Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream is the best kind of banana ice cream, if you ask me. The peanut butter makes this ice cream unbelievably creamy, and helps to hide the “banana” flavor, so it feels remarkably like the real thing!
Banana ice cream is naturally dairy-free and vegan, and it’s easier to make than coconut milk ice cream. This recipe is also the base for my Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles, if you want to make this in a hand-held ice pop form, instead!
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make peanut butter banana ice cream, you’ll need just 2 simple ingredients: peanut butter and frozen bananas! I also like to add a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt, but that’s optional.
If you don’t have frozen bananas on hand already, be sure to reference my how to freeze bananas post, for step-by-step photos. Make sure you peel the bananas before your freeze them! (They are very difficult to remove once frozen.)
I use creamy, all-natural peanut butter to keep this ice cream ultra-smooth, but I imagine that chunky peanut butter would also work. You can use homemade peanut butter, if you’d like, too.
How to Make Banana Ice Cream
Once you have frozen bananas on hand, carefully cut them into coins so they will break down faster. Add the coins to a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, along with the peanut butter, vanilla, and salt.
How many frozen bananas will fit in your food processor? I need to use a minimum of 3 large frozen bananas in my 12-cup food processor. If you have a smaller 7-cup food processor, you may only need to use 2 large bananas to get things moving.
Process until the bananas are totally smooth and creamy. It may take up to 2 or 3 minutes of processing, and occasionally scraping down the sides of the machine, to achieve this texture.
When it’s done, the peanut butter banana ice cream should have the consistency of soft serve ice cream. You can serve this right away, or you can transfer the ice cream to a container to store in the freezer.
If you let the banana ice cream sit in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours, it will become even more firm, and scoop-able. I don’t recommend letting it sit in the freezer for too long, however, or it will freeze too firmly and will be difficult to scoop. See my storage notes below.
How to Store Banana Ice Cream
You can store banana ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Keep in mind that it will become very firm, and won’t be easy to scoop out of the container right away.
Let the banana ice cream sit on the counter for 15 to 20 minutes, so it can soften up. Then, use an ice cream scoop that has been dipped in hot water, to help it scoop more easily.
Alternatively, you can freeze the banana ice cream in smaller “scoops” on a baking sheet (like cookie dough mounds) or in an ice cube tray. When you’re ready to eat it, you can pop the smaller cubes into your food processor and process until it’s creamy and smooth again. Then, it’s ready to serve!
More Peanut Butter Recipes
If you love peanut butter, check out these other recipes, too!
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Flourless Peanut Butter Blondies
- Peanut Butter Eggs
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie
- Healthy Peanut Butter Balls
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Temptations
- Peanut Butter Overnight Oats
Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 frozen bananas (12 ounces)
- 3 Tablespoons all-natural peanut butter (45 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- pinch of salt (optional)
Instructions
- Cut the frozen bananas into coins, so they will process faster. Then add them to the bowl of a large food processor fitted with an "S" blade. Add in the peanut butter, vanilla, and salt, too.
- Process until the bananas are smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor, as needed. It is ready to serve when it has a soft-serve consistency, which can take 2 to 3 minutes of processing. Add a tablespoon of water or almond milk, if you want to speed the process, but keep in mind that might make your ice cream more runny in texture.
- Serve immediately for a soft-serve style dessert, or transfer to a sealed container and store in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours for a firmer, scoop-able ice cream. Banana ice cream can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks without the flavor being affected, but see the notes in this post about making it scoop-able again.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know how you like it! And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Oh yum, I’ll have to try this with almond or sunflower butter!
I made this with almond butter and sea salt and it was bomb 😀
That’s my favorite way to make it, too! 🙂
My food processor or blender are not strong enough to blend a completely frozen banana. Would this recipe work if I did everything @ room temp. and then froze the mixture?
