Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Freezing Time: 8 hrs
Total: 8 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 8 to 10 servings
Yield: 7 cups
This roasted banana dulce de leche ice cream is made with only six ingredients (including salt) and doesn’t require an ice cream maker. It gets its rich flavor from roasting bananas with brown sugar, which concentrates the banana flavor and caramelizes the sugar. The resulting ice cream is rich and creamy with an almost chewy texture from the dulce de leche.
How Does No-Churn Ice Cream Work?
No-churn ice cream is ice cream frozen without the use of an ice cream maker. Usually the ice cream base is simply scraped into a pan and still-frozen. No-churn ice creams follow a different formula than regular ice creams. If you were to still-freeze a regular ice cream base, it would be rock hard and icy.
No-churn ice creams compensate for this by using canned sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream. The sweetened condensed milk contains plenty of sugar, and that sugar actually lowers the freezing point of the ice cream meaning that even at freezer temperatures your ice cream will be smooth and creamy vs. hard and icy.
Regular ice creams have another key ingredient: air. When you churn ice cream, the beater incorporates air, yielding ice cream with a soft texture. No-churn ice creams get around this by incorporating whipped cream into the mixture. What are you doing when you whip heavy cream? You’re working air into it.
What Is Dulce de Leche?
Dulce de leche is milk that has been cooked with sugar until it is reduced, thickened, and caramelized. It has a rich caramel color and flavor and is beloved in Latin America, where it is a common dessert topping or filling. Dulce de leche is used to fill churros, pastries, and cookies and to top fruits like bananas.
Where To Buy Dulce de Leche and Cajeta
You can buy canned dulce de leche at Latin markets, but you can also make it yourself from sweetened condensed milk. Cajeta is a type of dulce de leche made with goat milk, and it tastes very close to dulce de leche with a slight tanginess. Cajeta is an option in this recipe and can be found next to the dulce de leche at Latin markets.
How To Make Roasted Banana Ice Cream
The process for making this ice cream is very simple. Ripe bananas get a short stint in a hot oven with just enough brown sugar to make them sticky and caramelized. The roasted bananas are then blended with the dulce de leche, vanilla or rum, and a little heavy cream. This mixture is thick, so you’ll want to use your blender tamper to make sure everything is smooth.
Finally, you whip heavy cream and fold the banana mixture into it. Your ice cream base is done! To freeze it, you simply spread it in a loaf pan or plastic container and tuck it in the freezer until solid. This takes about 8 hours, but it’s best to just make the ice cream the day before you want to serve it.
Tips for Making Roasted Banana Ice Cream
- Perfect banana ripeness—Bananas should be ripe but not black. Ideally they should be mostly yellow with a few brown spots.
- No cooling required—Add bananas to blender while still hot. If left to cool the sugar will harden.
- Use an immersion blender—You can use an immersion blender instead of a regular blender.
- Use medium speed—Whip the cream on medium speed for best results. Using high speed can easily lead to overwhipping.
Serving Roasted Banana Ice Cream
This ice cream is rich and flavorful enough to need no accompaniment, but it is dreamy served with some kind of crumbly cookie like shortbread, butter cookies, or peanut butter cookies. Top the ice cream with chopped roasted salted peanuts or just some flaky sea salt for crunch and contrast.
«This recipe for roasted banana ice cream was delicious and nearly effortless. The brown sugar-roasted bananas provide flavor and some natural sweetness, with even richer caramel flavor from the dulce de leche.» —Diana Rattray
A Note From Our Recipe Tester
Ingredients
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Cooking spray
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4 ripe bananas, peeled and quartered
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1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
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1 (14-ounce) can dulce de leche or cajeta
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1 tablespoon vanilla extract or dark rum
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1/4 teaspoon fine salt
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2 cups cold heavy cream, divided
Steps to Make It
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Gather the ingredients. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 425 F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray generously with cooking spray.
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Place 4 ripe bananas, peeled and quartered cut-side up on the baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar.
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Roast the bananas until softened and the sugar is caramelized and bubbly, 12 to 15 minutes.
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Carefully scrape the still-hot bananas and all their sticky juices into a blender. Add 1 (14-ounce) can dulce de leche or cajeta, 1 tablespoon vanilla or rum, 1/4 teaspoon fine salt, and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and blend until smooth. The mixture will be very thick, so use the blender tamper to help it blend.
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Whip the remaining 1 3/4 cups heavy cream in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form (do not over whip).
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Use a silicone spatula to fold the banana mixture into the whipped cream until mostly incorporated but a few streaks are still showing.
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Scrape the ice cream base into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or freezer container with a 7-cup capacity and smooth the top. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream, cover tightly, and freeze until solid, at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
How To Store
Keep this ice cream tightly covered in the freezer for up to 1 month, but the texture will be best if eaten within 2 weeks. Placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream will prevent large ice crystals from forming.
Feeling Adventurous? Try This:
These simple recipe variations will help you make this recipe your own.
- Chocolate and Banana—Mix in chocolate chips or chunks before transferring to the pan for freezing. Or layer in pourable but not hot chocolate ganache and swirl it in with a skewer.
- More Banana—If you really love banana flavor, substitute 1 tablespoon banana liqueur for the vanilla or rum.
- Banana Pudding Ice Cream—Layer the ice cream in the pan with vanilla wafers. The wafers will soften as the ice cream sits, and when you scoop it you’ll get some of the wafers in each scoop.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 8 to 10 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 350 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 20g | 26% |
| Saturated Fat 13g | 64% |
| Cholesterol 65mg | 22% |
| Sodium 119mg | 5% |
| Total Carbohydrate 39g | 14% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 4% |
| Total Sugars 31g | |
| Protein 5g | |
| Vitamin C 5mg | 27% |
| Calcium 137mg | 11% |
| Iron 0mg | 2% |
| Potassium 361mg | 8% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
