Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

It’s time for another super easy banana ice cream. This time, it’s chocolate banana ice cream. Simple, delicious and healthy. It’s a combination we all adore.

I’ve shared my recipes for chocolate mint banana ice cream and for chocolate chip raspberry banana ice cream before. This one is much easier, as you probably have all the ingredients on hand.

If you don’t have any frozen banana slices, make some first. Slice a ripe banana, spread out the slices on the cutting board, and freeze for at least an hour. Waiting for them to freeze is the longest part of the recipe.

If you have previously frozen banana slices, and they’ve been in the freezer for more than a day, take them out of the freezer and defrost for 5-10 minutes. They’ll blend better this way. You don’t need to defrost banana slices that haven’t been in the freezer that long. They’ll be fine.

Put about a banana and a half’s worth of slices per person in your food processor. Don’t try to make a huge batch – you can’t refreeze this ice cream. It will solidify too hard if you do. Banana ice cream is something you make because you want it right now, not later.

Add about a tablespoon of ground chocolate or chocolate drink mix. The better the quality, the better the banana ice cream will turn out. I like to use Ghirardelli’s ground chocolate. I keep the big container on hand because it makes good hot chocolate too. You could probably make this work with Ovaltine or Quik, but I haven’t tested them. Their chocolate flavors aren’t strong enough for me.

chocolate and banana in food processor

Use the food processor on the pulse setting. Running it too long will be too hard on the motor. Besides, the bits of banana will climb out of the reach of the blades, and you have to knock them down sometimes. Keep this up until the chocolate banana ice cream is smooth.

Serve immediately. You can add toppings if you want, or drop a bit of fruit in at the very end so that you get chunks of fruit in your ice cream.

I have just one kid who doesn’t love this. It’s strange. She loves bananas. She loves frozen bananas. And she loves chocolate. But she doesn’t like chocolate banana ice cream. I don’t get it. But since the rest of my kids adore this, I’ll keep making it. The one who doesn’t like it can snack on the frozen banana slices.

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients
  • 1-1/2 frozen bananas, sliced
  • 1 tbsp ground chocolate
Instructions
  1. If your bananas have not already been frozen and sliced, slice them, put the slices on a cutting board, and freeze for at least one hour.

  2. If your bananas have been frozen for more than a day, take them out of the freezer and defrost for 5-10 minutes before proceeding.

  3. Place frozen banana slices in food processor, approximately one and a half banana's worth per person. Do not make more than you plan to serve immediately.

  4. Add one tablespoon of ground chocolate per person.

  5. Use the pulse setting of the food processor to blend the bananas. Knock down the bits that climb out of the range of the blades. Continue pulsing food processor until chocolate banana ice cream is smooth.

  6. Optional: Add choice of fruit chunks and give a quick pulse of the food processor to add to ice cream.

  7. Serve immediately. Leftovers do not freeze well.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Banana Ice Cream

Raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream

The excuse to make banana ice cream is one of the few good things about bananas getting on the old side. You can make it just fine with fresh banana, but old ones need to get used up. Something that tastes like ice cream, yet is almost entirely made of fruit makes a pretty amazing treat. After looking in the fridge, I decided that this batch of bananas would be made into raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream.

I have been fortunate enough lately to find fresh raspberries at my local dollar store. Those little containers that cost a couple bucks most of the time at the regular grocery store are only $1 at the dollar store. The one by me carries lots of produce, and it’s usually a better price than what you’d pay at the grocery store. Most of the time it’s plenty fresh. I’ve seen the occasional exception, sadly, but in general, they’re very good about their produce.

I love getting berries there. My kids gobble them up. It’s nice being able to give them a healthy treat at a good price.

We get some unusual berries there too. We tried kiwiberries from there one time. They do in fact look like miniature kiwifruits without the fuzz. They’re a little more tart too. Overall, I’ll stick with regular kiwifruits because you get more for your money.

Back to the raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream.

We’ve had a really warm fall, and my youngest was complaining that she wanted ice cream. I wasn’t in the mood to go to the store, but we had four bananas sitting out and getting on the old side. One of me, three kids… sounded about right.

We sliced up the bananas and spread them out on the cutting board to go into the freezer. Took them out a couple hours later and threw them into my Vitamix.

