3 days supply of perfectly fresh green juice.

Ingredients

4 Bunches of Organic Celery
4 Bunches of Organic Kale
2 Organic Cucumbers
1 Organic Meyer Lemon
Juicer
Mason Jars or another recycled glass jar (for juice storage)

Selecting The Ingredients

Whenever possible, select organic produce because it’s grown with fewer pesticides. This is important since we aren’t peeling pesticide-laden skins, shells, or peels from most of these as we would from an avocado, orange, or shelled nut, as whatever isn’t washed away ends up in our juice, and we don’t want to add additional pesticides to our juice.

Choose celery that is green, crisp, and firm, cucumbers without blemishes, and kale that is rigid and dark green. Lemons should be firm, without any discoloration on the peel, and no puncture marks.

My Cold Press Juicer

I use a Breville BJE430SIL juicer, which is a cold juicer, meaning that at no point are my ingredients ever heated. It’s important to use a cold juicer, because otherwise when the ingredients are heated, the nutrients begin to break down, making it less effective and less nutritious. 

Prepping the Produce

Wash all produce thoroughly, using a natural bristled bamboo brush like these or this one to remove any waxy coatings from the cucumbers or dirt from the celery and kale. For best results, make your juice the same day you purchase your ingredients.

Once the produce is completely cleaned, trim the ends off of the celery, kale, and both sides of each cucumber, making sure to cut away any damaged or discolored areas from your produce. Cut the lemon in half and either peel the halves as you would an orange if you’re adding them into the juicer, or leave them halved and use a hand juicer to save yourself some work.

Directions for Juicing

Begin by juicing the softest ingredients to prep the machine. I always begin with the cucumber, lemons (unless I’m hand juicing them and adding the lemon juice in at the end), and then celery on the low setting. Finally, I turn the speed up to high and juice the kale. 

If you have someone who can help you wash and trim your produce, it will make the process even faster. With my husband’s help, making fresh, organic green juice takes me less than 10 minutes, and since I do this 3 times a week, it makes it as simple as possible.

Optionally, you can pour the green juice through a cheesecloth-lined sieve to remove any of the tiny, still firm bits from the juice. However, I never do this because juicing removes most of the fiber from the end product, and I like to leave a little in. If you can only drink super smooth juices, this may be something you’d like to do, but I find that it is unnecessary.

Storing the Green Juice

Typically, I store my green juice in mason jars with the lids closed tightly in the refrigerator. When I’m ready to drink it, I either pour it into a glass or swap the mason jar’s lid out for a bamboo mason jar lid and bamboo straw. I generally finish this green juice within 2-3 days, but it can last a little longer if kept in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that the longer you leave fresh-pressed juice, the less fresh and effective the nutrients are in it as they break down, so it’s best to drink it quickly. 

Why I Love This Recipe

When I began regularly drinking this, I noticed that I was less bloated around my period or after hard workouts. I no longer had any issues with retaining water no matter what time of the month it was, my skin was clearer, and my hair was shinier. I have always loved green juice, and the “greener” it tastes, the better, in my opinion, but if you prefer a less “green” taste (like my husband), add more lemon juice to your recipe until it suits your preferences.