Nowadays widely thought of as one of the healthiest foods on the planet, chia seeds have multiple health benefits (they help with diabetes and weight loss for real), and also happen to be super antioxidants. Unfortunately, they still taste like jelly made all wrong, so we scoured the internet to find five different chia seed drink recipes that actually taste pretty great.

Low-Carb Fruity Chia Tea

The first thing to remember here is that you can also use caffeine-free tea, meaning you can drink it throughout the day and literally not lose sleep over it. Plus, it’s only 120 calories, so as far as chia seed drink recipes go, this is a definite win-win.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons chia seeds

1 cup water

2 cups brewed fruity tea of choice

Sweetener of choice

Instructions

Add chia seeds to 1 cup of water. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Mix the chia mixture with 2 cups of brewed tea. Mix well and refrigerate for another hour and it's ready to go.

Chia Fresca

Apparently used by the Mexican Tarahumara Indians – considered to be among the world’s greatest distance runners for centuries (they call it ‘Iskiate’) this chia seed drink recipe is now also called Chia Fresca, is vegan and takes five minutes to make. 

Ingredients

2 tbsp chia seeds

2 cups water

1 lime, juiced

1 tbsp honey (or maple syrup. Honey is non-vegan, btw)

InstructionsMix everything together in a container, large cup or sports bottle, and let cool in the fridge for at leats 2-3 hours. Drink this before a run or workout, and you're guaranteed that extra boost of energy. 

Banana Mango Chia Seed Smoothie

This can be made with both frozen fruit or fresh fruit (just use a bunch of ice to the other ingredients before blending, if you are) and heck, it has mango in it, so that’s basically all we need for the summer.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen/fresh mango

1 large banana

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup almond milk (or regular or coconut milk)

Optional: 1-2 drops orange or lemon essential oil

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Fruity Chia Seed Water

Yup, now you too can be better than everyone else and carry around your own homemade natural, healthy drink. We kid of course, but when you see how easy this is to make, it probably won’t be long before you’re jumping on this bandwagon, same as us.

Ingredients

1 large jug of water

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 cup chopped fruit (strawberries, lemons or bananas, the choice is yours)

Instructions

Place the chopped fruit and chia seeds into the jug of water. Shake or stir well and refrigerate until cool.

Raspberry Green Tea Lemonade With Chia

If you’re really looking to get the most out of your drink, you should know this chia seed drink recipe is full of vitamins, Omega 3, fiber and antioxidants. Pssst, you do need gelled chia seeds for this though, which you should ideally make a day in advance; it’s super easy.

Ingredients

1 cup water

3 tbsp chia seeds

2 green tea bags steeped in 1 cup water and cooled

1 cup raspberries boiled with ¼ cup water

Juice of 2 lemons, about ½ cup

¼ cup honey or other sweetener of choice, (possibly more to taste)

Instructions

Combine 1 cup purified water with 3 tablespoons of chia seeds.The chia seeds need several hours to gel, so do this ahead of time.

Steep green tea bags in 1 cup of hot water for 2-3 minutes. Discard tea bags and let cool.

In a saucepan, combine raspberries with ¼ cup water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Mash raspberries to release their juices. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and mash out as much juice as possible. Discard raspberry pulp. Combine the raspberry juice with the green tea.

In a small pitcher or bowl, blend together chia gel, raspberry green tea, lemon juice, and sweetener. Add more sweetener, to taste. Serve immediately or chill slightly before serving.

Well, there you have it: 5 ways to make the most healthy chia seed drink recipes. Got one of your own? Tell us in the comments below.