These days I consider myself lucky to find a few ripe bananas sitting around. Bananas go quick in my house. Not only do my daughters love snacking on them, it’s been discovered that bananas are one of our chickens favorite treats. Who would have guessed?
It was a hot summer day and I found a whole bunch of bananas untouched on the counter. They were beautifully ripened which translates to rotten, poisoned and inedible to the kiddos. So they were all mine!!! Excited – I knew immediately where those bananas were gonna end up – in my food processor.
I’m sure you’ve heard about one ingredient banana ice cream before and quite possibly have made it already. I’ve written about one ingredient banana ice cream before and I’m sure I’ll write about it again. Why? It’s simply amazing. Chop up some ripe bananas, freeze them and throw them in the food processor – you’ve officially made ice cream. It’s not magic. It’s not some overpriced “health food” you’ll find in your grocers freezer. It’s all natural, additive free, super healthy, dairy free, vegan, sugar free – do I need to go on? It’s smooth, creamy, sweet and delicious – you’ll almost forget how good it is for you. What a perfectly sneaky way to get the kids fruit intake up! Ahhhh….why isn’t everyone making this already!?
The only thing to remember is you must use very ripe bananas when making one ingredient banana ice cream. The finished ice cream just isn’t as sweet or creamy with regular bananas.
Chocolate was on my mind this summer day. Ha, who am I trying to fool, chocolate is on my mind most days. I also had a bowl of cherries that had to get eaten up asap. This would be perfect! Chocolate Banana Ice Cream with Cherries.
Perfect it was! Creamy, sweet and decadent with insane chocolate flavor. It was almost impossible getting the finished ice cream into the freezer to set! My daughters and I ate about half of it when it was straight out of the food processor in the “soft serve” state. That being said, feel free to serve it up at this point. Freeze it if you would like it set more or to serve it at a later time.
I hope you love this Chocolate Cherry Banana Ice Cream recipe! It’s cheap, delicious, healthy and super simple to make. Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy cooking!
-Amanda-
Chocolate Cherry Banana Ice Cream - Vegan
Ingredients
- 5 bananas
- 3 tablespoon cocoa powder I prefer Dutch process/ dark
- 1 cup sweet cherries pitted ***Can substitute 15 oz can sweet cherries in syrup, drained, if fresh cherries are unavailable***
Instructions
- Slice bananas.
- Freeze bananas for at least a few hours. If you're using them right away, you can freeze in layers on a cookie sheet with wax paper. If not, freeze in a covered freezer safe container.
- When ready to use, chisel the solid chunk of frozen banana slices into pieces (if necessary) and throw it all in your food processor.
- Pulse a few times to separate all the clumps and process until creamy, stopping a few times to scrape sides down with a spatula.
- Add in cocoa powder. Process until cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Scrape sides down with spatula if necessary.
- Add in cherries, process until combined.
- You can eat it right away - it will be very creamy and soft serve / custard like. Or you can store it in the freezer (covered) and let it set up a bit. I usually make this ahead of time, freeze it and let it sit at room temp for about 20 minutes before dipping and serving.
- Enjoy!!!
Amanda, this ice cream sounds delicious! I’ve fallen in love with the idea of using frozen bananas as an easy ice cream base. So much faster than the wait with an ice cream maker! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much Stephanie! I’m loving it too! There’s no limit to the flavor combos and it’s actually a legit, healthy treat. I just hope I can manage saving some ripe bananas for banana breads 🙂
This sounds soooooo delicious! I LOVE cherry and the combination of chocolate cherry and banana is gonna be so tasty!
Thanks so much Angela! I love cherries too – they’ve been sooo cheap lately and we’ve been putting them in everything. I’m thinking of soaking them for some boozy chocolate covered cherries 🙂
This sounds delicious! I am jonesing for chocolate.
Thanks so much Sarah! I’m always jonesing for chocolate 🙂