Make healthy chocolate banana ice cream with frozen bananas, cacao powder, almond milk and almond butter. It’s absolutely delicious, healthy, dairy-free and doesn’t require an ice cream maker!
Throughout the summer months I seem to crave ice cream. Maybe it’s childhood memories of chocolate and strawberry cones from Carl’s Ice Cream, the best soft-serve ice cream shop ever. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s blazing hot outside and I need something to cool down. Either way, I could eat ice cream every day. It’s always been my favorite dessert so when I found out you could make healthy ice cream from ONE ingredient (frozen bananas) I was in heaven.
I actually have to thank my mother-in-law for the idea because she was the first person to introduce me to it. This was years ago — way before the land of Pinterest. Now everyone knows about frozen banana ice cream, which is awesome!! I’m just waiting for someone to open a shop with healthy fruit-based ice creams here in Richmond.
Anyhow, this summer I’ve been on a banana ice cream bender… again. I’ve been making a bunch of different combos and have found a new favorite.
Here’s What You Need:
frozen bananas
almond milk – I used unsweetened chocolate almond milk for more chocolate flavor without adding sugar and it was delicious! Unsweetened vanilla almond milk works great too.
almond butter
cacao powder – or cocoa powder works!
cacao nibs or chocolate chips – optional but I love the texture it adds.
We all know banana and chocolate go well together, but you introduce a little almond butter to the mix and things get real. Chocolate, banana and almond butter = the trifecta.
Of all my years buying Almond Breeze this was my first time buying the unsweetened chocolate. Crazy, right? I’m excited I finally decided to try it because I can definitely see myself buying it again. I’ve actually been using it as creamer for my iced cold brew coffee and it’s quite delicious. Like a mocha iced latte. 🙂
See how smooth and creamy it turns out?!?
I added in a few cacao nibs for a little crunch, but they’re totally optional. Isaac hates crunchy things like nuts and chocolate chips in his ice cream (or brownies) so I get that some people won’t be a fan.
Nibs or no nibs, this healthy ice cream is soooo good and incredibly easy to make! Ready for the recipe?
Like This Recipe? More Healthy Frozen Treats To Try:
If you make this healthy chocolate banana ice cream be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting us know how it turned out. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and our readers!
Make HEALTHY Chocolate Banana Ice Cream with frozen bananas, cacao powder, almond milk and almond butter. It’s absolutely delicious, healthy, dairy-free and doesn’t require an ice cream maker!
Ingredients
3 frozen bananas, chopped into chunks
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened chocolate or vanilla)
1 Tablespoon almond butter
1/2 – 1 Tablespoon cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
1/2 Tablespoons cacao nibs or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Place bananas, almond milk, almond butter and cocoa powder into a food processor or high speed blender.
Pulse/process until smooth and creamy. You may need to turn off the motor and stir the mixture a couple times while processing.
Add in cacao nibs or chocolate chips (if using) and pulse once more. Spoon ice cream in to a bowl and enjoy! If you want to be able to scoop the ice cream you can place it in the freezer for 2 hours so it’s solid enough to scoop.
Thank you for sharing this🥰If i could have i would have given more than 5 🌟! The recipe was very easy to be made anytime with at home ingredients. Loved it! I replaced cocoa with coffee and almonds with walnuts (whatever was at home 😋) but it was amazing! Just one caution – it tastes wonderful but keep a control on quantity… its too heavy🤪
Yum!! I had a sweet craving and was so glad to try this. Checked everything I needed and made me feel good knowing it was a healthier option too! The consistency reminded me of a frosty which was delightful. Thanks!
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Cassidy. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Healthy Chocolate Banana Ice Cream is definitely one of the most fun and delicious things I have ever made. 😁My husband couldn’t believe it was homemade and I almost didn’t share it with him! Brittany, this is straight up magical, Thank you So Much!!!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Jennifer. I’m so glad this recipe was a hit!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
My 3 year old & I make “banana ice cream” on a regular basis, so we were very excited to try this exciting version of it! Just like all of the other EBF recipes we’ve tried THIS WAS AMAZING & super easy of course. Love that all of your recipes and quick and simple but still healthy and yummy!
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Kelsey! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit. Thanks for trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
You’re so welcome, Jasmine!! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I appreciate it!
I think coconut butter will work just fine as a sub for almond butter. It will give it a coconut flavor, but I’m sure that will be tasty with the chocolate and banana.
