Healthy ice cream made in less than 5 minutes. That’s what we have here folks. This has been a staple in our diet for years and years. It’s a treat you should eat and so should your kids as it’s made from food that nourishes you and help prevent disease. And it’s so yummy! The key to making this is a good strong blender because you will be blending frozen fruit. Having burnt out a few cheaper ones I know what I’m talking about.
The ultimate blender is of course the Vita-mix. We purchased one long ago and it’s been the greatest purchase I’ve ever made for my food preparation. Word has it they can blend bricks. (Though I wouldn’t suggest it.) They last years and years. They are, however, a bit pricy so if its not in your budget try to find a really strong one that can handle frozen fruit. I owned an Oster for a while and it was fairly strong.
The base for your ice cream is typically frozen bananas to which you can then add other frozen fruit depending on the flavor desired. Or you can add carob or cacao powder for chocolate ice cream. I’ve tossed in nuts, raw coconut and even dark chocolate chips for a rocky road ice cream which is my favorite. But the flavors are limitless. Below are the basics along with some hints. I have also made a strawberry ice cream with just frozen strawberries and it was very good. Sort of a sorbet flavor and feel.
Basic Ingredients for Healthy Ice Cream
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- Ripe bananas. (The riper they are the sweeter they are.) Peel and cut or break into several pieces. Place in freezer bags and freeze.
- Various frozen fruit. I typically buy strawberries, raspberries, & blueberries already frozen. Buy whatever you like!
- Cacao or Carob Powder
- Water. I use spring water.
- Xylitol or Stevia if added sweetener is needed. Xylitol is very good for the body.
- Unsweetened coconut.
- Raw nuts of choice.
- High quality dark chocolate chips.
- Ice
- Psyllium Husk. For added thickness. This is a wonderful source of fiber! Optional
- Ground flax seed or flax seed oil for a mega shot of nutrients and good fats. Optional.
You can use a non-dairy milk if you like such as soy milk or my favorite almond milk. The water works just as well however. It only takes a small amount.
I keep bags of frozen bananas in my freezer at all times for ice cream and smoothies.
Various Types
Exact amounts are not needed on the fruit. I generally use about 1/4 cup water and a couple bananas with some extra fruit tossed in. Add less water to start as it’s easy to add too much making it runnier than desired. If I’m making chocolate ice cream and only using bananas I add in about 5 or 6 ice cubes to help make it thicker and colder. You want very little liquid to make a thick soft serve type ice cream. More liquid makes it more shake-like as in smoothies. If your bananas were not really ripe you can add in sweetener as needed. If you add cacao or carob powder you need to add some sweetener in because those are bitter. Do not over blend as the heat from the blender will start making it thinner.
These are very general amounts for a large single serving. Adjust as needed.
Banana Ice Cream (This is the base for all other flavors other than the strawberry sorbet in which case just add frozen strawberries.)
2 frozen bananas. (Have these cut and frozen ahead of time.)
1/8th to 1/4 cup water. Start with less.
Place in blender and blend till thick and creamy.
For added nutrition you can always add 1 tb psyllium husk (makes it extra thick and adds fiber) and/or fresh ground flax seed or flax seed oil which is a mega nutrient dense food.
Chocolate Ice Cream
Base ingredients.
1 heaping tsp cacao or carob powder. Adjust as needed.
Sweetener as needed.
Blend all.
Strawberry Ice Cream
Base ingredients.
1/2 cup frozen strawberries.
Blueberry Ice Cream
Base Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen blueberries.
Raspberry Ice Cream
Base Ingredients.
1/2 Cup Frozen raspberries.
Rocky Road Ice Cream
Base Ingredients
1 heaping tsp cacao or carob powder. Adjust as needed.
Sweeten as needed.
Blend.
After blending, fold in any or all of the following:
1/2 unfrozen banana cut into pieces>
2 to 3 TB dark chocolate chips.
1 heaping TB nuts of choice.
Raw unsweetened coconut.
Strawberry Sorbet
2 cups frozen strawberries.
1/8th to 1/4 cup water. Start with less.
Sweeten to taste.
Blend
Printable Various Recipes
Printable Recipe Sheet
Single Printable Recipe
- 2 frozen bananas
- ¼ cup water
- Frozen fruit of choice OR
- Cacao or Carbo powder for chocolate ice cream.
- Fresh fruit cut up
- Dark chocolate chips
- Flax seed oil or ground flax seed
- Nuts of choice
- Psyllium Husk
- Xylitol or Stevia
- Raw Coconut
- Frozen Strawberries
- Add water and bananas into a strong blender.
- For fruity ice cream add frozen fruit of choice.
- For chocolate ice cream add chocolate powder of choice.
- Add sweetener if needed.
- If using these you also add in Psyllium husk and ground flax seed or flax seed oil.
- Blend till smooth. Do not over blend as it will start thinning.
- Place in bowl and fold in any "extras" you might want added such as chocolate chips, nuts, coconut etc.
- Serve!
- Place frozen strawberries in blender with sweetener of choice. Blend till thick and creamy!
Visual Steps
Grab some frozen bananas.
A few extras you can add in. Raw coconut, frozen blueberries, dark chocolate chips, nuts.
Psyllium Husk is super nutritious and a great source of fiber. It also can thicken smoothies etc. Its optional to add in however. The ice cream is quite thick on its own.
Toss all ingredients in the blender. This is my Vita-Mix. It has a tamper to help push down harder items while blending.
Scoop out your ice cream. This batch was a little softer than usual. You can make it as thick or soft as you like.
This one is Rocky Road so my I used cacao before blending, then folded in a few pieces of fresh banana, chocolate chips and nuts.
This one is frozen blueberries and bananas!