Delicious Peanut Butter Nice Cream (with tips!)

Have you ever been to a place that serves nice cream and wondered what it was? It’s a delicious plant version of ice cream made with frozen bananas!

This particular nice cream is a variation made with peanut butter to make it a bit salt and sweet for those that love that salted caramel taste! It takes a bit of preparation and is super quick to whip up after that!

Basic ingredients

The base is super simple! Blend together:

• Frozen bananas that were ripened before frozen
• Plant based milk
• Peanut butter
• Vanilla
• Salt

How do I make a thick creamy nice cream?

Making a thick and lush nice cream isn’t as hard as you would think! Try making it for your kid’s next birthday as a fun activity or when you and your friends get together and enjoy garnishing your bowls!

There are a few tips on making a nice cream that’s creamy and lush!

• A good blender: I used to rack my brain and see how everyone would make amazingly beautiful nice cream bowls. The biggest thing is to have a good blender that’s powerful enough to blend everything quick enough to make a creamy base.
• Frozen ingredients: If possible, try to freeze as many of your ingredients as you can. This will keep your nice cream cold and creamy much like the soft serve ice cream you can get at the store.
• Frozen or cold utensils: This may sound so bizarre, but when I take photos I used to freeze everything to keep the nice cream from melting. I even froze the bowls I would serve them in. You don’t have to freeze the milk or nut butter but do try to keep them in the fridge so they are as cold as possible!
• Keeping liquids to a minimal: Having a powerful blender allows you to keep the plant milk to a minimal when blending. I would just do enough to coat the bananas – 3-4 tablespoons.
• Nut butter: Adding nut butter or protein powder can also contribute to more creaminess. You can also add a little bit of cold coconut cream. I really like this nut butter!
• Time: Try to blend for under 30 seconds. I usually jack up the blender to the highest mode and blend quickly. I stop to just adjust the contents inside so they’re not climbing up the sides of the blender and do it again.

Flavor Variations

I love changing up the flavour profile of nice cream. It’s fun doing different flavours each time – there are so many options!!

1. Caramel swirl
2. Banana berry
3. Chocolate
4. Coffee

Color variation

There are a few ways to add color into your smoothie. These are some powders you can choose from:

• red pitaya
• blue spirulina
• tumeric
• matcha
• cocao

Toppings for the nice cream

The sky’s the limit with the toppings you can add on to your bowl on nice cream. Here are some of my favourites:

• cacao nibs
• chocolate curls
• butterscotch chips
• sliced almonds
• coconut chips
• granola
• buckwheat grouts
• quinoa puffs
• plant butter drizzle
• caramel sauce
• hemp seeds
• fresh fruits

I like to mix and match these and add in a few to make it fun.

Banana Alternatives

If you’re not a fan of bananas, try these alternatives:

• Other frozen fruits (mango, pineapple, avocado)
• Boiled cauliflower
• Silken tofu

You may need to add some sweetener into the mixture and adjust the liquid amount.

Tips and tricks

Preparing ahead

If you have some time to prepare I would buy some bananas and let them ripen. After they’re ripened, cut them into inch wide banana coins and place them into a ziploc bag or a seal proof container to freeze. When you take them out, the coins will so much easier to blend!

You could do this with essentially anything – ice cubes trays with coconut cream or plant milk even. Or even yogurt! The higher the fat content in these milks and yogurt will result in a deeply creamier nice cream.

Letting it thaw rather than adding liquid

If your blender isn’t catching and you feel like it’s just too frozen, wait a few minutes and try again. Try to use a spatula to move the pieces around and try again. I would rather have very little liquid than to add any additional milk. Don’t wait too long as sometimes the time between a runny nice cream and a thick lush one is fast!

Making it healthier

If you want to decrease the sugar content for your smoothie, adding cauliflower or avocados can do wonders. Both will create a smooth and creamy consistency.

I also add protein powder or any other medicinal powders to the smoothie to make it more healthier as well.

You can also add flax meal which is an excellent super food. Or even chia seeds and make a chia smoothie jar!

What to do with leftover smoothies?

You can turn them into delicious ice lollies or turn them into a cool and refreshing drink in a cup!

You can freeze it into a loaf pan lined with parchment or a plastic container. You can remove it from the freezer and let it soften a bit to serve again. I find it gets freezer burn way too quickly so best to eat right away or within a few days.

Other recipes to try with bananas

Easy and Moist Apple Cinnamon Banana Bread Recipe

Delicious Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread

As always I’m super grateful you’re here and so honored you’d try any of my recipes! If you do happen to try anything, please send me a photo and leave a comment too!