The Best Non-Ice Cream Frozen Treat? Try Frozen Peeled Ripe Bananas!

When the temperature rises and you’re in need of a refreshing treat, ice cream might be the first thing that comes to mind. 

But what if you’re looking for something healthier, dairy-free, or naturally sweet with no added sugar? 

Enter the humble frozen ripe banana, the ultimate non-ice cream frozen treat you never knew you needed!

Why Frozen Bananas Are a Game-Changer

Bananas are naturally sweet, creamy when blended, and packed with nutrients like potassium, fibre, and vitamin B6. Freezing them takes their texture and versatility to a whole new level. And best of all? They're incredibly easy to prepare.

Here’s why frozen bananas are so brilliant:

1. Naturally Sweet and Creamy

Once ripe bananas are peeled and frozen, they develop a smooth, ice cream-like texture when eaten slightly thawed or blended. No need for added sugar or dairy, the sweetness and creaminess are built right in.

2. Perfect for Smoothies

Toss a frozen banana into your blender and you instantly get a thick, creamy smoothie base. Pair with berries, spinach, nut butter or cocoa powder for a nutritious breakfast or midday pick-me-up.

3. An Instant Snack

No prep needed. Just grab a frozen banana from the freezer, let it sit for a couple of minutes to soften slightly, and enjoy as a quick and satisfying frozen snack. For extra indulgence, dip them in dark chocolate and refreeze.

4. A Brilliant Ice Cream Alternative

When blended on its own or with a splash of oat or almond milk, frozen banana becomes a silky, scoopable treat known as “nice cream.” Add cocoa powder, cinnamon, peanut butter, or vanilla for a variety of flavours. It’s a guilt-free dessert that feels like a cheat.

5. Eco-Friendly and Budget-Smart

Got overripe bananas sitting in the fruit bowl? Don’t bin them! Peel them and freeze them instead. It’s a fantastic way to reduce food waste while stocking your freezer with something useful and delicious.

How to Freeze Bananas Like a Pro

Choose ripe bananas – the riper, the sweeter.

Peel them – never freeze with the skin on.

Slice into chunks or freeze whole, depending on how you’ll use them.

Lay out on a baking tray to freeze individually for a few hours before transferring to a container or freezer bag. This prevents them from sticking together.

Fun Ways to Enjoy Frozen Bananas

Chocolate-dipped banana pops: Dip in melted chocolate, sprinkle with crushed nuts or coconut, and refreeze.

Tropical smoothie: Blend with pineapple, mango, and coconut milk.

Banana bites: Sandwich peanut butter between banana slices and freeze.

Healthy milkshake: Blend with cocoa powder, oat milk, and a touch of vanilla.

Frozen peeled ripe bananas are not just a handy ingredient, they’re a full-on frozen treat in their own right. Whether you're after a simple snack, a smoothie booster, or a healthy dessert alternative, frozen bananas tick all the boxes. Affordable, healthy, and versatile, they’re quite possibly the best non-ice cream frozen treat out there.

Why not keep a stash in your freezer and give them a try? 

Chicken... Banana? The latest viral trend is here just in time for the summer

What do a chicken, a banana, and billions of views have in common? Chicken Banana — the viral hit from Swedish duo Maads and Bruno (Crazy Music Channel) — has exploded online to become one of 2025’s biggest TikTok trends.

The numbers are staggering: 10 billion views globally across all major platforms, with 2 billion views on TikTok, 6.5 billion on YouTube Shorts, and 1.9 million TikTok creations. The official video has topped 34 million views, with streams nearing 300,000 per day. Chicken Banana isn’t just a song — it’s a cultural moment!

It’s simple, silly, and catchy choreography has sparked a global dance movement. From kids and families to farmers and grandparents, the trend has crossed age and cultural lines. Celebrities like @ginjiro_koyama and @ciizezphr, plus celeb families like @carlosferiag and @lafamiliagomes, have all joined the wave.

Mainstream media has picked it up too, with features on Germany’s Frühstücksfernsehen, Dancing with the Stars Austria, and even in German Schlager pop. The trend’s universality and low barrier to entry have helped it thrive everywhere.

Plenty of companies haven’t missed out - everyone from entertainment groups to video game franchises and even supermarkets have jumped on the Chicken Banana trend, putting their own creative spin on it.

So why is it so irresistible? A bouncy electro-house beat, a modulated bassline, and a looping male voice chanting “Chicken Banana” with an Indian flair — it’s hypnotic and absurd in the best way.

