These açaí bowls with crispy buckwheat cocoa clusters are such a refreshing, colorful, and fun breakfast or snack! A creamy base of blended açaí, banana, coconut water, and nourishing chia and hemp seeds is topped with crispy granola that’s made with buckwheat groats. The bowls are fun to assemble and so crowd-pleasing.

If you’ve ever tasted an açaí bowl at a smoothie-focused eatery or restaurant and wondered if you could make something equally refreshing, juicy sweet, and playful at home, the answer is yes.

These açaí bowls with crispy buckwheat cocoa clusters are proof that perfect açaí bowls are within your reach. All you need is a blender or a food processor and the right set of toppings.

While I love a smoothie for a refreshing snack, I’m not much of a smoothie person for breakfast. No matter what I put into the smoothie, I find myself hungry a little while later.

This may be a matter of needing more texture and variety than a sippable smoothie has to offer.

Açaí bowls, though? Those are a different story!

A good açaí bowl—one that’s loaded with nutritious toppings and made with a thick, creamy frozen base—hits the spot. It’s an ideal breakfast for warm weather.

This particular bowl, which features crispy, cocoa-scented buckwheat-and-seed granola clusters, is my personal favorite.

What are açaí bowls?

Simply put, an açaí bowl is made from a thick base of blended frozen fruit containing açaí and a set of toppings. Those toppings usually offer texture, crunch, and color.

In order to understand the concept of an açaí bowl, it’s helpful to first chat about the açaí berries that are its featured ingredient!

What is açaí?

Açaí is a purple berry that’s grown on the Açaí palm, which is native to South America. Açaí berries are often touted as a “superfood.” This is really just a way of saying that they contain an exceptionally concentrated, high amount of micronutrients.

Among those micronutrients are:

• Anthocyanins: plant pigments that lend a purple/red hue to foods and may offer anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and neurologically protective benefits
• Omegas: Açaí is packed with Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, which are also associated with anti-inflammatory action and are a type of “heart healthy” fat
• Fiber: beneficial for digestive regularity and for maintaining a healthy blood lipid profile
• Vitamin C: an important part of maintaining healthy immune function over time

Blending açaí

A key feature of açaí bowls is that they have a thick, almost creamy base. It’s smoothie-like, but not as liquidy as a regular smoothie.

In order to create this texture, it’s first and foremost important to use a pretty good blender.

My Breville Super Q is my blending BFF. It can handle so many types of textures and is great at creating a thick base for the açaí bowl.

It’s also important to use only as much liquid as you need to blend. Better to add liquid as you work than to use too much initially and then have to add more fruit.

Finally, I find it helpful to add frozen banana to any açaí bowl frozen base. The banana will help to create a creamy, spoonable texture that’s perfect for this type of recipe.

An irresistable buckwheat topping

Açaí bowl toppings can be very simple. A few layers of fresh or dried fruit, some coconut flakes, or some nuts or seeds is enough to create texture and pleasant crunch.

However, I really like to top my açaí bowls with granola.

Granola allows me to harness the benefits of whole grain foods—fiber, B Vitamins, and more—into my açaí bowls.

In this case, the granola is actually a psuedograin, rather than a grain. It’s made from pyramid-shaped, crispy, nutritious buckwheat groats.

What are buckwheat groats?

Buckwheat is what’s called a “psuedograin”: an edible seed that behaves like a grain for culinary purposes. Other pseudograins are quinoa and amaranth.

You may have seen buckwheat sold in a toasted form, which is known as kasha. Kasha makes lovely grain pilafs and porridges.

It’s also possible to purchase buckwheat groats that are raw and untoasted. From there, you can toast or cook the buckwheat as desired.

Raw buckwheat can actually be soaked, then dehyrated for raw, vegan granolas or treats.

I like to mix the buckwheat with maple syrup and spices, just as I might mix rolled oats for making granola, then bake it in the oven.

The result is granola that’s full of plump and pleasantly crispy buckwheat groats and seeds. It’s crunchy and sweet, and it will clump together in parts to create irresistable little clusters.

The cocoa clusters I can’t get enough of

I don’t say no to chocolate at breakfast, and the buckwheat cocoa clusters that are part of this recipe are a prime example.

Cocoa powder gives the clusters flavor and character. I also think that it complements the deep flavor of açaí nicely.

Açaí is a little tart, but it’s also got an unmistakably “dark fruit” flavor—think dark, sweet cherries or very ripe blueberries. Cocoa works so nicely with these flavor notes.

I like my granola to have lots of clusters, and that was certainly my intention with the buckwheat granola here. You may find that you have a mix of clusters and looser granola, which is fine.

You can increase how many clusters you have by not stirring the granola as it bakes and by allowing it to dry completely before breaking it up and storing it.

Speaking of storage, you’ll end up with more buckwheat granola than you need to make two açaí bowls. This is a good thing! It means delicious, chocolatey granola for future you.

You can store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. The recipe makes about three scant cups. It’s also naturally gluten-free.

Can I substitute store-bought granola?

Absolutely. If you don’t feel like preparing granola from scratch, you can try a store-bought granola of choice.

Any flavor would be fine, but a chocolate flavor may be fun in order to preserve the spirit of the recipe. I love the One Degree Organic Foods sprouted cacao quinoa granola myself.

A hydrating liquid base

One of the challenges in warm weather is to stay hydrated. If these açaí bowls make it into your spring and summer breakfast rotation, you can rest assured that they can help with maintaining fluid balance.

I like to use coconut water as a base for the bowls and a natural source of hydrating electrolytes: magnesium and potassium.

In addition, coconut water is naturally sweet. It picks me up nicely when I’m fatigued, under-hydrated, or simply looking to recharge.

The naturally occurring sugar in coconut water, along with bananas, helps to sweeten these bowls. On its own, açaí is a quite modestly sweet fruit.

If you’re not a fan of coconut water, you can replace it in the recipe with your favorite non-dairy plant milk.

Topping your açaí bowls

There can be a fine line between açaí bowls that are too spare and those that have become to “busy” with tons of toppings.

I think three or so toppings is the sweet spot.

Most of the time, my favorite trip of toppings for these açaí bowls are the buckwheat cocoa granola, some fresh berries, and some additional hemp seeds.

Shelled hemp seeds are a great source of plant protein, as well as additional healthful fatty acids.

Other fun toppings could be:

• Dried blueberries, cranberries, or raisins
• Coconut flakes
• Banana slices
• Mini dark chocolate chips
• Cacao nibs
• Chopped nuts or seeds of choice

With that said, it’s up to you to choose the toppings that seem most fun and appealing to you—or to the loved ones that you share these fun bowls with.

Here’s the recipe.

Whether you make the bowls as written, prepare the granola for enjoyment in other ways, or choose a different set of toppings, I hope you’ll love this fruity, cooling, nutritious combination!

xo