I had a truly life changing banana ice cream in Rome last year. After purchasing my Ninja Creami a few months back, I decided I wanted to recreate that flavour. Personally, I think I have nailed it with this easy and incredibly delicious Ninja Creami banana ice cream.

Ninja Creami banana ice cream

This ice cream is made from 3 simple ingredients – ripe bananas, sweetened condensed milk and cream. It has an incredible texture that is rich and creamy with the perfect amount of chew. You can add vanilla, a pinch of salt or perhaps a tiny pinch of cinnamon if you’re looking to jazz it up.

This ice cream is easily made lactose free using lactose free condensed milk and cream. It can also be made low FODMAP, using lactose free dairy products and ladyfinger bananas.

Although I haven’t tested it yet, I suspect this ice cream would also be a great candidate for vegan sweetened condensed milk and vegan cream, too.

An image of a tub of Ninja Creami banana ice cream on a terracotta tile backdrop. Two sunlit glasses of water sit in the top left of the image.

Tips for your Ninja Creami banana ice cream

Banana is such a great ingredient to use in a Ninja Creami. Not only does it add sweetness and bulk, but it also creates an incredible creamy texture without much effort. The Ninja Creami manual says that it is fine to use unblended banana in the machine, so you can simply add the ingredients right into the tub.

I have tested store bought frozen bananas (which I defrosted before adding to the tub) and ripe mashed bananas. Both were delicious in their own way – store bought banana can have ascorbic acid added for longevity, which gives them a slightly lemony tang. Ripe mashed bananas had more of that classic ripe banana flavour.

You can experiment with how ripe you like the bananas to be, as this will have an impact on the flavour. Personally, my preferred level is ripe but not excessively so. Keep in mind that adding under-ripe bananas will lessen the sweetness of the final product, so you don’t want to push it too far.

The more I work with sweetened condensed milk in Ninja Creami recipes, the more I love it. It gives ice cream such a gorgeous texture; I feel that it is the best of the liquid sweeteners. Liquid sweeteners are already known for adding texture, creaminess and viscosity to ice cream, so to say this is the best of the best is saying something.

A close up aerial image of a tub of Ninja Creami banana ice cream. There is a scoop of creamy banana ice cream sitting atop the tub in the middle.

Substitution options

There are plenty of easy substitutions to make to cater to different dietary requirements. Let’s dive in.

Use lactose free cream and lactose free sweetened condensed milk for a lactose free banana ice cream.
Use the above as well as ripe sugar bananas (sometimes called Ladyfinger bananas) to make a low FODMAP banana ice cream.
If you don’t want to make lactose free condensed milk from scratch, you can simply add lactase drops to a tin of condensed milk 24-48 hours before you make your ice cream. I don’t think that adding lactase straight into your Ninja Creami tub would work because the mixture will freeze before the enzyme has broken down the lactose.
Similarly, if you can’t find lactose free cream, you can easily make your own. Use steps 1 and 2 of this recipe here.
I intend to test using maple syrup in place of the sweetened condensed milk and I will update the post when I do.
I also intend to test this recipe using vegan sweetened condensed milk and vegan cream. I will update the post when I do.

An aerial sunlit image of a tub of Ninja Creami banana ice cream on a light brown backdrop. Two sunlit glasses of water sit in the top left of the image

Can I make a healthy or high protein banana Ninja Creami?

Yes! You can. I have a recipe for a high protein Ninja Creami that uses banana here. There is also a banana protein Ninja Creami (sweetened with stevia drops) in my upcoming Ninja Creami protein e-book (stevia version).

If you are into Ninja Creami protein recipes, you can find my high protein Ninja Creami recipe e-book (sweetened with agave and maple syrup) here.

A brightly lit close up image of a scoop of Ninja Creami banana ice cream

More Ninja Creami recipes