Strawberry-Banana Soft Serve

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I had a long debate in my head about whether I was going to share this “recipe,” such as it is. It went a little something like this:

Julie’s Brain: Dude, seriously? There’s like a hundred variations of this already on the interwebs. You’re really going to clog up the pipes with yet another one?
Another Part of Julie’s Brain: But it’s yummy!
Julie’s Brain: Yeah, and everyone already KNOWS that, genius.
Another Part: It is not physically possible that everyone on the internet knows about this, therefore it’s worth it!
Julie’s Brain: Fine. Post it. Don’t bother to, you know, make a real recipe or anything.
Another Part: I don’t care for your tone.
Julie’s Brain: I don’t care for your slacker soft serve.
Another Part: Zip it. I’m eating.

The team with a mouthful of ice cream always wins.

Banana soft serve has been around the blogosphere (I can’t believe I just said “blogosphere”) for years. I remember seeing it here back in the day, and immediately thinking, “I’m going to make that someday.” And somehow, even though it is likely the easiest, quickest non-recipe recipe in the world, I just never got around to it. Last week, when I was drowning in overripe bananas, I remembered it, stuck the nanners in the freezer, and threw them in the food processor a day later with a handful of frozen strawberries, a little almond milk and a smidge of almond extract. Lo and behold, cold, refreshing frozen glory.

Bananas, when whizzed in a food processor or blender for five or so minutes, take on a rich, creamy, almost custardy consistency – very much like soft serve. The resulting banana goodness is lovely on its own, but even better if you take advantage of a variation. I always have a ton of frozen fruit around for smoothies, so I’m excited to keep playing with this. Strawberry-banana is, of course, a classic combination, but you could also make a banana colada version with frozen pineapple and coconut extract, or raspberry banana, or even blueberry. There’s a surprising amount you can do with a pile of frozen bananas and five minutes of your time.

Since this doesn’t have any fat to keep it creamy, it’s best eaten right away. But to get more of an ice cream consistency, you can cover the surface with plastic wrap and freeze for an extra 30 minutes or so. The picture at the top of the post is immediately after making, and the one below is after a half-hour in the freezer. Whichever way you choose to enjoy this – in a cone, in a dish with chocolate sauce, in an extra banana-y banana split – I know you’ll enjoy it (you know, if you haven’t already enjoyed it like, five years ago).

5.0 from 2 reviews
Strawberry-Banana Soft Serve
 
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Frozen bananas + five minutes = healthy summer refreshment
Category: Dessert, Vegan
Ingredients
  • 3 ripe bananas, cut into two-inch pieces and frozen at least overnight
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • ¼ cup almond milk
  • ½ tsp almond extract (optional, substitute vanilla if you don't have almond)
Instructions
  1. Combine strawberries, almond milk, and extract (if using) in a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Blend until completely smooth, scraping down the sides if necessary.
  2. Add bananas and blend until consistency is smooth and creamy, like soft serve - about 4-5 minutes.
  3. Serve immediately or freeze for 30 minutes for a more solid texture.

Source: Adapted from Choosing Raw

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21 Responses to Strawberry-Banana Soft Serve

  1. For the record, I’ve never seen this before (now feeling like some sort of hermit) and will be making it soon! Thank you to “another part of Julie’s brain” for winning out!

    • Ha! You’re not a hermit at all – it’s been around vegan/raw blogs mostly, so if you don’t spend a lot of time in that sector of the blogosphere (blogosphere, again!) you probably wouldn’t have come across it. I hope you guys enjoy!

  2. I once paid for a cooking class where they taught me how to make ginger ice cream. It was literally:

    1. Buy candied ginger and vanilla ice cream.
    2. Mix them together.

    I felt a little dumb paying for this, but it’s frigging delicious and is a perfect end to many Asian dishes. So don’t feel bad about posting the straightforward, yours is at least an actual recipe.

    And I’ve also never heard of this and it sounds good. So take that, Julie’s Brain (the first part).

    • Booya, brain!

      I have to know – when a paid chef was teaching people how to mix pre-existing vanilla ice cream and pre-candied ginger together, did he act pretentious and like it was a really complex thing, or did he acknowledge how easy it was?

      In all seriousness, that does sound really, really good. Maybe I’ll try it as a from-scratch ice cream – I’ve had an ice cream maker for a year and have used it…once. Shameful!

  3. Okay, I don’t know if this is kind of crazy, but do you know if this will work with normal milk?

  5. So, I’ve been on the ‘net since ’94, met my husband here in fact, and I’ve *never* seen this recipe (I’ve seen that stupid other cookie recipe a billion times though). Here’s the dealie though…I *hate* (yes, emphasis on “hate”) bananas. Does this *taste* very “banana-y” or is the banana merely a vessel for, um, “better” flavours? I can’t do the milk thing so wondering *if* it is too “banana” if I could pull this off with, um, mango? Or avocado? Or is it really *just* banana that this works with?

    Sounds delish, though…and simple. And I love that!

    • Hmm…that’s a tough one! I think this works with banana because of the starch content. I don’t know that you could get the same creamy texture from any other fruit. I don’t think it tastes TOO “banana-y” – but the caveat there is that I don’t dislike bananas at all so my too banana-y threshold is probably different from yours. You could definitely try mixing extra fruit in to mask it though – maybe a mango-raspberry or pineapple-strawberry combination would be strong enough. If you do try, let me know how it turns out and if you hated it!

    • To Angela – I have made this before (just Banana’s), so of course mine was quite strong tasting of Banana’s (who would have thought? lol). The strawberries would certainly help, but I assume you will still taste the Banana’s quite strong.

  7. Hi! This looks so yummy!

    I just found out my 5 yr old is allergic to meat, milk, eggs & tree nuts. So we are all very new to the idea of eating Vegan friendly. With that being said, would recipes (like this) work the same w/Soy milk?

    • Hi Victoria – not all vegan recipes will be interchangeable in terms of soy/almond/rice milk, etc. But this particular one is, and will work just as well with soy milk.

      I wish you the best of luck with your child’s allergies – that can be a big challenge and a lot of changes for the whole family. I’m not vegan myself but I do know a lot about substitutions and such for eggs and dairy, so please feel free to contact me if I can be of help in any way!

  9. I tried freezing my bananas and I don’t think they were frozen enough so after I whipped it I refrozen it. Now it’s been in the freezer a couple days. Will it still be good? And could I rewhip it now that it is really frozen