Banana Soft Serve (It’s Homemade One Ingredient Ice Cream, SERIOUSLY!)
By: Roni | Posted in: 0 WWPP, 1 WWP, Dessert Ideas, Snack Ideas, Vegetarian Ideas, Video Posts | 63 Comments
A few weeks ago Kim sent me this link from theKitchn, How To Make Creamy Ice Cream with Just One Ingredient! Being an ice cream fan I was immediately intrigued. So I did a little digging with google and discovered I was missing out on some crazy banana ice cream trend!
Who would have thunk it? a frozen banana run through the food processor would make the most amazing creamy dessert!
This doesn’t really warrant a recipe but I’ll right up my base and you can make it your own. 
- 2 ripe or overripe bananas
- 2 tsp vanilla (optional)
- Chocolate Syrup (optional – in picture)
Break or cut up the banana in about 1 inch chunks and freeze solid. At least 2-3 hours.
Puree frozen banana chunks in the food processor for about 5 minutes. You will have to stop it every minute or so to mix and squish the banana towards the blades.
About half way through add the vanilla.
Enjoy immediately or refreeze.
Once you refreeze the banana soft serve, you will have to let it sit for about 5 minutes before stirring.
Topping/addition ideas…
Mini chocolate chips, frozen wild blueberries, chocolate syrup, unsweetened cocoa powder, peanut butter, strawberries, any berries, granola for crunch, oh my the options are endless! Give it a try and post your variations in the comments!
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1/2 the base recipe | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 105 | 0 | 3g | old: 1 | new: 0 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 14g | 0 | 27g | 1g | |
Food ideas you may enjoy... |
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Think about any kitchen gizmo available in the U.S. Just do it. Here in Chile, I have access to every single one of them… except one. The one I want, just doesn’t sell anywhere. The churner.
Well, the crockpot doesn’t sell either, now that I think about it. I got Magic Bullets, George Foreman Grills, etc– but no churner. I’ll order one (and a crock pot as well) some day from Amazon… But in the meantime, I’m going ballistics in this healthy ice cream recipe!!! We are in the middle of summer here. Yeah, sun, beaches, the whole deal. Yeah, uh, enjoy your snow shoveling ;)
I made this with Mary a few months ago. I remembered seeing it on Good Eats a few years back, I think.
My favourite addition is peanut butter. SOOOO good.
add a little peppermint extract (instead of vanilla) and add mini choc. chips…soooo good!!!! : )
We got a Ninja blender for Christmas and have been making this, too! Makes me smile to see how giddy you are over it, because that’s pretty much how I felt the first time I tried it. So awesome. =)
I don’t like banana ice cream that much because it’s kind of goopy-stringy after a while and that plays badly off of my texture issues, but I LOVE banana milkshakes with bananas, milk and vanilla. SOOOO good!
Another 1-ingredient ice cream recipe that my fiance (Evan Robert, haha (I always explain your blog to him as, “you know, that one, Roni, the one who’s naming her son Evan Robert?)) and I eat all the time is this: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/06/ridiculously-easy-pineapple-sorbet.html
We actually much much much prefer it if we add some vanilla, so really it’s two ingredients, but it’s absolutely delicious.
We make this pretty much every night in my house. I make them in a Vita Mix blender and I add a touch of almond milk to aid in the process.
But I stay clear of the chocolate and peanut butter mix-ins (too caloric, too addictive) and try to keep it to other fruits that work well. Frozen raspberries and frozen mangos both work extrememly well. Trader Joes has an awesome frozen fruit selection. Adding one date or two (pitted of course!) ups the sweetness factor.
I think that it was making these freezes/soft serves that were the nail in the coffin of my refined sugar addiction. They made it so I had a substitute that I adored that was easy to make. And I feel good about eating this too. Think about the list of ingredients here and compare that to the list of ingredients on the package of a Skinny Cow or Weight Watchers frozen dessert.
The health food bloggers have been writing about banana soft serve for years. It’s time that WW followers are exposed to truly healthy habits. Thank you Roni for continually doing this work.
Paige – THanks so much for that link! I’m WAY more a sorbet person then a creamy ice cream person so that is RIGHT up my alley.
As for the gooey-string texture.. I didn’t get any of that. I wonder if it happens the longer it sits?? Mine didn’t tend to hang around that long!! ;)
Hey Roni!
I’ve been making this for a little while and I LOVE it! It’s so amazing!
I am so making this. Bannanna ice cream is my all time favorite! Ps. Love your hair!
Isn’t this stuff miraculous?! I am so bringing it back when it gets warmer.
Hi Roni,
Do you think this would work with the magic bullet? Its sounds amazing but I feel like after dinner the last thing I will want to do is wash my food processor, I know I know – Lazy me! Just thought I would ask :)
Love your blog, well actually all your blogs so much :)
I’ve been seeing this on multiple blogs now and I really need to make this! It looks so yummy to me. :-)
Hila – I don’t see why not but I haven’t tried it. I will next time and keep you posted!!
This sounds great! Our grocery store always has bags with older bananas for $.99, this would be a great use for those!!
