Rich and creamy homemade chocolate protein ice cream that’s secretly GOOD for you at the same time!
If you’re anything like me and have ever finished a workout by going straight to the freezer for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, this healthy ice cream recipe is for you.
For anyone who wants to be healthy but could happily eat a bowl of ice cream every day, this plant-based chocolate treat is the perfect solution, because it tastes like a sweet and decadent dessert, and yet it’s packed with vitamins, fiber, protein, and nutrition.
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The recipe was inspired by these Workout Brownies.
While it might seem like eating ice cream would counteract all the hard work and benefits of exercising, the ingredients in this wholesome snack are the same ingredients you’d find in a post-workout smoothie – just now in the form of ice cream!
Ice Cream >> Smoothies.
Still Craving Chocolate? Make A Brownie In A Mug.
The protein ice cream is made up of just five plant-based ingredients, with no refined sugar or artificial preservatives.
It can easily be customized to suit your own personal needs.
Feel free to add a handful of chia seeds or shredded coconut, sub the almond butter with peanut butter or coconut butter, and change up the flavor by experimenting with different protein powders until you find your favorite.
*For a version without protein powder, try this Chocolate Peanut Butter Nice Cream.
Want to make a vanilla version?
Simply omit the cocoa powder and use your favorite vanilla protein powder.
Or for peppermint workout ice cream, add a scoop of unsweetened or chocolate protein to this Mint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream.
To get the fancy soft-serve look, I piped the nice cream through a bag fitted with a 1M star tip, which is the same tip I used to pipe the frosting on my Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes and on this Vegan Cheesecake Recipe.
Above – watch the video of how to make the healthy chocolate ice cream
The recipe was adapted from this Banana Ice Cream.
Chocolate Protein Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 frozen overripe bananas (banana-free options are listed below)
- 1/4 cup almond butter, or allergy friendly sub
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp chocolate protein powder (such as this one)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- optional 1/4 tsp instant coffee
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients until completely smooth. (If you’re not using a Vitamix or food processor, thaw the bananas a little before blending so your machine will be able to handle them.) Either serve immediately as soft serve, or freeze up to an hour and then scoop out with an ice cream scoop for the classic ice-cream shape. View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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More Post-Workout Recipe Ideas:
Protein Bars – 5 Flavors
Lauren says
Looks delicious, don’t get me wrong. But that’s an awful high ratio of fat and carbs to protein for a post workout ice cream. Again, delicious. But I’d probably sub the bananas for frozen strawberries, up the protein powder, exchange the nut butter for PB2 powder, add enough unsweetened plant milk to make it mix and use a thickener like guar gum or xantham gum to make it thick like ice cream. That would be much more inline with a post workout snack where you don’t want to sabotage a workout with high calories for not a whole lot of protein.
I will however be making this ice cream for my kids as its a much healthier alternative to store bought with all the right micro-nutrients for growing bodies.
CCK Media Team says
Hi Lauren, for a lower fat recipe you can just add protein powder to any of these banana ice cream recipes: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/banana-ice-cream-healthy/
Deborah says
Hi,
Could you please tell me how you got the lovely swirls in the ice cream? It’s like you would see on a soft serve on an ice cream cone.
Thank you
Carly says
It said to use a piping bag with a tip(;
Em says
This was sooo good!! So thick and creamy. I did add a little milk just because it wasn’t blending well but was still thick.
CCK Media Team says
Thank you so much for trying it!
Veronica says
I definitely try this recipe! Sounds so easy and no machine required, thank you so much!