An ice cream scoop full of off-white banana ice cream
Image by Joy on Flickr. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33993074@N00/8421633028

Banana ice cream

Healthy one ingredient ice cream you can make at home!

Satisfy your sweet tooth and use up your overripe bananas in one go by making this easy treat! Frozen bananas blend up smooth and creamy, just like soft serve ice cream. You can enjoy it on its own, or try experimenting with some of the flavour variations below.

Ingredients

  • Ripe bananas

Directions

  1. Peel bananas, and cut into medium sized pieces. Place in a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

  2. Put frozen bananas in a food processor or blender, and pulse to break them up. Blend bananas until they reach a creamy consistency.

  3. Add any mix-ins (see suggestions below), and blend until mixed.

Tips

  • When you start blending the bananas, they will look crumbly or mushy. Just keep blending until they look like ice cream!

  • If your blender is not very high powered, try only blending one banana at a time, or adding a few tablespoons of milk to help it along. A higher fat milk, like coconut milk, will increase the ice-creaminess of your treat.

  • If you eat the banana ice cream right out of the blender, it will have a texture like thick soft serve ice cream. For a firmer texture, transfer it to an air tight container and freeze for around 30 minutes.

Variations

You can add just about anything to banana ice cream to change the flavour. There are some suggestions below, but don't be afraid to get creative! Setting up a toppings bar and letting people choose their own flavours is a fun activity to do with kids.

Suggested mix-ins:

  • peanut butter
  • cocoa powder
  • frozen fruit; strawberries, blueberries or pineapple
  • chocolate chips, or crushed cookies
  • cinnamon, cardamom or ginger

Storage

  • Keep in an airtight container in the freezer.

Thank you!

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!