This Chocolate Banana Nice Cream is a creamy, no-churn ice cream made with just 5 simple ingredients. Swirled with peanut butter, it’s rich, indulgent, and tastes like a real dessert without the fuss. Made in just 10 minutes, you can enjoy it as-is or dress it up with crunchy toppings for maximum indulgence.
"So flavorful! Thank you so much for sharing this very helpful recipe! Will surely have this again! It's really easy to make and it tasted so delicious!" -Allyssa
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- ⏲️Ready In: 10 Minutes
- 👪Serves: 4
- 🍽 Calories and Protein: 281 kcals and 6 grams of protein
- 📋Main Ingredients: Frozen bananas, cacao powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, and almond milk.
- 📖 Dietary Notes: Dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, and paleo-approved.
- ⭐ Why You'll Love It: Thick, chocolatey, and scoopable in minutes, this banana nice cream delivers pure dessert vibes with simple real-food ingredients.
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The ultimate summer dessert, this chocolate nice cream recipe is simple to whip up (no ice cream maker needed!) and always a hit with kids, just like these peanut butter chocolate banana bites. On hot afternoons when a chocolate craving hits hard, this is exactly what I make instead of running to the store. It’s cool, creamy, and feels like a real treat without any effort.
What I love most is that it tastes rich and indulgent while still being made entirely from whole foods. The chocolate peanut butter nice cream combo is pure gold, the same way it is in my best chocolate turtles recipe, and honestly, it never gets old.
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💭Why You'll Love This Recipe
Allergy-friendly: This nice cream recipe is naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, paleo-friendly, and vegan.
Easy to make: Skip the need for an ice cream machine; this recipe is made with just a food processor.
Rich chocolate flavor: Sweetened mostly with bananas, this nice cream has a chocolate peanut butter taste that you'll totally love.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Frozen Bananas: This is what makes the chocolate nice cream recipe ultra-thick and creamy. The bananas must be fully frozen (hint: mangos do this too and work perfectly for mango ice cream).
- Cacao powder: This is chocolate in its purest form. You can use cocoa powder, but cacao powder offers a lot more health benefits (learn about the differences between cacao and cocoa powder).
- Almond milk: Any non-dairy milk will work for the chocolate nice cream, and cashew milk will result in a bit of extra creaminess.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Flavor Variations
- Peanut butter banana: Skip the chocolate and just make a peanut butter banana nice cream, and then swirl in some chocolate chips. You may need to eliminate 1 tablespoon of milk without the powder.
- Protein-packed: There's no harm in slipping some collagen powder into the mix for a bit of extra protein. This is what I do when Imake protein ice cream.
- Toppings: This vegan chocolate nice cream can be as indulgent as you like by drizzling it with coconut milk caramel sauce or a healthy magic shell.
How To Make Chocolate Banana Nice Cream
Expert Tips
To make your life easier, make sure to peel the bananas prior to freezing them. The riper the bananas are when you pop them into the freezer, the sweeter your chocolate nice cream will be!
Depending on your food processor (I use a Vitamix which is extremely powerful), you may want to chop the bananas before popping them in. This can be done before freezing or after freezing, as bananas don't freeze solid.
When blending, you will need to use a tamper (press the mixture down while blending) as the chocolate nice cream is super thick.
Do not add more/any almond milk! Adding almond milk to it will make it more smoothie-like, which isn't what we're aiming for!
How To Serve and Store It
This chocolate peanut butter nice cream is best when served immediately as soft-serve ice cream.
Once stored, the nice cream will harden and lose much of its "soft swirl" texture. To enjoy it again, let it thaw on the counter for a few minutes before portioning.
However, if you would prefer to scoop this nice cream into cones, try adding another half of a banana to the recipe and removing the ice cubes. This will keep it creamier versus hard once frozen.
Then to scoop it, you'll have to let it thaw 5-10 minutes before serving. This makes it much easier to "scoop".
Chocolate Nice Cream FAQs
Nice cream is a vegan, soft-serve dessert made from frozen bananas that resemble ice cream. Bananas become very creamy and ice cream-like when blended frozen. You can flavor the nice cream with berries, nut butters, chocolate etc, but the trick is not to add too much liquid or it will be more like an indulgent smoothie.
To thicken the chocolate nice cream, just add more frozen bananas to the mixture. Scale back on any liquid.
A large food processor (eight cups or greater) or a Vitamix will work to make nice cream. It's a thick mixture, though, so expect to use a tamper and/or scrape down the sides between processing so that you have the smoothest result.
More Dairy-Free, Refreshing Summer Recipes
If you tried this Chocolate Banana Nice Cream Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes!
Chocolate Banana Nice Cream
Video
Equipment
- Vitamix
Ingredients
- 5 bananas frozen and chopped
- 3 ice cubes
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- 3 tbs peanut butter
- 1 tbs peanut butter
- 3 tbs maple syrup
- 2 tbs almond milk
Instructions
- Chop the frozen bananas into chunks to make it easier on your blender.
