Pina Colada Banana Ice Cream

Creamy banana ice cream that tastes like a pina colada! Made of frozen coconut milk, banana, and pineapple, its a light and delicious dessert!

I want to get this out in the open right off the bat. This piña colada banana ice cream isn’t truly ice cream because it doesn’t actually contain any dairy. The base is coconut milk instead – surprise! The coconut milk and banana makes it nice and creamy though so it’ll satisfy that same ice cream craving you have on these hot summer days.

If you haven’t had banana ice cream yet, you’re in for a treat my friends. And adding coconut milk makes it oh so dreamy and delicious! And with the addition of pineapple, I’m in heaven, sheer piña colada heaven. Plus, this frozen treat fits pretty much all eating plans.

The type of saturated fat in coconut milk is different than the type in animal products! Our bodies process it differently than it would with, say, pork fat. As the research paper points out, lifestyle and quantity are part of the equation as well.

Ingredients in Banana Ice Cream

In this recipe I used full fat canned coconut milk, which has less added chemicals than aseptic cartons. Not to mention, it’s thicker and better for cooking than the fresh packed watered down drinking versions that come in cartons.

Banana ice cream works fine with low-fat coconut milk, it will just be less creamy and more icy-like. And the toasted coconut adds some extra coconut goodness, so don’t skip it! 

Now that I have a little one of my own and my own eating habits are under close baby eyed scrutiny, its putting a whole new perspective on all of this for me. As most parents do, I want the world for my baby, but giving her this means setting the example myself.

Food is medicine! But for this to work, you need to act preemptively and not wait until you get sick. Luckily, recipes like banana coconut milk ice cream make that easier, but being mindful about what goes into your body does help.

I’m by no means a dietician or expert on the topic, but health and nutrition are important, so I spend quite a bit of time reading about it. The more I learn, the more driven I am to make simple plant-based foods for me and my family. 

Don’t get me wrong here, I’ll probably never give up REAL ice cream or bacon, and won’t become a full-on vegetarian at any point in my life. In my opinion, this is okay. Making small changes can have a huge impact too!

When you eat brie, chocolate, gelato, steak, and all of the delicious treats that make life awesome, just try to avoid mindlessly stuffing your face. Instead, focus on savoring and enjoying more reasonable portions. I eat some kind of treat every. single. day. and this is what makes life fabulous in my opinion. But we need veggies too, and even they can be fabulous (ratatouille and brussels sprouts are some of my fav fab veggies).

This is what I want to model for my daughter: not being afraid to live life and enjoy all it has to offer, but remembering to eat food that nourishes as well. The two don’t have to be exclusive and can and should go hand in hand. Our diets are a journey not a destination. We are what we eat and  this journey should be focused on progress and growth, not perfection.

Okay, *officially jumping off my soap box* and getting back to pina colada ice cream and a few deets on that. Umm… would you check out the ingredients that go into this dessert? Take a look at the pic below and tell me that they don’t look like a delicious combo. I dare you.

The main thing about this recipe that I want to emphasize is that the freezer time is critical. It’s super important not to over-freeze the coconut milk ice cubes. If they become fully solid all the way through, your blender or food processor will protest and may just give out on you before you get the creamy, delectable banana ice cream of your dreams. Truuuust me. I almost broke my blender during recipe testing this however many years ago.

Sure, you can just let them defrost a bit before blending, but they’ll still be rock hard at their core which will be hell on your blender. Just don’t leave them for more than an hour and a half, two hours tops in the freezer and you should be good to go. Yes, its a multi-staged freezing process to get it to the best consistency, but when you’re spooning this into your mouth and swooning with dairy-free frozen dessert love, you’ll get why its worth it.

Note: Since coconut milk freezes into such an insanely icy solid state, you’ll need to let the dessert thaw on the counter for 15 minutes before it will be scoop-able. Not a problem, just plan ahead a bit.

And if you decide to serve the coconut milk ice cream with piña coladas for a full on pineapple coconut obsessed frenzy, I won’t judge. In fact, I’ll solute you and may just invite myself over.

(Recipe originally published March 5, 2014, but pictures and post text have since been updated)