These frozen banana bites are a perfect healthy summer treat! Your favorite nut or seed butter adds healthy fat and a quick dip in chocolate adds a delicious sweet crunch.
Growing up, we lived in Kentucky for a few years. I remember those summers basically spent in bathing suits, running around the backyard from morning to night with hoses, sprinklers, or walking down to the rec center pool to swim and play all afternoon. We pretty much only stopped for food. But one of the favorite treats we would always stop to help make and eat were frozen banana bites. My mom would cut bananas into slices and we'd drizzle or dunk in semi-sweet chocolate before freezing. And man, did they always just hit the spot!
These frozen banana bites are my grown-up version of this treat (although if my toddler and husband are any indication, they're still very much whole family-approved). I've add a little bit of nut or seed butter on top of the banana slices before dipping in dark chocolate that's been slightly thinned with coconut oil.
Frozen Banana Bites Nutrition Perks
While anything covered in chocolate typically screams, "treat", these chocolate-covered banana bites pack some nutritional perks. From the bananas to the chocolate, there are a lot of micronutrients to be found here!
- Bananas: This fruit provides energy and natural sweetness and is full of vitamins and minerals like potassium, vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B6, fiber, and more. These micronutrients can promote heart health, fluid balance, better blood pressure, healthy skin, and improved digestion.
- Nut or Seed Butter: While the specific micronutrient profile will vary based on the type of nut/ seed butter used, in general nuts and seeds can provide healthy fats, protein, and carbohydrates. Nuts and seeds can improve heart health, often lower LDL cholesterol, and are often good sources of dietary fiber, which can aid in digestion and weight management.
- Dark Chocolate: It doesn't get much sweeter than health benefits from dark chocolate! 😉 Dark chocolate typically contains less sugar than milk chocolate varieties. It's a source of magnesium, antioxidants, zinc, and iron, and may help reduce heart disease risk and reduce inflammation in the body.
- Coconut Oil: Coconut oil can be quite controversial as to how healthy it actually is, but to be perfectly honest, I love adding a little to melted chocolate. It's a plant-based fat that helps thin the chocolate slightly, resulting in less chocolate coating needed. And to be totally transparent, health benefits are a stretch when you consider the amount of coconut oil is negligible per frozen banana bite!
How to Make Chocolate-Covered Frozen Banana Bites with Peanut Butter
I know these directions look like a lot, but I promise I'm just being detailed! The basics are: slice banana, top with peanut butter, dip in chocolate, freeze. Now for more details with all the tips to make the process go easier, with beautiful results:
- Lay a sheet of freezer paper or a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet (make sure the baking sheet will fit in your freezer!).
- Slice bananas into thin slices (I got 18 slices or "coins" per banana) and lay them flat on the silicone baking mat.
- Place nut or seed butter in a small sandwich bag or small piping bag. Cut the tip off your sandwich bag and pipe about a half-teaspoon's worth of nut butter on the banana slices.
- Melt dark chocolate and coconut oil together.
- To dip the peanut butter banana bite in chocolate, place the banana flat on the tongs of a fork (nut butter side up). Dip in chocolate, using a spoon to help drizzle the chocolate on top of the banana bite. Shake off excess chocolate by hovering the fork over the bowl of melted chocolate, then gently tap the wrist of the hand holding the fork to help excess chocolate drip off. Run a toothpick under the tongs of the fork to eliminate any pooling chocolate, then transfer chocolate-covered banana bite back to the silicone baking mat.
- Before freezing, if you want you can sprinkle the top of the melted chocolate with some sort of garnish: flaky sea salt, peanut butter powder, an almond sliver,etc.
- Once all banana bites are done, place sheet in freezer for at least four hours.
- Once frozen solid, banana bites can be transferred to an airtight freezer-safe container for up to one month.
Customize Your Frozen Banana Bites
Make these frozen banana bites work for you, your preferences, and your health needs. If you have a nut allergy, try using a sunflower seed or pumpkin seed butter. 88 Acres makes a dark chocolate sunflower seed butter that would be delicious (affiliate link). Looking to limit your added sugar? Lily's Sweets makes a delicious stevia-sweetened chocolate.
Don't even like chocolate? Just skip that step, or try dipping in white chocolate or yogurt!
Looking for more healthy dessert recipes?
Try these Nutrition to Fit healthy dessert recipe favorites:
- Healthy buckeyes
- Healthy mint chocolate chip popsicles
- Chocolate cherry almond nice cream
- Chocolate veggie smoothie
- Chocolate banana kefir chia pudding
- Chocolate avocado truffles
- One-ingredient grape popsicles
- Coconut vanilla chia pudding
- Cherry cheesecake protein pops
- Chocolate raspberry avocado pudding
Get What You Need to Make This Recipe
Grab the following ingredients and equipment I used to make this recipe. Note, these are Amazon affiliate links, which means I make a very small (like two cents) commission if you make a purchase using my links. Thank you for your support!
Frozen Banana Bites
free from: wheat, soy*, dairy*, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts*, peanuts**Use a dairy/soy-free chocolate and sunflower butter for allergy-friendly modifications.
Ingredients
- 2 medium bananas
- 6 tablespoon smooth nut or seed butter
- 1 bar 70% dark chocolate (one bar = 100 grams)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Slice bananas into 18 "coins" each and lay them on a baking sheet covered in freezer paper or silicone baking mats.
- Place nut or seed butter in a sandwich bag, cut a small corner off, and pipe a½ teaspoon nut or seed butter on top of each banana slice. If necessary, use your fingers to smooth the nut or seed butter.
- In a glass bowl, melt chocolate and coconut oil together by microwaving in thirty second increments and stirring in between.
- To dip the peanut butter banana bite in chocolate, place the banana flat on the tongs of a fork (nut butter side up). Dip in chocolate, using a spoon to help drizzle the chocolate on top of the banana bite. Shake off excess chocolate by hovering the fork over the bowl of melted chocolate, then gently tap the wrist of the hand holding the fork to help excess chocolate drip off. Run a toothpick under the tongs of the fork to eliminate any pooling chocolate, then transfer chocolate-covered banana bite back to the silicone baking mat.
- If desired, garnish with flaky sea salt, peanut butter powder, slivered almonds, or a pumpkin or sunflower seed.
- Freeze for four hours or longer.
- Can be stored in a freezer-safe airtight container up to one month.
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