To truly understand TikTok, you need to know Chicken Banana. And once you do, you'll suddenly understand a whole lot more.

https://crazymusicchannel.lnk.to/ChickenBanana

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/music/Chicken-Banana-7465696476092042006

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY27hxWP4QRIvTnJvrfGJoA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crazymusicchannel/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@crazymusicchannel

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/crazymusicchannel

RawQ From Tennis Star to You

RawQ are an exciting brand that’s taking a fresh approach to energy and nutrition. 

The food bars they make and sell are specially designed to fuel everyday people but are already trusted by professional athletes to provide long-lasting energy.

Co-founded by certified health and nutrition coach Arina Kuzmina, RawQ was created to support her co-founder’s partner, tennis champion Daniil Medvedev, with natural, sustained energy during intense training and competition.

The energy bars are crafted with nutrient-dense, high-quality ingredients like buckwheat, nuts, and seeds, offering a natural boost without any artificial additives - and are totally gluten free. A real boon to my wife who is diagnosed with coeliac disease.

Whether you’re looking for a snack during your workday, on a train or bus journey, or perhaps a pre-workout pick-me-up, RawQ provides the perfect balance of protein, fibre, and healthy fats. 

Also, with buckwheat emerging as a rapidly trending superfood (amassing millions of TikTok views, alone), these bars are as ahead of the curve as they are absolutely delicious. Good for you and so very, very tasty and somewhat moreish, too!

Cacao - Raspberry - Walnut

Box of 16, RRP: £47

Coconut - Spirulina - Almond

Box of 15, RRP: £42

Blueberry - Apple - Hazelnut

Box of 16, RRP: £47

Mango - Banana - Cashew

Box of 16, RRP: £47

Stocked on RawQ's own website, plus all major gyms and tennis clubs including the Roehampton Tennis Club, Queens Club, Padel Social Club, Equinox, BRX, Nobu Pilates and multiple healthy stores around London. 

100% Natural: Containing zero flavouring agents or enhancers. 

Long Lasting Energy: Unique combination of ingredients preventing blood sugar level fluctuations, providing energy for a prolonged period of time. 

Powered by Buckwheat: A powerful superfood, rich in minerals, antioxidants and high in protein. 

Not Dates: Containing zero high sugar ingredients such as dates, to prevent insulin spikes while providing high quality energy. 

Suitable for any diet: The bars are vegan and don't contain gluten, lactose or refined sugar. They do contain Stevia.

https://rawqfoods.com/

My Emergency Banana Cream and Butterscotch Cheesecake

This is my My Emergency Banana Cream and Butterscotch Cheesecake. Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention.

I recently bought a bunch of bananas from a discount supermarket. I ate one and several days later I decided to eat another, only to find that they had ripened to such an extreme extent that they could have worked as extras in the film The Blackness!

My wife and I both despise wasting food (if we really can't make use of something we compost it) so I decided to employ my inventive side to save the day.

I used a combination of ingredients from our pantry plus several others that I bought from Morrisons. (Morrisons is not the supermarket were I bought the bananas from, by the way.)

Ingredients:-

Ripe(!) bananas

Two tubs of Morrisons full fat cream cheese

The rest of a pot of double cream from the fridge

Packet of Butterscotch flavoured Angel Delight

A handful of Pearl Sugar (an Amazon overstock item bought from a local charity shop)

Sufficient milk to soften the mixture

Half a packet of crushed broken biscuits from the pantry

1/4 of a tub of Morrisons spreadable butter

Mix the spreadable butter with the crushed biscuits and place in a combination over in a metal or glass bowl, for 200c for about 10 to 15 minutes. Several times use a wooden spoon to make sure the base is properly mixed together.

Eventually, squash the mix down and then leave to cool.

Whilst it is cooling mash the ripe bananas and when they are fully mashed add the cream cheese, making sure it's all mixed in.

Then add the Angel Delight being careful to make sure all the powder is properly mixed in. At this stage add enough milk to make sure the mixture is not too thick.

Then mix in the Pearl Sugar. 

Place the mix into the fridge and when the base is sufficiently cooled top it with the cheesecake mixture and return this to the fridge and allow it to properly chill.

I did think about adding some Bailey's Irish Cream, or Amarula instead of the milk, but after tasting the mixture part way through I decided against this. You could add the liqueurs, though, if you wished. 

The result? A really delicious Emergency Banana Cream and Butterscotch Cheesecake!