Couldn’t wait to get home from my 4 mile power walk this afternoon and enjoy this wonderful healthy ice cream. The flavor was wonderful not too sweet chocolate chips I added or just the perfect touch satisfied my sweet tooth! I will definitely be making it a lot. Love all of your recipes!
Ahh yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this ice cream, Melissa!! Thanks for trying it and for taking the time to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream: How would I be able to lower the grams of sugar, other than omitting the cocoa nibts? Leave out the almond butter? Recipe sounds wonderful. I’m currently doing Weight Watchers and the sugar will make it very high in points. Thanking you in advance, Pamm
Hey Pamela – If you use a natural almond butter that only has one or two ingredients it shouldn’t have added sugar in it (maybe 1 gram of sugar max) so that won’t really change the sugar content of this recipe too much. I would omit the cocoa nibs / chocolate chips if you’re trying to lower the sugar content.
Just made this. It’s incredible! I have celiac (and it’s GF) and my husband has type 2 diabetes. He found out in Sept of 2019 and is beating it with diet and exercise. He love his new banana ice cream!!
So good! I only had plain, unsweetened almond milk so used 1 tbsp. of the cocoa and it was excellent. I had it right away and out of the freezer. I will definitely be keeping this recipe on hand.
Thank you!!!!
Amazzzzing!! My husband and I have been trying to eat healthier and thought we’d give this a recipe a shot. I love my sweets and Seriously we could not believe how good this was!! I don’t see myself buying ice cream again when I can just make this. Thank you for sharing!
Yayyy!! I’m so glad that you tried and enjoyed this recipe, Shannon. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. The ratings are super helpful to other readers so I really appreciate it!
YUM!!! My husband and I are enjoying this tasty treat right now. I subbed coconut milk and peanut butter for almonds since we can’t eat almonds. I needed to double the milk to get the right texture in my food processor and it’s super tasty and creamy. I haven’t had anything similar to chocolate ice cream in close to 4 years, so this is especially special. Thank you!
I “discovered” frozen banana “ice cream” a year ago, but haven’t made it much, having recently discovered many unhappy allergies. However, I can eat sunflower butter, which is amazingly delicious, so am going to try the ice cream with that in place of almond butter. It’s a bit runny, so I may need to add more banana, but as my former mother-in-law, a Kentucky hill woman, used to say, “Ain’t complainin’, just explainin’!”
…I love this idea….sounds so yummm. However, theres very litle ” almond’ in Almond Milk that you buy, and you can actually make your own. I lived in CA, in the area where there was Blue Diamond Almond Farm and Plant, but I did research on it, and havent used Blue Diamond in a long time…; I am not criticizing, I am only stating an option. I realize the post was in partnership with Blue Diamond, and I respect that,to the end that it helps make your site possible…that is the reason I stated it was not to criticize, only to share information.
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Thank you for sharing this🥰If i could have i would have given more than 5 🌟! The recipe was very easy to be made anytime with at home ingredients. Loved it! I replaced cocoa with coffee and almonds with walnuts (whatever was at home 😋) but it was amazing! Just one caution – it tastes wonderful but keep a control on quantity… its too heavy🤪
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear. So glad you’ve been loving this recipe! Thanks for the review. I so appreciate it. 🙂
How much does this make? Like how large is each serving?
Summer needs to sick around all year long so I can eat this banana ice cream all.the.time.! So tasty and guilt free. Love love love!!
★★★★★
So glad you’re loving this ice cream, Erica!! Thanks for taking the time to come back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!
Delicious! This is so refreshing and tastes great as soft serve or frozen for a few hours.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed this nice cream recipe, Vanessa! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I appreciate it. 🙂
Yum!! I had a sweet craving and was so glad to try this. Checked everything I needed and made me feel good knowing it was a healthier option too! The consistency reminded me of a frosty which was delightful. Thanks!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Cassidy. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Healthy Chocolate Banana Ice Cream is definitely one of the most fun and delicious things I have ever made. 😁My husband couldn’t believe it was homemade and I almost didn’t share it with him! Brittany, this is straight up magical, Thank you So Much!!!
★★★★★
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Jennifer. I’m so glad this recipe was a hit!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Made this with peanut butter and soy milk. So delicious!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Debbie. Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Definitely need to make this healthier version for my ice cream obsessed boys!
