I’ve mentioned banana ice cream in a post before, but just in case someone missed it I thought it was important enough to dedicate an entire post to it today. This recipe somehow magically turns regular old bananas into delicious, creamy, cold, banana flavored ice cream without using any cream or an ice cream maker.
I love it because it is good, good for you, incredibly simple to make, and (my new favorite reason) cheap!! I would venture to say that bananas are the cheapest fruit available in any grocery store…so bring it on!
There are also many different variations to this recipe. Feel free to play around and try adding in peanut butter, homemade chocolate sauce, a shot of chilled espresso, or even another type of frozen fruit.
You can also top the ice cream with some granola sprinkles from the same yummy granola recipe that I made on the Charlotte Today Show this morning! No matter what extras you add in though, if you like bananas I guarantee you will be happy with the outcome of this recipe. So have fun with it and enjoy!
Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 bananas (frozen)
- ½ cup milk ((or less))
Variations:
- peanut butter
- chocolate sauce
- espresso (chilled)
- frozen fruit
Instructions
- Peel the bananas, break them into thirds, enclose them into a Tupperware container, and stick them in the freezer overnight (or longer). I usually throw bananas in the freezer whenever they are about to go bad, and I’ve left them in there for weeks before so there is no rush.
- When you are ready for the ice cream just put the bananas in a blender with 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup milk. I don’t have a fancy, expensive VitaMix so I have to shake my little cheapo Target blender around a bit to get it all to blend properly. Just keep adding small amounts of milk until the consistency resembles ice cream.
It is that easy!
Any suggestions for making vanilla ice cream?
Hi Nikki. We don’t have a vanilla ice cream recipe to share. Here are a couple other ice cream recipes that we do have: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/16/recipe-homemade-maple-pecan-ice-cream/ and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/26/recipe-strawberry-ice-cream/. Enjoy. ~Amy
I am still amazed that this turned out exactly like ice cream! We made some last night along with the chocolate sauce. It rocked and completely satisfied my ice cream craving.FYI we made ours in the food processor and it turned out fabulously.
you are lucky with your budget i have a $200 budget MONTHLY for 3 people – here is a tip; I buy the speckled bananas in the local market they are cheaper – I use them in smoothies- Orange Juice frozen fruit or OJ and banana – :-) I found whole wheat flour that was discontinued in my local store I got 4 bags – I have been making my own bread. I live in NC discovered that cantaloupe and butternut squash and zucchini, Roma lettuce grow well in my back yard tip: warm fresh cut from the garden is better than chilled cantaloupe :-)
I have read about this banana magic before and I have always been skeptical. So I saw this post a couple days ago and I had one browning banana so I decided to give it a try. One thing to note– don’t throw in the freezer before peeling. Maybe this is obvious to other people, but not to me! I could not peel it when I went to use it!
Anyway, last night I cut the peel off and made one small bowl– and it was amazing. I can’t wait to freeze more bananas and try it with peanut butter. It’s so darned good! Thanks!
We just eat the bananas straight. I slice them up, bag them up, and eat a few here and there. The dogs love them too! If I know I’m going to make banana bread, I squish them up in the bag before freezing, but we buy bananas like crazy and always have some in the freezer.
Haha!! I totally LOL’d. I love how “down to earth” you are! Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
This was amazing…. me and my boyfriend loved it. And we haven’t even started the 100 days yet, But we are trying some recipes already. Thank you
Hi Lisa,
This recipe reminds me of what I make in my Yonanas machine. Have you seen them? They are the ultimate whole foods “ice cream” maker. You just put frozen bananas in with whatever other fruit you would like and it churns out really creamy “ice cream”. I gave some to a friend who isn’t into whole foods at all, and he couldn’t believe there was nothing in it except for fruit. I put your chocolate sauce on it which put it over the top. Thank you for all of your awesome recipes!!
Hey- I just discovered your site a few weeks ago and have tried about 5 or 6 recipes and have absolutely LOVED every single one! I just bought an ice cream maker yesterday since I love ice cream but would love to make a more healthy version at home. I was wondering if you know of any good recipes for chocolate ice cream or frozen yogurt?
