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Make my strawberry banana nice cream with a food processor or Vitamix and only four simple ingredients! This low calorie strawberry nice cream will satisfy your sweet tooth and is great for weight watchers. Vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike all love this delicious plant-based soft serve dessert. Try this healthy ice cream alternative for a fun way to eat more fruit!
You’re going to love this vegan nice cream recipe whether you are health-minded or not. We’ve got an easy crowd pleaser with this one. You can even make this thick and creamy vegan strawberry ice cream with no ice cream maker!
If you have kids, this healthy vegan dessert is great for the whole family. There’s something about serving fruit in ice cream form that makes it more appealing.
Call it magic, call it nourishing, or just call it delicious. It’s time to break out the food processor and whip this tasty treat up!
What is nice cream?
“Nice cream” is basically just a healthy ice cream alternative (i.e., nice because it’s better for you). It often has little or no added sugar, instead using frozen fruits (usually bananas) for sweetness and creaminess. Nice creams are usually (but not always) vegan.
🍓 Strawberry Nice Cream Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make vegan strawberry banana nice cream:
- 2 cups frozen strawberries
- 3 frozen ripe bananas (sliced)
- ¼ cup almond milk (or your favorite type of milk)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Ice cream toppings (optional; whipped cream, chocolate syrup, etc.)
Get a printable recipe card below! Make sure you use ripe bananas only, as they are providing most of the sweetness.
I use a 10-cup food processor but a larger 12-cup processor would work for this recipe too. A high-speed blender (like a Vitamix) could also be used to get a smooth texture. It may be frustrating to use a regular blender here, as we’re breaking down the frozen fruit without much liquid.
➕ How to Make Strawberry Banana Nice Cream
Chop the frozen strawberries and bananas into small pieces if they are large. The smaller you chop them, the easier they’ll blend into smooth nice cream.
Put the chilled frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, milk, and maple syrup in a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. It will take several minutes.
You will likely need to stop the processor a few times to scrape down the sides with a spatula. The frozen fruit likes to stick!
After it’s completely smooth, the nice cream will have a pudding-like consistency. If it’s too soft, put it in a freezer-safe container and let it freeze for 1-2 hours before serving. It should be easy to scoop at that point. If you let it freeze considerably longer, scooping gets harder.
You can top your strawberry nice cream with all of your favorite ice cream toppings or leave it plain. Enjoy!
Chef’s Tip
If you let the nice cream freeze overnight, let it thaw at room temperature for one hour before scooping and serving. If you have popsicle molds, melted nice cream can be used to make popsicles.
Leftover nice cream can be stored in the freezer in a covered container for up to 1-3 months. It will harden with freezing, so let it soften a bit at room temperature before trying to scoop it.
How to make strawberry nice cream without banana?
To make nice cream no banana, you’ll need to add something else for sweetness and creaminess. Sweetened coconut cream is an alternative to keep your nice cream creamy. I prefer to use an ice cream maker for coconut milk and cream-based ice creams, as they result in the best texture.
Watch How to Make It!
Strawberry Banana Nice Cream (Healthy Ice Cream Alternative)
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen strawberries
- 3 medium bananas, frozen in chunks (ripe)
- ¼ cup almond milk (or your favorite milk)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ice cream toppings (optional; whipped cream, chocolate sauce, cherries, etc.)
Instructions
- Chop the frozen strawberries and bananas into small pieces if they are large. The smaller you chop them, the easier they’ll blend into smooth nice cream.
- Put the chilled frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, milk, and maple syrup in a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. It will take several minutes. You will likely need to stop the processor a few times to scrape down the sides with a spatula. The frozen fruit likes to stick!
- After it’s completely smooth, the nice cream will have a pudding-like consistency. If it’s too soft, put it in a freezer-safe container and let it freeze for 1-2 hours before serving. It should be easy to scoop at that point. If you let it freeze considerably longer, scooping gets harder.
- You can top your strawberry nice cream with all of your favorite ice cream toppings or leave it plain. Enjoy!
Notes
💭 Expert Tips from Dietitian Summer Yule
This is a level 1 recipe (may help support fat loss). This high-volume and low-calorie treat is nearly entirely made of fruit. It completely blows those 100-calorie snack packs out of the water in terms of phytonutrients. For example, strawberries are rich in anthocyanins, a group of compounds linked to a lower risk of nutrition-related chronic disease. These phytochemicals are especially abundant in berries. The downside is that this strawberry nice cream is nearly all carbs, with little in the way of other macros. This dish definitely fits the “snack” category, as it’s not a balanced meal. Adding toppings to your ice cream will change the nutrition information. Depending on the toppings you use, you can take this from a low calorie to a high calorie dessert pretty easily. (This may or may not be a good thing, depending on what your personal goals are.) Nutrition information is for one serving and does not include optional toppings.
nutrition info disclaimer
All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.
The nutrition information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be inaccurate, so please don’t sweat the numbers too much.
“To taste” means to your preferences, which may have to be visual to follow food safety rules. Please don’t eat undercooked food x
Nutrition
👩🏻🍳 More Vegan Nice Cream Recipes
Try these delicious recipes for dairy free ice cream next:
- Mango Ice Cream (no added sugar)
- Pumpkin Nice Cream
You may also enjoy some of my other refreshing vegan snack recipes, such as these Watermelon Mango Popsicles. Feel free to poke around to find your favorites!
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Hello! I’m Summer, a registered dietitian and home chef who loves to cook, eat, and create recipes for you! Every recipe on this site has been tested by me to help ensure your success in the kitchen. All eaters are welcome here 🙂
A mere hundred calories for that, Summer? Why, I have it by the highest authority just glancing at it, in all its creamy lusciousness, adds at least 800-900. Fortunately, the subsequent craving and dreaming burns them all, and then some.
Great innovation, using frozen (or at least seriously chilled) fruit to bring about just the right temperature and consistency. All without even a teaspoon of ice cream, either.
Great news, everyone – Summer’s Milkshake Shop is open for the season!
Thank you so much! It’s not a Shake Shack shake but we still thought that it was pretty darn good! Plus it helped to use our overabundance of rhubarb without having to make more pie 🙂