What to Mix Creatine With: Water, Juices, Smoothies, and More

3 Best Liquids to Mix With Creatine

Pairing creatine powder with nutritious drinks may have benefits in the gym and beyond.

3 Best Liquids to Mix With Creatine
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Creatine, a supplement taken to help enhance strength and athletic performance, is available in various forms, including tablets, capsules, and liquid. However, it usually comes in the form of tasteless powder. If you’re wondering what to mix creatine with, there are several delicious and nutritious options.

You can mix creatine with a variety of healthy liquids — including juices, protein shakes, and smoothies — to make the experience tastier and more well-balanced.

1. Take Creatine in Water

The easiest and most convenient way to take creatine is to mix it with water. If you’re taking a short-term loading dose to give yourself a boost of energy during an intense lifting period, it is recommended that you take 20 to 25 grams of creatine a day for up to a week, then switch to a maintenance dose.

It’s important to take a lower dose if you plan on using it long-term. Most people may be able to safely consume about 10 grams a day for up to five years. However, the recommended daily dose is 3 to 5 grams, and people with certain health conditions, such as kidney disease, may not want to take this supplement at all.

Your healthcare provider can offer more specific guidance based on your health needs, so speak with them before taking creatine.

You can take your daily dose of creatine with as much water as you’d like. If you don’t like the taste of creatine powder, add more water to dilute it. Though this may not be the most delicious option, it has some benefits. The body is made up of about 60 percent water, and drinking enough is essential for overall health.

If you don’t get enough, you could be at risk of dehydration. How much water you need depends on factors like the weather and your activity level, metabolism, and overall health. But if you’re working up a sweat, you’ll need to drink more.

 Taking creatine with water before or after a workout can help prevent dehydration.

2. Add Creatine to Juices and Smoothies

If creatine with water just isn’t doing it for you, experiment with different kinds of juices and smoothies. That way, you’ll not only get a strength boost but also some essential nutrients.

These days, it’s easy to find 100 percent juice, which provides the vitamins and minerals of fruits and vegetables without any added sugars.

 You can also make fresh juice at home.

One benefit of juice is that, if you’re combining several different fruits and vegetables into one blender, you’ll get a denser serving of those nutrients than you would by eating a single fruit or vegetable, like an apple or cucumber.

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that juice can have a few downsides. It can contain less fiber than the whole fruit or vegetable, though juice with pulp has more fiber than juice without. Additionally, a glass of juice often has higher levels of carbohydrates than a single fruit.

Your body needs these natural sugars for energy, but if you’re limiting carbohydrate consumption, eating whole fruits and vegetables may be a better choice.

In addition, juices tend to be less filling or satiating than whole fruits and vegetables, which may leave you feeling hungry if that’s your only meal.

Smoothies can also be high in sugar, especially if you’re buying prebought smoothies or ordering one at a restaurant. To be safe, it’s best to make these drinks at home.

Still, taking creatine with juice or a smoothie can be a great way to pack in some extra nutrients before a workout, as long as you’re combining it with an overall healthy, balanced diet. You can experiment with different juice and smoothie recipes to keep things interesting. If you need some inspiration, consider the following.

  • Green juice: Juices aren’t just about fruit. Green juice, made from vegetables, can be just as delicious. To make a green juice, use about two cups of spinach leaves or kale, several stalks of celery, two cucumbers, two apples, and some lemon juice and ginger. Spinach and kale are dark, leafy greens that are packed with vitamins A and C, folate, and magnesium.

    Apples also contain vitamin C, which works as an antioxidant.

  • Beet juice: Don’t shy away from beets. For a juice with an entirely different taste, throw two or three beets into a juicer, along with six carrots, two apples, and some lemon juice and ginger. Beets supply you with folate, fiber, copper, magnesium, and potassium, and they may have heart health benefits.

  • Apple, carrot, and blueberry juice: You can’t go wrong with berries — they’re filled with flavonoids and may be beneficial to heart health.

    For a sweeter, more fruity juice, combine apples, carrots, and blueberries (or other berries), along with any other fruits of your choosing. These juice options will give your creatine dose a little more flavor — and nutrition.
  • Blueberry and banana smoothie: You can also blend your creatine into a smoothie. Toss some frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries into a blender, along with a banana, an avocado, some Greek yogurt, a few spoons of almond butter, milk, and some honey. This smoothie will not only provide you with plenty of nutrients from the fruit, but also protein from yogurt and almond butter.

3. Mix Creatine With Protein

Protein or creatine? Athletes and weight lifters will often find themselves wondering which supplement will be most beneficial. But it’s possible that taking a combination of both protein and creatine supplements could work for you.

Creatine provides fuel for muscles during a workout, helping you lift more and maintain better energy during short bursts of intense exercise.

Meanwhile, protein is important for the aftermath, when your muscles require plenty of this nutrient to rebuild and grow stronger.

A review published in 2024 supports the idea that ingesting whey or casein protein before or after resistance training promotes muscle growth.

And a systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2020 suggests that generally healthy people who consume more protein tend to experience an increase in lean body mass (e.g., muscle), even if they aren’t doing resistance training.

Whey protein is a common supplement that comes as a powder that you can easily mix into drinks or soft foods like yogurt, oatmeal, or even pancake batter. It may help build muscle, heal wounds, and offer a nutritional boost for people recovering from severe illness.

For a filling, protein-packed snack or meal replacement, mix some scoops of whey protein with water, coconut milk or regular milk, cinnamon, and creatine. You can also create whey protein smoothies with soy milk, bananas, frozen berries, and avocados.

Alternatively, you can mix protein and creatine powder into oats or yogurt, or stir some into your morning coffee to get a strong start to your day.

The Takeaway

  • Creatine, a supplement that can help support muscle growth and athletic performance, often comes in powder form.
  • You can mix creatine with various liquids and soft foods, including water, juice, smoothies, and protein shakes.
  • Most people can safely take creatine, but it’s a good idea to speak with your doctor before starting this or any supplement.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
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Resources
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Sylvia E. Klinger, DBA, MS, RD, CPT

Medical Reviewer

Sylvia Klinger, DBA, MS, RD, CPT, is an internationally recognized nutrition expert who is relentlessly passionate about helping people fall in love with creating and enjoying delicious, safe, and nutritious foods.

As a food and nutrition communications professional, Dr. Klinger is a global nutrition professor, award-winning author, and the founder of Hispanic Food Communications.

She is on the board at Global Rise to build a formal community nutrition program as part of an ambitious initiative to create a regenerative food system in Uganda in partnership with tribal and community leaders. This program included an extensive training session on food safety and sanitation that displayed cultural sensitivity and various communication strategies and incentives to spread these important food safety and sanitation messages into the communities.

Her Hispanic background fuels her passion for nutrition, leading her to empower and encourage those in her community through the foods they enjoy in their kitchens. At the same time, she understands everyone’s needs are different and seeks to individualize nutrition and exercise to best fit each person and their journey to a happy, safe, and healthy life.

Her latest book, The Little Book of Simple Eating, was published in 2018 in both Spanish and English.

In her spare time, Klinger explores food and culture all over the world with her family, realizing the power a healthy lifestyle has to keep people together.

Lecia Bushak

Author

Lecia Bushak has been a health reporter for the last 6 years, covering diet, nutrition, fitness, and a variety of other health topics. Most recently, she was a health reporter for NPR/PBS in Cleveland. Prior to that, she wrote for Newsweek and Medical Daily. When she's not writing, she's painting, biking, or taking long walks.