Just 4 simple ingredients to make this:
Swirly chocolate soft-serve.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen the idea of whipping frozen banana in a vitamix or food processor until it resembles the exact texture of soft-serve ice cream. (If you add a fat source, like peanut butter, it tastes pretty similar to ice cream as well. Or leave the fat out for a refreshing sherbet-like taste.)
I first blogged about the idea back in 2009, and then again in the Vitamix ice cream post, and I’m sure others were making it even earlier than that. The best thing about the concept is its versatility; everyone gets to put his or her own spin on the basic recipe. One of my favorite variations: chocolate soft serve!
With sprinkles on top.
(Just in case you forgot whose blog you were reading.)
Chocolate Banana Soft Serve
(Serves 2-3)
Category: 50+ Healthy Banana Recipes
- 3 medium bananas, the riper the better (for substitutions, see nutrition link below)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder (15g)
- optional: sweetener of choice, depending on your tastebuds and ripeness of the bananas
- optional: 3-5 tbsp peanut butter or another nut butter of choice
Ahead of time: peel and slice the over-ripe bananas into chunks. Freeze in a Ziploc-type bag, then combine all ingredients in a Vita-Mix, food processor, or blender. (If not using a Vita-Mix, add 2-3 tsp milk of choice so it’ll blend more smoothly. You might also have to thaw the frozen bananas if your freezer is super-powerful.) If you want the look of ice cream, use an ice-cream scoop to serve! (If you scoop it all into a container and freeze about 10-15 minutes, the texture will also become a bit firmer like ice cream, as opposed to soft serve.) Don’t try to halve the recipe unless you have a tiny food processor, as it won’t blend as smoothly.
View Chocolate Banana Soft Serve Nutrition Facts
Have you ever tried banana “ice cream”?
Any favorite ways to eat it? I almost always add a ridiculous amount of peanut butter, even to this chocolate version. Peanut butter and banana belong together, and the added fat makes it taste more like ice cream than sherbet.
LINK OF THE DAY:
Some photos link to other posts because more clicks = more money. Not saying it’s a bad thing Katie, gotta make the dough!! 😉
No, most definitely not. Please see answer three comments above.
I am def going to try this with nectarines minus the cocoa! And I will even try this reluctantly with the bananas (I don’t like them very much) but with EXTRA cocoa lol 😀 Thanks Katie for these great ideas!
Bananner ice cream is one of my favorites! 🙂 What a great recipe, Katie! I don’t think I’ve ever tried a chocolate version of it. (I know — the horror!) But I have all of the ingredients on hand right now — I’ll definitely have to try it. 🙂
I have a couple recipes for breakfast icecream, but haven’t gotten around to trying them. There’s one that’s similar to this chocolate banana soft serve, but it also has avacado in it.
Such an easy and delicious treat!
Hey Katie, just curious…why do your pictures link to other recipes on your blog?! Like ones that don’t have to do with this softserve recipe? Just wondering! I love banana softserve by the way…I eat it on overnight oats and it is delicious!
Unfortunately, I know that there are some people who are struggling with eating disorders who read my blog, and I link away from certain photos because I don’t want to trigger them. I know they’d enlarge the photos and try to pick apart my body. Besides hurting them, that also makes ME very uncomfortable.
Someone below you said I do it for page views, but that’s ridiculous because when you enlarge a photo it goes to a new page anyway, so it’s not like I’m getting any more page views from linking away. I do it on certain photos simply because I’m uncomfortable with the fact that people are picking me apart for “imperfections” or that some commenters are looking for a conspiracy (a photoshopped nail) that doesn’t exist.
I wish people would stop thinking it’s my goal to take advantage of my readers :(.
hi kaila, glad to know you read gomi 😉
Haha… believe it or not… I just had soft serve for breakfast! Banana soft serve ; )
I added cocoa, almond butter and a few icecubes. Yummy.
Heard about this before but never have tried yet…I am so excited to try this out. More sprinkles for me. My own version of soft serve. Yey!
Myfudo here…Normally we’d never put a shameless plug back to us, but we just launched our new site and we would love for you to be a part of it. I’d love to share our newest launch with you, I hope you don’t mind? Now that we are getting a new look…Myfudo is moving to a new domain http://www.yumgoggle.com This has been a project we have been working on for almost a year now. We just launched our new gallery submission site, and we are just thrilled. We’d be proud to have your work as part of our growing collection to continue to have a larger reach and further inspire all fellow food lovers out there! Please sign up and check us out (it’s free) http://www.yumgoggle.com/gallery
We look forward to seeing your wonderful pictures, as always.
p.s. We are hosting a Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway to celebrate our new Yumgoggle site, we hope you’ll participate =)
http://www.yumgoggle.com/japanese-cuisine-japanese-spinach-side-dish-horenso-no-ohitashi-kitchenaid-mixer-giveaway/
Your site is a great go-to whenever I’m craving something sweet but don’t want to sacrifice nutrition by loading up on sugar and dairy. I’m hesitantly proud to say I’ve been eating pb banana ice cream for breakfast! Why not? (I add coconut extract.) Do you have, or could you add a PANTRY tab at the top of your page showing all of your frequently used ingredients? I would love to just log on for a dessert idea with a better chance of having the ingredients already on hand! I already know to keep a good stock of raisins, dates, nuts, chick peas, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, oatmeal, ground flax, bananas, peanut butter, vanilla and coconut extract 🙂 LOVE this site!
Aw thanks, Belinda!
I do have a list on my FAQ page (a tab right under the blog header at the top of the page).
It’s under the section of the FAQ page called “recipes.”
Hi! I how long does it take for the bananas to reach the right texture and everything in a food processor? I loveee ice cream so this recipe is amazing!
I think it might vary slightly depending on how many bananas you use, how frozen they are, and the size pieces you put in. I’ve read 5 min. but it seems like mine never takes longer than 1 min. using 2-3 bananas cut in half. Maybe I’m just impatient and it gets fluffier after more time, but by then it looks right to me so I stop and eat it. 🙂
Thanks. I’m pretty impatient too, I’ll probably stop at the one minute mark. 😉
This was delicious! It *may* have been part of our breakfast this morning. 😉