★★★★★
My 3 year old & I make “banana ice cream” on a regular basis, so we were very excited to try this exciting version of it! Just like all of the other EBF recipes we’ve tried THIS WAS AMAZING & super easy of course. Love that all of your recipes and quick and simple but still healthy and yummy!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Kelsey! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit. Thanks for trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Fantastic!! This was so easy and incredible! I prefer it without the chocolate chips. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
You’re so welcome, Jasmine!! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I appreciate it!
Mmm so good and dairy free.
★★★★★
can I substitute coconut butter for almond butter?
I think coconut butter will work just fine as a sub for almond butter. It will give it a coconut flavor, but I’m sure that will be tasty with the chocolate and banana.
Couldn’t wait to get home from my 4 mile power walk this afternoon and enjoy this wonderful healthy ice cream. The flavor was wonderful not too sweet chocolate chips I added or just the perfect touch satisfied my sweet tooth! I will definitely be making it a lot. Love all of your recipes!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this ice cream, Melissa!! Thanks for trying it and for taking the time to leave a comment + star rating. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream: How would I be able to lower the grams of sugar, other than omitting the cocoa nibts? Leave out the almond butter? Recipe sounds wonderful. I’m currently doing Weight Watchers and the sugar will make it very high in points. Thanking you in advance, Pamm
Hey Pamela – If you use a natural almond butter that only has one or two ingredients it shouldn’t have added sugar in it (maybe 1 gram of sugar max) so that won’t really change the sugar content of this recipe too much. I would omit the cocoa nibs / chocolate chips if you’re trying to lower the sugar content.
Just made this. It’s incredible! I have celiac (and it’s GF) and my husband has type 2 diabetes. He found out in Sept of 2019 and is beating it with diet and exercise. He love his new banana ice cream!!
Blessings,
Julie
Ahh I’m so glad you guys are loving this banana ice cream, Julie. Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment. 🙂
So good! I only had plain, unsweetened almond milk so used 1 tbsp. of the cocoa and it was excellent. I had it right away and out of the freezer. I will definitely be keeping this recipe on hand.
Thank you!!!!
★★★★★
Yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Anthea. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I appreciate it!
Yum! Yum! Yum! Very soft but so good!
★★★★★
Amazzzzing!! My husband and I have been trying to eat healthier and thought we’d give this a recipe a shot. I love my sweets and Seriously we could not believe how good this was!! I don’t see myself buying ice cream again when I can just make this. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Since I had plain unsweetened almond milk, I added a scoop of dark chocolate protein powder instead of increasing the cacao powder.
Yummy! Thanks for a recipe that is healthy . Also nice, even though I love banana bread, to not have all that extra banana bread around to eat!!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!! Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it. <3
Thank you for this GREAT idea! I added a little more cacao and almond butter, but the result is still a delicious, healthy treat!
★★★★★
Yayyy!! I’m so glad that you tried and enjoyed this recipe, Shannon. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. The ratings are super helpful to other readers so I really appreciate it!
I love my Yo-nanna, frozen banana mill….wonder if this would work in that ? ( you can bet I am gonna try)
YUM!!! My husband and I are enjoying this tasty treat right now. I subbed coconut milk and peanut butter for almonds since we can’t eat almonds. I needed to double the milk to get the right texture in my food processor and it’s super tasty and creamy. I haven’t had anything similar to chocolate ice cream in close to 4 years, so this is especially special. Thank you!
I “discovered” frozen banana “ice cream” a year ago, but haven’t made it much, having recently discovered many unhappy allergies. However, I can eat sunflower butter, which is amazingly delicious, so am going to try the ice cream with that in place of almond butter. It’s a bit runny, so I may need to add more banana, but as my former mother-in-law, a Kentucky hill woman, used to say, “Ain’t complainin’, just explainin’!”
Tell me what food processor you recommend for something like this some of them are so expensive
I have a Cuisinart 9 cup food processor and use it all the time. Here’s the one I have: http://bit.ly/2zW5QMZ
…I love this idea….sounds so yummm. However, theres very litle ” almond’ in Almond Milk that you buy, and you can actually make your own. I lived in CA, in the area where there was Blue Diamond Almond Farm and Plant, but I did research on it, and havent used Blue Diamond in a long time…; I am not criticizing, I am only stating an option. I realize the post was in partnership with Blue Diamond, and I respect that,to the end that it helps make your site possible…that is the reason I stated it was not to criticize, only to share information.