This delightfully healthy mint chocolate chip nice cream recipe is naturally gluten free, dairy free, and vegan. And it can be made with just FOUR ingredients!
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
If you can only choose ONE flavor?
Without even thinking, I’ll tell you mine is—and has always been—mint chocolate chip.
While I do also love plain chocolate, and I did go through this weird phase in elementary school where I’d order black raspberry ice cream with gummy bears (which is so unlike me), mint chocolate chip has withstood the test of time; it’s still the first flavor to always catch my eye.
This healthy mint chocolate “nice” cream is sweet, creamy, nourishing, and incredibly simple – You can make it without an ice cream maker!
Trending Now: Keto Ice Cream
My favorite mint-chocolate combination has made multiple appearances on the blog before – in the Healthy Shamrock Shakes, the Mint Chocolate Fudge Pie, or in the Thin Mint Overnight Oats…
Sometimes I use spinach or avocado to achieve the green hue; other times I will skip the coloring altogether.
For this particular recipe, you can opt to skip it or you can play around with either natural food coloring or a combination of blue and green spirulina until you’ve found the perfect color balance.
Also try this Oat Milk Ice Cream
After making my nice cream a little too dark at first, I decided to add some coconut cream in order to lighten it.
As a happy accident, the coconut cream ended up not only lightening the ice cream to the perfect shade green, it also made the recipe even more delicious than it already was!
Certainly better than black raspberry with gummy bears…
The recipe was adapted from my Banana Ice Cream.
Mint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 overripe frozen bananas (For banana-free, try this Almond Milk Ice Cream)
- pinch of salt
- 1/8 tsp pure peppermint extract, or more as desired
- optional pinch spirulina or natural food coloring
- optional 1/2 cup coconut cream or raw cashews for a richer taste
- 2-3 tbsp chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate chips
Instructions
- *Be sure to buy pure peppermint extract, not mint or imitation peppermint. Add more extract for a more powerful mint flavor, adding slowly because a little goes a long way. If using the optional nuts, soak them 6 hrs to soften, then drain completely.Start with bananas that are turning brown. Peel and cut into pieces, then freeze in an airtight bag or container. To make the ice cream, blend all ingredients until completely smooth. You can add the chocolate before or after blending. Serve immediately in a bowl, or transfer to a container and freeze until firm, then scoop out with an ice cream scoop.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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More Healthy Ice Cream Recipes:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Nice Cream
Sue says
Super yummy! I will try matcha powder next time for color. Ate the whole thing.
Pamela says
Does the 2 bananas and other ingredients together make the amount of ice cream as pictured above in the container your blog?
Pamela says
Sorry, I meant …..”in the container in your blog entry.”
Amy says
Made this today and while the taste is pretty good, it is not nearly as green as the picture and is very “frosty” in texture. I added probably 5-6 drops of green food coloring and no luck on the color. I used a food processor since I don’t have a blender or Vitamix, it was creamy before I put it in the freezer. Any tips?
A Magical Life says
Made this recipe this morning for my kids as a soft serve “ice cream for breakfast” treat. I put in a very small handful of spinach & kale for a light green, which you couldn’t taste at all but was a little too olive green for aesthetics. I did add some full fat coconut milk and some peppermint Nu Naturals stevia in addition to the other ingredients to try to balance the banana flavor. It was just okay. The bananas still seemed overpowering. My kids love green smoothies and usually I have to make two blenders full, but nobody wanted extras and my youngest child didn’t want to finish hers (she’s picky about everything though). They all agreed that the chocolate chips were a fail in it because regular chocolate chips get too hard in cold recipes. I see in your pictures that your ice cream looks like store bought, with the thin square chocolate chips. That would probably have made a big difference, having smaller and softer chocolate chips made for ice cream. My 15 year old asked me if I’d just go back to making green smoothies for breakfast since he likes those better. 🙂 I’ll continue to tinker.
Santini says
Love it! I love ice creams! I’m going to try this on the weekend! Pics look so tantalizing! Thanks for sharing this!
Danna says
I just tried this, and the peppermint extract was so overpowering I had to throw the whole thing away. And I didn’t even use a full 1/8 tsp! I’ll try this again some other time and seriously only add a single drop at a time.
Jason Sanford says
Hi, just checking, did you use pure peppermint extract? There are two different types, and the one that doesn’t say pure on the label is absolutely overpowering in any recipe and tastes artificial. With some brands, it’s so hard to tell. I’m not sure if that is what happened to yours but figured I’d throw it out there as a possibility in case!
Jason
Barbara P. Turner says
I am a “huge” follower of CC Katie and this is one of my favorite recipes of her’s. Another is her Black Bean Brownies! OMG soooooo good! Although my 6 yr old little granddaughter tasted them and said “GRAMMA! Are these my box brownies?!” “Uh no, they’re Black bean brownies.” “Next time can we make my fav fudgy box brownies?” LOL But yeah I love her recipes! She really knows her stuff! Keep those healthy recipes coming Katie! Thanks! (P.S. I’m Type II Diab.) I try to follow you, a little keto plus the gluten free and a bit of the Mediteranean diets. Works for me. Oh I’ve also made the bakeless brownies as well as the chocolate fat bombs and the bakeless oatmeal bars. All great!
Chocolate Covered Katie says
Thank you so much for making the recipes!! 🙂
Emma says
thanks for the great recipe! I was wondering if you taste the banana in the finished product?
Jason Sanford says
Probably a little bit, but if you don’t want any banana flavor then use either the coconut milk version she mentions or this almond milk one! https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/almond-milk-ice-cream-recipe/
Jordyn says
Hi Jason!
I’m not sure why, but I tried making it today, and the peppermint is way too over powering. What should I add to tone it down?
Jason Sanford says
Hi, did you use pure peppermint extract, and how much? What brand?
Jordyn says
I added an 1/8 teaspoon of pure peppermint extract from McCormicks brand
Jason Sanford says
Sounds good! You can definitely use less if you want it even less strong for your personal tastes – with pure extracts, a little goes a long way!
Mint Banana says
This is really gross and it tastes like bananas mixed with mint. Too confusing- the tastes don’t meld well together. I truly hate it. And so did my partner. It’s a mistake.
CCK Media Team says
It’s perfectly ok if the recipe isn’t for you. But it doesn’t mean there is a mistake. Not everyone will like every recipe or food because we are all different.
Brenda says
Your instructions are horrible just saying add this add this add this am i blending in a blender a Cuisinart how are we mixing this all together Very confusing
Random. says
Be kind.
Hilary says
I used half an avocado rather then the coconut cream and to give it both a creamy texture and to make it green, it turned out great.
Donna says
Pandan makes a beautiful green color in recipes.
Callie says
We have a Hamilton Beach blender. Does that work? Also, when creating, do you just make the ice cream liquid then blend or freeze before blending? Can you freeze in a Snap-ware container or do you need ice cream trays? Then after blending do you freeze it again and serve? How do you make it so creamy without coconut cream?
Cori says
I was worried this would be one of the healthy desserts that mostly takes like banana, but the peppermint does a great job of covering it up! All the kids loved it too, definitely going in the family recipe book