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- Acai bowls have gained popularity over the years, but they can get pricey at smoothie shops.
- I tried five types of frozen acai from three brands to find the best one for making bowls at home.
- I made tasty, affordable smoothie bowls with all the packs, but one from Trader Joe’s stood out.
The US acai-bowl-shop industry brings in nearly $1 billion in revenue a year, and it’s not hard to see why.
The native Brazilian berries are considered a superfood, with antioxidants that can have positive effects on your skin, digestive system, and heart
Plus, in my opinion, there’s nothing better than a chilled smoothie bowl on a spring or summer morning.
The bowls are typically thicker than traditional smoothies and topped with things like fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, coconut, and granola.
Store-bought acai bowls can eat away at my budget, so I recently started making them at home with frozen acai packs as my base.
In an attempt to find the best bang for my buck and the tastiest homemade smoothie bowl, I tried five varieties of frozen acai from three popular brands.
I used the same ingredients for all five bowls.
To keep things consistent, I blended one banana, one frozen acai pack, and a spoonful of honey-vanilla Greek yogurt for each smoothie bowl.
I then topped all five with fresh berries, banana slices, chia seeds, high-protein granola, and local organic honey.
First, I tried Sambazon’s unsweetened superfruit pack.
Sambazon’s unsweetened superfruit packs have 80 calories per serving and 0 grams of sugar.
I had a hard time tracking down the brand in stores, so I opted to order it online.
The Sambazon packs had the heftiest price tag. Still, I paid only $6 for four servings, which is still cheaper than buying a smoothie bowl.
Even though the acai wasn’t sweet, the smoothie bowl had a lovely flavor.
Even though the plain acai was a little bitter, the finished smoothie bowl tasted well-balanced.
The texture, however, was a little runnier than I usually like — even though I used the same ratios as the other bowls.
I also tried the Sambazon original acai blend.
If you want a natural boost in your smoothie bowl, Sambazon’s original acai packs also contain guarana, a caffeinated plant that grows in the Amazon.
Each serving has 100 calories and 12 grams of sugar, and the original packs were also $6 for four servings.
The smoothie bowl was much sweeter than my first Sambzaon experience.
If you have a sweet tooth, Sambazon’s original blend is a great option.
The overall flavor was also much lighter than the pure unsweetened acai.
I was excited to try Trader Joe’s organic acai puree packets.
Trader Joe’s frozen acai is unsweetened and organic.
Like the other unsweetened pack I tried, it had 80 calories and 0 grams of sugar.
The four-pack cost me $4, making it the cheapest of the bunch.
I loved how thick the smoothie bowl was.
The bowl I made with Trader Joe’s acai tasted the freshest and brightest of all the varieties.
It also had the thickest consistency, which was great for supporting lots of toppings — plus the bowl stayed looking pretty for pictures for a longer time.
Pitaya Foods’ organic premium acai berry packs were also sugar-free.
Like Sambazon, Pitaya Foods had a few different frozen acai packs. I started with the brand’s premium acai berry.
Each 88-calorie serving has 0 grams of sugar.
I found the four-pack listed on the company’s website for $8, but I was able to snag the same bag at my local Walmart for $5.
There was an interesting texture to my smoothie bowl.
The company’s namesake fruit, pitaya (also known as dragon fruit), is another popular base for smoothie bowls.
I thought the texture of the smoothie bowl I made more closely resembled a pitaya base than acai, but it was still thick and creamy.
Finally, I tried Pitaya Foods’ organic energy acai berry packs.
Pitaya Foods’ guarana blend had 108 calories and 10 grams of sugar per serving.
The ingredients were just guarana and cane sugar, and a four-serving bag cost me $5.
I couldn’t find a difference between this and the other guarana blend.
Pitaya Foods’ caffeinated acai packs tasted almost identical to Sambazon’s guarana blend.
However, it was lighter in color compared to the other smoothie bowls I made.
Trader Joe’s frozen acai mimicked a shop-bought bowl best.
Trader Joe’s topped my favorites list for this taste test.
Although the nutritional value was on par with Sambazon’s unsweetened option, the price and convenience (I shop at Trader Joe’s a lot) brought it to No. 1.
But in the end, all five options were tasty — and economical compared to shop-bought smoothie bowls.
This story was originally published on April 14, 2024, and most recently updated on August 6, 2025.
Read the full article here
