Healthy 3 Ingredient Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream tastes EXACTLY like chocolate ice cream and is made with only 3 ingredients and they're all healthy. My favorite way to eat it is as soft serve right out of the blender but you can also freeze so it's firm enough to scoop into ice cream cones.
This Chocolate Banana Ice Cream recipe has been on serious repeat here for weeks. Like, every other day kind of repeat. I must have made it four times before I realized that I had to share the recipe with you. It's seriously the easiest healthy ice cream recipe there is and you would NEVER know it's good for you.
The first time I made it I threw the three ingredients in my Vitamix without measuring. My handsome man, who's super skeptical about healthy treats, rolled his eyes and told me I was making mashed up bananas, not ice cream.
He changed his tune when he tried it and asked me to make more when his bowl was empty.
And honestly, how could he not? Just look at that scoop! ⇓
Why you NEED this chocolate banana ice cream
- It tastes EXACTLY like soft serve chocolate ice cream.
- It's every bit as refreshing as your fav ice cream recipe only made with healthy ingredients.
- Banana and chocolate ice cream is really just that: frozen bananas, cocoa powder (the chocolate part), and some nut butter.
- I've been making chocolate almond butter banana ice cream but you could easily make it chocolate peanut butter banana ice cream.
- This is the best recipe ever for tricking your kids, spouse, friends, or yourself into eating healthy food.
How to make frozen banana chocolate ice cream in your food processor
I normally make this frozen banana ice cream recipe in my Vitamix. Since not everyone has one sitting on their kitchen counter, I decided to try making this recipe in my food processor to see if it would work. I'm glad I did! It does work, but you need to add a little liquid to help it blend. In this case, it's a 4 ingredient ice cream banana recipe.
And if you are one of the ones that don't have a Vitamix, thank you. Because of you, I got to eat an extra serving of this healthy banana ice cream and call it work.
- Put the bananas, cocoa powder, almond or peanut butter, and some milk (any kind!) in your food processor.
- Turn it on and hold on tight. It'll shake and rattle until the frozen bananas break down.
- Scrape down the edges and keep processing the ice cream for about 3-4 minutes until it turns creamy and delicious.
- Eat!
How to make frozen banana ice cream in your blender
Word of warning: do NOT try to make this recipe in a regular blender. You need a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec) for this recipe. Frozen bananas are tough cookies and trying to turn them into ice cream will burn out the motor of even the most expensive regular blender. If you don't have a high powered blender, use your food processor.
This really should be called Blendtec Ice Cream or a Vitamix Ice Cream Recipe. Because your high-powered blender is so powerful, you don't need to add any liquid to the turn the bananas into ice cream. This means the ice cream is (IMO) even better.
- Put the frozen bananas, cocoa powder, and almond or peanut butter in your high-powered blender. Put the plunger in the lid.
- Turn the machine on and quickly turn it to the highest setting. Blend, pushing the bananas down with the plunger, until the ice cream is smooth and creamy.
Note: Vitamix has a fan which cools the motor when it's run on the highest setting. Make sure to always use the highest speed (even if it's noisy) so that the fan is turned on.
Now that we've got all the nitty gritty about how to make chocolate banana ice cream out of the way, I need you guys to take a look at how delicious it is.
And by close look, I mean a really close look. Does it look amazing?
Watch the banana ice cream video!
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Healthy Vegan Ice Cream Recipes:
- Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
- Lime Coconut Ice Cream
- Healthier Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- Dreamy Almond Chocolate Nice Cream
- Black Pepper Pistachio Ice Cream
- Boozy Cherry Garcia Ice Cream
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 4 frozen bananas, peeled
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons almond butter, can sub peanut butter
- ¼ cup milk of choice, only use if you are making this in a food processor
- Optional: chocolate chunks or chips, to sprinkle on the top
Instructions
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream in your Blender:
- Place the frozen bananas, cocoa powder, and almond butter into your high-powered blender.4 frozen bananas, ¼ cup cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons almond butter
- Blend the bananas on high speed using the plunger to push the bananas down as needed. After 2-3 minutes the ice cream will run smoothly.
- Either eat right away or freeze for 2 hours so that it is hard enough to scoop into cones. Sprinkle with chocolate chunks, if you'd like.Optional: chocolate chunks or chips
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream in your Food Processor:
- Place the frozen bananas, cocoa powder, almond butter, and your choice of milk into your food processor. Pulse until the bananas are mostly broken down.4 frozen bananas, ¼ cup cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons almond butter, ¼ cup milk of choice
- Scrape the sides of the food processor then continue processing on high until the ice cream is smooth and creamy.
- Either eat right away or freeze for 2 hours so that it is hard enough to scoop into cones. If using, sprinkle with chocolate chunks.Optional: chocolate chunks or chips
Why do you have to freeze the bananas first?
Because otherwise you will have warm and not very thick and creamy ice cream. 🙂
Funny — I’ve been reading recipes a bit like this, and so far they all say, “You MUST do this in a food processor, not a blender!” I think they probably mean a high-powered food processor vs. an ordinary blender, and I’m guessing that you mean a Vitamix blender vs. an ordinary food processor. I made banana ice cream in my new super Cuisinart food processor yesterday, and it worked great without added liquid, so I’m going to try your recipe in it today without liquid. I’m lucky to have a Vitamix too, but I think they’re may be less stopping-and-scraping with the food processor. We’ll see! Either way, I’m following your excellent recipe — thank you!
