How To Make Nice Cream

You’ve most likely heard the buzzword nice cream many times in the last couple of years. Whether you shrugged it as a spelling mistake or dug deep into its origins, you’re probably wondering how to make nice cream.

Ice cream, as you know, is one of life’s simple pleasures. It’s chilly, creamy, and sweet, so what’s not to like about that?

However, if you’re health-conscious and follow a whole-food plant-based diet, you know ice cream has plenty of red flags. Although major dessert chains and brands are ever so slowly going towards healthy alternatives, it still remains a not-so-healthy treat. This brings us to nice ice cream.

What is Nice Ice Cream?

Nice ice cream is simply healthier, fruit-based (mainly banana) ice cream without dairy, artificial flavors/colors, and added sugars. I absolutely love the name, as it’s quite apt. This form of ice cream is simply nicer for you in terms of health.

That’s not to say that it isn’t delicious. Those who are die-hard fans of this healthy dessert don’t just stand by its healthiness but also the rich creamy texture and scrumptious flavors.

What’s more, it doesn’t require an ice cream machine!

While it’s not really clear who coined the term and when, it’s certainly not a new phenomenon. Ice creams without dairy and those made without the traditional ice cream machines have graced recipe books since God knows when. However, it all started with bananas.

Frozen bananas serve as the base of this kind of ice dessert, giving it the creamy texture that dairy containing ice creams have. It’s created by blitzing frozen fruits in a food processor or blender to create a soft-serve. That soft-serve came to be known as nice cream in the vegan and health circles.

Bananas have dominated nice cream, as early on it was primarily a banana soft-serve made from frozen bananas. However, with time chefs have brought in other custardy fruits into the mix to take this treat to the next level.

Ice Cream vs. Nice Cream

Regular ice cream is super delicious, I give you that, but it doesn’t come without certain pitfalls. It’s excessively sweet, contains tons of fat (mostly from dairy), and that results in loads of calories.

Yes, there are low-fat and no-added-sugar ice creams, but they still don’t qualify as a healthy dessert. Let’s take a look at the nutritional side of ice cream to get a deeper understanding.

Here’s what a typical 100g of Vanilla ice cream from a name brand contains, according to the USDA FoodCentral database:

Calories	215 kcal
Carbohydrates	26.1 g
Fat	10.7 g
Protein	3 g
Sugars	21.5 g
Fiber	0 g
Cholesterol	46 mg

Now, let’s take a look at the calories and nutrients in 100 g of branded low-fat ice cream, as per the USDA data:

Calories	169 kcal
Carbohydrates	26.4 g
Fat	7.4 g
Protein	3.9 g
Sugars	6.4 g
Fiber	0 g
Cholesterol	27 mg

That’s a lot of calories, carbs, fats, and sugars for ice cream to qualify as healthy. Even if you go for low-fat ice cream, you can get the idea that it doesn’t make quite a lot of difference.

Most people don’t eat ice cream every day, but even if you’re eating it a couple of times a week as a snack or after-dinner treat, you’re adding more calories than you need.

Calories and Nutrients in Nice Cream

On the other hand, nice cream is a totally different thing. There’s no sugar, butter, milk, or any kind of fat for that matter. It’s just pure fruits with their natural sugars and tons of nutrients and health benefits.

Nice cream, by default, contains bananas, which are a rich source of potassium and calcium. On top of that, they can aid in digestion and give you a healthy dose of Vitamin C.

So you get to enjoy something that’s very similar to ice cream in texture but without the risks.

How to Make Nice Cream?

Making nice cream is so easy that it should also be called easy cream. There are many recipes and variations available these days with unique twists. However, the very basic nice cream remains the same. In fact, it’s the base for all those other recipes too.

To make nice cream, you’ll need frozen bananas. Choose bananas that are fully ripe.

Peel the bananas and freeze them for a couple of hours until they are quite firm. Three bananas can make a generous cup of nice cream.

Once the bananas are completely frozen, cut them into inch-long chunks. Toss them into a power blender or food processor. You could also add them whole if you have a really powerful food processor or blender.

I like to add a few tablespoons of any plant-based milk, just to get the whirling going. Blend at the highest setting for a minute or until you see an ice-cream like consistency.

Your nice cream is pretty much ready and may be served with some toppings. If you think it’s a bit liquidy, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour. That usually does the trick and gets it back to a frozen form.

This is the most basic recipe for making nice cream. This in itself is quite enjoyable and just as sweet as regular ice cream because bananas are inherently very sweet.

Favorite Recipes

There will be a point you may get tired with the banana only nice cream, and that’s understandable. While this banana soft-serve is the original thing, it’s certainly not the only option out there.

