Healthy Ice-Cream
Yes! You can most definitely have those two words – healthy, and ice-cream in the same sentence! You can even add in delicious if you wish! Of course, you can have regular ice-cream as part of a well balanced diet, but this recipe gives you a health boost too!
by Nadine Primeau on Unsplash
The Ice-Cream Recipe
The main ingredient of this ice-cream is banana. Frozen banana. You then need a splash of milk, a drizzle of liquid sweetener and any other flavourings you want! A drop or three of vanilla extract gives you vanilla ice-cream; Frozen berries such as strawberries, blueberries or raspberries, or other frozen fruit such as mango or pineapple give you whatever-your-fruit-is flavour ice-cream! A spoonful of cocoa powder and some chocolate chips gives you double chocolate flavour ice-cream. Then of course you could get creative and use other extracts or additions such as coffee, coconut or mint to make all sorts of flavours!
(Bananas by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash)
Other flavours
Of course, this ice-cream is no stranger to the LIfe Diet Health house! Have a look at some of the previous recipes like this delicious peanut putter swirl ice cream ! If you prefer a fruity ice cream and have loads of raspberries spare, then use them for raspberry ice cream or if you need ideas for rhubarb, try this rhubarb & ginger recipe.
Ice cream made with a frozen banana base
- 1-2 medium frozen bananas (peel, chop & freeze)
- splash of milk of choice
- drizzle of liquid sweetener (maple syrup is great)
- *handful of other frozen fruit of choice (optional)
- *2-3 drops vanilla extract (optional for vanilla ice cream)
- *1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder (optional for chocolate ice cream)
- *sprinkle of extras (optional e.g. chocolate chips, raisins, coconut etc.)
- *drop of other extract (optional e.g. coffee, mint, caramel)
Get all your ingredients ready first and a bowl to serve it in!
Put your frozen banana pieces in a food processor or blender bowl and add the milk. Pulse until it starts to break down.
Test your banana for sweetness (depends on stage of ripeness when frozen) and add liquid sweetener if needed.
Blend for a few seconds at a time until you have a nice creamy but still firm consistency.
Add any extras and allow to blend in (frozen fruit can be added after the first pulse if you want it more blended).
Do a taste test and add any extra sweetener or flavouring as desired.
Serve and enjoy!
What do I need?
You can (as with most of my recipes), make your ice-cream (or nice-cream as it is commonly known) as easy or complicated as you wish! I have created this recipe to be really simple as I suddenly became aware that people are missing out on this!
If you are new to cooking or your kitchen needs a refresh, here are a few useful things for this recipe. I receive a small commission if you click and purchase through these links (this is at no additional cost to you)!
Serving
You can serve your icecream as it is, or load it up with your favourite toppings! A drizzle of sauce, a squirt of cream, a sprinkle of nuts, a scatter of fresh fruit or even some grated chocolate all take this to the next level! Scoop it into a bowl, a nice glass or even pop it on a cone!
Storage
This ice-cream is one that is intended to be made and eaten! You can however pop it in the freezer for a bit (especially if you accidentally made it a bit too runny)! If you do have to make it in advance, or if you have any left over (really!), make sure you freeze it in a suitable lidded container. Freeze this ice-cream in a shallow rather than a deep container (as it freezes very hard) and allow it enough time to defrost before serving (you’d be quicker to make a new batch than wait for this to defrost)!
Sharing
I hope you make yourself some delicious (n)ice-cream! Go and freeze some bananas now while you are thinking about it! What flavour will you make first? I love seeing your adaptions and interpretations of my recipes and I’d love to see your ice-cream photos!
Please share and tag me @LifeDietHealth or using #LifeDietHealth on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.
Leave me a comment below… I love to chat!
I hope to speak with you soon
Laurena x
Salivating already ❤️😋😋😋😋
Thank you! Have you tried this? What flavours do you like?
Hello Laurena, ‘nice cream’ is no stranger in our home either (is that grammatically correct?☺️) I tend to add cocoa powder and nibs or crushed hazelnuts to make it even healthier. I like your idea of rhubarb and ginger; I hope I find some frozen rhubarb. Such a good tip using a shallow container for this! Can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that before, it would defrost soo much quicker-duh😋
I made some healthy-ish fudge the other day, I’ll send you the YT vid if you’re interested.
Hello Eva. Yes, sounds good to me! Ooo, hazelnuts sound good – raw or roasted? I meed to go and make some now… oooo, or an even quicker lolly version of frozen banana coated with melted chocolate and rolled in the nuts! (I’m studying atm and that’s almost as quick as making a cup of iced coffee)! Love that you liked my shallow container tip! (as if you have some left to freeze though)! Is all your fresh (shop) rhubarb finished now? Love fudge (used to sell that)! I’ll take a look if you send the recipe please! Back to studying…
I did used to toast nuts a little until Dr Michael Gregor mentioned it was better not to due to potential acrylamides (maybe I just need to get a life😋) I found some silicone ‘Calypso’ containers at the supermarket the other day and thought why not lol: currently filled with iced coffee and ginger tea (not together haha). The fresh rhubarb disappeared a few weeks ago, it must be a very short season☺️
Ah… Dr. Michael Greger👍🏼 Well, I’ll still lightly toast them as I like the flavour (& I consume more coffee, chocolate & potatoes than nuts so I should worry about those acrylamides first)! Anyway… he also says to drink lots of water to flush the toxins out, so I’ll just have an extra glass with my toasted nuts! 😁 Ooo, I like the sound of frozen ginger tea – I have silicone lolly holders too. Have you made coffee flavoured ice-cream yet?
Vanilla flavor is my best😋
I really love ice cream but I haven’t tried that one ❣️
Vanilla really is great as it goes with so many things! You could even use the seeds from a vanilla pod if you can get them. You really should try this healthier version… it’s great for using up bananas too!
That sounds better❤️
I was actually thinking about doing coffee ice cream next, after reading it on your blog earlier👍 Another duh moment 😋
I’ve been playing with lollies this weekend Eva. Same principle but freezing the icecream in moulds. I might have made myself a strawberry mivvi (remember those) or two!
I was actually describing a Mivvi to my sister last night but never knew the name for them, now I know haha (after having to look it up). I remember having one as a little kid, my sister didn’t know what I was on about lol
Ohhh lol! I was just trying to remember if it was a Mivvi or a Split first…