I have no idea how the room temp version would turn out– please let us know if you try it! Also, you might be surprised at how most appliances can handle making banana ice cream. The mini food chopper I use is 10 years old and only cost $15, so it’s definitely not anything powerful! The key is breaking the banana into chunks and using water to help break it down.
When I had a not-so-strong blender, I did this: Cut room temperature bananas into 8 pieces, line them up on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and freeze the chunks like that. Then, when it’s PB ice cream making time, just add the frozen chunks! It worked beautifully, even with my $15.00 Walmart blender!
isn’t this not proper food combining though?
As you can see on my food combining chart, bananas are an exception to the fruit rule, and can be properly combined with nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
Sounds good,,,but I like a little crunch factor sooo I would probably add a (little) cookie in layers…:)
Mmmm… yes to the cookie layers. 🙂
i like to use the crunchy peanut butter for some crunch too
Oh. My. Goodness.
I literally JUST made this–I used 1 1/2 frozen bananas (because that’s all I had left; I used 1/2 of a banana earlier for a shake) and 2 Tbsp of Trader Joe’s salted crunchy natural peanut butter.
I did have to gradually add water to get my bullet to start blending. Then it worked. Then I tasted it. Then I died a little bit–in a good way!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Crunchy peanut butter sounds perfect. 🙂
=) I love this recipe. I’ve come to find that just a pinch of sea salt and a dash of vanilla make this all the more outrageous, too. And if you’re feeling chocolaty, a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder per banana will satisfy any choco-craze.
Mmmm… yes to all of that. I love adding vanilla to the chocolate version, too! 🙂
Made the choco-version Alex suggested and it was so good I had a hard time not licking the blades from the food processor. I don’t think I’ll ever need “real” ice cream again.
I HAVE to try this. I bet a pinch of cinnamon would be awesome in this!
Yes, I love cinnamon + peanut butter together!
This looks amazing! I need to try this very soon! It’s quite possibly the easiest recipe ever to make which makes it that much more appealing 🙂
Hope you have tried this recipe by now.
I peel most of my bananas immediately and freeze them – ready for this NICE cream.
I plan to experiment with fruit another time.
Oh yum! Im so making this with almond butter and a pinch of Himalayasalt!!
I still haven’t tried banana soft serve, but this PB one is calling my name!
I made these into popsicles today! The creaminess reminds me of fudgesicles.
I do recommend peeling the bananas before freezing them though because I had some trouble removing all of the peel.
I love the idea of freezing banana ice cream as fudgesicles!
Wow, I love this one. I think this is really yummy. This is so easy and I love it. Thanks for sharing.
L
THIS ICE CREAM IS 🤤🤤. My only question is, do you wait for bananas to be overly ripe ?
Can’t wait to try this! Where do the nut butters fit in on the food combining? Is it ok to combine nut butters with fruit, or vegetables? (Does it count as “dried nuts / fruit” catagory?
Yes, they fall into the nut/seed category! You can refer to my food combining chart here: https://detoxinista.com/about/food-combining/
Bananas are the only fresh fruit that combines with nuts and seeds, and all raw non-starchy vegetables would also combine well.
I love this!! SOoo yummy, Its really good with cacao powder too. I was so excited when I realized that bannanas combine with nuts! They are such a good combo.
We tried this tonight, but instead of peanut butter, we used chocolate PB2 (basically powdered peanut butter with cocao) and a splash of almond milk. WONDERFUL! Thank you!
Just found your blog and love it! I have made this many times.. so simple, yet so very good. Love the posts!!
Miam! Will definitely tried this one this WE…. and not ashamed to say I will add some dark chocolate sauce on it… to satisfy my dark chocolate addiction!!! Thank you for the wonderful and easy receipe!!