- Place the bananas into the blender or food processor followed by the remaining ingredients (reserving one tablespoon of peanut butter)
- Blend until combined
- If using a blender you will need to use a tamper to blend the mixture as it will be thick. If using a food processor you may need to stop and scrape down the sides.
- Blend until thick and combined. Use a spatula to place mixture into a large bowl.
- Stir in the remaining peanut butter for a swirl look.
- Scoop into bowls and top with your favorite crunchy things!
Notes
- When blending, you will need to use a tamper (press the mixture down while blending) as the chocolate nice cream is super thick.
- Do not add more/any almond milk! Adding almond milk to it will make it more smoothie-like, which isn't what we're aiming for!
- Tastes best when served immediately, as it will have a soft-serve texture. For a scoopable ice cream, check out the storage tips in the blog post.
- Makes 2 cups, each serving is ½ cup
Disclaimer:
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data"
Nutrition
Vanessa says
THanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
fitasamamabear says
If you put it in an airtight container in the freezer it will keep a few weeks without being freezer burnt BUT it freezes HARD. If you like the soft serve style it's best eaten immediately.
Suzanne says
This look so good! CAn you make other flavors with this base?
fitasamamabear says
It's super tasty! And yup you sure can, I have a blackberry one that's delicious too (https://fitasamamabear.com/blackberry-banana-nice-cream/) but any flavor combo will work!
Carol Little R.H. @studiobotanica says
WOW. This looks easy to make. I have all the ingredients except almond milk.. Will fix that and
make this happen asap! I have a sweet niece who is vegan and will surprise her with this recipe!
fitasamamabear says
Ohh she'll be in heaven. I could eat this one ALL day lol
Miriam says
Thank you for this delicious recipe!!! My little doughter loves ist! Greetings from Germany:-)
fitasamamabear says
Oh! You just made my day 😀 Thank you so much for giving it a try and super happy to hear your daughter enjoyed it (mine also love it!). Have a fun day!
Emily Fata says
No word of a lie, I was actually looking for a vegan chocolate peanut butter ice cream recipe. I've decided to transition from vegetarian to vegan, and one of the hard things for me to give up was ice cream...especially chocolate ice cream. THis is definitely going to help ease those cravings. Thank you!!
fitasamamabear says
Ahh what awesome timing! Good luck on the transition, it's tricky because it's a habit change but you can do it! Glad you can still get your ice cream fix 😀 Coconut milk ice cream works nicely too.... 😉
Jamie says
OMG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. We are healthy eaters but I have a major sweet tooth that kills meeee! Pinning this!!!
fitasamamabear says
I also have a sweet tooth. You can definitely be healthy and still indulge 😀 Make this...then make almond cookies and then fudge haha I keep a serious freezer stash of treats!
Erin says
Great recipe! Definitely going to give this a try!
fitasamamabear says
It's soo addictive!
Courtney says
I’m not even a huge fan of bananas but this just looks and sounds delicious. I love all of your recipes!
Steve says
I’ve never tried anything specifically vegan but this looks and sounds divine! I know what you’ll say but will I enjoy it as much as Say a dairy ice cream? Will it be as rich? I am going to have to find out myself aren’t I....
fitasamamabear says
Haha you will have to find out yourself... 😉 I don't think it's as rich (unless you add some coconut milk). There's no additional sugars added so the bananas keep it pretty sweet but probably not as fully rich as regular sugar. Consistency wise though it's similar to soft serve which is always awesome 😀
Mars says
Looks delicious! I've never had peanut butter ice cream before!
fitasamamabear says
You're NEVER had peanut butter ice cream?? GAHHH make this. Make this now 😀
R says
Is there something I can replace with the bananas? I'm allergic to them. 🙁
Thank you!! 🙂
fitasamamabear says
Ohh bananas?! That is horrible to me- sorry! I would try a coconut milk base. So divide up a full fat coconut milk can into ice cubes, freeze them and use that. The ice cream will be insanely decadent though just fyi - Now I need to try it this way! lol
Lauren @ Simply-Well-Balanced says
This looks like a great after school snack for the kiddos! They are always asking for ice cream and this is a great way to easily be able to say yes!
fitasamamabear says
Ohh I didn't even think of that! Definitely a better alternative but it's addictive... you've been warned 😉
Farrah says
Chocolate + PB is such a great combo--I can't wait to try this! I have everything but the bananas! *-*
fitasamamabear says
MMmm enjoy it when you do! Soooo tasty!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
What would we do without chocolate and PB? 😉
fitasamamabear says
Clearly we would cease to exist 😀 It's a life staple
Nikki @ Notes of Life says
Ohhh, this looks and sounds delicious! I might just have to make it 😀
fitasamamabear says
It's one of our favorites!