It’s Ice Cream Tuesday, and this Banana Avocado Mint Ice Cream with Tazo chocolate-covered cocoa nibs is the answer to all my needs today. It’s cold, creamy, and healthy compared to store-bought ice creams. Plus, you don’t need an ice cream maker to make it!
I have to be honest with you and let you know that this is not what I had planned to post today. This recipe an answer to my posting dilemma.
My bourbon vanilla oat cream didn’t work out the way I planned it, so it’s not ready to share yet. I know this sounds like a big excuse, but I think something is wrong with my ice cream maker. That, or my stand-alone freezer, just isn’t doing its job. I’m cleaning out a place for it in the regular freezer now and will try that next. Keep your fingers crossed!
(This recipe was also submitted to the Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck, which is now happening every week!)
If I have got you craving oat ice cream, you have to check out this recipe for Dreamy Chocolate Oat Cream. Spa Bettie was kind enough to contribute this amazing recipe to my new book, OATrageous Oatmeals. I saw her post when I was almost done with the book, but knew it would be a great fit. Thanks again, Kristina!
Banana Avocado Mint Ice Cream requires a little planning because you need frozen bananas to make it. That’s why you don’t need an ice cream maker.
The avocado adds a beautiful green color and a great mouth-feel. It is nature’s butter after all. I like my mint ice creams to be green and I have used spinach or kale to do create that color in other ice creams I’ve made.
Carefully slice the bananas or be proactive and slice them before you put them in the freezer. Add the avocado and process away. You will need to stop and scrape the bowl down a time or two.
Once it’s smooth, you can add the flavor extract you want to use and liquid stevia. I used peppermint stevia too, because the wonderful people at NuNaturals sent me a sampling of stevias to try. It’s fine if you only have plain or want to use a different sweetener. This is the perfect place to sweeten to taste. Just remember if you are using the chocolate-covered cocoa nibs they will be adding some sweetness as well.
The peppermint and the orange are showing up in my iced green tea every day. Orange is my favorite and peppermint is the one Cheryl likes the best.
Once the banana mixture is smooth and sweetened you can add in the cocoa nibs. You could use nibs without chocolate to keep this completely sugar-free.
Process this stage gently and pulse little by little. We want the nibs mixed in and not minced. It will still be a little soft so it’s best you pop the mixture into the freezer for a couple of hours. It will freeze hard – so if it’s in the freezer overnight, you may have to let it thaw a few minutes to get the creamy scoop that you’re dreaming of.
More Recipes to Try
Banana Avocado Mint Ice Cream – No Ice Cream Maker Needed!
Ingredients
- 5 large frozen bananas sliced
- 2 medium ripe avocados
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 15 drops peppermint stevia or plain and add an additional 1/4 teaspoon peppermint
- 3/4 cup Taza chocolate-covered cocoa nibs or plain ones
Instructions
- Add the banana and avocado pieces to your food processor and process until smooth. You will need to stop and scrape down the bowl a few times.
- Add the peppermint and stevia. Process more to get the sweetener evenly distributed.
- Now add in the nibs into the mixture and pulse to mix them in. You can do this by hand if you’d prefer.
- Scrape into a bowl (or nifty Tevolo ice cream container) and freeze for a few hours.
Annie says
Need the avocado slicer…
and this ice cream.
Clara Mae Watrous says
Looks delicious. I have an old recipe using avocado and half and half cream, but the bananas would be healthier. I’ll have to try this. I can see it’s hard to have it completely smooth…maybe in a Vitamix? No, it would be too stiff probably.
Kathy Hester says
I don’t like making it as much in the Vitamix because it’s so hard to get it out. But if that’s not a pet peeve of yours I’m sure it will work just fine 😉
The Peace Patch says
I love the combination of rich flavors and textures…it would be fun to experiment with different extracts like cinnamon or butterscotch. Or different flavors of chocolate…maybe the Taza Cinnamon Mexicano Chocolate Chunks or their Rum Raisin Limited Bar. Many thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Shannon says
Do you know what the calorie count is for one serving, by any chance?
Thanks.
Kathy Hester says
I do not, but you can go to sparkpeople.com and put in the ingredients to get it.
kylie says
can i substitute liquid stevia with stevia powder or any other sweetener?
Kathy Hester says
You should be able to use most any sweetener. Just remember since this is never heated it could stay grainy if you used coconut sugar, for instance. I would mix dry stevia (or other dry sweetener ers) with the mint extract to dissolve it a bit, then add to the mix.
Mimi of MimiAvocado says
This looks good and easy! I have tried avocado ice cream at the Fallbrook avocado festival but never have made it myself. Even though we live on an avocado farm we usually just enjoy our avocados on toast or salads or guacamole…sliced on soup sometimes too. Our avocado subscribers and gift box clients would probably love this! Will share on the CaliforniaAvocadosDirect.com FB page!
Kathy Hester says
Thank you so much for that! I’m working on a few more avocado recipes – including a fudgesicle with the amazingly delicious avocados I got from you.
rachel @ athletic avocado says
I love that there is no sugar in this! i bet this ice cream is super creamy !
Chris says
I have some frozen over ripe bananas that I was saving for banana bread. Will these work or do I need to freeze fresh ripe bananas?
Kathy Hester says
As long as the already frozen ones aren’t mush they should work just fine.
Patricia says
This is lovely. 🙂 Bookmarked the link. Will make this recipe soon. Thanks a lot for sharing this! 🙂
Angela says
You mention adding vanilla in the first set of instructions but it’s not on the ingredient list? Should I add it and how much?
Kathy Hester says
I meant flavor extract of your choice if you’re talking about the text before the recipe. I’ve corrected it. You could use about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon if you want, but I usually skip it with the mint extract.
Pat Nelson says
Stevia gives me migraines. What could I add instead, and how much should I add?
And I would like your recipes a whole lot more if I didn’t have to go to the trouble of typing all the ingredients in elsewhere and figuring the calories, grams protein etc, out – I wish YOU’D do that because the nutritional breakdown does matter to me when I am deciding what to make. It’s easier to make a decision if I have all of the information in front of me.
Kathy Hester says
You can use any sweetener that you prefer. Since the amounts vary widely I suggest adding a little, tasting and adding more until it is as sweet as you want it.
Lauren says
Does this work with frozen avocados?
Kathy Hester says
I haven’t tried it before, but I would think it would.
Michelle says
I’d like to make this with fresh mint as I have an abundance in the garden right now. Do you think this would work? Also, is the banana not sweet enough? Do you actually need to add the sweetner? Great recipe though, my mouth is watering!
Kathy Hester says
You can certainly use fresh mint and if your bananas are very ripe you can skip the sweetener.
Tiffany says
Surprise hit for my boys. Made it tonight and they wish I had doubled it and asked if I could make more. Considering one doesn’t like avocado, mint, or maple syrup, we were all pleasantly surprised!