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.
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.
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. 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. Do you ONLY have bananas and nothing else? You can make this a one-ingredient ice cream just as easily. 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 :-)
PrintTwo-Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
This vegan chocolate banana ice cream (“nice cream”) is made of only TWO ingredients and is an awesome, healthy substitute for traditional ice cream!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
- Yield: 2
Ingredients
- 2-3 bananas
- 2-3 tablespoons cacao powder
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).
Hi, I'm Elizabeth! I create easy, real food recipes for busy people. I'm a former HS art teacher, now full time food blogger. I live near Austin, TX with my hubby and two baby girls.
Thank you SO muc h for this vegan “ice cream” recipe! So easy, so creamy, delicious! Looking forward to making another, bigger batch so I’ll have some left over to freeze.
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Glad you liked it! Careful with refreezing it- it can solidify and become too hard to eat. Someone in the comments above recommended letting it defrost slightly and blending it again to its original consistency.
I just tried recipe, and I loved it! So easy, so tasty, and looks great, too.
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Thanks! Glad you liked it :-)
I just made this and it is delicious! What a great recipe without sugar… Is the perfect snack!
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Thanks! So happy you liked it :-)
This is exactly what I was looking for. Easy, delicious & healthy :) Thanks for sharing the recipe. I love all the endless variations.. I added some matcha powder to mine. Can’t taste it too much but I like the idea of it. Do you usually eat this right after it’s made? Do you have any storing tips?
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So glad you liked it! I usually eat it right after its made. If you refreeze it, it will harden into a solid block. That said, you could probably refreeze it and throw it in the food processor to smooth it out again (maybe freeze it in a thin layer, so you can break it apart a bit before processing it). Or, you could put the leftovers in popsicle molds! Hope that helps :-)
Hi, just made it. Was in the mood for something sweet. Used just one banana for myself. Used a tsp of cacao powder and a heaping tsp of peanut butter powder, as you mentioned for some protein and a splash of unsweetened almond milk, Came out delish! Nice and creamy. Very satisfying. Now have two sliced frozen bananas on reserve. I did make this once before using 3 bananas, was too much to eat so I did freeze it and as you also mentioned, solidified. i took some out and placed in microwave for a few seconds, it was still satisfying but not fluffy when freshly made. I wouldn’t do it again, just make less and enjoy fresh. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment, so happy you liked it!
i make this all the time instead of getting ice cream. I do eat it fresh but have also frozen for later. It will last a good week while frozen and i just let soften slightly at room temp before i eat it. Could probably put it back in the food processor but i don’t. I have made chocolate, strawberry, choc & strawberry, peanut butter, PB chocolate and added in mini chips too. You can also use the lite choc syrup in a pinch. So yummy!
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Yay, so glad you liked it! Thanks for the tips for refreezing it.
Thinking of filling my sillicone cool pop molds. If it freezes solid, that may be another option.
And may fold in mybground flax seed so the flavor doesn’t blend into all of it.
Thoughts?
I LOVE the idea of putting this in popsicle molds! I think it would work perfectly. Totally stealing that idea. And ground flax would definitely add some nutrition and probably not affect the texture too much (although it might be a tad grainy). Hope that helps!
Hello there, my name is Esther. I am a student in the 6th grade, and I am making vegan ice cream as a school project. To present to my class, one of the recipes I will be using is from your website, in fact this recipe. To present I will have to make 1 pint of this ice cream, is there any chance you would know how many pints this makes? Or if it doesn’t make a pint, how much it makes? beyond the yield of 2. Thank you, very much for making a great recipe, and I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks. -Esther
Hi Esther! Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner! Hm, this is tricky, because it depends on the size of the bananas you buy. But one pint is 2 cups, and about 3 bananas=1 cup. So, looks like you will have to do this with about 6 bananas to get a pint. If I were you, I’d do about 8 bananas just to be safe… and eat the extra! :-) Good luck with your project, I hope it goes well!
Hi Esther! Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner! Hm, this is tricky, because it depends on the size of the bananas you buy. But one pint is 2 cups, and about 3 bananas=1 cup. So, looks like you will have to do this with about 6 bananas to get a pint. If I were you, I’d do about 8 bananas just to be safe… and eat the extra! :-) Good luck with your project, I hope it goes well!
Will adding coconut milk, water, or fat from the milk make it creamy, and less hard when frozen? I’m using this recipe for a project, but I won’t be able to make or whip it again the day of. I want to make sure that if I make it over night, it’ll still be soft enough to eat.
I’ve never tried it, but I don’t think it will help, sorry! You might instead want to look up “no churn” ice cream recipes- there might be some good ones that don’t require you to use an ice cream maker. Sorry I can’t be more help!
I used dates to sweeten…YUM!!
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SO happy you liked it! Great idea with the dates!
O.my.goodness. Awesome, easy idea. Thanks for sharing!I used two bananas, two tablespoons dark chocolate cacao powder, 10 raspberries and a 1/2 teaspoon of lakanto monkfruit (didn’t want to risk it being bitter). Put in freezer while I made dinner; two hours later was frozen but I could easily insert my spoon. Thank you again.
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So happy you liked it! Love your suggestions- thanks for sharing :-)