Blended Frozen Bananas
For some wonderful reason, when frozen bananas are blended they turn into a thick, creamy, silky smooth delight.
Frozen bananas have a consistency - after they're blended - to frozen yogurt or ice cream, but without all the fat, sugar, or calories.
Below: A bowl of blended frozen bananas.
Blended Frozen Banana Ingredients
Makes 1 serving.
- 1 or 2 peeled bananas that have been cut into pieces approximately 1/2" wide, then frozen
Tips:
- If you're going to use bananas for blending it's easiest to peel them, then cut them into pieces approximately 1/2" wide before you freeze them.
- Banana pieces that have been frozen for two hours are frozen enough to blend into a nice "soft serve ice cream" type of texture. This soft-serve texture is what is shown in the photos on this page.
- Bananas that have been frozen for a day or longer blend into a firmer "hard pack ice cream" type of texture.
Instructions
NOTE: Frozen bananas are very hard. If your blender or food processor won't crush ice, it may not be suitable to blend bananas.
- Place the frozen banana pieces into a blender or food processor. Blend until you see that their texture has turned smooth and creamy.
Everyone's blender or food processor is different. When you begin blending you may need to start with a few pulses on a slow speed then gradually build up to longer times on higher speeds.
If necessary, scrape down the sides of the container when needed.
Bananas that have been frozen for a couple of hours are easier to blend than bananas that have been frozen for a day or longer.
Blended Frozen Banana Photos
Four bananas, cut into pieces and ready to freeze.
Two frozen bananas ready to be blended.
The same two frozen bananas in the photo above, after blending. These bananas had been frozen approximately two hours and blended into a "soft serve ice cream" type of texture.
Two blended frozen bananas that are smooth, creamy, and ready to eat.
Flavor Variations
The flavor variations for blended frozen bananas are almost endless.
While you really don't need to add anything to them because they're great by themselves, you can throw in other ingredients for a little variety. Chocolate of any kind (chips, chunks, powder, syrup, you name it) is really good.
So are strawberries, peaches, or just about any other fruit of your choice.
You'll need to experiment with the amounts; you want enough of the other ingredient to add the flavor you're after, but not so much that it detracts from the thick, smooth, consistency of the frozen bananas.
This is two frozen bananas about to be blended with chunks of dark chocolate. After the photo was taken four more pieces of chocolate were added. While the bananas taste great by themselves......
......adding the chocolate is also really good. Yum.
Banana Ripeness and Blended Frozen Bananas
As you can probably guess, how ripe the bananas are when you freeze them has a lot to do with how strong the banana flavor is when you blend them.
If the bananas are ripe (with a few black spots on them) when you freeze them the banana flavor will be fairly mild. If the bananas are very ripe (with lots of big, black spots on them) the banana flavor will be stronger.
So, if you're not all that fond of bananas you might try freezing ripe bananas and blending them with a little something else (chocolate, strawberries, etc.) to help cover the mild banana flavor.
But if you're a big fan of bananas, freeze them when they're very ripe to get the strongest banana flavor when you blend them.
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