This collection of 27 Best Recipes Using Frozen Bananas features creative and delicious ideas for healthy breakfast, snack or dessert. If you have frozen bananas in your freezer, read on and get inspired to make something delicious AND nutritious your family will love!
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SMOOTHIES AND MILKSHAKES
My rule of thumb is that as long as I have SOME frozen banana in my freezer, I will always find other ingredients to turn it into a smoothie! Add greens like spinach or kale to make a super healthy and trendy green smoothie. Or, fresh or frozen berries, such as strawberries, blueberries or blackberries are a wonderful pairing with frozen banana to create a vibrant smoothie that's full of antioxidants. Or, blend your frozen banana with regular or plant milk, peanut butter or cacao to create the BEST healthy milkshake.
- Banana spinach smoothie - with Greek yogurt for extra protein
- Healthy Banana Coffee Smoothie - a healthy frapuccino with a nice caffeine kick!
- Strawberry Blackberry Banana Smoothie - with hemp seeds and naturally sweetened with dates
- Healthy Eggnog Milkshake - perfect for the holidays!
- Vegan Chocolate Milkshake - with dairy free ice cream and peanut butter
- Easy Apple Banana Smoothie - it tastes like apple pie
- Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie - for all peanut butter chocolate combo lovers!
- Dairy Free Mint Chocolate Smoothie - tastes like mint chocolate chip ice cream
- Four Ingredients Cherry Smoothie - with pomegranate or cherry juice
THICK AND CREAMY SMOOTHIE BOWLS
Smoothie bowls are like smoothies only so much better! The main difference is that a smoothie bowl is much thicker, almost like soft serve ice cream. They are served in a bowl and topped with fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, nut butters, coconut or chocolate chips. They are not only delicious but also stunning to look at. Just take a peek at the photos below and get your blender ready!
- Mango Banana Smoothie Bowl - filled with tropical flavors and nutrients
- Nutella Smoothie Bowl - no actual Nutella in this vegan bowl but tastes like the iconic hazelnut chocolate spread
- Thick and Creamy Snickers Smoothie Bowl - for peanut butter chocolate lovers! Made with frozen avocado and cocoa powder
- Blue Spirulina Smoothie Bowl - mesmerizing blue smoothie bowl filled with nutritious ingredients and hidden veggies
- Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie Bowl - tastes like strawberry rhubarb pie!
- Fruit and Vegetable Smoothie Bowl - filled with fruit and veggies, such as avocado and spinach
- Peanut Butter Acai Bowl - perfect for all acai fans
- Vanilla Coconut Smoothie Bowl - SUPER creamy thanks to canned coconut milk frozen in ice cubes (genius!)
- Cookie Dough Smoothie Bowl - a perfect healthy treat when you're craving sweets
What makes smoothie bowl thick?
Here's a rule I live by: smoothie bowl MUST be thick and creamy. Anything that looks like liquid in a bowl with half sunk toppings is just sad and should be poured into a glass and sipped with an oversized straw. Smoothie bowls should have the consistency of soft serve ice cream and the toppings need to stay on top of it.
It can be a bit tricky to create a thick smoothie bowl that's not watery but if you follow the tips below, your smoothie bowls will always be the right consistency:
- Use a high powered blender, preferably a stand up blender with a tamper such as Vitamix or Blendec. For a more cost effective option, Ninja Smoothie Bowl Maker is a great choice
- Make sure your solid ingredients are completely frozen. While fresh fruit, veggies and green work great for smoothies, they do need to be frozen to create a thick bowl.
- Use liquid sparingly. I recommend starting with ¼ cup of (plant) milk. You may need to stop the blender a couple times, scrape the sides and get anything that gets stuck under the blades. Only add more liquid (1 tablespoon at a time) if it looks like your blender is not cutting anything.
- Be patient! If you're tempted to add more liquid to help the blender do the job faster, don't! See my note above.
BANANA BASED ICE CREAM (NICE CREAM)
Love ice cream but not the sugar and fat that comes with it? Nice cream is your answer! It's basically ice cream but made with frozen bananas. You won't believe how much this mock ice cream resembles the "real thing" though it doesn't contain ANY dairy, eggs or added sugar. For the simplest vanilla nice cream just blend together frozen banana slices (or chunks) with some vanilla extract. Below you'll find some of the best dairy free nice cream recipes on the internet!
- Vegan Chocolate Chunk Banana Nice Cream - with a hint of peanut butter and made with only 3 ingredients
- Cherry Chocolate Nice Cream - for all Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia flavor fans!
- Caramel Nice Cream - with homemade vegan caramel
- Pina Colada Nice Cream (Dairy Free) - perfect for a summer day
- Coconut Nice Cream - simple and elegant, made with coconut cream and coconut extract
- Wild Blueberry Nice Cream - with dried edible flowers
- Lavender Nice Cream - only four ingredients in this beautiful purple bowl
- Berry Nice Cream - healthy, vibrant and full of antioxidants
- Mint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream - dairy free, gluten free and easy to make
Frozen Banana Recipes FAQs
I find that the best way is to wait till your bananas are nice and ripe (spotty skin). Peel them and cut into slices or small chunks. Spread on a cookie sheet or a tray (I line mine with parchment paper for easy clean up) and place it in the freezer for at least an hour. Once frozen, place banana slices in a ziplock bag or an airtight container and store for up to three months. This way of freezing bananas is best for making smoothie bowls and nice cream as smaller pieces are easier to blend with minimal liquid.
No. Frozen bananas are perfectly good to use for several months. You can either use them frozen (as in all the recipes above) OR thaw them and use in baking. Thawed bananas are much softer (almost liquid) than fresh bananas but they're perfect when mashed.
Yes but I only do this if I'm planning to thaw and bake with them. In fact, I always have whole unpeeled bananas in my freezer. Once I want to bake something like banana bread, I take them out, place in a bowl and wait for them to thaw, which usually takes under an hour. Once you remove the peel you will notice that the banana almost turned to thick liquid. That's fine - it's perfect for baking!
Yes. If you have whole (unpeeled) frozen banana, just take it out and slice with a sharp knife. It's surprisingly easy! Use the freshly cut slices as needed or place back in the freezer. Just do it as quick and possible and don't let them thaw!
IDEAS FOR BAKING WITH THAWED FROZEN BANANAS
If you have frozen peeled or unpeeled bananas and would like to use them up, just let them thaw them and use to make delicious and healthy baked goods! I find that frozen and thawed bananas work exceptionally well in banana bread and muffins. Here are my best banana based baking recipes:
- Healthy Banana Oat Bread
- Banana Strawberry Oat Muffins
- Banana Carrot Oat Muffins
- Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins {with Almond Flour}
- Chocolate Peanut Butter TikTok Baked Oats
If you are looking for more ideas, check out this epic list of 45 Best Healthy Banana Breakfast Ideas for some inspiration.
If you’ve made any of these 27 Frozen Banana Recipes, I would love for you to leave a comment and let our community know what you thought! If you want to connect with me, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
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Meet the Author
Hi, I'm Agnieszka. I'm a mom of three and recipe developer, writer and photographer behind Wholly Tasteful. I love creating comforting, delicious, family-friendly recipes that you can feel good about.
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