How To Make Creamy Ice Cream with Just One Ingredient

What is this one magic ingredient that can be whipped into rich and silky ice cream, with no additional dairy, sweeteners, or ingredients needed whatsoever?

Bananas

Bananas can make pretty fabulous ice cream, all by themselves by freezing bananas and pureeing them into ice cream.

Frozen bananas are good for more than just dipping in chocolate. If you freeze a banana until solid, then whiz it up in a blender or food processor, it gets creamy and a little gooey, just like custard ice cream. You can experimenting with adding in another ingredient or two, like a tablespoon of peanut butter and another of honey.

Here are step-by-step instructions to get you in on the banana ice cream secret. Isn’t it time you gave it a try?

What You Need

Ingredients

1 large ripe banana

Equipment

Knife
Cutting board
Airtight, freezer-safe container
Small food processor
Spatula

Instructions

Start with ripe bananas: They should be sweet and soft.

Peel the bananas and cut them into coins: It doesn’t matter what shape or size the pieces are in, as long as they are chopped up into evenly-sized and somewhat small pieces.

Put the bananas in an airtight container: A freezer-safe glass bowl like this one is fine, or you can use a freezer bag.

Freeze the banana pieces for at least 2 hours: Freeze for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

Blend the frozen banana pieces in a small food processor or powerful blender: Pulse the frozen banana pieces. We’ve found that a small food processor or chopper works best.

Keep blending — the banana will look crumbly: At first the banana pieces will look crumbled or smashed. Scrape down the food processor.

Keep blending — the banana will look gooey: Then it will look gooey, like banana mush. Scrape down the food processor.

Keep blending — the banana will look like oatmeal: It will get smoother but still have chunks of banana in it. Scrape down the food processor.

Watch the magic happen: Suddenly, as the last bits of banana smooth out, you’ll see the mixture shift from blended banana to creamy, soft-serve ice cream texture. Blend for a few more seconds to aerate the ice cream. (If adding any mix-ins, like peanut butter or chocolate chips, this is the moment to do it.)

Magic!:

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until solid: You can eat the ice cream immediately, but it will be quite soft. You can also transfer it back into the airtight container and freeze it until solid, like traditional ice cream.