Not too long ago, I had 5 overripe bananas so I asked my Facebook fans to share some suggestions and recipes for anything delicious to do with those bananas…besides banana bread, which is always my solution. I got a lot of fantastic responses, like banana chocolate cake and peanut butter banana french toast, but what really caught my eye was the link to “Machine-Free & Dairy-Free Ice Cream” by MD School Mrs. Thanks for the suggestion, Avital. Everyone, go check out Avital’s nutritional food blog, A Slice of Nutrition! Not only are her recipes healthy, they are delicious as well. Anyways, back to the ice cream that peaked my interest…I’ve always wondered about ice cream that doesn’t need to be made in an ice cream maker and I was hoping this would be the answer! Only 3 ingredients (or 4, if you add chocolate chips), a blender and your imagination are needed. How great is that?!? Just give yourself a few hours in advance to freeze those dying bananas that would otherwise go in the garbage, or another banana bread, and you are good to go. So get to it! But please peel the bananas before freezing them. Please! Peeling a frozen banana is no joke. And hey, this recipe is also great for Passover, which is coming up in only a few days.
Blender Banana Ice Cream Ingredients
5 frozen bananas, roughly chopped
1/3 cup peanut butter (or almond) butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips
4 tsp cocoa powder
*You can add any other ingredients you want! My suggestions: frozen strawberries or peaches, toasted coconut, white chocolate chips, etc. You can also add more fun ingredients after the ice cream is blended, such as chocolate cookies, candied pecans, crushed peppermint, chocolate sprinkles or anything else you can imagine!
Whenever your bananas are overripe, peel them, place in a container and freeze. You can freeze the bananas a few hours before you are ready to make the ice cream or even weeks ahead of time. My freezer tends to collect frozen bananas so I label them with the date they are being frozen. For any recipe that calls for ripe bananas, just defrost the correct amount on your counter then add to whatever you are making. In this case, don’t wait for those bananas to defrost! Just take them out of the freezer, roughly chop and add half to your blender or food processor.
Since I made this ice cream for Passover, I used almond butter, but you can use peanut butter as well (peanuts on not Kosher for Passover). I also added the chocolate chips and cocoa powder.
I then placed the rest of the bananas on top and secured the lid on the food processor. I pulsed the mixture, stopping to occasionally scrape down the bananas from the sides. It may not look like the mixture will never blend but don’t worry, after a few minutes, everything will come together.
When the mixture started to become creamy, I continue to blend without scraping down the sides until the consistency looked like soft-serve ice cream. What a treat! I was done.
There are so many great things about this recipe! It’s non-dairy, has only 4 ingredients, can be made in 5 minutes with only a blender and it gives you something to do with those extra bananas. And the best part…it tastes great! The texture of the ice cream is so creamy with just a little bit of crunch from the blended chocolate chips. And what’s better than bananas and chocolate, right?!?
At this point, you can just eat the creamy ice cream or you can place it in the freezer to eat later. If you decide to freeze for later, just leave the ice cream on the counter for a few minutes to soften up before chowing down. I like to double the recipe so I have enough for now and some more for later!
Kitchen-Tested.com
Yields 4-6
Delicious and creamy ice cream without an ice cream maker! Only 4 ingredients, a blender and your appetite necessary! Non-dairy and great for Passover.
5 minsPrep Time
Save RecipeIngredients
Instructions