Ok, now you’re just blowing my mind with this. Just made this (I bought the chopper you recommended). This is truly incredible! One would never guess it’s not real ice cream made with milk. I am so excited about this I could just do back flips! lol
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Cheryl! I can’t believe how adding the nut butter makes such a difference to the texture– I really don’t need “real” ice cream anymore! I’m hoping to fool my nieces with it soon. 🙂
Why fool your neices except at first. Which would be funny for awhile. Please just let them know the Truth; then they would know how to make it with their Moms! ❤️☀️
So when I tell you that I NEVER ever leave comments on things, I’m dead serious. But when I made this ice cream for my husband I was like, OMG this is insanely good. Let’s just say, I “intended” on making it for him but I ate it before he came home from work. OOPS! So i just never told him I made any 😉 lol
Ha ha, I’m so glad you left me a comment! I’ve definitely been in a similar situation– this ice cream is just too good to be shared! 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Well she can always make lots more!
Hi Megan! Just discovered your site and can’t wait to try some of your recipes! Found this one elsewhere this summer and ate more bananas than I dare to count. For breakfast, lunch AND dinner! Sooooo delicious straight up, with a generous tablespoon of cocoa powder, or with a handful of shredded coconut chucked in. Try it with a dribble of vanilla extract too, if you fancy.
Hey Megan! Just found your site and love the recipes. I am going to try and make this ice-cream and the date caramel, can’t wait! Will post my experiences on my site http://www.good-grubbin.com Make sure to visit!
Megan- you would love the champion juicer- have you ever had a frozen banana dessert from one? We call them “banana whips” and they are exactly like soft serve ice cream when they come out of juicer- no one can believe it when they try it that the only ingredient is frozen bananas. They are great with other frozen fruit and toppings as well. You should check it out! 🙂
Crissie, I have a champion.. and I loveee it! We make banana “ice cream” all the time… Since im not crazy about bananas we make strawberry-banana ice cream in the champion juicer. Will try to add some peanut butter into this.
I made this last night & it was delicious! I used a little unsweetened almond milk instead of water to help break up the bananas. My husband loved it!
I have made this twice now, I love it! Soo filling too, Just defrosted the banans a bit then added a splash of almond milk to help it break down, so cheap and quick to make, its definatley going to be staying on my foodie menue for life!
This is insanely good!! I’ve only discovered you recently (from Sarah Wilson’s blog) but I am loving everything I’ve seen/ tried so far 😀 thanks!!
Oh my gosh!! I don’t normally eat raw-food like, but would love to when I start living on my own and buying my own groceries. I made this with a frozen banana and cheap natural peanut butter, and a few tablespoons of skim milk, and cocoa powder! Like, my night is made. Thanks so much for this (:
Hai Megan !
Thank you very much for sharing ! I’ve only became a foodie just 2 weeks ago ! Now I’m starting to see that these homemade things are really entertaining,fun, and exciting !!!! – new hobby to add to my other hobbies (ska8boarding, video games, etc).
One question though – what other fruit aside from banana can simulate softserve ice cream ? I can probably use just 1/2 banana because its got too much sugar, but perhaps I can use 1/2 banana + gelatin ? let me know if you discovered a lower sugar / carb fruit option. Thanks 🙂
I don’t usually worry about the sugar naturally found in fruit, but if you own a Vitamix, you maybe able to add some crushed ice to the banana mixture along with almond milk and liquid stevia. The powerful Vitamix can turn the ice into an ice-cream-like texture, but I wouldn’t try it with a normal blender.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was amazing and super easy to make. My family and I loved it!
ohhhh 🙂 thanks so much, Megan 🙂 oh yea my aunt says ur profile pic kinda reminds her of MandyMoore !
Hi Megan,
My name is Aedin and I love your website! I made this yesterday for my brother and he said he loved it (and so did i). And i just wanted to let you know Keep Up The Great Work! 🙂 😛
glad to know some folks used almond butter that what I would have to do peanuts are now on my no no list
l made this with my cashiousbutter and l couldn’t stop eating. so deli. thnx for all the inspiration you give !!!
