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Easy Banana Ice Cream (Tips + 10 flavors!)

The ultimate guide to making EASY, perfect 1-INGREDIENT banana ice cream every time! We’re sharing our top tips and tricks, plus 10 delicious flavors!

Prep Time
5 mins
Total Time
5 mins
Servings: 2 (Servings)
Calories: 105 kcal
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: International

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups sliced frozen ripe banana (~2 medium-large bananas as recipe is written — adjust amount if adjusting serving size // the riper, the sweeter)
  • 1-2 tsp maple syrup or other sweetener of choice (optional)
FLAVOR VARIATIONS
  • vanilla (base recipe + 1 tsp vanilla extract)
  • strawberry (base recipe + 1 cup frozen strawberries, organic when possible)
  • Berry (base recipe + 1 cup frozen mixed berries)
  • Green Dream (base recipe + 1 tsp spirulina + 1-2 tsp matcha)
  • chocolate (base recipe + 2 Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder)
  • Chocolate Nut Butter (base recipe + 2 Tbsp cacao powder + 2 Tbsp nut butter)
  • peanut butter (base recipe + 2-3 Tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter of choice)
  • Chocolate Tahini
  • Sea Salt Caramel (4-6 soaked pitted dates + healthy pinch sea salt)
  • Cookie Dough
FOR SERVING optional
  • Sliced fresh fruit (such as kiwi, banana, or berries)
  • cacao nibs
  • nut butter
  • shredded coconut
  • Seed cycling mixes

Instructions

FREEZE BANANAS:
    Cup of Yum
  1. Be sure to start with ripe and spotty bananas. Peel and slice into 1/2-inch slices for easier blending (large chunks tax the motor). Then add to a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm (3-4 hours or overnight).
FOOD PROCESSOR:
  1. Add sliced frozen bananas to a food processor fitted with an “S” blade. Then blend for 4-5 minutes or until completely smooth, fluffy, and blended. You’ll need to stop occasionally to stir and scrape the sides. You’ll be left with a soft serve texture. See “FREEZING” below for freezing tips.
HIGH-SPEED BLENDER:
  1. Add sliced frozen bananas to a high-speed blender, our most recommended model being the Vitamix 5200 for ultimate control and its powerful motor. (The Kitchenaid KSB8270FP Pro Line Series works well, too.) Turn the Vitamix dial to its lowest setting and ensure the switch is flipped to “Variable” NOT “High” to start with. It’s too much to jump the motor from 0-100 that fast.
  2. Once it’s started blending, quickly switch from “Variable” to “High” speed and use the tamper to press down and stir/agitate the bananas, which should turn into soft-serve texture banana ice cream quite quickly. If the motor seems to be struggling, stop and pause momentarily. Be sure to switch back to low speed / “Variable,” then switch to “High” speed every time to protect the motor.
FLAVORS:
  1. Adding flavor to your nice cream is easy! For every flavor besides strawberry, berry, or Salted Caramel, simply add the recommended amounts of each ingredient to your ice cream at this time and blend until creamy and smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. If making strawberry or berry, we recommend adding them at the beginning with the unblended bananas for best texture.
FREEZING:
  1. At this point you have soft-serve texture banana ice cream. To get more of a scoopable ice cream texture, simply spread into a Tupperware or parchment-lined loaf pan and freeze for 2-3 hours. Then scoop with an ice cream scoop! If too firm, let thaw 15-30 minutes to soften.
STORAGE:
  1. Best when fresh. See freezing instructions above. Frozen banana ice cream should keep for up to 1 month if well covered, though we find it’s best when used within the first week.

Notes

  • *Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with 2 medium bananas and without optional ingredients.*Prep time does not include slicing and freezing bananas.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1servings Calories 105 (5%) Carbohydrates 26.9g (9%) Protein 1.3g (3%) Fat 0.4g (1%) Saturated Fat 0.1g (1%) Polyunsaturated Fat 0.09g Monounsaturated Fat 0.04g Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg (0%) Sodium 1mg (0%) Potassium 422mg (12%) Fiber 3.1g (12%) Sugar 14.4g (29%) Vitamin A 75.52IU (2%) Vitamin C 10.27mg (11%) Calcium 5.9mg (1%) Iron 0.31mg (2%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 2(Servings)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 105

% Daily Value*

Serving 1servings
Calories 105 5%
Carbohydrates 26.9g 9%
Protein 1.3g 3%
Fat 0.4g 1%
Saturated Fat 0.1g 1%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.09g 1%
Monounsaturated Fat 0.04g 0%
Trans Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Potassium 422mg 9%
Fiber 3.1g 12%
Sugar 14.4g 29%
Vitamin A 75.52IU 2%
Vitamin C 10.27mg 11%
Calcium 5.9mg 1%
Iron 0.31mg 2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.