So good! The best “nice” cream I’ve ever made!
I made this ice cream and it tastes delicious. I live in a family that eats a lot of food and does plenty of exercise especially my brother. So I’ve decided that next time I make this recipe I will use 8 bananas!
It is sooooo tasty!
One word Delish!
I made this today. It is one of the best banana ice creams I’ve tasted. I added almond butter, coconut milk, cocoa powder and just a tablespoon of condensed milk. Next time I’ll try it with peanut butter. I also added dark chocolate chunks to it. It is SO good!!
Made this tonight! It’s absolutely delicious. I did add some almond milk to get the bananas to soften. Going to buy extra bananas every week now to make chocolate ice cream.
Thank you!!! I used oat milk creamer and crunchy peanut butter, and did half cocoa powder, half cocoa powder and it was so delicious I almost cried. Currently having a bit of blizzard weather and wasn’t going to risk life and limb for chocolate. This is the first recipe EVER where the results have been as good as the author claimed. 🤗 Many, many thanks!
If you slice the banana before freezing, thus recipe works just fine in my $30 blender. I’ve made ice cream for years and the motor is fine.
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for letting us know, Dana!!
Sooooo good!!!!
Incredible results!! Thank you so much for this recipe.
I do have a question: we have the Vitamix, which started to smell that typical burnt smell. At that point we preferred to add some milk to avoid burning it.
Anyone else experienced this?
WOW! I can’t believe how sweet, creamy and tasty this was!
Hi would it be ok if I froze it longer would it still be smooth
As I’d like to keep it at hand as a healthy ice cream. Thank you
I like this best eaten right away or frozen for just a short time. While you can freeze it for a long time, it gets very hard and will need to soften for a while before you can eat it – probably for about as long as it would take you to make it fresh.
Thank you for posting the recipe! Can I use coconut butter?
I’ve never tried it with coconut butter, but if coconut butter is similar to nut butter then it should work fine! Another nut-free alternative is tahini or sunflower seed butter.
This is honestly one of the best recipes Ive stumbled on the web. Its super easy, healthy and delicious, the trifecta! I have a sweet tooth and have been trying to lose weight, so this has been a Godsend. My partner also loves it and requests it almost every night. I play around with the amount of cocoa powder, more of it tastes like chocolatey goodness and less brings out the banana flavour, either way delicious. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!!!
This was delicious. I made it using my blender but added milk. I made strawberry banana blueberry smoothies daily and never had an issue.
This is a five star recipe and I need chocolate chips.
Can I make this in a Ninja?
I’m not sure if a Ninja will be powerful enough to blend it. Do try it and you can always add a little milk if you think it needs the help.
Thank you so much for this recipe! Its easy, its healthy and more importantly its delicious! I was looking for a way to curb my sweet tooth and this is it 🙂
OMG that is delicious, I used peanut butter. Better than the dairy-free ice creams in the supermarket and so affordable. Thank you 🙂
Decadent & Delicious! Best Nice Cream I’ve made thus far. I used vanilla almond milk and homemade peanut butter and topped with more peanut butter. Next time I might try freezing in our electric ice cream maker.
Simply amazing!!! I am so in love I may eat it for breakfast EVERY morning! Thank you so much!!!!
Hey can you just keep this in hand in the freezer?
I find that the texture is best when it’s eaten right away. If you keep it in the freezer just know that you’ll need to let it soften for about 10 minutes before you’ll be able to scoop it.
Wow ! This was amazing . My Husband asked me to make a double batch. It was that good!
Do you have any recommended substitutes for the nut butter?
Any nut or seed butter works. Tahini or sun butter are great no-nut options. 🙂
Beat soft serve ever, I added couple table spoons of maple syrup but wasn’t needed. I cute up bananas prior to freezing in 1” pieces and my ninja worked fin with some extra added almond milk
Hello can you do it without freezing the banana to go round the vitamin requirement ? In a normal blender and freeze for 2 hours afterwards ?
I haven’t tried that method before but what I think would work best is this: make it like you would a no churn ice cream. Blend the bananas then put them into a shallow dish in your freezer. Then use a fork to scrape/mix them every 30 minutes until they are frozen but still soft enough to eat. I hope that works for you!
Fantastic! Made it tonight. I have a Nutribullet and had to add some milk to blend properly. Tasted really good. Thanks for sharing!
Amazing texture in the vitamix!!!
I made this according to the instructions. I used peanut butter and almond milk. I was worried it wouldn’t work because the bananas took so long to break down, but it turned out delicious. Thanks for a great healthy dessert.
Amazing! I ended up transferring the ingredients from the food processor to the Vitamix because it was not mixing well. The Vitamix did the trick! It was smooth, creamy soft serve ice cream. I will definitely make this again!
this was insane.
Would putting this in an ice cream maker after blending make it firmer or creamier? I’m wfpb but will be serving to real ice cream eaters.
It might firm it up a bit, but I don’t think it will make it creamier. It’s very creamy as is! I like it best right after it’s made so you might want to quickly make it right before you serve it to your real ice cream eaters.