Now, I’ve made banana ice cream in my dinky food processor before, and I have to say that I like that method better overall. I used my Vitamix this time because my food processor is really, really small, and can only work on about a banana at a time. That’s no good when you have kids wanting their treats now. So I used the Vitamix.

bananas in blender

I prefer the food processor because it’s easier to pulse it. Banana ice cream is hard on a blender. You can do it, but you have to make sure to pulse the blender. Turning the Vitamix on and off isn’t that much harder than pulsing a blender, but it’s just a little annoying to me. It was also a lot harder to get all the bananas into the mix. I think that’s a volume problem.

The blended bananas have to be knocked down a lot when you’re mixing a bunch of them. By the time I was ready to add in the raspberries, I decided to finish the job off by hand.

This turned out to be a really good idea. I put the banana ice cream into a plastic container, then added the fresh raspberries and chocolate chips. No need to freeze the raspberries first – I wanted them to break up just a little.

mix in raspberries

This worked out beautifully. The raspberries broke up just enough and froze as I mixed. The chocolate chips behaved like chocolate chips. The mix looked beautiful.

The real test, of course, was the kids. Me too, I suppose, but kids can be picky.

My older two loved the ice cream. They want to make this again and again.

My youngest, the one who was begging for ice cream? Hated it. She loves bananas. She loves raspberries. She loves chocolate. And she’s just contrary enough to not like the combination. That’s kids for you. Raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream was decidedly not to her taste. She took a few bites, then gave the rest to her sister.

I’ll gladly make this again sometime regardless of one child’s opinion. I thought it was wonderful.

Raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream

3.11 from 2606 votes
Raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream
Raspberry Chocolate Chip Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients
  • 1 banana
  • 1 handful fresh raspberries
  • 1-2 tbsp chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Peel and slice bananas, one per serving. Spread slices out on cutting board and place in freezer for at least 2-3 hours.

  2. Remove frozen bananas from freezer. Pour into food processor. Pulse food processor until banana ice cream is smooth. You may need to knock it down off the sides regularly.

  3. Remove banana ice cream from food processor and place in a container with enough room for mixing.

  4. Add raspberries and chocolate chips. These measurements aren't precise. Throw in what looks good to you.

  5. Mix with a spoon thoroughly. Be a little gentle so that you don't completely break up the raspberries. They should break up some but not entirely.

  6. Serve immediately. This will not go well if you put the raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream back into the freezer.

 

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are 'affiliate links.' This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.

Chocolate Mint Banana Ice Cream

Chocolate mint banana ice cream

I love making banana “ice cream.” The basic sort is nothing but a pureed frozen banana, and it is so good and healthy. It’s even more fun adding flavors to make it taste like other ice creams. Chocolate mint banana ice cream is utterly delightful.

It’s easy to keep the supplies to make chocolate mint banana ice cream on hand. Any time bananas get close to overripe, I chop them up and spread them out on a plastic cutting board. They then go into the freezer for a couple hours. After that, they can be bagged up and kept until someone either snacks on them or I make them into banana ice cream.

sliced bananas

If the banana chunks have been frozen for more than a day, they make better ice cream if you give them about five minutes to slightly defrost first. It will become smooth more quickly this way. Not that you’ll mind much if the ice cream isn’t perfectly smooth – it’s good either way.

I use about the equivalent of one to one and a half frozen bananas per serving. When the bananas are frozen in batches it’s hard to be precise. Fortunately, recipes like this don’t require precision.

We grow chocolate mint in our garden. It’s a bit more fun than regular mint, with its hint of chocolate. It’s nice having it available when a treat needs a little mint flavor. Fresh mint can be pretty powerful, but that’s part of the fun. I used about a tablespoon of them. You can use more or less, depending on your taste. I love the look of the mint blended into the bananas.

chocolate mint leaves

If you don’t have fresh mint, peppermint extract can be used as well, but be very careful. That stuff is powerful! For a single banana, you would be best off adding it just a couple drops at a time.

I used about a tablespoon of 63% cacao chocolate chips. Whatever chocolate you have around the house will be good.

bananas chocolate chips

Bananas are sweet enough that you shouldn’t need any further sweetener. That’s one of the things I love about banana ice cream. It’s as healthy as you care to make it. Do it right, and it’s pretty amazing.

Put the bananas and mint into your food processor or blender. I used my tiny food processor because I wanted to do just one banana. I would need to do at least two bananas for this to work well in my blender – larger containers need something more to work with.

Pulsing the food processor works best. You will need to take the lid off frequently and knock the bits of banana back down to the blades. They want to escape. It will take a few minutes for the frozen bananas to start to turn smooth.

