OK y’all. Hold on to your horses and to your hats. This DELICIOUS ice cream is vegan, 100% healthy, and has only TWO ingredients. I’m serious.
Bananas + Cocoa Powder. Boom. Ice cream. Or, “nice cream,” as the kids are calling it these days.
If you haven’t already heard of the banana “nice cream” trend, it’s time to hop on the bandwagon. It is seriously delicious and a completely valid alternative to traditional ice cream.
It’s creamy and even melts like ice cream! The banana tastes surprisingly neutral as well (must be because it’s cold), making it a great base for other flavors (yet it still adds natural sweetness without refined sugar).
I’ve tried a few healthy alternatives for decadent treats.
Once, I tried making those banana “cookies.” You’ve probably heard of them: those “cookies” that have only bananas and oats and are somehow supposed to taste like cookies? False. They do not. (I made energy bars instead using the same idea.)
This ice cream, on the other hand, is a worthy substitute. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it tastes exactly like real ice cream with cream and sugar, but it will certainly satisfy your craving for ice cream if you get one.
The steps for this are simple. The basic gist is this: blend frozen bananas and cocoa powder in a food processor (a blender can also be used) until it looks like soft serve ice cream.
…that’s it.
Tips and tricks for making banana ice cream
Here are some tips for the perfect chocolate banana ice cream every time, plus some ideas for other flavor combinations.
Slice and freeze the bananas.
First, slice the bananas, and place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
You want to freeze the bananas sliced so it doesn’t break your food processor or blender when you make this by trying to break up an entire frozen solid banana.
Place the sliced bananas in the freezer for at least 25 minutes on the baking sheet. At this point, you can transfer the bananas to a bag or container to keep in the freezer until you want to make the ice cream, or make the ice cream immediately.
By flash freezing the bananas individually, they won’t freeze together in one solid chunk, and you can keep a bunch ready to go in your freezer for when you have an emergency ice cream craving!
Use a food processor
You can make banana ice cream in either a food processor or a blender, but having used both, I HIGHLY recommend using a food processor.
Similarly to making peanut butter from scratch, the frozen bananas will turn to a crumbly texture and all of a sudden, magically, turn to the most beautiful, soft, and fluffy soft-serve ice cream texture.
The blender version comes out a bit more dense and chunky, but still delicious.
And if you’re in the market for a great food processor, I recommend this one (more professional) or this one (cheaper) by Cuisinart.
Play around with flavor combinations.
- Make it sweeter: Is the ice cream not sweet enough with just the banana? Add some honey or maple syrup to it, to keep it refined sugar free.
- Use only bananas! Do you ONLY have bananas and nothing else? You can make this a one-ingredient ice cream just as easily.
- Add extra ingredients. Add some peanut butter for flavor and protein. Add some fresh strawberries or raspberries to the mix. Add some vanilla extract! Or canned pumpkin with pumpkin pie spices! Or what about some coffee beans and/or some Kahlua for a grown-up treat? I’m getting so excited here.
The possibilities are endless. When you are done blending the ice cream, you can even stir in some nuts, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, or other typical ice cream toppings for a chunkier texture.
So there you have it! A completely guilt free way to satisfy your ice cream cravings. If any of you try a great flavor combination, leave it in the comments below!
Enjoy :-)
Two-Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Equipment
- Food Processor
Instructions
- To prepare for this, slice the bananas and freeze on a parchment covered baking sheet for at least 25 minutes.
- Put the frozen sliced bananas and cocoa powder in a food processor (a blender can also be used) and turn on.
- Blend together until the mixture looks like soft serve ice cream (1-2 minutes).
Notes
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Ann
This was too easy and so good. I’ve been vegan over a year and haven’t really wanted to eat vegan ice cream with coconut oil. This is PERFECT with too many variations to list…nuts fresh or frozen fruit peanut butter vanilla extract dark chocolate!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Have fun experimenting with more flavor combinations!
MamaKrampus
Used 6 Bananas and 3 Tbspn cocoa powder. Then stirred in chopped oreos. Froze and thawed for later use. Very good. Would do again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Elizabeth McDonald
How big is a serving?
Elizabeth Lindemann
This will depend on how many bananas you use and how big they are. The recipe is written to have two servings, so it’s half of whatever you make. Hope that helps!
FIONA
Hi, just wondered, once you have blended the bananas and made the ice cream, can you put it back in the freezer to use at a later date or do you need to use it immediately? Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
Banana ice cream will freeze solid if you put it back in the freezer – you could do this, but you’ll likely need to let it thaw a little, and/or reblend it to get a softer consistency. As an alternative, you can put the ice cream in popsicle molds!