Here is my basic ice cream recipe…you could add unsweetened cocoa or strawberries or whatever you’d like to it! https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/16/recipe-homemade-maple-pecan-ice-cream/
how much cocoa would you recommend?
I would start with a tablespoon and taste test before you add more. Good luck!
Ben and Jerry’s make an ice cream called chunky monkey. I copy it with banana ice cream and peanuts and chocolate chips. I have kept it in the freezer for a few days. It does the same thing as an open container of ice cream would, ice crystals, etc.
We’ve done banana milkshakes forever as well- just add more milk, and a dash of cinnamon. Really good after yard work or football practice on a 100 degree Alabama day!
PS If you can’t have chocolate, a book called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon has an awesome carob chip recipe.
ok so my question is can I blend then freeze?? My blender has had a very hard life and I would hate for it to die, even though it sounds like this banana ice cream would be a worthy cause. Also if I add the PB and cocoa powder do I need honey or some sweetener? We use the made in store PB so its not really sweet, and I remember as a kid getting cocoa powder from the cabinet and nestle chocolate milk mix confused…it didn’t end well.
You can add extras like cocoa and PB, but freezing it after you blend will change the consistency quite a bit (in a bad way).
I make this all time using only sliced frozen bananas and pineapple juice blended in my magic bullet. The magic bullet does a great job pulvertizing it into a thick, creamy treat! Super yummy and great for someone who can’t/doesn’t eat dairy :)
Amazing!!! Too easy and only two ingredients! I am amazed with the consistency and texture! I would have liked PB or cocoa, but, to my amazement, my 4-year-old loved it just like that, so I am going to leave it as is! It made so much from four bananas that I put the leftovers in the Ice Cream Cool Cones and refroze them for later… they are almost better like that! Both my 4-year-old and I had some in the Cool Cones just now… to die for! A treat I really, really feel good about giving my girl and I can also enjoy while losing the weight from Baby #2! Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe, this will be another to add to our rapidly growing list of favorites-to-make-again-soon! (So far our faves are Whole Wheat Honey Sandwich Bread, Banana Pancakes, Whole Wheat Biscuits, Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread, Whole Wheat Brownies… and my ultimate favorite GRANOLA!!!!)
Here’s my favorite version: for each serving blend one frozen banana, 4 or 5 frozen strawberries and about 3/4 cup of orange juice. Fabulous!
Thank you again for yet another great recipe! My kids loved it. We used bananas with a little bit of almond milk and vanilla. YUM!
Okay – I’m off to put some bananas into the freezer. Cherio…
I got a Ninja master prep blender for $35 at Walmart. IT IS SO WORTH IT!!! You will have absolutely NO trouble blending frozen bananas in seconds. I promise. No shaking required!! I make smoothies every morning with this blender with only frozen fruit, juice, and peanut butter and it’s so quick and easy!
we have one too! cant wait to try all these awesome recipies!!
Love banana ice cream! But you should try it in the food processor instead. Cut the bananas into slices, freeze for at least an hour, then put them in the food processor. Let it do its magic. That’s it! No milk needed. However, I do love to add raw, organic peanut butter and a little cocoa powder. Delicious! I feel like I’m cheating!
I have a cheapie version of the “ninja blender”- it was maybe forty bucks, but I used it every single day and it was so worth it- with a few pulses, you can make salsa, or guacamole, or sometimes I just frozen raspberries and a tiny bit of soy milk to make a delicious sorbet, and it does a PHENOMINAL job making this banana ice cream! so yum!
Guess I should have read before posting my comment… but I second this post!! :)
I made this this weekend and I couldn’t believe the consistency of it! I used my food processor and added just a teensy bit of milk to two bananas–so good! I put the leftover back on the freezer and it tasted just as good later! Thank you for this.
