Banana ice cream

What is banana nice cream?

Creamy ice cream made from fruit without any dairy.  It’s usually made with bananas because of their low water content so when they’re pureed they turn into creamy-dreamy nice cream.

After testing many batches of banana nice cream and flavor combinations, my preferred texture preference is without the added plant-based milk.  Here are some tips to accomplish that.

Tips

• Use brown-spotted bananas, this is where the sweetness will come from.  The riper the banana the sweeter it gets.  Also the riper the banana the more pronounced the banana flavor is.
• Peel and slice bananas into coins.  Slicing into coins will limit the amount of work your blender or food processor has to do and reduce the need for adding milk.  Using smaller pieces also means the nice cream will blend into a creamy dessert quickly.
• Freeze the sliced bananas on a silicone mat or parchment-lined baking tray that will fit in your freezer.  Freezing them separately like this will prevent them from freezing in a big clump.  Once frozen, if you don’t plan on using them right away, store them in a freezer-safe container.  They shouldn’t clump since they were already frozen separately.
• If you have a high-speed blender, you might not need any liquid, use the blender’s tamper stick to help push the frozen bananas down to the bottom of the blender.  
• If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you can add milk to the blender or food processor to help get the frozen bananas pureeing or let them thaw partly for about 3-5 minutes to get them soft enough to blend.
• For scoop-able ice cream, transfer the banana puree to an airtight container and freeze.  If it’s too hard to scoop, let it sit on the counter until soft enough to scoop.
• The longer the nice cream is in the freezer the firmer it gets, so for scoopable ice cream, it's best to just freeze for a few hours.

Instructions

Put the frozen bananas into the food processor (or blender), and thaw partly for a few minutes for the fruit to puree easily.

Start by pulsing to break up the frozen banana, then increase the speed and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor (or blender) as needed.

This will take a few minutes to blend up, start with a ¼ cup of milk if the bananas are not pureeing, and add more only if needed.

Serve immediately for soft serve or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until solid for scoopable nice cream. Once firm, if the nice cream is too solid to serve, let it sit on the counter for about 5 minutes to soften before scooping.

Variations

• Try adding vanilla extract
• Peppermint extra with chocolate chips
• Cocoa powder
• Peanut butter or a hazelnut spread
• Crushed cookies

Toppings

• Sliced bananas
• Oil-free granola
• Vegan chocolate chips
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• Fresh fruit

Related recipes

• Chocolate Peanut Banana Nice Cream
• Cherry Nice Cream
• Pineapple Nice Cream
• Pineapple Coconut Popsicles with lime juice