Put those overripe bananas to use in a delicious treat perfect for warmer weather. This roasted banana ice cream is packed with lots of wonderful banana flavor and come together easily too.

Roasted banana ice cream in glass with spoon in side of glass

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Bananas are one of those things, like avocados, that can be tricky to get the ripeness just right. In fairness to bananas, they are easier to tell since you just look at the skin. But since you typically don't want to buy just one or two at a time, you may find unless you have avid banana eaters that the last couple get too ripe before you manage to eat them.

I maybe should say that you can try to limit overripe bananas by covering the tips of the bananas with plastic eg a thin bag or tape. This slows down how quickly they ripen, which is why you sometimes see them like that in the supermarket.

Roasted banana ice cream in glass and container with rest of ice cream from overhead

What to do with overripe bananas

If you still aren't getting through them or forget, though, and you end up with overripe bananas you don't need to use them immediately. You can freeze them to use for things like smoothies and baked goods that use mashed banana.

Of course, one of the most popular ways to use overripe bananas is for banana bread, but it doesn't feel quite such a good fit for me in warmer weather. In summer, I for one am looking for something to cool me down and not be too heavy. Plus, I'd rather not have the oven on for an hour.

I've made banana ice cream before that's the non-dairy kind sometimes called "nice" cream. It's tasty, don't get me wrong, but sometimes you just want a nice creamy scoopful, right?

sliced banana, brown sugar and butter in baking dish

Why roast the bananas?

Roasting really intensifies the flavor of many fruits, bananas included. It may seem like an extra step, but for some fruits it can be really worth it. This technique works well for berries, stone fruits and, as you'll see, bananas.

In fact here it works particularly well since you load the bananas up with brown sugar and butter. As the bananas cook, they become slightly caramelized and surrounded in a wonderful sticky syrup. You scrape all of this in when you mix them with the other ingredients, so you don't need any additional sugar.

banana and sugar mixed together before roasting

There are a few ways to make the base for ice cream. For the richest, custard-like kind, you make a kind of creme anglaise using egg yolks and milk and/or cream. A little less rich omits the egg yolks. Typically, you use a mix of milk and cream, with the higher the fat content, the richer and thicker the ice cream.

Here, since I've used a bit of butter in with the roasted banana and the banana becomes pretty thick when blended, I've gone with just milk. There didn't seem a lot of point in adding cream to the mixture, nor egg yolks, though you certainly could swap some of the milk out and add a yolk if you like.

roasted bananas softened and with sugar syrup around them

While we loved this as it is, you can also change things up a little as well. For example, you could add some chocolate or make a grown-up version with a tablespoon or two of dark rum or bourbon in the mix.

This roasted banana ice cream has a wonderful banana flavor and is smooth, creamy and sweet. You'll be looking for excuses to have super ripe bananas again soon.

Try these other delicious cold treats:

Mango paletas (ice pops)
Cherry ice cream
Grilled pineapple ice cream
No churn pumpkin ice cream
Persimmon ginger sorbet
Plus get more dessert recipes and summer recipes in the archives.

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5 from 1 vote