Healthy Banana Ice Cream
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Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream is a delicious vegan dessert. Made with only 3 simple ingredients + gluten/dairy free, this is a yummy frozen treat!
In a perfect world, ice cream would have the nutritional value of a bowl full of raw broccoli. Amirite?
In fact.. it really has no nutritional value. (Bummer) You could say it has some calcium.. but even that is a stretch.
That’s why I knew I needed to come up with a healthy ice cream alternative.. this Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream.
I love ALL things peanut butter and chocolate – these Healthy Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites are basically heaven.. and Chocolate Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal is super popular on the site!
If it were up to me, I’d eat ice cream every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s 100 degrees out or 30 degrees out, I’m always down for ice cream. My absolute favorite flavor is Peanut Butter Chocolate.
A local ice cream shop makes this flavor that the creamiest peanut butter ice cream with huge chunks of chocolate… talk about heavenly!
I wanted to try to make it at home in a much healthier fashion, and after a few tries and only 3 ingredients, I nailed it!
If you have ripe bananas, they can be used for other things besides Healthy Banana Bread.
A while back I watched a video on how to make ‘banana nice cream’ and was super intrigued. Here’s how to do it…
Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Ingredients
To make this ‘ice cream’ you need:
- bananas
- peanut butter
- Chocolate chips are optional, but recommended.
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to Make Banana Ice Cream
- Allow frozen banana pieces to defrost for 3-5 minutes in the base of a high powered blender
- Blend banana pieces until smooth
- Optional: Stir in your favorite add ins- (chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, nut butter, etc)
I knew that if I added in some peanut butter and chocolate – it could be the solution to my ice cream cravings. While it isn’t the same as real ice cream, it is the perfect treat to hold me over til our next ice cream date!
This Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream has only 3 ingredients, and is vegan, dairy free, and takes about 2 minutes to make! You’re totally going to love it!
Substitutions for this recipe:
Bananas – You can freeze your own bananas or buy them pre sliced/frozen. You can also use a whole banana but will need a high powered blender. If you have extra bananas or leftover banana nice cream you can use it in these Healthy Banana Pancakes.
Nut Butter – Feel free to use almond butter, cashew butter, or any other nut butter you like!
Add ins – You can add in your own nuts, seeds, or even peanut butter granola. We like chocolate chips the best but anything will be delicious!
Chocolate: You can add 1- 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to make this ‘chocolate’ ice cream.
Other Flavors: This Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream is just as simple to make and delicious!
How long will this last?
This peanut butter banana ice cream will last a few months in the freezer.
We recommend eating it right after you make it. If you freeze it for longer than about 2 hours, it will become solid and will not have that ‘ice cream’ texture when you take it out of the freezer.
Banana Ice Cream FAQ
Banana ice cream is much lower in fat and calories than regular ice cream. It also is made with less ingredients and has no added sugar, while regular ice cream has added sugar to it.
Freezing bananas helps to give it a more ice-cream like texture. You can blend it and then freeze the bananas, but at some point the bananas need to be frozen.
You’ll need to freeze bananas for at least 2 hours for nice cream.
Healthy Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup sliced frozen bananas
- 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Remove banana slices from freezer + place in blender, nutribullet or food processor and allow them to thaw for 10 minutes.
- Pulse bananas until they are smooth. Blend in peanut butter.
- When thoroughly blended, stir in chocolate chips + enjoy!
- Optional: Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes for ice-cream like consistency.
Notes
- Bananas – You can freeze your own bananas or buy them pre sliced/frozen. You can also use a whole banana but will need a high powered blender
- Nut Butter – Feel free to use almond butter, cashew butter, or any other nut butter you like!
- Add ins – You can add in your own nuts, seeds, or even granola. We like chocolate chips the best but anything will be delicious!
Discovered in junior HS. It is the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Cooking class treasure !
So glad you liked it!
Love banana “nice cream” as I call it! This recipe is simple and makes the best banana ice cream!
Thanks, Nicole! It’s one of our favorites too! 🙂
Looks great! Have you tried Halo Top?
No I haven’t but I’ve heard great things about it – have you?
Mmmm…banana “nice” cream is the best. Especially with chocolate and PB 😀
Totally agree! It’s SO good!!