Call it banana soft serve, call it “nice” cream, call it vegan ice cream—whatever you call it, if you haven’t tried making banana ice cream at home, stop what you are doing right now and go put some bananas in the freezer! You gotta try this.
If you’ve never heard of banana soft serve before, the concept couldn’t be any simpler. Freeze some banana slices, and then when they’re frozen solid, pulse them in a food processor until you get an end result that is almost exactly the same texture as soft serve ice cream—you’d never know it was only bananas!
Banana soft serve is one of my favorite healthy summer treats—it’s literally just fruit—so I feel totally fine serving this “dessert” to my family all the time. We eat it for breakfast (it’s awesome on top of overnight oats). We eat it for a snack. We eat it for dessert.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with real ice cream, but when you’re looking for a healthier option to enjoy at any time of day, you can’t beat banana soft serve.
Banana soft serve is great classic style—just with bananas—but it also lends itself to being awesome with all kinds of mix-ins. I partnered up with my friends at Musselman’s Apple Butter to bring you eight awesome ways to enjoy banana soft serve.
Musselman’s Apple Butter is a great way to add moisture, flavor, and sweetness to all kinds of recipes—including your banana soft serve creations. I love that Musselman’s has no high fructose corn syrup and only three ingredients—apples, sugar, and spices. It’s exactly how I’d make apple butter at home if I could find the time in my schedule to go pick apples, peel them all, and make apple butter (maybe one day). For now, I rely on Musselman’s!
Before we dig into the eight banana soft serve recipes, I want to give you a little bit of an overview of how to freeze bananas. For banana soft serve, you only want to freeze ripe bananas—green ones won’t taste right as ice cream. I avoid using too ripe bananas, too—they just aren’t my favorite. But if you like ’em, go for it!
To freeze the bananas, peel them, then break or cut into small pieces (~1″ in length). Place the pieces in one layer on a baking sheet, and freeze until hard. Then transfer the frozen pieces to a large zip-top bag. I keep a bag of frozen bananas in the freezer at all times. They are great for soft serve, for smoothies, and for banana bread. Alright, onto the recipes!
It’s really hard to believe that this is just bananas, but it is! Not only is this a delicious treat for any day, but it’s also a good option for sore throats or unhappy tummies.
All the flavor of apple pie in a super healthy treat! This one uses Musselman’s Apple Butter to give an awesome burst of apple cinnamon flavor.
The chocolate and banana combo is classic for a reason—it’s super delicious! This is as close the classic ice cream flavor as you’re going to get.
You know when it’s still 90 degrees outside, but you start to see pumpkin recipes on Pinterest? This recipe combines the best of summer and fall into one healthy treat! Lots of pumpkin pie flavor is added thanks to Musselman’s Apple Butter!
This banana soft serve has the most beautiful bright pink color! We keep frozen strawberries on hand at all times for smoothies and banana soft serve.
This is my favorite banana soft serve combo! I like to serve it up with a little chocolate sauce drizzled over top. Sub in almond butter or sunflower butter for a fun alternative to peanut butter.
This carrot cake banana soft serve has the flavor of carrot cake and the nutrition of eating healthy fruit! This recipe uses Musselman’s Apple Butter to add spice cake flavor!
A healthy taste of the tropics! Frozen bananas are blended with pineapple and coconut milk (the full fat stuff in the can) to make a creamy, dreamy treat.
8 Vegan Banana Soft Serve Recipes
Frozen bananas pulsed in the food processor turn in to dreamy, creamy, vegan ice cream!
Ingredients
For Classic Banana Soft Serve:
- 2 bananas, cut into slices and frozen
For Apple Cinnamon Banana Soft Serve
- 2 bananas, cut into slices and frozen
- ¼ cup Musselman’s Apple Butter
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For Chocolate Banana Soft Serve
- 2 bananas, cut into slices and frozen
- 1 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
For Pumpkin Spice Banana Soft Serve
- 2 bananas, cut into slices and frozen
- 2 tablespoons Musselman’s Apple Butter
- ⅓ cup pure pumpkin puree
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
For Strawberry Banana Soft Serve
- 1 banana, cut into slices and frozen
- ½ cup frozen whole hulled strawberries
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For Peanut Butter Banana Soft Serve
- 2 bananas, cut into slices and frozen
- 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- Pinch of salt
For Carrot Cake Banana Soft Serve
- 1 banana, cut into slices and frozen
- ¼ cup Musselman’s Apple Butter
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons raisins
- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
For Piña Colada Banana Soft Serve
- 1 banana, cut into slices and frozen
- ⅓ cup canned pineapple chunks, drained
- ⅓ cup full fat coconut milk (from a can)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the texture resembles soft serve ice cream, about 3 minutes. You may need to scrape the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula occasionally. Serve immediately, or freeze for 10-15 minutes to solidify.
Notes
Prep time does not include time to freeze bananas.