You can add the chocolate chips at the start or as you get close to done blending the bananas and mint. I like them broken into smaller pieces, but not pureed into the mixture. In my tiny food processor, that’s at the start, but later on in the blender.

blended bananas mint chocolate

Serve immediately. I don’t recommend putting this back into the freezer. It won’t end well that way. I love the way this looks. There are little flecks of mint leaf throughout.

chocolate mint banana ice cream

3.15 from 2509 votes
chocolate mint banana ice cream
Chocolate Mint Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients
  • 1 banana, sliced and frozen
  • 1 tbsp chocolate mint or to taste
  • 1 tbsp chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Slice banana. Spread out slices and freeze for at least 2-3 hours on a flat surface.

  2. Place banana slices and mint into food processor or blender. Pulse several times to start pureeing the bananas. Knock the mixture down frequently to keep the mix in reach of the blades. It will take a few minutes for the mixture to start to turn smooth.

  3. Add chocolate chips and pulse a few more times to break them up a little. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

Ingredients are per serving.

Eye Scream Sundae

eye scream sundae

Blood… blood everywhere. And those eyes. Awful, awful eyes!

Wait, nope, that’s not it. It’s an eye scream sundae. A silly little dessert for Halloween or any other time you want dessert to look just a little bit disturbing. It may well be greeted with screams of delight.

Crushed raspberries make delicious and lumpy fake blood. Homemade chocolate shell, like the Magic Shell you can buy at the store, holds the eyes in place. Delicious ice cream to make the whole thing worthwhile.

I used store bought ice cream because it’s so much easier. Pick a flavor that will taste good with the raspberries, but otherwise it’s up to your preferences. I chose Dreyer’s Double Fudge Brownie this time because chocolate and more chocolate.

I chose gummy eyes because the local dollar store has them out for Halloween. They’re on the large side, but delicious if you like gummy candy. You could also use the little Wilton eyes if you can’t find gummy ones anywhere. Use a bunch and you could make a great monster.

It’s easy to make this for one or for several. I’m giving directions for one, but measurements really aren’t that precise. It’s an Eye Scream Sundae. Have fun with it and don’t worry about precision.

Eye Scream Sundae Instructions

Prepare your homemade chocolate shell. Melt about a quarter cup of chocolate chips with about a teaspoon of coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir between rounds. When the mix is smooth from stirring, it’s ready. Put aside.

Place a quarter cup, more or less, of raspberries into a small bowl. Mash with a spoon. You want them well smashed, but still a little lumpy. The grosser they look, the better.

crushed raspberries

Slice a banana in half across the middle, then lengthwise for each part. Slice each quarter in half lengthwise. These are for decorative spikes.

banana spikes

Stack two scoops of ice cream into your dish. A little height works nicely to give you room to work.

Stick the banana spikes around the ice cream. Be careful – they may break easily. Tuck any broken ones in the back or come up with a fun placement for them. A spike in the “head” might work out, but I didn’t try that one.

ice cream and banana spikes

Pour chocolate shell all over the ice cream. Place gummy eyes onto the chocolate shell and hold in place 15-30 seconds so the shell solidifies and holds the eyes in place.

Pour the crushed raspberries all over your poor victim… ice cream. I meant to say ice cream. Serve.

eye scream sundae

3.14 from 234 votes
eye scream sundae
Eye Scream Sundae
Servings: 1 person
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup chocolate shell see below
  • 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
  • 1 banana
  • 2 scoops ice cream
  • 2 gummy eyes
Homemade Chocolate Shell Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
Instructions
  1. Place raspberries in a small bowl. Use a spoon to smash them until they are well smashed but somewhat lumpy. Gross is good.

  2. Slice the banana in half across the middle as well as lengthwise. Slice each quarter into halves lengthwise to form spikes.

  3. Place two scoops of ice cream into serving dish, one scoop on top of the other.

  4. Place banana "spikes" decoratively around the ice cream. Have fun with it.

  5. Pour chocolate shell all over ice cream.

  6. Quickly stick gummy eyes into chocolate shell, before it hardens. Hold in place for 15-30 seconds so that the shell hardens and holds the eyes in place.

  7. Pour crushed raspberry "blood" all over your creation. Serve.

Homemade Chocolate Shell
  1. Place chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl.

  2. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is completely melted, stirring between rounds. Add more coconut oil if you find the mix is too thick.

 

Disclosure: Gimme Chocolate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. I also review or mention products for which I may receive compensation from other sources. All opinions are my own.

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