This rich and creamy Vegan Banana Ice Cream is simple to make and delightfully indulgent. Eat it right from the blender or transfer it and freeze for a scoopable treat with real food ingredients and no refined sugar.
Jump to:
- Ingredient Notes & Possible Substitutions
- What Equipment is Needed to Make Vegan Banana Ice Cream
- How to Freeze Bananas for Ice Cream
- How to Make Vegan Banana Ice Cream
- Flavor Ideas
- Storage
- What I Love about this Vegan Banana Ice Cream
- Recipe Tips
- Related Recipes
- Other Great Recipes
- Did you try this Vegan Banana Ice Cream?
- 📖 Recipe
What is better than ice cream on a hot summer day? This Vegan Banana Ice Cream is creamy, silky, and free of refined sugar and dairy. It can be frozen and scooped onto cones or in to bowls and topped with all your favorite toppings!
The notes of this ice cream are subtle, but you can taste the bananas and coconut. It pairs well with flavors like caramel, peanut butter, and chocolate.
Ingredient Notes & Possible Substitutions
Bananas - For this recipe, it is helpful to slice the bananas before freezing so that they will blend easier. I usually do this by freezing the banana slices on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, then transferring the frozen banana slices to a gallon sized resealable freezer bag.
Coconut Cream - You can purchase coconut cream, or harvest the cream from a can of full fat coconut milk. To do the latter, you will want to put a can of coconut milk in the back of the fridge overnight to allow the cream to separate. Then open the can and scoop out ½ cup of the cream, discarding the liquid.
Maple Syrup - Real maple syrup will work best, but you could also use granulated sugar, coconut sugar or coconut nectar.
Agar Agar - This ingredient is a vegan gelatin alternative. It is used to help prevent the ice cream from becoming hard when frozen and aids in a rich, thick texture. The agar can be omitted, but expect the ice cream to freeze a little more solid.
What Equipment is Needed to Make Vegan Banana Ice Cream
You don't need much to complete this recipe! A good blender is really the most important piece of equipment. I use a Vitamix, but have also had good results with a Ninja blender. Because the Vitamix blade is short and low, you will need to scrape the sides more throughout the blending process.
Apart from a blender, a sheet pan to freeze the bananas, a rubber spatula to scrape the sides as you go, and a glass Tupperware container or bread pan for freezing is all you will need.
How to Freeze Bananas for Ice Cream
Generally, I freeze ripe bananas by peeling, breaking them into chunks and placing them in a resealable freezer bag. For banana ice cream recipes, I prefer to slice them before freezing because they tend to blend easier this way.
To do this, slice ripe bananas and lay them out on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Place the pan in the freezer for about 2 hours. Once frozen, transfer to a gallon-sized freezer bag and store in the freezer overnight or until ready to use.
How to Make Vegan Banana Ice Cream
Making this tasty vegan treat is a breeze! Here is how to do it:
- Place all ingredients in a large high-powered blender. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the pitcher with a rubber spatula as needed. Make sure all the coconut oil gets properly blended!
- Serve immediately for soft serve or transfer to a parchment lined bread pan or glass Tupperware container and freeze for at least 3 hours for a scoopable ice cream.
Flavor Ideas
This Vegan Banana Ice Cream is delicious on its own but also goes well with so many different mix-in’s and toppings. Here are some other tasty flavor ideas to add to the ice cream before freezing:
- Banana Walnut - Add ¼ teaspoon of cardamon before blending. Then mix in ¼ cup of crushed walnuts to the ice cream after blending.
- Banana Peanut Butter Crunch - Add 2 tablespoons of crushed peanuts and swirl in ⅓ cup of salty, unsweetened peanut butter to the ice cream after blending. Do not mix the peanut butter in entirely so there is a ribbon of peanut butter when scooping.
- Triple Chocolate - Add 1 tablespoon of unsweetened dark cocoa powder to the ice cream before blending. Then mix in your favorite chopped chocolate bar, chocolate chunks or chocolate chips, and a swirl of vegan chocolate syrup. Semi-sweet or dark chocolate works best because the ice cream is fairly sweet already.
Storage
If I plan to store the ice cream for a longer period, I will use a glass Tupperware container with a lid. I like these Pyrex containers with the snapping lids. When stored in the freezer, the ice cream will save for 1-2 weeks. To enjoy, simple thaw on the counter for about 10 minutes so that it is easier to scoop.
What I Love about this Vegan Banana Ice Cream
- Real Food Ingredients - This better-for-you ice cream is made from healthy ingredients and contains no refined sugar.
- Easy to Make - This banana ice cream is made in a blender and requires only about 5 minutes of active time.
Recipe Tips
- For the smoothest ice cream, scrape the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula several times throughout blending. This will help prevent the coconut oil from freezing into chunks.
- Blend until the ice cream is completely smooth with no visible chunks. This usually takes 1-2 minutes with my Vitamix, and I pause and scrape the sides frequently. Both the coconut oil and coconut cream become solid at cold temps, so blending completely is key to get these ingredients to fully incorporate into the ice cream.
Related Recipes
Other Great Recipes
📖 Recipe
Maple Walnut Banana Ice Cream
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- High-powered blender
- Rubber Spatula
- Bread pan
Ingredients
- 4 Large ripe bananas sliced and frozen
- ½ cup Coconut cream without guar gum
- 2 tbsp Maple syrup
- 2 tbsp Coconut oil melted but cooled
- 1 tsp Agar agar
- ½ tsp Vanilla bean powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tbsp vanilla bean paste (use pure vanilla bean powder for AIP)
- ⅛ tsp Sea salt
- See notes for optional flavors
Instructions
- Slice ripe bananas and lay them out on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer for about 2 hours. Once frozen, transfer to a gallon-sized freezer bag until ready to use.
- Place all ingredients in a large high-powered blender. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the pitcher with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Serve immediately for soft serve or transfer to a parchment lined bread pan and freeze for at least 3 hours for a scoopable ice cream.
Notes
- Optional flavor ideas:
- Banana Walnut - Add ¼ teaspoon of cardamon before blending. Then mix in ¼ cup of crushed walnuts to the ice cream after blending.
-
- Banana Peanut Butter Crunch - Add 2 tablespoons of crushed peanuts and swirl in ⅓ cup of salty, unsweetened peanut butter to the ice cream after blending. Do not mix the peanut butter in entirely so there is a ribbon of peanut butter when scooping.
-
- Triple Chocolate - Add 1 tablespoon of unsweetened dark cocoa powder to the ice cream before blending. Then mix in your favorite chopped chocolate bar, chocolate chunks or chocolate chips, and a swirl of vegan chocolate syrup. Semi-sweet or dark chocolate works best because the ice cream is fairly sweet already.
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