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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
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?
This worked beautifully! Needed about a quarter cup almond milk to get a consistency that my food processor would work with. Absolutely delicious!
This ice cream is a new family favorite! The consistency is very close to the real deal, and the flavor came out just perfect. It went down well with my husband toddlers as well. Detoxinista is my go to for healthy baking, and I’ve been wanting to make this ice cream for a while now. I’m glad I tried it because it comes together so quickly and is absolutely delicious! This will probably be a staple in my freezer from here on out.
I love this recipe, so natural and flavourful!
A healthy and tastyone… Thanks
Would almond butter (or other nut butter) “hide” the banana flavor as well as PB? (I have some picky kids!)
I do not have a mini food processor but if I doubled the recipe do you think a regular food processor would work?
I’ve just discovered your blog and went through the 25 pages of vegan recipes. Thank you for this, I can’t wait to try all the ones I saved! Have a wonderful day <3
So glad you found me! Hope you enjoy them. 🙂
OMG Just made this with my 8 year old nephew, who like his aunt can’t handle dairy. He was so happy to have ice cream that it was all gone before I could grab my camera. He made sure to put some more bananas in the freezer for tomorrow’s batch.
Could you use a ninja if you don’t have a food processor?
HI! This is super delicious! We are obsessed! But we have one question: Is there something you can add to this (paleo/vegan/non-dairy, or not!) that helps it remain scoopable after it goes in the freezer. I made a large amount of this and it was hard as a rock after just one night in the freezer. Any insights would be super helpful!
It gets hard as a rock, but I just take it out and leave on the counter until it becomes scoopable. Yum!