Vegan Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Vegan Butter Pecan Ice Cream is 100% dairy-free, churn-free, and made with a handful of healthy whole-food plant-based ingredients. It’s a delicious dessert or treat!
If you follow TSV, you know that we love using bananas as a base for ice creams like this Almond Chunky Monkey Ice Cream, Banana Coconut Ginger Ice cream, or Banana Cherry Garcia Soft Serve.
Bananas are inexpensive and can be blended into all kinds of delicious and healthy flavored nice cream like this Butter Maple Pecan Ice Cream!
Why We Love This Recipe!
- No ice cream maker required! This simple no-churn vegan ice cream is perfect for those of us who don’t have an ice cream maker or are just too lazy to use one. All you need to do is blend and freeze.
- Refined sugar-free. The only sugars you will find are the natural fruit sugars and all their nutrients.
- Healthy and nutritious. Full of nutrients, healthy fats, and 100% dairy- and egg-free, this whole food plant based ice cream is a great alternative to dairy filled ice creams.
Ingredient Notes
Now you can enjoy butter pecan ice cream in a nutritious way that tastes great without using any dairy products. It’s a win, win for everyone – my favorite kind!
Here is everything you’ll need, including substitution ideas when possible:
- Banana – Overripe bananas are best for flavor and added sweetness. You can use fresh or frozen bananas.
- Almond Butter – I like to use my Homemade Almond Butter, but store bought is great too. If in a pinch peanut butter or sun butter is ok too, but almond butter is a little more neutral in flavor.
- Tahini – Adding richness and decadence to the ice cream, you can use store bought or make your own Homemade Tahini.
- Pure Maple Syrup – This natural sweetener can be adjusted to taste. Depending on how sweet your bananas are I suggest to start with the lower amount and add more as needed.
- Vanilla – Adds a nice layer of flavor to the ice cream.
- Pecans – Bold and distint in flavor, if you’re a lover of pecans feel free to double the amount!
How To Make Vegan Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Making vegan and non-dairy butter pecan ice cream is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
- In a food processor or blender, add the frozen banana, almond butter, tahini, maple syrup, and blend until smooth.
- And the pecans and give a quick pulse, or stir them in by hand.
- Place the ice cream mixture in a freezer-safe container, cover, and freeze for at least six hours, or overnight.
And voila, you have yourself a most deliciously decadent and healthy vegan ice cream.
Top Tips
- Leftovers can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 – 3 months.
- Serve in chilled bowls or glasses.
- Double the batch to fill a 9 x 5 loaf pan, as pictured.
More Healthy Pecan Recipes!
- Raw Pecan Pie Energy Balls
- Salted Chocolate Chip Pecan Sandies
- Healthy Bowl of Cinnamon Oatmeal
- Pumpkin Granola
- See all vegan recipes with pecans on TSV!
If you try this vegan ice cream recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintVegan Maple Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Rich, decadent vegan butter maple pecan ice cream made with wholesome plant-based ingredients!
- Prep Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 3 large or 4 small ripe bananas, frozen or unfrozen*
- 1/2 cup raw almond butter
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, to taste
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
- 2 teaspoons or so vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans
Instructions
Place ingredients, except for the pecans, in a food processor/high-speed blender and process, scraping down the sides as needed, until creamy and combined. Taste for sweetness, adding more maple syrup if needed. Stir in pecans.
Place in an airtight container and keep in the freezer for at least 6 hours to harden. Let sit for about 10 minutes or so to soften before scooping into serving bowls.
Makes about 4 cups
Notes
If using frozen bananas, you can serve right away as it will be a soft-serve ice cream. Or store in the freezer to harden completely as above.
As with any of my recipes, adjust flavors to your own taste…I have made this using 1/4 cup almond butter along with just a few tablespoons of maple syrup and tahini with great success. I have also used less pecans. So feel to play around with the ingredient amounts.
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Is there anything I can use other than Banana's? I don't like them at all.
