Chocolate Protein Ice Cream
Published 1/6/2024 • Updated 1/31/2024
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This chocolate protein ice cream recipe is dairy-free and made with frozen bananas, cocoa powder, chocolate protein powder, and almond milk! It has 15 grams of protein per serving, making it one epic dessert.
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED: This chocolate protein ice cream is part of our 2024 Protein Dessert Series. If you make this recipe, snap a photo and upload it to the comment section to enter for a chance to win the Elemis Iconic Collection. You’ll also be entered into a greater giveaway for this series — a $500 lululemon shopping spree! Winners will be chosen on January 31.
We’ve been making protein ice cream for as long as I can remember. We first published this post in 2013 and it’s since been a favorite among readers and the team. This protein ice cream recipe is made with a base of frozen bananas, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, a splash of almond milk, and the star – your favorite chocolate protein powder.
After you blend it all up in a high-speed blender, the consistency will be like a thick Wendy’s Frosty. You can eat it immediately or freeze it for an hour or so to get scoopable ice cream consistency.
Why make this chocolate protein ice cream?
Not only is this protein ice cream thick and creamy but it can either be served straight out of the blender or frozen and scooped like traditional ice cream. Here are other reasons it’s the best!
- Dairy-free
- 6-ingredients
- Easy to prepare
- 15g protein/serving
What You Need for Protein Ice Cream
- Bananas– the base of this protein ice cream is frozen bananas! Frozen bananas are easy to freeze, become creamy when frozen and blended, and add natural sweetness. Learn how to freeze bananas here!
- Cocoa powder– it wouldn’t be chocolate ice cream without chocolate. We use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Chocolate protein powder – you make this chocolate protein ice cream extra chocolate-y by using chocolate protein powder. Feel free to use whey or plant based protein powder. Our personal favorite protein powder is Teras Whey.
- Vanilla extract– a little extract adds delicious depth to ice cream.
- Unsweetened almond milk– you only need a little bit of almond milk to think out the ice cream when you blend everything together.
- Rainbow sprinkles– ice cream deserves a delicious topping. We chose rainbow sprinkles, but use whatever ice cream toppings you would like.
Best Protein Powders
Check out our top protein powder recommendations for baking, smoothies, and everything in between.
Garden of Life
Raw Organic Protein
Simply Tera's
Pure Whey Protein
Sun Warrior
Protein Powder
Garden of Life
Organic Whey Protein
How to Serve Chocolate Protein Ice Cream
No matter how you serve this chocolate ice cream, it will be delicious. Luck you, you get to decide how you want to serve it.
- Soft Serve: If you like to enjoy your ice cream as a soft serve, go ahead and eat the protein ice cream right away with your favorite ice cream topping.
- Ice Cream: If ice cream is more of your jam, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour the chocolate protein ice cream in the pan. Evenly spread the ice cream out and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
More Protein Ice Cream Recipes
- Blackberry Cheesecake Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
- Cookies and Cream Protein Ice Cream
- Strawberry Banana Protein Ice Cream
- Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars
Get Perfect Protein Ice Cream with These Tips & Tricks
Consistency is Key
The last thing you want is to end up with drippy chocolate protein ice cream. To avoid this you have to be sure to do a few things.
- Make sure your bananas are frozen up until you blend it in the food processor.
- Only add a little almond milk at a time to avoid a chocolate protein smoothie.
- If you do decide to freeze the chocolate protein ice cream be sure to cover the ice cream so there isn’t freezer burn.
Choose your toppings + Mix-Ins
We chose a simple and classic ice cream topping, SPRINKLES! You can use any of the ingredients below as toppings or mix-ins.
- chocolate chips
- yogurt chips
- peanut butter cups
- fresh berries
- coconut flakes
make it easy
Print Your Own
Keep common kitchen conversions like tablespoons to teaspoons and Fahrenheit to Celsius on hand at all times with our u003cstrongu003eprintable kitchen conversions chart.u003c/strongu003e
Variations
- Add a frozen berry: ditch the cocoa powder and add frozen blueberries or strawberries.
- Use a different flavor protein powder: don’t love chocolate? Swap your protein powder for vanilla or another yummy flavor such as banana or strawberry.
- Go all out banana: use a banana-flavored protein powder and ditch the cocoa powder for a banana protein ice cream treat.
Storage
Store leftover protein ice cream in the freezer, covered, for up to 3 months. We recommend storing in a glass container with a lid.
Chocolate Protein Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen sliced bananas
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup chocolate protein powder, we used Garden of Life Chocolate Whey Protein
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-4 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk*, You can also use a protein drink such as Corepower
- Rainbow sprinkles, for topping
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor.
- Process on high until a smooth, thick consistency has been formed. Option to add more milk by the tablespoon as needed.
- Soft-serve: serve immediately, straight out of the blender.
- Ice cream: line a bread loaf with parchment paper. Then, transfer the protein ice cream into the loaf and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. Place the ice cream into the freezer for 1 to 2 hours to firm up. Use an ice cream scoop to serve. If your ice cream ends up freezing solid, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before scooping and serving.
- Top with sprinkles and enjoy!
Tips & Notes
- Add more almond milk as needed to thin out the protein ice cream.
- Any kind of protein powder works (even vanilla!). We’ve also made this recipe with Vital Protein Chocolate Collagen Powder.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Needs adjusting to recipe. 4tbl spun is not enough
Had more banana flavor than I was expecting! Preferred it fresh out of the blender but it kept well in the freezer too!
Good chocolate flavor. Put a little to much milk but it kind of turned into a milkshake.
We enjoyed this quite a bit. Spot on with the frosty description. We may try it with dark chocolate cocoa powder next time with peanut butter protein powder!
This is the richest “healthy” ice cream I’ve had! It’s almost too rich for me – I think I’ll cut down to 1 Tbsp cocoa powder next time. Overall, delicious. Impatiently waiting for it to firm up on the freezer, but the “soft serve” was amazing!
This is the only way that I will eat a banana! Easy dessert after a pizza party with the family.
This was delicious! I added a little more milk before freezing and then put it in my Ninja Creami. It was so smooth and creamy!
This was delicious! I added a little more almond milk, froze it and then spun in my ninja creami. Can’t wait to make it again!
Delicious dessert and I love the extra protein added in. I can’t wait to try it with different flavor combinations 👍🏻