4 Tasty Nice Cream Recipes

Do you ever get a craving for something sweet after you’ve finished dinner? Maybe you want a bowl of ice cream but you don’t have any in the freezer?

You are in luck! I’ve worked closely with SWEAT’s nutrition team on a healthy and nutritious alternative! If you haven’t heard of nice cream yet, I’m about to introduce you to your new favourite dessert. 

Learn how to make: 

• Raspberry and banana nice cream
• Mango and macadamia nice cream
• Mint choc-chip nice cream
• Coconut nice cream

There are so many reasons to enjoy nice cream. You can whip it up with just a few ingredients and you don’t even need an ice cream maker. 

What is nice cream?

Also known as banana ice cream, nice cream is made by blending frozen bananas until they resemble soft serve. You end up with a bowl of dairy-free dessert that is sweet and has a texture like ice cream.

While nice cream is usually made using frozen bananas, you can also make nice cream from other frozen fruit, like frozen mango or strawberries! 

The best thing about nice cream is that it is a much healthier alternative — and a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

It is super simple to make nice cream at home, which means that you can have a healthy dessert in minutes! 

You can choose to add different ingredients to nice cream to create your own flavour combinations. This means you can tweak the flavour to match what you’re craving that day!

Follow the nice cream recipe ideas below and I’m sure you will love them as much as I do!

Raspberry and banana nice cream

If you’re a big fan of a fruity sorbet, using a banana nice cream base is a great healthy option! 

Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 1-2
Dietary preferences: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free

Ingredients:

• 1 medium banana, peeled, chopped and frozen
• 65g (½ cup) frozen raspberries
• 1 tsp coconut sugar
• 250ml (1 cup) coconut water

Method: 

1. Place the banana, raspberries, coconut sugar and coconut water in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately. 

Raspberries are so delicious in this recipe but you can try whichever fruit you like. You might like to use mixed berries or kiwifruit to add more vitamin-rich ingredients and lots of colour!

Mango and macadamia nice cream

It’s no secret that I love mango and this is another healthy, totally yummy way to enjoy it!

Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 1-2
Dietary preferences: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free

Ingredients:

• 1 medium banana, peeled, chopped and frozen
• 75g (½ cup) frozen mango pieces
• 125ml (½ cup) coconut milk. 
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 5-6 (10g) macadamia nuts, chopped

Method:

1. Place the banana, mango, coconut milk and maple syrup in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. 
2. To serve, place the nice cream in a bowl or cup. Sprinkle over the chopped macadamia nuts and serve immediately. 

Adding coconut milk to this nice cream recipe not only makes it extra creamy but it also helps your blender to process the frozen banana chunks more easily.

Mint choc-chip nice cream

There is something so refreshing about mint but you might not think to add it to dessert. This is the encouragement you need to try it!

Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 1-2
Dietary preferences: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ medium bananas, peeled, chopped and frozen
• 1 tbsp cacao powder
• 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 125 ml (½ cup) coconut milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cacao nibs

Method:

1. Place the banana, cacao powder, mint, coconut milk and maple syrup in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. 
2. To serve, place the nice cream in a bowl or cup and sprinkle over the cacao nibs. Serve immediately. 

Cacao nibs are nature’s dark chocolate! They make a great topping for smoothie bowls, yoghurt, and nice cream.

Coconut nice cream

This nice cream recipe has an interesting texture from the shredded coconut. Try adding in vanilla essence and top it with nuts or cacao nibs for extra flavour. 

Total time: 10 mins + overnight freezing time
Serves: 1-2
Dietary preferences: Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Dairy-free

Ingredients:

• 2 large ripe bananas, peeled, chopped and frozen
• 1 tbsp shredded coconut
• Nuts & cinnamon to top

Method:

1. Place frozen banana pieces in a high-powered blender.
2. Blend until banana starts to look like soft serve ice cream, then add in the coconut. 
3. To serve, place the nice cream in a bowl or cup and sprinkle with nuts. Serve immediately or store for later in the freezer for more of an ice cream consistency. 

Tips for making banana ice cream

Choose ripe bananas! Ripe or overripe bananas make for a sweeter nice cream. Next time you have some bananas that ripen too quickly, you can either make them into my healthy banana bread or banana nice cream! 

If you want to try out a nice cream recipe but you aren’t planning to eat it right away, it can be made ahead of time. Pop it into an airtight container and store the nice cream in the freezer — it can last for up to a week. 

Also, make sure you use a blender that can handle frozen fruit chunks. Handheld or stick blenders aren’t the best to make nice cream because often they don’t have enough power. If you notice that your blender is struggling, try dividing the frozen fruit into smaller portions

Find your favourite nice cream recipe!

Now that you have four different healthy recipe ideas, I hope you find a flavour combination that you love! Don’t be scared to get creative and try out a few ideas for yourself. 

What’s your favourite nice cream variation? Share it in the comments!