Thick, creamy, salty and sweet, your entire family will love this guilt-free vegan chocolate peanut butter ice cream. No Machine Required.
What would you say if I told you it was possible to make ice cream at home without a machine? What if I told you it was all natural with no added sugar, no dairy products and no saturated fat? If you’ve never made homemade vegan ice cream before, I’m about to blow your mind.
The secret? Frozen bananas!! Yes, my friends, it’s true: frozen bananas are the secret ingredient in my Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. Before I continue, I must give credit to my girl MJ who first introduced me to machine-free, dairy-free ice cream over 3 years ago.
With two little ones, we always have bananas on hand. I love banana bread as much as the next gal but it’s bathing suit season and way too hot to turn on the oven so instead of baking I peel over-ripe bananas then wrap them in plastic wrap and pop them in the freezer. (You can also slice them then throw them in a plastic bag but I usually slice them before using them with a sharp knife.)
Most days we use frozen bananas for smoothies but now that summer has arrived and the heat is on, I crave ice cream almost daily. Since I’m still working on losing the baby weight, I love having a healthier, guilt-free version on hand. Not only is it easier on the waistline but my 2 year old can enjoy it and we get to skip the traditional ice cream induced post-sugar-buzz meltdown.
I am a sucker for chocolate and peanut butter but feel free to add in your favorite flavors. We recently went strawberry picking so a vegan strawberry ice cream is next on our list, soon to be followed by blueberries and peaches. If you are hosting a summer party and accommodating friends or family with dairy or gluten allergies, this dessert is a no brainer.
Cheers to summer and guilt-free ice cream!
Your spoon is waiting.
- 2 large frozen bananas - sliced
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons creamy natural peanut butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
- Place all ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor and slowly pulse, 15 seconds at a time, until mixture is smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as you go. Note:This process may take a couple minutes so be patient.
- Serve immediately or freeze in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Get more frozen treat recipes from friends and family:
Feed Me Phoebe: Coconut Mojito Popsicles
Dishing With Divya: Strawberry Sherbet
Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Healthy Fruit Punch Popsicles
Virtually Homemade: Minty Pina Colada Popsicles
Weelicious: Fruity Lemonade Ice Pops
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Chai Green Tea Popsicles
Red or Green: Spiced Rooibos Tea Popsicles
Dishin & Dishes: Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream
Elephants and the Coconut Trees: Homemade Eggless Vanilla Ice Cream (No Machine Required)
Domesticate Me: Slutty Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Devour: 5 Frozen Finales
Poet in the Pantry: Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Swing Eats: Grapefruit, Pineapple, Basil and Coconut Milk Gelato
Daily*Dishin: Dark Chocolate Sorbet
Cooking With Elise: Frozen Blueberry Treats
FN Dish: 6 Reasons to Brave Brain Freeze
For a savory frozen treat:
Taste With The Eyes: Frozen Alaskan Cod, Mediterranean-Style
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I made your concoction tonight and it turned out great. At first, I tried using a Nutribullet, but the blade was not powerful enough to mush the bananas into ice cream consistency. I transferred everything into a food processor and the bananas turned creamy like ice cream. Surprisingly, this vegan ice cream tastes so similar to soft serve ice cream from Wendy’s. I think yours is better, because I could taste the authenticity of the cacao powder and there’s peanut butter. Perhaps, the best part about this recipe is not adding sugar and still maintaining the flavor and texture of soft serve ice cream. Well done friend!
Yes I totally agree – it reminds me of Wendy’s too! I hope you loved it! Thank you!
This fell under the “You Might Also Like” section and I responded with “Why yes, yes I would like that!” 😉 You can never go wrong with peanut butter, chocolate, and banana. One of the flavors of my wedding cake was banana with peanut butter buttercream 😉 That flavor went FAST.
hahah!! Too funny!!
Omg! Topped it with thinly sliced, unblanched almonds for a bit of a crunch and it was almost too good to be true! Love it!
Ahhh that sounds like heaven!!!
Looks amazing! Just wondering about something; You mean unsweetened cocoa powder, right? And what kind of vanilla do you use? Can I use vanilla essence? 🙂
YES! Unsweetened cocoa powder. 🙂 Any vanilla works – just use your favorite! We buy a big bottle from Costco that works great. I’m not sure what vanilla essence is but you could even skip it!
This turned out to be a wonderful and delicious dessert. Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is so good! I’m lactose intolerant and Mt daughter is a vegan so it’s perfect for both of us. So delicious!! Thank you
Oh I’m so thrilled!!! Let me know what everyone thinks!
danke für das tolle rezept!!! liebe grüße von angie aus deutschland
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Does it have any banana flavor? My fiance hates banana but I don’t mind it so I’d like to know whether to make a single or double batch. 🙂
It does have a slight banana flavor, especially the riper the bananas. HOWEVER, you can take care of that by simply adding more peanut butter or cocoa powder (or any other flavors you’d like such as strawberries, cinnamon, etc.)
