Healthy Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
My kids ask for this every time the bananas on the counter go spotty, which means I make it about twice a week in summer.
Four ingredients, one blender, and the whole thing is done before anyone loses interest.
Healthy Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Frozen bananas blended into creamy, chocolatey softserve with no dairy and no added sugar.
Ingredients
- 4 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into coins , the spottier the better
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter or almond butter
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or oat milk , add more by the teaspoon if needed
Instructions
Tips & Notes
- Bananas need a full 4 hours in the freezer. 2 hours gives you a slushy smoothie, not ice cream.
- Do not use a regular blender for this. A food processor or high-powered blender handles the frozen fruit without burning out the motor.
- If you want a chocolate-peanut butter swirl, hold the nut butter out of the blend and ripple it in by hand after.
- Ripe bananas with heavy brown spotting are noticeably sweeter than yellow ones. The cocoa powder needs that sweetness to balance.
Nutrition per serving · estimated
Why Spotty Bananas Are the Whole Point
A just-yellow banana tastes starchy and flat once frozen. A heavily spotted banana has converted most of that starch to sugar, and that sweetness does the work that would otherwise require a cup of cream or a scoop of honey.
I keep a zip-top bag in the freezer specifically for bananas that have gone past what anyone will eat fresh. By the time I have four, this recipe happens automatically.
Getting the Texture Right
The difference between grainy and creamy comes down to two things: how frozen the bananas are and how long you blend. Under-frozen bananas make a slushy mess. Over-blending without enough liquid heats the mixture and makes it sticky.
The milk is your adjustment dial. Start with 2 tablespoons, check the texture after 30 seconds of blending, and add from there. You want it thick enough to hold a soft peak when you lift the spatula.
