These chocolate covered banana bites are like little ice cream bites. The perfect healthy dessert or midnight snack for when the sweet tooth hits.
In summer, I scream, you scream, everybody screams for Ice cream! However, if we don’t want to roll around at the beach and stay healthy and strong we need to find ways to make our ice cream cravings healthier.
I’ve already shared a healthy chocolate peanut butter ice cream and a pistachio ice cream recipe with you. Both are a bit time intensive to prep though.
These chocolate covered banana bites you can whip up in like 20 minutes and one bite is the perfect size for a daily dessert or a midnight snack.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Banana β I find banana is the absolute best fruit that resembles ice cream. It’s creamy and sweet and freezes super well but I know there are some people that hate bananas so the next best fruit would probably be mango for this.
- Chocolate β To keep the banana bites as healthy as possible choose dark chocolate. At least 70%, better 80%. The darker, the less sugar.
- Nut Butter β Choose natural unsweetened nut butter. My favorite in combination with chocolate is hazelnut butter because it tastes like Nutella but any nut butter works of course.
- Flaky Sea Salt β Sea salt is optional but oh so recommended. It may sound weird but the salt brings out the sweetness of the banana and dark chocolate. It makes a world of a difference.
How To Make Chocolate Covered Banana Bites
- Cut Banana β peel and cut a banana and cut it into bite-sized pieces. The bigger the pieces the more banana and less chocolate per bite, the smaller the pieces… you get the point.
- Lay Out β place the banana pieces on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. This is important because else they will stick to the sheet.
- Add Nut Butter β add a little dollop of nut butter on each banana piece then place the baking sheet in the freezer for just 10 minutes or so.
- Melt Chocolate β melt the chocolate either in 30-second increments in the microwave or in a water bath by placing the bowl over steaming hot but not boiling water. Stir constantly! If you stir often and don’t heat too much you can avoid curdling or having to add butter or oil. The chocolate melts beautifully if you are careful and take your time.
- Cover Banana Bites β cover the banana bites with the melted chocolate by using two forks and dipping the bites into the chocolate. Then let the excess chocolate drip. You might have to re-melt the chocolate after 3-4 bites because the cold banana bites cool the chocolate quickly. Depending on how big or small you cut the banana pieces you’ll need approx. 3.5 oz of chocolate per banana.
- Lay Out Again β lay the chocolate covered banana bites out on the same parchment-paper-lined baking sheet, sprinkle with flaky sea salt, and place back in the freezer for just 5 minutes or so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Remember healthy nutrition can never be measured by a “single” food/meal but has to be considered as a whole. Chocolate covered banana bites “can” be the perfect healthy dessert if your overall macronutrients and calories for the day are balanced out.
In the fridge bananas get brown fairly quickly so try and eat the banana bites within 2 days.
Yes! Banana is perfect for freezing and by covering the pieces in chocolate you basically seal the banana air-tight and it doesn’t brown. It’s like little ice cream bites. In an air-tight container, they keep in the freezer in perfect condition for at least 1 week.
Chocolate Covered Banana Bites
Ingredients
- 1 banana
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate
- 4.5-9 tsp unsweetened nut butter - hazelnut butter is my favorite
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Cut the banana into about 9 equal pieces and lay them out in one layer on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet.
- Add a dollop (1/2 to 1 tsp) of nut butter of your choice to each banana slice, then place the baking sheet into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, melt the dark chocolate either in the microwave or a water bath until smooth and glossy. Do not overheat or it'll curdle.
- Use two forks to add the banana pieces into the melted chocolate and cover them, then let the excess drip into the bowl. (You might have to re-melt the chocolate after 3-4 pieces of cold banana hit it).
- Place the chocolate covered banana bites back on the same baking sheet, sprinkle with flakey sea salt, and put back in the freezer for a few minutes or until the chocolate hardens.
Jsbsjbsjjba says
First of all, this recipe is AMAZING! Its healthy yet satisfies anybody’s sweet tooth. However, I ran into a problem making it. After coating 4 banana slices, the chocolate did start to solidify just like you said. But when I reheated it, the chocolate siezed and I wasn’t able to coat the remaining slices π’. How can I prevent this? I used the microwave method.
Julia King says
OMG Yum!
nm says
are the calories per one banana slice?
Lorena Grater says
Per serving, yes.
Belinda says
Made these today and they are fantastic! Came out perfectly! The only addition I made was coconut oil. 1 teaspoon for every 2 tablespoons of chocolate, and I used almond butter. With an extra small banana, 3 tablespoons of chocolate, one and a half teaspoons of coconut oil, and 1/2 tsp of almond butter on each slice, it came to 44 calories per piece. I had a total of 12 pieces.
Stephanie says
Love this recipe! It was quick and easy to make! It’s so nice to have a healthy treat for those occasional sweet cravings!ππ