Made it and it is delicious! Will see if my SO can taste the banana, but I love it! Can’t wait to try with berries.
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Best. Thing. Ever. Especially with dark chocolate cocoa powder. Just wow!
I love using dark chocolate cocoa powder!!
Hi, just wondering if you could replace the peanut butter with anything else, for people who cannot eat peanuts?? Looks delicious, thank you!!
Absolutely!! You can use almond butter or sun butter or cashew butter!
Yum, yum, yum! I make something just like this and my kids don’t even know it’s good for them 🙂 I like that!
My favorite kind of treat!!
Thanks for this great recipe! I added a lil greek coconut yogurt and nutella to mine. Any recommendations for a blender of food processor? Neither my blender or food processor could fully blend it to a creamy state.
What a great idea! I use a Blendtec blender and KitchenAid food processor – love them both!
Mind = blown. Any treat that combines chocolate and peanut butter is a treat I want in my life!
I hope you try this!! We are buying more bananas this week!
mmmm….looks so yummy and creamy 🙂 I love using bananas to make ice cream!
I need to do it more often!!
This looks so amazingly creamy! You can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!
You really can’t!! I need to make more!
Chocolate and peanut butter are my weakness… ice cream too. So putting them together is pretty brilliant, my friend. <3
Mine too my friend!! Nothing better!
I always have bananas in the freezer ready to go! I love the fact that you don’t need a nice cream maker either. Thank you xoxo
You and me both!!! I get worried when I don’t have them in there. 🙂
Liz this looks awesome. 1st off, gorgeous pictures. I just want to lick that ice cream right off the scoop. Secondly, can believe that you know me that well to make a recipe soley for me. hehe. 🙂 Peanut butter, chocolate, bananas, yup.. its a winner. Totally making this one soon.
Aww thank you so much Krista! Photographing ice cream is harder than I realized – melts so fast, haha! Enjoy!!
I love Asher and this treat!
Aww thank you… he eats with gusto. 😉
This looks fantastic and creamy. Yummy!
Thanks so much – I hope you try it!
My mind has been blown! This looks delicious!
Let me know if you ever try it!!
Hehe. Frozen bananas…great minds think alike! Love that you turned it into chocolate peanut butter ice cream!
I love that we’re on the same page Carrie!
I haven’t been a huge fan of banana ice cream but definitely a huge fan of chocolate and peanut butter. The addition of cinnamon makes me want to try banana ice cream again though. It does look tasty.
Give it a shot! You can always add more peanut butter or cocoa powder to mask the banana flavor further.
This looks delicious! I was just wondering, is there a strong banana flavor to it?
It actually depends on how ripe your bananas are as well but you can also just add more peanut butter, protein powder, cocoa or cinnamon to help mask it further.
Please have an extra scoop for me!!! Sounds perfect!!
Thanks so much Rachel!!
I am a huge fan of banana in ice cream. I love the guilt-free nature of this and oh the indulgence that speaks through the screen. Yummm!
Thank you so much!!
Love this guilt-free summer treat!
Thanks Meredith!
This makes me want ice cream for breakfast!
Mission accomplished!
I LOVE making these frozen banana ice creams and recently added a half shot of espresso to mine to make a coffee flavored one. Why have I never thought of adding a nut butter?! That sounds awesome!
Oooo love the espresso idea!!!!
What a great idea, I have got to try this!!! Great photos, Liz!!
Thanks so much Kelli! Chocolate and peanut butter for life!
I’m a fan of banana softserve and this variation sounds awesome. Especially with the add-in of peanut butter and cinnamon. I wouldn’t have thought of that last little one though I’m sure it takes the flavour up a notch.
Thank you so much!!! The cinnamon really kicks it up a notch!
Love ice cream made from bananas — such a fun and guilt-free treat! Gorgeous photo, too!
Thank you so much!! Photographing ice cream is my least favorite thing in the world – haha!!
Liz,
Mine came out kind of soupy… Any suggestions? Also, I followed it exactly, but it didn’t seem to make too much? I do love the flavor… Thank you!!
Hi Charlize – Soupy? Interesting – I’ve never encountered that before (and I literally made this just 2 days ago!) Were your bananas completely frozen? There’s no liquid so I can’t imagine how it would be come soupy. As for the quantity, I suppose that could vary a bit if you didn’t use two large bananas. Regardless, I hope you try again! We make it all the time and my boys love it!
You can put it back in the freezer for ten-twenty minutes, giving it a stir in between so that it doesn’t freeze into a rock. Yours might have come out soupy because the mixture does warm up a little in the blender. 🙂
Great tip!!