Dairy-Free Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas

If you're looking for a dessert that looks fancy, but is actually super simple to make, this is it! The chocolate covering has only two ingredients: chocolate chips and coconut oil. It doesn’t get easier than that! Hudson loved making these with me and loved choosing his toppings too.

There are so many different ways to make these, but I’ve found this is the easiest and also has the best finished product as well. I chose to dip my bananas fresh, right after peeling them and getting them prepped with the popsicle sticks, instead of freezing them first and they turned out much better than using frozen bananas. When the banana is frozen first and then begins to thaw when you eat it, you can end up with a sticky, starchy mess, thanks to syneresis. All of the starch in the banana gels a bit and releases water (syneresis) when it is refrigerated, which makes for a gooey mess that seeps out of the chocolate when you’re eating it. Bet you didn’t think you would get a science lesson with your chocolate covered frozen banana recipe, did you?! Sorry, I can’t help it - the food science in me comes out sometimes! Anyway, I didn’t run into this issue at all when I used fresh, yellow bananas for dipping instead of frozen or very ripe/brown bananas.

The fun part of this recipe is the decorating! This is a perfect activity to get the kids involved in and can be perfectly tailored to allergies and preferences in the house. The toppings we chose were shredded, unsweetened coconut, crushed crisp puffed rice cereal, chocolate chips, and sunflower seed butter. Of course, if you don’t have any nut allergies in the family, chopped nuts would be great on these as well! We also did a couple without toppings, but double-dipped in the chocolate instead. If you choose to do this, or just want a thicker chocolate layer on all the bananas, freeze the bananas for about 20 minutes after the first dip and then go back for round two of dipping!

After they have been frozen for several hours they are ready for eating! They held up so well on the popsicle stick, and surprisingly, didn’t make a mess at all!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Freeze Time: 8 hours

INGREDIENTS:

4-6 medium bananas

1 cup chocolate chips (dairy and soy free to keep allergy-free)

6 Tbsp coconut oil

Optional toppings:

sunflower seed butter

shredded unsweetened coconut (chopped into small pieces for easier decorating)

chocolate chips

crushed rice cereal

Line baking pan with parchment paper for finished dipped bananas.

1. Place additional piece of parchment paper down and pour desired toppings in piles for later use.

2. Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently so it does not burn. Once chocolate and oil are fully melted and combined remove from heat to cool slightly.

3. Pour melted chocolate and coconut oil into a drinking glass or a taller container for easier dipping.

4. Cut bananas in half and gently place popsicle stick into ⅔ of the banana.

5. Dip banana into chocolate and let excess drip off. Gently set on parchment-lined baking pan. Repeat with all bananas.

6. Carefully roll chocolate-dipped bananas into desired topping to cover entire surface area of dipped banana. Sprinkle topping over bare areas of chocolate on banana if needed to cover. Place bananas back onto parchment-line baking pan.

7. Place baking pan of bananas in freezer for 6-8 hours or overnight to freeze-through and allow chocolate to solidify before eating.

Recipe Notes:

1. To keep these dairy and soy free we used Enjoy Life chocolate chips. If there are no milk or soy allergies, regular chocolate chips will work fine.

2. If you wish to omit the toppings and do a second layer of chocolate instead, freeze the bananas for 20 minutes after the first chocolate dip and then proceed to dip into chocolate again and place back onto baking pan to put into freezer.

3 Straight bananas are best for this recipe. If the banana is too curved it will be difficult to put the popsicle stick in the banana without it breaking.

4. Do not wait too long to add the toppings. The coconut oil in the chocolate will cause the chocolate to solidify quickly.

5. You will likely have extra dipping chocolate left over. You can put it in the fridge to use for something else, such as frosting donuts, dipping strawberries or other fruit (I used it for pineapple chunks!), or you can dip additional bananas.

6. Once the dipped bananas are completely frozen, remove them and place them in a storage container or zip-top bag for long term storage.