Strawberry N’ice Cream Recipe

This all-natural Strawberry N’ice Cream recipe is a deliciously, refreshing treat for a warm day!

Few things scream “summer” like a nice big basket of strawberries. But when things really warm up around here, the first thing I look for is ice cream (some old habits just never die!).

Thankfully, I have this homemade strawberry ice cream recipe made with simple ingredients to keep me from overeating on the real stuff! I love soft-serve ice cream, so this is the most perfect ice cream recipe I can possibly make in the summer months. And you won’t even need an ice cream maker!

What Is N’ice Cream?

It’s ice cream made with a frozen banana base instead of a cream or custard base. It’s made by blending frozen banana slices in a food processor and then adding other fruits to create different flavors. So another name for this recipe could be, strawberry banana ice cream. Because those are really the only ingredients outside of the milk I used to get it all to blend.

Does N’ice Cream Taste Like Bananas?

It can if you want it to. Here’s a general idea:

Green bananas – Yes, they are edible and healthy. Use them if you want to lessen the flavor of bananas in your ice cream. Using these may require the addition of sweetener in your N’ice cream.

Yellow bananas – These are great for a nice banana flavor that isn’t overpowering. They are great for tropical flavors.

Browning bananas – I don’t mean completely brown or black, I just mean a few small brown spots here and there. These are great for when you want the banana flavor to truly shine through.

Black bananas – Please throw them in the garbage, compost heap, or freezer for banana bread.

What Liquids Should I Use For Strawberry N’ice Cream?

You have to use a small amount of some sort of liquid, otherwise, you will end your food processor for good. Small amounts of milk or plant-based milk are best. Avoid adding water or juice because they crystalize too much when frozen and will give you icy N’ice cream instead of creamy N’ice cream.

• If you don’t do dairy, oat milk, almond milk, or cashew milk are all great choices here. Coconut milk works great for tropical flavors.
• If you do dairy, you can use milk or even cream. I recommend whole-fat milk instead of nonfat milk. You want a little milkfat to help keep this from getting too icy.

You can play around with different types of milk to alter the flavor of your N’ice cream too.

Strawberry N’ice Cream Additions

Try adding any of the following to play around with the natural flavor of this recipe:

• Pure vanilla extract
• Almond extract
• Frozen pineapple (divide use half the strawberries, and replace the other half with the frozen pineapple)
• Frozen peaches (divide in half as mentioned above)
• Lemon juice
• Sweetener – Any kind you like if your fruit isn’t sweet enough.
• A tiny pinch of salt to help bring out the sweetness.

Dietary Adjustments

This N’ice cream has no added soy, eggs, wheat, whey, peanuts (or nuts in general unless you use a nut-based milk) high fructose corn syrup, guar gum, xanthan gum, artificial flavor and more. You only have to watch the ingredients in the milk you choose.

Gluten-Free – This is naturally gluten-free unless you add something to it that contains gluten.

Vegan – This is naturally vegan unless you use dairy milk for your liquid.

Sugar-Free – Unless you add sugar to this, the only sugars are naturally occurring in the fruit.

Keto – Unfortunately, this is not adaptable to a keto eating plan. However, you can try making something similar with just heavy cream and frozen strawberries. Strawberries are one of the lowest-carb fruits.

About The Ingredients

Frozen bananas – You will have to slice bananas ahead of time and freeze them. Slice them thin (about a ¼ inch), and lay them in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Freeze them overnight, and the next day, peel them off the parchment. You can either use them immediately for N’ice cream or put them in a container and toss them back in the freezer for future N’ice cream recipes.

Frozen strawberries – No sugar added.

Milk  -dairy or non-dairy.

How To Make Strawberry N’ice Cream

Freeze your bananas as instructed above.

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse the processor first several times to get things started without your blade getting stuck. Once things are a little more chopped up, you will blend in increments, stopping the processor to tamp down the ingredients several times until completely blended. Add more milk as needed to avoid your processor motor from burning out.

Once everything is fully blended and smooth, you’ll transfer the strawberry mixture to a loaf pan and store it in the freezer for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Remove it from the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes, or until it’s easy to scoop.

Serve and enjoy.

Storage And Freezing Strawberry N’ice Cream

Keep this in the freezer at all times unless you are setting it out to soften. If packed well in an airtight container, this will freeze for up to 4 months.

Recipe Supplies

For this recipe, you’ll need either a good food processor or a YoNanas Machine. If you use a YoNanna machine, please omit the milk in the recipe. I do not recommend using a standing mixer or blender for this recipe.

More Healthy N’ice Cream Recipes

• Pecan Mango N’ice Cream
• Chocolate N’ice Cream

Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted on 8/25/11.