We mentioned buying Amazon overstocks and the like in a previous post on our sister site, That's Christmas. That was how we bought a number of pots of Pearl Sugar, several boxes of breakfast cereals and some new Christmas decorations!

"Why Charity Shops are a Hidden Gem for Amazon Returns and Overstock Deals at Christmastime"

https://thatschristmas.blogspot.com/2024/10/why-charity-shops-are-hidden-gem-for.html

Actually, nearer to Christmas the above recipe with the addition of traditional Christmas spices would make a reasonably light Christmastime dessert treat.

Home frozen bananas make an excellent treat

Home frozen bananas make a nutritious, tasty and cooling treat for those hot summer days. And I offer my thanks to my wife, Anni, for coming up with this idea.

Peel your bananas, place then in a suitable freezer proof container, perhaps employing freezer boxes or freezer bags and then place them in your freezer.

Leave them in your freezer for a suitable period of time (at least several hours) and then taken them out and enjoy them as a very tasty, frozen treat.

Yes, we admit to being inspired by the folks over at Pukpip who produce very tasty chocolate dipped banana lollies. You can read about them, here https://thatsfoodanddrink.blogspot.com/2023/07/pukpip-on-path-to-rapid-growth.html.

However, my wife does have a chocolate allergy so her idea of non-dipped frozen bananas is very helpful to herself and anyone else who has a chocolate allergy. 

Frozen bananas will make an excellent sweet but low sugar snack for any time of the year and I feel they'll make a great treat for Christmas, perhaps especially if served with typical Christmas sweet spices such as ginger, all spice, cinnamon, etc. That is if you can stop people from eating them as soon as they are frozen!) 

(Image courtesy of Guilherme Machado from Pixabay)

This dessert ticks so many boxes!

Everyone wants to cool down on a hot day, but without making unhealthy choices.

Pukpip is nature’s alternative to Ice Cream with their Frozen bananas dipped in yummy chocolate!

It meets every criteria. It's sustainable as it made by employing only wonky fruits. Incidentally, the dark chocolate ones are vegan friendly. So they are 100% literally perfect!

Pukpip’s Real Frozen Banana Dipped in Milk Chocolate unites perfectly ripe frozen banana with a velvety-smooth 32% cocoa milk chocolate. The flavour combination has received recognition in the 2022 Great Taste Awards. 152Kcal. Available in multipacks of 3 at RRP of £3.99

Available at Plant Organic, WholeFoods Market, and lots of independent health shops, too.

Also available to order online: UK's Online Store for Food, Health, Wellbeing, Beauty & Personal Care (wholefoodsbox.co.uk)

Dark Chocolate

Pukpip’s Real Frozen Banana Dipped in Dark Chocolate combines cool, creamy banana with smooth, sweet 52% dark chocolate. A bittersweet combination. 161 Kcal and Vegan Certified. Available in multipacks of 3 at RRP of £3.99

Available at Plant Organic, WholeFoods Market, and lots of independent health shops

Also available to order online: UK's Online Store for Food, Health, Wellbeing, Beauty & Personal Care (wholefoodsbox.co.uk)

 

 

Pukpip on the Path to Rapid Growth Following New Trend for Frozen Snacking

The first six months for Pukpip has proven the consumer demand for permissible yet indulgent frozen fruit snacks. Pukpip's Frozen Bananas Dipped in Chocolate are being snapped up by UK retailers and enjoyed by consumers across the whole country.  

Following the successful launch of Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate, Pukpip has now added White Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas to the range, CLF and Suma are the first to add the White Chocolate option to their wholesale distribution. 

New Pukpip White Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas combine deliciously sweet real frozen banana, with creamy white chocolate with yummy hints of vanilla. A wonderfully delicious pairing. Only 152 calories per frozen banana and a source of fibre and potassium, too.  

The latest retailer to see the potential is Planet Organic, having listed the Dark Chocolate to all their London stores. Pukpip products are also stocked with Vegan Kind and Whole Foods Market, and all three chocolate options are now available to order online with Wholefoods Box. 

“Our consumer research indicated a demand for frozen snacks that combine a balance of whole fruit with a bit of indulgence, but now the products are in bricks and mortar stores the response has been amazing! Our stockists have said that they're flying out of the freezers and consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We're thrilled to be able to add the White Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas to the range, which is set to have wide appeal for both kids and grown-ups alike.” says Zara Godfrey, Managing Director at Pukpip's MD. 

According to the BFFF (British Frozen Food Federation) frozen food has seen something of a renaissance over recent years as it proves to be more applicable to modern lifestyles and helps to reduce waste and preserve nutrients. Frozen Foods are now more important than ever, and innovation continues to see what are described as challenger brands leading the way.  