You could try a cashew based cream instead of the bananas. The only thing is I haven't tried it and don't know exactly how much cashew you would need to make this right. The banana flavor it pretty faint but if your very sensitive to them then try another recipe. I'll work on some cashew or almond based ice creams soon!
Hi, So bananas have a type of latex in them and they give me terrible stomach pains : ( bummer because I used to love them. Anyway, I have substituted frozen baked sweet potatoes. They work great! You can use the traditional orange, the creamy light golden ones or the beautiful purple Stokes type.
I had also read that you can sub frozen cauliflower for the bananas in
“Nice Cream”, but mine didn’t turn out so good. Too watery
do you absolutely need the maple syrup or are the bananas sweet enough?
You can try without. If you have some coconut sugar that might be a nice addition too, use the lesser amount (although it may not dissolve). Let me know how it goes if you decide to give it a try!
If you decide to use coconut sugar…dissolve it wtih a little water before using…
Really would love to know how it goes if you decide to not use the maple! :)
Just tried this reciepe literally seconds ago. Didn't have ANY nut butters, so I went without. Sadly it would have been been better it with it. Luckily, I loved it anyway! I think the almond butter would have mild out the banana flavour a bit, which was very persistent in my batch. This was a fantastic butter pecan inspired banana ice cream. Will definitely make again. Could you brew up a mint chocolate chip banana ice cream please?BTW, this is my absolute favourite vegan website. So inspiring. Keep up the great work!
Glad you loved this even without it being perfect! I've was thinking about doing a mint chocolate chip banana ice cream a few months ago. I will step it up and get on it soon!
Thank you for the kind words! Warm hugs :)
I just whipped up a batch (using trans fat and hydrogenated oil-free peanut butter instead of almond butter as we did not have any on hand), and ate a mug full as soft serve. Delicious!!!! You can't tell it's not regular ice-cream! Very rich tasting as well. Thanks.
Sounds delicious! I'm so glad you loved it…I need to make this again soon!
Just made this and I'm in love. I can't wait for it to set up in the freezer…I imagine it will only get better. Thanks for the post, it's a keeper.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this! I was a tad worried that maybe my taste buds were off when eating this. I'm so glad to know that I am not alone and this it is a keeper. Cheers :)
I'm intrigued by the tahini in this, but it looks so so good!!
I've made this a few times and it is an interesting addition. I find the tahini to be very subtle and enjoyable. I'm not sure if I have just adjusted to the flavors as I haven't had anyone try it other than myself. With the one review above I'm not sure if this is a universal flavor. If you try it out, I would love to know your thoughts. :)
Tried this – it was yuck, sorry. Strange, given we use frozen bananas daily in our smoothies. Flavour was just way too sweet and strong for us (Australians). Oh well. PS: why is the word "butter" in the title. Shouldn't it be called "Banana Maple Pecan Icecream?" Eating clean and lots of raw has given us a much blander palate I think.
Sorry you didn't like it. It does have a rich and somewhat unusual flavor, especially with the tahini. And all you need it a little. I will change the maple syrup to 1/4 cup with adding to taste as needed just to be sure others start with less sweetness. If using fully ripe banana's one may not need to use as much pure maple syrup.
I do like your name for it too…I was thinking butter from the almond butter.
Thanks for the feedback. My other banana ice creams are much more mellow so give those a try, I'm sure you'll enjoy those.
Maybe others will chime in with their thoughts. This may still need to be a work in progress. ;)
Wow that looks amazing. Thank you for sharing with us. I can't wait to try it as well as your other Vegan Ice Creams! :)
Can't wait to make this, I have all the ingredients going to whip up in my vitamix :)
Perfect, your all set…enjoy!
This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. I have an icecream maker (and love it), but am always on the look out for icecream maker free recipes. Yum!
I would love to get an ice cream maker in the future. This works surprisingly well until then. Hope you get a chance to try it out soon. :)