Protein Nice Cream

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Protein Nice Cream is a fun and cooling way to get your protein in. This chocolate banana ice cream is made out of frozen banana, giving this healthy treat a natural sweetness. With soy milk (or milk of your choice), cocoa powder, and chocolate protein powder, this is a recipe with simple ingredients that you'll love making all the time!

Hey Internet, we love ice cream and we love making recipes. And, at time of writing this, with summer coming upon us really quickly, we're planning a lot of great cool treats to deal with the heat.

However, we don't have an ice cream maker.

Not to worry! While we don't have the tools to make a vegan version of traditional ice cream, we have something easier and better; a nice cream recipe! Nice cream is made by taking ripe bananas and freezing them. 

You then take the frozen sliced bananas and add them to high-speed blender. With some soy or almond milk and other flavorings, you'll have an amazing healthier version of ice cream.

For this recipe, we've made a banana protein nice cream to help fuel our exercise route. This recipe only uses 3 to 4 ingredients and is super fast to make. With some peanut butter and chocolate chips, you'll get all the protein you need while satisfying your sweet tooth. 

It also comes out of the blender with an almost soft serve consistency. With its creamy texture, you can't tell that it's one of our healthy dessert recipes!

We already have quite a few frozen (or almost frozen in the case of smoothies) treats to enjoy on those hot days, such as our Vegan Ice Cream Cake, Lavender Nice Cream, Mango Nice Cream, Toasted Coconut Nice Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Smoothies, Matcha Milkshakes, Vegan Shamrock Shakes, and Green Smoothies! We're planning some more for later this summer, so stay tuned.

Why You'll Love This Protein Nice Cream

• Easy and Simple: All you need to do is add your bananas, protein powder, and a little milk of choice into a high speed blender or food processor and blend. It's that easy.
• Low Fat: You get the taste of creamy ice cream for about 3 grams of fat. Not bad for a dessert!
• PROTEIN: This recipe has 11 grams of protein per serving (depending on the protein powder you use). It's a great to make after a workout.

Ingredients

Pick up these simple ingredients the next time you're at a grocery store. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutritional information (to the best of my ability; please consult your physician or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs). I give substitutions for the ingredients in the section below this one, so most people can still make this recipe!

• 3 Cups Frozen Bananas
• ¼ Cup Soy Milk
• ¼ Cup Vegan Chocolate Protein Powder: For this recipe, we used Sunwarrior brand in our nice cream. It turned out really well! We've also used Orgain protein powder to in nice cream before and it's always turned out great.
• 1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder, Optional

Substitutions

• Protein Powder: Any vegan protein powder should work with this recipe. It's just if you don't use a chocolate one, you'll have an entirely different tasting protein ice cream recipe on your hands. That's ok! Nice cream, with its banana flavor, is great working with other flavor profiles, Strawberry and vanilla protein powders would work great! Orgain has some pretty amazing flavors too, such as chocolate peppermint and horchata.
• Frozen Banana: If you didn't freeze  banana slices, simply add some ice to the mixture. Frozen mango, coconut meat, or avocado are also great options. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid you add to your protein nice cream to maintain the consistency. 
• Soy Milk: Almond milk makes for a great replacement for the soy milk. You could also go with some coconut milk which could add healthy fats and make the protein nice cream richer! Any milk should work fine.
• Optional Toppings: Add your favorite toppings such as dairy-free chocolate chips, chopped nuts, vegan sprinkles, or whatever else you like!

How to Make Protein Nice Cream

1. Prep the Frozen Bananas: The night before, slice up about half a dozen bananas and place them on a tray with parchment paper on a single layer. Add them to your freezer and let them freeze.
2. Blend Ingredients: Add all of your ingredients to a high speed blender and blend for about 30-60 seconds (sometimes it's helpful. You want a smooth but not liquid consistency. If your blender struggles, use a tamper to push the ingredients in a "X" shape until incorporated (if your blender did not come with a tamper, you may need to stop, scrape down the sides, and stir occasionally before attempting to blend again). You can also make protein nice cream in a food processor!.
3. Serve and Enjoy: Add to a bowl and add toppings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I Use as Toppings for my Nice Cream?

We put mini vegan chocolate chips and coconut flakes on ours. You could add a drizzle of almond butter or peanut butter. Cacao nibs are also a great choice!

Anything Else I Can Add to the Nice Cream Itself?

A tiny splash of vanilla extract can add some more dimension to a chocolate version of this nice cream, but I'd start with a quarter teaspoon and add no more than half a teaspoon. If going with another extract (such as mint), keep the amount to an eighth or quarter teaspoon as they can taste quite bitter if you add too much. You could also add some peanut butter or coconut cream for an even richer flavor!

Can I Store This Nice Cream?

We recommend not storing this and instead making it each time. The nice cream will lose its soft texture if you refreeze it.

Other Amazing Nice Creams

• Lavender Nice Cream
• Mango Nice Cream
• Coconut Nice Cream
• More coming soon!

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