Perfectly tapping into the trend of permissible yet indulgent snacking, Pukpip's frozen bananas provide the balance of wholesome goodness with indulgent frozen snacking and are challenging the ice cream category with whole, real fruit. The wide appeal of a real fruit treat that is only 152 – 161 Kcal, is gluten free, vegan (Dark Chocolate only), and nothing artificial is enabling Pukpip to come to the forefront in the ice cream category and new food innovations. 

Pukpip has also featured in Asda's Trends Book for 2023/2024ii , the book highlights the trend for products with fewer ingredients and reduced processing. With Pukpip products being simply banana and chocolate, consumers know what to expect and can easily add more fruit into their diet via this fun, frozen, fruity snack. 

Consumer awareness of the impact our food choices have on the environment has also helped Pukpip to position itself, by rescuing wonky bananas that would otherwise go to waste and helping them find their true calling as tasty, chocolate-covered treats. The banana peels are also upcycled back into the ecosystem.  

The next step for Pukpip will be the launch of singles this summer. Available to retailers and hospitality for both on-the-go snacking and as a dessert option for restaurants and cafes. Pukpip's singles are ideally placed to fit amongst the handheld ice creams as natures alternative to ice cream, a permissible on-the-go snack. 

Pukpip Real Frozen Bananas are only 152-161 calories each, contain nothing artificial and can be enjoyed as a snack, treat or dessert. Pukpip has been shortlisted in this year's Health & Wellbeing Awards in the Healthy Snacks category. The Milk Chocolate Dipped Bananas have picked up a 2022 Great Taste Award, the Dark Chocolate Dipped Bananas have been Vegan Certified, and the White Chocolate is the latest addition to the range. Pukpip's frozen bananas are available to trade in in multipacks of 3 at an RRP of £3.99, singles coming soon.

To become a stockist or to find out more email hello@pukpip.com or visit www.pukpip.com. Follow @hellopukpip for news and updates. 

You'll go Bananas for Pukpip frozen bananas in chocolate

Challenger brand Pukpip has announced its Real Frozen Bananas Dipped in Chocolate are now stocked in Whole Foods Market, just in time for ice cream season. 

Pukpip is challenging the traditional ice cream category by tapping into the rise of permissible yet indulgent frozen fruit snacks. Breaking the mould for frozen treats, Pukpip's frozen bananas are a real fruit alternative to traditional ice cream.

“We believe that Whole Foods Market is the perfect fit for Pukpip, as we strive to help people eat more fruit in ways that are fun, delicious and convenient, providing indulgent fruit snacks that don't compromise on taste,” explains Zara Godfrey, who is the MD at Pukpip.

The London retailer which specialises in responsibly sourced, high-quality foods has added Pukpip's first two products, Milk and Dark Chocolate Dipped Bananas to the frozen section in all seven of it stores.

To celebrate the launch into Whole Foods Market, Pukpip has invested in an eye-catching window display in the Flagship Kensington High Street store, plus OOH media in July around prime London locations to drive awareness of the product listing.

Zara went on to say: “Nine out of ten of us are looking to add more fruit into our diet, and we want to make it easy, fun, and delicious. The creaminess of a frozen banana combined with the tasty, smooth satisfying chocolate makes for an irresistible treat that consumers will be keen to get their hands on this summer. Real fruit, that's indulgent so consumers can feel good about treating themselves!”

Obviously, Pukpip's bananas are responsibly sourced and freshly frozen at source in the coastal region of Ecuador. Using bananas rejected from export due to minor blemishes on their skin, because they're the wrong shape or size, or simply because there are too many on a bunch; Pukpip rescues these wonky bananas that would otherwise be wasted, helping them find their true calling as tasty, chocolate-covered treats. The banana peels are recycled back into the ecosystem.

Pukpip Real Frozen Bananas are only 152-161 calories each, contain no artificial and are ideally positioned as a snack, treat or dessert. The Milk Chocolate Dipped Bananas have picked up a 2022 Great Taste Award and the Dark Chocolate Dipped Bananas are Vegan Certified. Pukpip's frozen bananas are available to retail in milk chocolate and dark chocolate, in multipacks of 3 at an RRP of £3.99

Want to become a stockist? Need to learn  more? Email hello@pukpip.com or visit www.pukpip.com. Follow @hellopukpip for news and updates.

(This is making me feel hungry for frozen bananas in chocolate!)