If you have a sweet tooth and want a healthy banana and Greek yogurt ice cream, you are in for a treat! This frozen banana and Greek yogurt ice cream is low fat, high in protein, healthy carbs, and naturally sweetened with dates and bananas.
Greek yogurt and banana yield the best-tasting creamy ice cream with the perfect texture when the ingredients are frozen, then blended in a food processor and enjoyed right away. To make a low-fat Greek yogurt ice cream recipe, choose a fat-free Greek yogurt that still has a beautiful and thick texture minus the saturated fats that are the worst fats for insulin resistance.
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I sweetened the banana Greek yogurt ice cream with dates, then flavored the recipe with vanilla extract. Sometimes I also like to flavor with a dash of cinnamon which is one of the best spices for insulin resistance and tastes so yummy when combined with banana.
Enjoy this treat on a hot summer day or in the warmer months! Every time summer rolls around, I love making healthy ice cream to share with my toddler.
The healthy banana ice cream is made with simple ingredients that most people likely have stocked in their cupboards. Or should, at least!
While most recipes online recommend blending all the ingredients and then freezing before serving, I find that the texture turns out too hard once frozen and is not so easy to scoop. Instead, I pre-freeze fresh bananas, blend the Greek yogurt with the dates, and freeze them into ice cube trays.
Once the bananas and Greek yogurt with dates are frozen, pop all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until combined with a thick and soft ice cream texture. I use this Hamilton Beach food processor for making homemade ice cream in a food processor.
It may look like you need to add some liquid when processing but within a minute the texture will begin to thicken and stick as it forms into a ball with the perfect texture that can be scooped and enjoyed as an ice cream cone.
Enjoy the banana ice cream with frozen yogurt right away in a bowl or scoop into a cone. There is something I love about savoring the ice cream in a cone with my toddler as it feels like the ultimate fun summer treat that tastes delicious yet is still healthy!
Banana and Greek Yogurt Ice Cream Recipe:
- 2 frozen bananas
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- Six dates, soaked for 10 minutes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
How to Make Frozen Banana and Greek Yogurt Ice Cream:
- Begin by soaking the dates in warm water for 10 minutes to soften them.
- Once the dates are softened, drain them and add them to a blender along with the Greek yogurt and banana. Blend until smooth.
- Pour the yogurt and date mixture into ice cube trays and freeze until solid.
- Once the yogurt, date and banana ice cubes are frozen, add them to a food processor along with the vanilla extract.
- Blend all the ingredients together in the food processor until you achieve a smooth and creamy consistency resembling soft-serve ice cream.
- Serve the banana and Greek yogurt ice cream immediately for the best texture and flavor.
Tips and Substitutions
I use plain Greek yogurt that is sugar and fat-free, which is crucial if you want to make a low-fat ice cream that is good for diabetics and low in saturated fats. Whole-fat Greek yogurt contains saturated fats; thus, I opt for a fat-free version. The choice is yours, as the recipe will work with any type of Greek yogurt.
You can flavor the banana ice cream with cinnamon (my choice as it’s excellent for insulin resistance), but you could add cocoa powder or chocolate chips to make a banana chocolate ice cream. The simple recipe is a good base for making flavored ice cream as you can add a small amount of frozen fruit for additional flavor options.
The key to making an ultra-smooth ice cream texture is to thoroughly blend soaked dates with Greek yogurt in a high-speed blender before freezing them into ice cube trays. Then, when you are ready to make the ice cream, make sure that all the ingredients are 100 % frozen and that you use a good quality food processor to blend until it forms a thick ice cream texture.
I use my vitamix blender for pre-blending the mixture prior to freezing and use silicone ice cube trays with lids to freeze the banana, date yogurt mixture as they are so easy to pop out!
If any liquid is added or the ingredients are not frozen, the banana and yogurt ice cream will be too runny. Thus, pre-freeze the yogurt and banana in ice cube trays and quartered chunks of banana so that they blend well in the food processor.
Benefits of this low-fat banana and Greek yogurt ice cream
This banana and yogurt ice cream recipe has no added sugar besides the natural sugar in dates and bananas. These foods also contain fiber, which helps slow down glucose release into the bloodstream. On the contrary, regular table sugar is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream and can cause higher blood glucose spikes.
Regular ice cream in grocery stores contains refined sugar and fats, including saturated fats. Refined sugar and saturated fats are among the worst foods for people with diabetes.
Cream, milk, and refined sugar are common food sensitivities for many people, including myself. Through bioresonance food sensitivity testing, I found out that I was intolerant to dairy milk and refined sugar yet was ok with yogurt (likely due to the fermentation and beneficial probiotics) and natural sugars found in fruits and dates.
Since I still like to indulge in sweet treats, especially now that I have a toddler who loves my homemade ice cream recipes, I love to formulate healthy alternatives to ice cream that taste just as good, at least in my opinion!
This recipe is nothing short of yummy and easy. You can make this low-fat Greek yogurt and banana ice cream at home within minutes after pre-freezing the main ingredients. All you need is a food processor, ripe bananas, frozen Greek yogurt blended with dates, and the flavoring of your choice! Within minutes, you have a healthy treat that the whole family will love!
Nutritional Information
According to Cronometer (a fantastic app for tracking your caloric and nutritional intake), this banana and yogurt ice cream recipe makes two servings. It contains the following macronutrients and calories per serving:
- Carbs: 33g
- Fat: 1g
- Protein: 8g
- calories 174
Enjoy this creamy and delicious homemade treat! And for more homemade ice cream recipes check out the following posts:
Banana and Greek Yogurt Ice Cream – Low Fat & High Protein
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 food processor
- 1 silicone ice cube tray
Ingredients
- 2 bananas
- 6 dates
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Begin by soaking the dates in warm water for 10 minutes to soften them. Once the dates are softened, drain them and add them to a blender along with the Greek yogurt and banana.
- Blend until smooth then pour the yogurt, banana and date mixture into ice cube trays and freeze until solid.
- Once the yogurt mixture and bananas are frozen, add them to a food processor along with the vanilla extract. Blend all the ingredients together in the food processor until you achieve a smooth and creamy consistency resembling soft-serve ice cream
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