I must try this! It sounds good and my toddler loves bananas. Plus Ive been looking for recipes to try out in my Tupperware quickchef!
Roni – yes, that’s it exactly, it gets kind of gooey as it gets warmer. So I really love it for the first few minutes but less after that. Still a fantastic recipe though!
Wow, I feel like I’ve been missing out! I will definitely give this a try (with a dab of almond butter I think). Another great way to use up my stash of frozen bananas.
http://eatlittleeatbig.blogspot.com/2011/01/dont-throw-out-those-brown-bananas.html
So glad you posted this! I saw the recipe on another blog a few months ago but I guess I was too impatient and it never got to the creamy softserve stage. I’ll have to try it again now that I know what it should look like.
Thanks again!
I tried this once, but I only have a mini-chop food processor and it didn’t work all that well. Or maybe I was just too impatient. I will have to try again … but I still want a real food processor!
Something else I want to try is making ice cream in ziplock bags — this would be a fun project for you and your son! http://www.ehow.com/how_4879437_ice-cream-bag-minutes.html
I am SO having this tomorrow. I just happen to have 2 well ripened bananas. Gonna go slice them up and put them in the freezer. Thanks for sharing!
I love banana soft serve. I usually make mine with a frozen banana, 3 T 1% milk and either almond or peanut butter. Sometimes I add some cocoa powder and sprinkle coconut on top. Mmmm …
I’ve been blending frozen bananas for years, though I like to add other fruit with it as well, like mango, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, etc. Now with the new, no points for fruit, it seems to taste even better!
Try frozen strawberries & warm water using the same method…it makes a wonderful sorbet. You will probably want to add a little sweetener of your choice, enjoy :)
I love this! I actually posted this recipe last week on my site too!
http://thecreativekitchen.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/peanut-butter-and-banana-ice-cream/
I love the frozen banana sorbet! If the bananas are ripe enough when you freeze them, they do not need to be sweetened at all. I usually add a bit of cinnamon (and sometimes ground cloves) to the blender to give it another layer of flavor. I’ll have to try vanilla next time. To answer a question above, it does work in a magic bullet, but you may need to add a bit of liquid to get it going. Vanilla Silk, or almond milk work fantastically well!
Omg…… I had 1 1/2 over ripe bananas lol You have no idea how fast I ran/skipped into the kitchen to freeze those suckers. I literally had decided to throw them out after I fond something online to make once I got into the kitchen lol.
I did that but I used sunflower butter with flax seeds and some melted chocolate chips mixed in just a little of each. Then I sprinkled it with dried cranberries.
If you want a creamier consistency, you can pulse in some almond milk OR, a tablespoon or two of cool whip lite for that true ice creamy taste…brilliant any way you “slice” it!
DH, my MIL, and I made a New Years resolution this year that we are all following. No sweets at all including soda, cookies, cakes, sweet breads, ice cream, and pretty much anything chocolate. If we break the resolution DH has to everyone’s laundry for a month, MIL has to give up her soap operas for a month, and I have to do dishes for a month. Needless to say we are all sticking to it really well. :)
The one exception is Sunday nights. We take turns picking out the one thing that we have been craving the most recently and we make just enough for that one evening.
Last night I ran out of time and didn’t get dessert made. But I had seen this and the other day froze some bananas, I also found a box of girl scout cookies in the back of the pantry. Our dessert last night was banana ice cream and thin mints. It was fantastic. The best part is that we can have the ice cream anytime and save Sundays for the real stuff. :) Thanks.
Oh yeah, I made it in our magic bullet. It didn’t work very well until I threw in about a half cup of milk, had it in the house for the little guys and wanted creamy. 2 frozen bananas and a half cup of whole milk was perfect servings for 2.
I made this last night with some peanut butter and topped with chocolate syrup. Both my kids loved it and wanted more! This was a great treat and will be fun to try some other combinations in the future. THANKS!
Ooooooo! I have about 10 ripe bananas in my freezer. I can make this tomorrow for a snack.
Read the “recipe” to my 13year old yesterday. She whipped one
up today, we both loved it , Thanks for such a great idea and
O points on WW and better
I have been eating Organic, low calorie and low sugar for two years now. This banana ice cream is by far the BEST thing I have had in quite sometime. So wonderful, I cannot stop talking about it! Love Green Lite Bites. Wonderful site with wonderful ideas!
Made this tonight. Yummy! I added mini choc chips, the vanilla just like you described. Only 2pp when using 1tbsp of chips :-).
Ohh and it’s TOTALLY worth it! ;)
Made this tonight and all I have to say is OMG! It was wonderful! I ate half right away and froze the rest. I had an open bag of mini chocolate chips in the freezer and added a few. I will definitely make this again.
Love this so much, today I made a milkshake with soy milk and some chocolate. It was so wonderful.
Just made this with 1 banana, 1/2 tbsp chocolate chips, I tbsp. pecans. Mmmmm…
This was so yummy! My husband was so skeptical when I first started the food processor, but he was pleasantly surprised and loved it.
