This Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream is dairy free, vegan and uses just four ingredients. No food coloring necessary to get this gorgeous color, but it is a fun and frozen way to get vegetables in your dessert!
Summer typically means the start of CSA season, with lots of fresh vegetables and maybe some fruit in your CSA box every week. And now I know what your next question is going to be.
What is a CSA?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, which is where you can purchase a “share” of produce from your local farmer and receive something new every week. Typically you pay up front for the season and collect a bundle of produce weekly. It’s a great way to support local agriculture, get really fresh produce, and try new foods. If you’re interested in a CSA, you can find one local to you and get more info here.
How do I use up CSA vegetables?
One common thing people wonder is what to do with vegetables you are unfamiliar with. There are several great articles from Buzzfeed, Greatist, and Prevention on different ways to use up your CSA vegetables, but my favorite way usually involves roasting them.
In one of my recent CSA bundles we received some beets. I’m not a huge fan of beets, but they looked so fresh I couldn’t resist finding a way to eat them. It’s been so hot out I didn’t want to eat hot beets, so I tried to think of a way to cool them down. Which is when I turned them into Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream.
How to Roast Beets with Honey
This recipe is very simple, and it starts with prepping then roasting the beets. Set your oven to 425 degrees F, then cut off the tops and roots of your beets with a large sharp knife on a cutting board. Peel the beets, then chop them into even pieces, about half a inch cubed.
Put them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, then cover them with half a tablespoon each of avocado oil and honey. I much prefer avocado oil because it basically has no flavor, however you can use olive oil in it’s place. Just know you might get a little olive oil flavor in your ice cream.
Cook the beets for about 25 minutes, checking to make sure they’re done by sticking them with a fork. If the fork is able to pierce the beets easily, you’re good to go.
You will want to take them out of the oven before the beets become dark on the edges. The parchment paper will likely get dark (see the picture above on the right), which is just the honey charring. But you won’t want that on your beets as it will give the nice cream a bit of a bitter flavor.
Let the beets cool down until they’re no longer warm to the touch. If you try and make nice cream right away, the heat of the beets will melt defrost the bananas and you’ll have beet banana soup. Not exactly the goal.
Now onto the nice cream.
How to Make Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream
Bring out the food processor for this recipe. You can try making it in a blender, but most blenders won’t have big enough pitchers for this and it will take forever and a day to mix things together. So food processor it is.
Now this gets really easy:
1 – Dump the bananas and beets into the bowl of the food processor.
2 – Put the lid on and press ON.
That’s it. Just let it keep blending until everything is incorporated and you have a smooth mixture. You may need to get a spatula and scrape the sides a bit if you think it’s taking too long, but otherwise you’re good to go.
You can eat this right away, or store it in a sealed container in the freezer for several days.
Now I know some of you out there have a sweet tooth. I feel you. See these recipes to satisfy it.
– Three Ingredient Raspberry Peach Nice Cream
– Crustless Banana Cream Pie Cups
– Cranberry Orange Dark Chocolate Bark
– White Chocolate Candied Lemon Slices
Pin this Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream for Later!
Recipe for Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream
Honey Roasted Beet Nice Cream
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound red beets
- 1/2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 4 medium-sized frozen over-ripe bananas
Instructions
Items Needed:
A sheet pan
Parchment paper
A cutting board
A large sharp knife
A vegetable peeler
Measuring spoons
A fork
A large food processor
Directions:
Turn the oven on to 425 degrees F.
Take out a sheet pan and line it with parchment paper.
Using a cutting board and large sharp knife, slice the tops and roots off each beet. With a vegetable peeler, peel the skin of the beet off. Then cut the beet into small pieces, roughly half an inch cubed.
Spread the beets out on the sheet pan and measure out 1/2 tablespoon of oil, drizzling it over the beets. Do the same with 1/2 tablespoon of honey, then mix the beets, oil, and honey together until the beets are evenly coated.
Cook in the oven for roughly 25 minutes, until the beets are tender and a fork inserted into the beets goes in smoothly. Let the beets cool completely, until they are no longer warm to the touch.
Place four medium-sized frozen bananas into a food processor. Dump the cooked beets into the food processor and blend until everything is incorporated together and smooth. You may need to stop and push the mixture down with a spatula to help the blending process.
The mixture can be eaten promptly or frozen in a sealed container for several days.
Recipe Notes
- Red beets will stain, so when making this be sure to watch for any splatter and clean up right away.
- You can use olive oil in place of the avocado oil to roast the beets, however you might notice a slight olive oil taste in your nice cream.
- You can try making this recipe in a blender, but most blenders won't have big enough pitchers for this. A large food processor is definitely recommended.
nice post