Chocolate Peanut Butter Nice Cream

What is nice cream?

Nice cream is like ice cream but made without dairy.  It’s most commonly made with frozen bananas or frozen coconut milk.  This recipe uses sliced frozen bananas to create a creamy consistency and helps to sweeten the dairy-free ice cream.  

To make this vegan ice cream extra special, we're using a classic combination to create banana chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. For more nice cream recipes, try banana ice cream, cherry nice cream, or pineapple nice cream.

Ingredient notes

Please see the recipe card below for the exact measurements.

Bananas - Use yellow bananas that have brown spots.  Not completely solid yellow, not completely brown and overripe, but in between.  

Natural peanut butter - If your peanut butter’s only ingredient is peanuts, then you might want to add a pinch of salt to the nice cream when pureeing.  I only tested with natural peanut butter, which only contains peanuts and salt.  

Cocoa powder - For the chocolate flavor, I use Dutch processed special dark 100% cacao.

Dairy-free milk - Use plant-based milk if needed to get the blender or food processor to puree the frozen banana.  The amount of milk you need depends on how powerful your blender or food processor is.

Tips

• To make this just chocolate banana nice cream, leave out the peanut butter.
• To make this just peanut butter nice cream, leave out the cocoa powder.
• If the ice cream isn’t sweet enough, add maple syrup or agave syrup to taste.

How to make chocolate peanut butter nice cream

Use brown-spotted bananas, this is where the sweetness will come from.  The riper the banana, the sweeter it gets, but don't go for a solid brown over-ripe banana.

Peel and slice the bananas into coins.  Slicing them into coins will limit the amount of work your blender or food processor has to do and reduces 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 paper-lined baking tray that will fit in your freezer.  Freezing them separately like this will help prevent them from freezing in a big clump.  Once frozen, if you don’t plan on using them right away for your banana peanut butter chocolate ice cream, store them in a freezer-safe container. 

When you’re ready to make vegan ice cream, place the sliced bananas in the food processor or blender, then add the cocoa powder and peanut butter.  Start by pulsing to break up the bananas, then blend until smooth.  Stop to scrape down the sides as needed to reincorporate the cocoa powder and peanut butter into the nice cream.

Then, serve the chocolate peanut butter nice cream immediately for a soft serve consistency.  For scoopable ice cream, store it in an airtight container in the freezer for about 2 hours.  I spread mine out in a glass loaf pan.

Tips for using a blender

You might not need any liquid if you have a high-speed blender (like a Vitamix).  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 dairy-free milk to the blender.  Another option is to let the sliced bananas thaw partly to get them soft enough to blend but still frozen enough to have cold soft-serve ice cream.

Tips for using a food processor

To use a food processor instead of a blender for this vegan nice cream recipe, the directions are the same as using a non-high-speed blender.  Start by pulsing to break up the frozen banana slices, then puree. If your food processor needs some help pureeing, you can either add dairy-free milk to the blender or let them thaw partly for about 3-5 minutes (do this before pulsing) to get the bananas soft enough to blend (still frozen but just lightly softened). The banana pieces are small, so partly thawing doesn't take long.

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer. If it’s too hard to scoop, let it sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften.  If your banana nice cream sits in the freezer for a long time, it may solidify and become hard.  

Toppings

The creamy nice cream is delicious on its own or top with your favorite toppings.

• Chocolate chips
• Drizzle of creamy peanut butter
• Chopped roasted peanuts
• Cacao nibs

More vegan chocolate recipes

• Vegan Chocolate Sauce (3 Ingredients)
• 2 Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
• Vegan Chocolate Banana Smoothie
• Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake

Related recipes

As always, I hope you enjoy this healthier dessert recipe for banana nice cream with chocolate and peanut butter! I know my chickpeas sure enjoyed testing the recipe. If you like the recipe, feel free to rate it and leave a comment.