I bought lots of bananas, so now I just have to make them last long enough to go brown….
I’m wondering if I could make this more quickly with my vitamix. Anyone else try?
Probably not. More space is better. My food processor is bigger than Roni’s, so I only have to open it in the middle of the process once, and that’s just to scrape little banana flecks back into the mix. I have seen people make this with the Vitamix, but I wouldn’t say it’s faster. You have to use the tamper a lot.
Okay people here is the outcome…
I wrote about this on my blog this morning, but I threw some big frozen strawberries, a non frozen banana, a splash of milk and vanilla into my vitamix and used the tamper and DELISH. It wasn’t as creamy perhaps as soft serve, but it was amazing!!
try it next time without the fresh banana.. I bet it will be creamier!
Oh my gosh, I CANNOT wait to try this one! Thanks so much for sharing with us, Roni.
Making this tonight!! Just watched the video. I have to say that your cute as a button!! :)
I can’t wait to give this a try! All of my appliances are packed up right now for a move, but I know what I’ll be making once they’re set up in my new space.
I just have to add that your popping back in to tell us about the addition of the mini chocolate chips brought the biggest smile to my face. Little things like that are why you are so likeable. :)
I finally tried this amazing banana ice cream! Like you, I never heard of this craze either, so I can’t believe no one ever told me how great this is! Thanks for sharing Roni!
Roni!
A recipe very close to yours is here- http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/bananas-the-ultimate-hunger-buster-2456998/
BTW I loved your recipe! Its tastastic :)
This is absoluetley AWESOME!!! I LOVED IT!
I seriously think I’m addicted to this stuff! I have made it several times. I found an open bag of toffee chips in my freezer. Delicious!
Okay, I just finished it for the first time:) All I can say is, thank you so much! It’s everything you said it is! I’m going to go throw some more bananas in the freezer and surprise my husband.
Looks delicious – like it´s made with cream or something. Will try out for sure!
Beautiful! Can’t believe it took me so long to try it! I made a very decadent chocolate mousse and needed something to balance it out – this was perfect.
http://tangerinedrawings.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/dark-chocolate-mousse-with-caffe-latte-granita-and-banana-gelato/
Tempted? Have a lovely day on the other side of the world!
I love this recipe as is and with peanut butter mixed in. The other day I wanted to add some protein so I used 2 frozen bananas, 1 c greek nonfat yogurt, 1 c frozen strawberries, and 1 t vanilla. It tasted just like frozen yogurt – YUM! Thanks for sharing, Roni! :-)
I found the best way to make this. first of all it is an awesome idea.I used 2-3 frozen bananas cut up and then when I put them in the food processor I added 1 more unfrozen very ripe banana , it comes out perfect and ready to serve,instead of having to refreeze and wait.
I’ve been meaning to try this out forever and I finally got around to it tonight. Both my ds9 and I loved it! My dh thought it was to “banana-y”, but that’s his loss. Thanks for posting the video, because I think I would have been too impatient with waiting for the bananas to finally get that smooth consistency if I hadn’t seen the video first.
Today I ate banana soft serve at breakfast. WOW! I’m skeptical of most healthy recipes, but something this easy was hard to resist.
Sliced and froze 1 banana in a sandwich bag overnight; put frozen banana slices into my new magic bullet with 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract; pulsed several times, tapping container between pulses to move bananas back to blades, until creamy.
Apparently freezing overripe bananas gives them a lighter, wonderfully sweet flavor. Tastes similar to ice cream and, I’m sure, would benefit from adding flavor extracts, pureed or chopped fruits, nuts, spices and herbs, chocolate and all ice cream/yogurt additives. Can’t wait to try them. Thanks!
Tried this out and it was great….. the next time I added half cup of frozen chocolate yogurt and half of a frozen weight watchers chocolate sponge cake, made it 3 pts and it was so worth it. Love your site Roni, have tried many recipes. They have all been wonderful.
I tried this recipe. It was so good and so easy to make !!!
Like someone mentioned above, I added Cool Whip and it was divine! I probably added too much vanilla, so the Cool Whip helped take it out of that too-sweet-to-eat zone.
cannot wait to try this!! i love bananas, but they tend to get too ripe before i eat them all. this will solve that problem for me. i am on the WW program, and i was missing my ice cream. this will fill the bill i’m sure. thanks!!
This is so yummy! I finally got a food processor to make this. I made mine with PB and chocolate. Thanks Roni
Oh MY GOSH! Finally got around to making this! Didn’t believe it would be so creamy and I was proven wrong – wow- that was heavenly!! I can’t believe it tastes like banana soft serve ice cream – I used my vitamix blender and it was sooo fast!!!! Thanks for the recipe!!
I finally bought a Ninja about a month ago and this was the first thing I made. Love it! I buy bananas on the mark down rack and freeze them in packs of 1, 2, 3 or 4 so I can make a anything from a single serving to enough for the family. My last trip to the store’s markdown rack resulted in over 30 lbs of bananas at 19 cents a pound. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy, so I told her I had a monkey at home. LOL!!!