I just pureed 5 bananas in the blender (not frozen) and dumped the banana liquid into the ice cream maker. Same effect but this seemed easier than trying to get frozen bananas to move through the blender. YUM! We’re hooked! Thanks for the idea, I love your blog!
Um, hello?! Are you kidding me here? I just made this stuff, and I can not get over how unbelievably good, creamy, mouth-feely fantastic this stuff is. Totally worth all the frustration of getting my blender to do it. Holy wow. My husband and I eat real ice cream probably 3-4 nights a week after the kids go to bed (one of our few remaining totally not real indulgences), and I am totally willing to let most of that go. Frozen bananas + wee bit of milk = MAGIC.
You made me laugh…so glad you liked it!! I was totally shocked the first time too :)
I’m going to try this. Bananas work awesome in smoothies and this looks easy. Just wish I could find a way to make plain old vanilla in my Vitamix without using powdered milk (ugh!).
We make a wonderful homemade vanilla ice cream in our ice cream maker…the boxed stuff doesn’t even taste good to us anymore! Here’s a recipe: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/16/recipe-homemade-maple-pecan-ice-cream/
WHOA! I feel like I’m eating REAL icecream! Even my super-sugar eater (18 years old) says, “So when are you going to make more banana crap?” which, translated, means, “Yeah, I’m not going to admit how good it is because it’s healthy, but I want more.”
Then, him and I made a strawberry, banana version, which takes longer because frozen strawberries are harder, and it was also very good!
Try this, this weekend. It ended up being more of a smoothie than ice cream. But I blame the fact that I only have a blender and a weak one at that.
RE: Almond Milk
YES! My daughters and I love the Banana Chocolate shake from the vegan book “Raw Food, Real World” (Melngailis, Kenney) which uses raw/homemade Almond Milk frozen bananas, cocoa and agave (i use a little honey instead) and cinnamon. It tastes like a full fat dairy creation but it’s dairy free and still delicious (even if we’re not dairy free or vegan :-)
Could you use almond milk instead of regular milk?
I cut the bananas smaller before freezing, add vanilla for liquid and flavor. It’s wonderful.
I used heavy cream and it was yummy! Ice cream every night! ;)
Since it makes so much, do you freeze the rest? And does it freeze well?
I’ve never tried to refreeze it, but since bananas are so cheap it might not hurt to experiment! Let us know!
I made this today using coconut milk. My blender didn’t cut it though…had to use the food processor. It was a hit!
I love your description, I have a cheapo Target blender too! That made me LOL. :D I am also surprised it’s that easy and I’m happy I don’t have to keep making banana bread for those overripe bananas! Thank you for sharing!
I can’t drink milk and have made this several times with just water. it is delish that way :-)
I found a similar base recipe elsewhere and we’ve been making this for a couple months now. However, we don’t use milk, only bananas. Our personal favorite variation is to use 2 T peanut butter and 1 T cocoa for every 2 bananas. It’s wonderful!
Sooo, the ice cream didn’t go over with the kids too well. I blame it on my blender, though. I had to add a lot more milk than suggested to make the blade turn and of course it turned out too liquidy.
Anyway, I added Baileys for an adult version and LOVE it. ;)
I only like bananas that are practically green, so when they are the perfect ripeness, I store them in the fridge. They store there for several weeks and don’t ripen more. I have saved so many bananas that way – now I can buy more than one or two at a time. They do turn brown on the outside, but they are still fine inside.
I’m with you, I love green bananas!
I add some full fat yogurt and sometimes strawberries and freeze in those popsicle moulds and mi kids love them
I’ve done this as a milkshake, but never as ice cream. Totally going to try it – we, too, end up with too many bananas, and my stomach doesn’t always love ice cream.
Hooray for a use for bananas that are about to go bad! I cannot wait to try this one. Also, I’m happy you’re combining the two blogs. Good move. :)
Yay I love this recipe. It’s crazy how easy it is, and how delicious it tastes. Perfect use of those bananas that are just about to go too far into brown territory to eat! I have a bad habit of buying too many bananas because they’re so cheap, and then only eating a few. :P