I altered the recipe a bit, using 2 frozen bananas, 2 tablespoons of Justin’s chocolate almond butter, a teaspoon of honey and just a splash of soy milk to get it going. It’s incredible!!! I’ll be keeping a few frozen bananas on hand from now on!!
I make this all the time, but had no idea it would freeze well.
You just changed my life.
Thank you 🙂
I just tried this tonight with my clean eating! It was amazing!
I used 3 bananas, 2 tablespoons of sunflower butter, and lots of cinnamon!
To say the least, I ate half of it (:
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
i was thinking about making this with the almond butter and salt, but also adding just a drop of nutella and almond milk instead of water, to give it a little more flavor and so that i can have a healthy dessert with a chocolate factor.
Hey Brittany
I’d use cocoa powder instead of nutella, that way it would be super delish but healthier!
I LOVE banana ice cream. I whip some up regularly, and my husband finds it better than the real thing (hurray!).
My favorite flavors are chocolate (bananas + cocoa + touch of maple syrup and almond milk) and raspberry (bananas + frozen raspberries + almond milk).
I never tried it with nut butter, I love the idea!
Next flavour I’m dying to try is something like coconut-chaï. There is no limit!
Absolutely delicious, satisfying and so easy to make!!! My kids loved it too!
I made it with PB2 instead of Peanut Butter. My kids love this!
Cinnamon with peanutbutter banana icecream is SO good! Eating it right now!
Only the best!!
Can I use a regular food processor for this or does it work best with the mini chopper that you suggested?
You might need to make a larger batch for it to work with a larger food processor.
I made this for dessert & shaved some chocolate bark on top of it. It was so delicious. Thank you so much for creating this website it’s wonderful 🙂
I was skeptical at first because I thought the splashes of water would diminish the flavor. But I decided to give it a try… DELISH! I did add a splash of vanilla extract since I had it, but I’m SO amazed at how something so simple was so flavorful and SO CREAMY! I made vegan banana PB ice-cream before and I was disappointed, but I didn’t even have to pull out my ice-cream maker for this! Thanks so much!!!
I just stumbled onto your site and I cannot wait to start trying all the recipes!
AMAZING recipe! Is it bad that I ate both servings? I couldn’t help myself! =)
I do that pretty often myself. 😉
Stumbled upon this recipe about a month ago and I can’t stop making it! Pistachio ice cream used to be my favorite and I still long for it even years after giving up dairy. So last night I made this with homemade pistachio butter and a tiny bit of almond extract, and folded in whole pistachios at the end. Heavenly! Even better than the dairy version I remember. Thanks for the inspiration!
This sounds great! I make strawberry-banana all the time, but started subbing almond milk instead of dairy. I am reading Natalia’s book, and am still having a little trouble with the food combining because of some inconsistencies like this, and would love if you can clarify. There is a recipe for fruit with cashew cream on it – so what is that combo? She never mentions beans or legumes or peanuts for that matter, but I assume they would be considered starch and not a nut/seed. I searched, and found her saying peanuts should be “avoided at all costs”($%^!?) but no explanation. Just as I was craving a thai salad with peanut dressing, and thinking how virtuously raw and wonderful it would be. Im not sure I can trust a woman who wont let me have peanuts.
Hello!!!!!
I am so exited about this ice cream! But what about food combining? Shouldn’t fruits be eaten on their own? 🙁
Bananas are an exception to the rule, because they digest slower than most fresh fruits. They are the only fresh fruit that can be combined with nuts, seeds and dried fruits.
Then, that’s great!!!!:D
That looks heavenly 🙂 Thanks for the idea!
That might be my favorite recipe of yours! That was so amazing! I will never feel deprived of ice cream again!
I am a baker, a chocolate enthusiast, and a HUGE skeptic when it comes to “healthy frozen treats!” This recipe is just AWESOME. We adults love it, my kids love it, my ice cream addict father was impressed. I’m telling everyone I know. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of honey (depending on the ripeness of the banana). Bravo!