Are you dreaming of creamy, cool ice cream with no dairy and no added sugar? This chocolate nice cream recipe is here to melt its way into your heart!
If you’ve never tried nice cream then this recipe will soon become a favourite! We’ve been making it at home for years, and have transformed hundreds of surplus, brown bananas into this creamy, frozen treat.
We’ve even served it at community meals and charity feasts, and everyone’s always amazed by not only how delicious it is - but how simple it is to make!
Our chocolate nice cream recipe is:
- Refined sugar free
- Dairy free
- Super quick
- And can be made without an ice cream maker
Ingredient tips
There’s just three ingredients:
- Frozen bananas
- Plant milk
- Cocoa powder
As the sweetness of the nice cream comes from the banana, you’ll want to use ripe bananas. Those bananas with brown blotchy skin, even the ones that have gone a bit mushy - they are perfect for rescuing and transforming into this tasty ice cream!
You can taste the bananas, but the more ripe they are, the less banany, and the more chocolaty the nice cream will taste. I don’t actually like bananas raw, but I love them in this nice cream!
The plant milk helps the frozen banana to blend up nicely. You can use whatever you have on hand - we tend to use soy or oat milk.
How to freeze bananas
Whatever you do - don’t freeze bananas in their peel. They’re impossible to peel nicely when they’re frozen - trust me, I know this from experience!
You can either:
- Peel the bananas and pop them straight into a container in the freezer. This is what I do when I’m feeling lazy. Then I just separate and slice them when they are frozen.
- Or slice them first, spread in a single layer on a tray lined with baking paper and freeze for at least an hour or until hard.
You can use the slices straight away to make this nice cream, or simply transfer them from the tray into a container for longer storage. By freezing the slices on the trays first, you avoid having one big lump of banana that’s all stuck together!
Handy conversion tip! 1 medium banana is equivalent to 100g, 3.5oz or just under ½ cup of banana slices
Step by step
STEP 1 - Put all the ingredients into a food processor (or a high power blender)
STEP 2 - Process until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides if necessary
STEP 3 - Enjoy immediately, or transfer to a container and freeze for a couple of hours for a firmer, scoopable texture
STEP 4 - Scoop and enjoy!
Serving and storage
We find that 1 medium banana makes one serving of two scoops of nice cream. You can adjust the servings in the recipe card to suit you. But we always recommend doing at least two bananas so you have enough volume for it to blend well.
You can dig in straight away and enjoy your nice cream straight after blending. This way it’s like a creamy, frozen smoothie.
Or transfer it to a container, cover and put it back in the freezer for a firmer texture. Wait a few hours and you should have a good texture for scooping.
We recommend eating the nice cream on the same day you make it, as it tends to harden and become less creamy the longer it stays frozen.
Enjoy with extra banana slices, grated dark chocolate and cocoa nibs for extra decadence!
Want more tasty summer treats? Check out these other vegan no bake desserts!
Our Lemon and Elderflower Ice Lollies are also super refreshing.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Nice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 (200 g) frozen bananas sliced
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp soy milk or other plant milk
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender.2 (200 g) frozen bananas, 1 tbsp soy milk, 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- Blend until smooth. Pause to scrape down the sides if necessary.
- Either enjoy immediately, or transfer to a covered container and freeze for a couple of hours for a more firm, scoopable texture.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Suzy says
This is excellent! I used my vitamix, but I did have to scrape down a lot; my bananas were more "chunk" than "slice." Definitely SLICE! And yes, there is a tad of a banana taste, but it's not overpowering at all. I'm wondering if one could add a tsp of vanilla instead of the chocolate.
Beanie says
I don't own a food processor (yet!) and I'm wondering if an immersion blender would work for this.
Thanks!
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Beanie! I think it would depend on the immersion blender - some say they are powerful enough for frozen fruits, but others may not be and it could damage the blades. Perhaps take a look at the model you have? Also you could let the frozen banana soften a little before blending to make it easier - it may not be quite so creamy, but still delicious hopefully! Hope that helps! Sophie