Order a smoothie in Brazil and you’ll get something close, but ask for a vitamina and you’ll get the real thing: ripe fruit blended with cold milk and a little sugar until it’s thick, frothy and filling enough to count as breakfast.
The most Brazilian of them all is vitamina de abacate, made with avocado. In Brazil, avocado is a sweet fruit, and blending it with milk and sugar is as normal as putting it on toast is in the United States.
Here’s what a vitamina is, the classic flavors, and how to make the avocado version at home.
Vitamina at a Glance
What Is a Brazilian Vitamina?
A vitamina is fruit blended with milk, usually sweetened, sometimes thickened with oats. It’s what Brazilians make when they want breakfast in a glass.
The difference from a suco is the milk. Brazilian juice bars blend fruit with water or ice for a suco, and with milk for a vitamina. Order a papaya suco and a papaya vitamina and you’ll get two very different drinks.
The name, meaning “vitamin,” reflects how the drink has always been sold: as the healthy, energizing start to the day. You’ll find it on the menu board of every padaria and juice bar, and in Brazilian homes it’s a standard way to use up ripe fruit.
Why Avocado Is Sweet in Brazil
For many visitors, vitamina de abacate is the biggest surprise on the menu. In most of the world avocado is savory. In Brazil, it’s traditionally treated as a fruit for dessert.
Brazilians mash avocado with sugar and lime, whip it into creams and mousses, and above all blend it into vitamina. Brazilian avocados also tend to be large, green-skinned varieties with a milder, more watery flesh than the Hass avocados sold in the US, which suits sweet preparations.
Blended with cold milk and sugar, avocado makes one of the creamiest drinks you can make at home, with a mild, almost buttery flavor.
Classic Vitamina Flavors
- Vitamina de abacate: avocado, milk and sugar, sometimes with a squeeze of lime.
- Vitamina de banana: the most common at home, often with oats (aveia) and cinnamon.
- Vitamina de mamão com banana: papaya and banana, a juice bar classic.
- Vitamina de morango: strawberry, sweet and pink.
- Vitamina de frutas: a mix of whatever is ripe, often banana, papaya and apple.
For something colder and thicker, Brazilians turn to açaí na tigela, and for the tropical flavors that go into juices and vitaminas, see our guide to Brazilian fruits.
How to Make Vitamina de Abacate
You need a ripe avocado, very cold milk, sugar and a blender. That’s it.
- Use a ripe avocado. It should give to gentle pressure. An underripe avocado tastes grassy and won’t blend smooth.
- Keep everything cold. Chilled milk and a few ice cubes keep the drink fresh and thick.
- Sweeten to taste. Start with a little sugar and add more after blending. Condensed milk makes it richer.
- Add lime. A squeeze of lime brightens the flavor and keeps the color green.
- Drink it right away. Avocado darkens as it sits.
The full recipe is in the card below.
Vitamina de Abacate (Brazilian Avocado Smoothie)
Brazil's creamy avocado smoothie: ripe avocado blended with cold milk and sugar, a classic breakfast and afternoon snack.
Ingredients
- 1 medium ripe avocado
- 2 cups (480 ml) cold whole milk
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar, or 3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon lime juice (optional)
- 4 to 6 ice cubes
Instructions
- Halve the avocado, remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a blender.
- Add the milk, sugar, lime juice if using and the ice.
- Blend on high for about 1 minute, until smooth and frothy.
- Taste and add more sugar if needed, then blend for a few seconds more.
- Pour into glasses and drink right away.
Notes
If your avocado is very large, start with half and add more to taste. Avocado darkens as it sits, so blend it just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a vitamina the same as a smoothie?
Close, but a vitamina is always made with milk. Many smoothies use yogurt, juice or plant milk, and a Brazilian fruit drink made with water is a suco.
Is vitamina de abacate sweet?
Yes. In Brazil, avocado is used as a sweet fruit, and vitamina de abacate is sweetened with sugar or condensed milk. It tastes creamy and mild, not savory.
Can I make a vitamina without dairy?
You can blend the fruit with oat or almond milk. It won’t be traditional, but the method is the same.
What’s the difference between a vitamina and a batida?
A vitamina is a milk and fruit drink for breakfast. A batida is a Brazilian cocktail made with cachaça, fruit and often condensed milk. For more on that side of the menu, see our list of Brazilian drinks.
More Brazilian Breakfast Foods
A vitamina goes with any Brazilian breakfast. Try it with Brazilian tapioca, a misto quente, pão na chapa, a plate of cuscuz nordestino or pão de queijo. For the full spread, see our guide to traditional Brazilian breakfast foods.
More Brazilian Foods
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.
