Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
Everyone loves this no-dairy Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream that is made with just a few simple ingredients. This frozen dessert can be sweetened with dates or maple syrup. It’s dairy-free, vegan, and so cold and refreshing! Let me show you how to make it without an ice cream maker.
On a hot day, there is just nothing more satisfying than a healthy frozen treat. I think you’ll agree that this Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream recipe fits the bill.
It’s easy to make, it only takes 10 minutes, and it has no refined sugars if you use dates to sweeten it. You can make it with a food processor or a powerful blender, and it tastes just like soft serve ice cream.
This is my number one recommended recipe for Best Vegan Summer Desserts!
Key Ingredients
- The base of this healthy homemade soft serve recipe is frozen bananas and frozen mango chunks.
- You can use just bananas or just mango chunks, but the combination of the two is interesting. Using mango chunks also helps to make the banana flavor not as pronounced. See my guide on freezing bananas.
- I also recommend using a tiny bit of plant milk like unsweetened almond milk to help the frozen fruit get blended and creamy. You can use homemade dairy-free milk or boxed.
- You don’t need any dairy or heavy cream for this chocolate peanut butter ice cream!
- A few tablespoons of natural peanut butter or almond butter adds thickness, mouthfeel, and even more creaminess. I like creamy peanut butter but you can also use crunchy.
- You can also buy your peanut butter or use your own homemade version (see How to Make Peanut Butter).
- For sweetness, you can use pitted dates or maple syrup.
- Cocoa powder or cacao powder makes this frozen treat chocolate-flavored. Don’t have cocoa powder? See my article with the Best Substitutes for Cocoa Powder.
- Lastly, vanilla extract adds depth of flavor and really helps make this plant-based recipe taste like regular old-fashioned ice cream.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Steps
Let me show you how easy it is to make this healthy ice cream from these simple ingredients.
Step One
Start with your frozen bananas.
You can break them into small chunks or banana slices if you like. Or, just pop them whole and frozen into the bowl of a food processor.
Step Two
Add the frozen mango chunks and dates or your choice of sweetener.
If you have a sweet tooth, you may want to add an extra amount of sweetness, as opposed to just using the fruit for sweetness. You can use dates or maple syrup for added sugar and sweetness.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Step Three
Add the rest of the ingredients including the vanilla, cocoa powder, and peanut butter.
Step Four
Lock on the lid and turn the processor on high. Let the food processor run for a minimum of 5 minutes. You can stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary.
Turn off the food processor and use a spatula to divide the chocolate soft serve between your serving bowls. Enjoy immediately.
If you want to serve your homemade vegan ice cream as an ice cream pie or in cones, simply transfer the mixture to a bowl or airtight container and freeze for an additional 2-4 hours. Use an ice cream scoop to serve this guilt-free treat.
Recipe Tips
- To make the chocolate soft serve easier to blend, freeze your bananas in slices or chunks. Here is a guide for how to freeze bananas.
- I have a lot of other recipes for traditional dairy-free ice cream, but this one is more like a soft serve than traditional ice cream. It gets made in a food processor so it only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.
- Be sure to let the ingredients process for at least 5 minutes. It will seem like a long time to run a food processor, but it’s really the minimum to break down the frozen fruit into the soft serve texture we’re looking for.
- If you want to get really fancy, serve your homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream in cones! Freeze the mixture for 2-4 hours, use a scooper to scoop onto the cone, and then roll the cone in some dairy-free chocolate chips. So fancy!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, but a food processor is ideal for making homemade soft serve. It will be difficult to get the ingredients to process in a blender without adding extra liquid (which won’t result in the right consistency).
Yes, but you’ll need to add extra mango chunks and the soft serve won’t be as sweet.
Yes, absolutely! If you use almond butter instead of peanut butter, this will make this recipe paleo-friendly. You can also use sunflower seed butter to make the recipe nut-free.
More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes You Might Like
If you like this recipe, you might like some of my other dairy-free ice cream recipes (or check out my epic vegan ice cream round-up):
Don’t Miss These Yummy Desserts
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
Everyone loves this Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream that is made with just a few simple ingredients. This frozen dessert can be sweetened with dates or maple syrup. It’s dairy-free, vegan, and so cold and refreshing!
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 frozen bananas, broken into large pieces
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter (use almond butter for paleo or nut-free diets)
- 4 pitted Medjool dates (or 2 tablespoons maple syrup)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder or cacao powder
Instructions
- Place the frozen banana chunks, frozen mango, peanut butter, dates, vanilla, 2 tablespoons of almond milk and cocoa powder in the base of a food processor.
- Process on high for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is creamy and fully combined. Add an extra 1-2 tablespoons of almond milk, if necessary, to get the right consistency.
- Serve immediately (see notes if you want to make ice cream cones).
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
- To make the chocolate soft serve easier to blend, freeze your bananas in slices or chunks. Here is a guide for how to freeze bananas.
- I have a lot of other recipes for traditional vegan ice cream, but this one is more like a soft serve. It gets made in a food processor so it only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.
- Be sure to let the ingredients process for at least 5 minutes. It will seem like a long time to run a food processor, but it’s really the minimum to break down the frozen fruit into the soft serve texture we’re looking for.
- If you want to get really fancy, serve your homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream in cones! Freeze the mixture for 2-4 hours, use a scooper to scoop onto the cone, and then roll the cone in some dairy-free chocolate chips. So fancy!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Food processor
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 199
- Sugar: 29.7 g
- Sodium: 47.3 mg
- Fat: 4.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 40.4 g
- Fiber: 4.7 g
- Protein: 3.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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About the Author: Carrie Forrest has a master’s degree in public health with a specialty in nutrition and is studying to be a holistic nutritionist. She is a top wellness and food blogger with over 5 million annual visitors to her site. Carrie has an incredible story of recovery from chronic illness and is passionate about helping other women transform their health. Send her a message through her contact form.
I love this recipe! What did you top your ice-cream with?
Whatever you like! I like dairy-free whipped cream and chocolate chips, but plain is good too.
This recipe is amazing…I’ve been making it for at least 10 years and it never gets old.
Made this a couple nights ago. Wonderful! I served it with vegan vanilla yogurt. My husband has asked for me to make it again. It froze well.
That’s great news! So glad you got the husband-approval and that it froze well for you!
Excellent flavor, my husband and I loved it! Didn’t quite get the same consistency, more liquid than your picture showed, but flavor was good.
Great! I”m glad it turned out well, Cheryl!
Do you know how we can adjust to have more of an ice cream texture? Do we maybe need to freeze for a bit? More soupy than soft serve.
Yes, don’t use any almond milk whatsoever. And, you can freeze after blending to harden it up even more (but don’t freeze for more than a couple of hours or it will get too hard).
I always have frozen bananas and now I know what to make! I love how easy and healthy this is. Thanks for this great recipe!
Chocolate and peanut butter are my fiance’s favorite flavor combos! I love that this is vegan, as we are trying to be more conscious of what we consume. Can’t wait to try!
We do frozen banana “nice” cream a lot for my kids, but I’ve never tried adding in mango chunks. I’ll have to give it a try!
I am definitely making this for me and my son! I am lactose intolerant so dairy-free ice cream is perfect for me.
I love how easy this vegan ice-cream is! Such a great idea and mango and banana sound like a yummy combination!
What an inspiring recipe!! Love that this is so clean and healthy! It’s so hot outside – can’t wait to cool off with this one!