Banana Chip Crunch Ice Cream

Banana chocolate chip ice cream in a bowl.

If you like Chunky Monkey, then you’ll love this riff on the Ben and Jerry’s classic. Banana Chip Crunch Ice Cream with crunchy pecans, chocolate chips and a rich banana ice cream is over the top delicious. Break out the ice cream maker and get started now!

You can’t imagine the sneers I got from Emily as I was making this ice cream.  She is vehemently anti-banana — unless it comes in the form of bread or cake.  Better luck next time, Em.  This is for Scott.

One of his favorite ice creams is the Ben and Jerry’s classic, Chunky Monkey. How many times have you sat on the couch with a pint and two spoons, passing the carton back and forth until  – lo and behold – it’s all gone.  All four servings.  But there’s only two of you.  Ahem.

This recipe starts off with an egg custard, thickened on the stove.  (I’ve made so many ice creams this summer, I can practically do this in my sleep).

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As you know, whenever a banana gets overripe in our house, I stick it in the freezer until inspiration or hunger strikes.  I recommend this to anyone with blackened bananas on the counter — they freeze perfectly and thaw in no time.  They’ll always be at-the-ready for chocolate chip banana bread, peanut butter banana smoothies or this ice cream.

Buzz the banana through the mini food processor until smooth and combine it with the custard and other ingredients. Then refrigerate until it’s cold.

Scott and I prefer pecans to walnuts — there’s a maple-y quality that we both enjoy and that’s what I used here.  Add the nuts and chips towards the end of churning.

churning banana ice cream.

After churning, the ice cream will be the consistency of soft-serve, so if you just can’t contain yourself, go for it.   Otherwise, a few hours in the freezer will firm it right up!

A dish of banana ice cream with chocolate chips.

This creamy, rich ice cream has a distinctive banana flavor and is the closest thing to Ben and Jerry that you can get without a trip to the market.  Actually, I think it’s better!

More homemade ice creams you’ll love:

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5 from 1 vote

Banana Chip Crunch Ice Cream

This homemade banana ice cream is loaded with chocolate chips and crunchy walnuts.  It’s hard to stop at just one scoop!
Author: Lisa Lotts
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword banana, chocolate, ice cream, pecans
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 5 hours
Servings 8

INGREDIENTS:

  • cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • tablespoons all purpose flour
  • teaspoon salt
  • cups milk
  • 2 large overripe bananas
  • 1 cup light cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup walnuts lightly chopped
  • ½ cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

  • In a medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat together the sugar and eggs until thickened and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the flour and salt and beat until combined. Set aside.
  • In a medium saucepan, heat the milk just to boiling.
  • With the hand mixer on a medium speed, add the milk to the egg mixture in a slow steady stream. Mix until well combined. Transfer the egg mixture to the pan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and pour custard through a fine sieve into a large clean bowl to remove any egg solids.
  • Add the bananas to a mini prep food processor and pulse until pureed.
  • Stir the banana puree, cream and vanilla into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, 2 hours or overnight.
  • Heat oven to 325. Spread walnuts into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until fragrant and lightly toasted.
  • Stir the chilled custard, then churn in your ice cream machine, according to the manufacturers instructions. Halfway through churning pour in the walnuts and chocolate chunks. Continue to churn until ice cream is ready.
  • Ice cream will be soft at this point, but ready to eat. Otherwise, transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and chill until firm, at least two hours.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 81mg | Potassium: 116mg | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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15 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I don’t understand how anyone could be against banana in ice cream!! Chunky Monkey is definitely one of my favourite flavours. Love that you’ve made your own version 😀

  2. Perfect timing! Happy National Ice Cream Day!! I bet Scott was happy to have all of that delicious ice cream to himself. I would have been. This ice cream looks so good. I love the chocolate chips…. okay, I love EVERYTHING about this recipe. Officially going to make this next weekend.

    1. Hahaha Mica this is EAXCTLY the same as my reaction to the recipe 😛

    2. He felt REALLY special! Let me know how you like it Mica!

  3. What? A family member that doesn’t love bananas in ice cream? We love Chunky Monkey, and this looks and sounds so awesome!

    1. I know, she doesn’t know what she’s missing!

  4. Unfortunately, my family goes bananas over bananas, so we literally never get a chance for them to get overripe. But the GOOD news is that I know we would all love this recipe! I love the addition of custard to the frozen bananas, gives the ice cream a really nice, creamy texture 🙂

    1. LOL! That’s too funny! I always have overripe bananas either on my counter, or in the freezer where they lay in wait for something fabulous to happen to them!

  5. Betty, I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker – mine is 2 years old, so they may have some new versions available. Mine has a chiller bowl that I keep in my freezer all the time. I like this one because it has very few parts (less to break). I think they’re about $50. Let me know what you get!

  6. I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream! I think I am going to have to invest in an ice cream machine…your recent ice cream posts have put me in the mood for the homemade version. When we made the move from Virginia to Alabama our rather old/dated frozen yogurt maker didn’t make the cut and ended up being donated to the thrift store. I’m curious what type of ice cream maker you have and if you have any suggestions as to features etc?