I’ve found some real simple variations that will surely satiate your need for ice cream and keep things healthy, of course.

As you’ll go through these quick recipes, you’ll see that you can make nice cream out of any fruit that freezes well and gives out a custardy texture on blending.

Some fruits would not fit the profile, like oranges, grapes, grapefruit, apples, and apricots. Come to think of it, these fruits are not really found in regular ice cream either.

That said, you still have many fruits to try out, but bananas remain central as it acts as the base for the other fruit. It basically plays the same role that dairy and fats play in ice cream.

Mexican Chocolate Nice Cream

This is by far my favorite sweet treat. This doesn’t even use any fruits other than banana, which only allows the chocolate flavor to shine. But what makes it Mexican? The ancho chile powder.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you found this or something similar in a Michelin star restaurant, it’s simply that good.

Here’s what you need:

Bananas (4 large ripe frozen bananas, sliced into large chunks)
Cocoa powder (⅓ cup)
Ancho chile powder (½ teaspoon)
Vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
Cinnamon powder (½ teaspoon)

Here are the steps:

Take a small bowl and combine the spices and cocoa powder.
Boil one-third cup of water separately and once it comes to a boil, add to the spice and cocoa mixture and whisk well.
Let the mixture sit until it reaches room temperature.
Now, add the frozen banana pieces into a blender or food processor and start blending.
Blend a few times until they get crumbly (Don’t blend all the way to a creamy consistency).
Now add in the cocoa spice mix and vanilla extract.
Blend until the ingredients mix together and reach a creamy consistency.
If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of cold water.
Serve immediately or freeze.

Since it contains cocoa and spices, it freezes well. You can freeze it for up to a week, which makes it a good option for serving as a dessert for guests. You can make it in advance, thaw it a little and scoop it out to your guests, who for sure will be asking you for the recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Forks Over Knives.

Vanilla Nice Cream

This plant-based Vanilla sweet treat uses real vanilla extract and is pretty much like making the original nice cream with bananas. This can be used with warm cookies or as topping on pies. Or you could just eat it like that as it’s healthy.

It takes only three ingredients:

Bananas (5 medium size, peeled, frozen, and sliced)
Unsweetened plant milk (¼ to ½ cup)
Vanilla bean (1, split)

Here’s how you prepare the vanilla:

Take a sharp knife, and slice it right in the middle and scrape out the beans. You’ll be adding these beans to the bananas in the food processor with, of course, the plant milk of your choice. (I find almond milk the best as it’s let’s the vanilla taste come through nicely).

The rest of the procedure is the same. Give a nice long whirl in the blender or food processor until you get the desired creamy consistency.

Recipe courtesy of Forks Over Knives

Pineapple Strawberry Nice Cream (Without Bananas)

If you’ve had enough of bananas in your nice cream, it’s very much possible to make one without it. I found this recipe, which doesn’t use bananas as a base, and simply carries out the same procedure but with pineapples and strawberries. So you get the authentic flavor of strawberries and pineapple because lets be honest, bananas can be overpowering.

Again, it’s a super simple recipe that’s half part freezing fruits and half part blending them. Here’s what you exactly need:

Pineapple chunks (1 cup, frozen)
Strawberries (1 cup, frozen)
Maple syrup (2 ½ tablespoons)

As with the usual nice cream recipe, just blend the ingredients for a few minutes in a food processor or power blender.

Recipe courtesy of The Pretty Bee.

Tips for Making Nice Cream

As you can already guess, there’s not much to making this kind of frozen dessert. It’s pretty much blending the ingredients. Nevertheless, mistakes can occur, so here are some tips to help you get it right:

While you can freeze bananas for long, it’s typically best to freeze them for a few hours before making the ice cream.
If the fruit pieces are too hard, thaw them for a few minutes.
When thawing the bananas or any other fruits, do that in the processor or blender, so you can run the blender directly once they’ve thawed a little.
Blend in intervals, so you can control the texture and consistency.
If the texture is too firm, you can add a liquid, preferably plant-based milk
If the consistency is too thin, add more fruit and blend until you have the right consistency.
To add more different textures, top it with nuts, berry coulis, fresh fruits, or dried fruits.
Serve or freeze immediately after preparing, as this kind of ice cream can lose texture and discolor fast.

Wrap Up

Now that you know how to make nice cream, you can easily make it yourself at home anytime you have a craving for ice cream. You don’t get all those extra calories that you do with dairy-based ice creams. This plant-based ice cream is a healthy, affordable, and quick alternative.

You can actually find it in creameries and vegan restaurants these days too. While the recipes I’ve listed are pretty common, you can always experiment and create something of your own. That’s what’s one of the many great things about this plant-based dessert. There’s a lot of room for personalization and experimentation.