Anabolic Protein Ice Cream
A big, soft, scoopable bowl of frozen protein ice cream — 30 grams of protein and 300 calories in the whole serving. Casein and whey blended with frozen banana until it goes thick and creamy, no churn, no machine required. This is the dessert I eat almost every night, and I want you to have it too.
Plate 01 / Finished
For years I told myself a man my size didn’t get to have dessert. I’d finish a long evening session, drive home in the dark, eat my chicken and rice like a good soldier, and then sit there at the kitchen table wanting something sweet and telling myself no. It made me miserable, if I’m honest. Hungry men make bad decisions, and around week eight of a hard prep I was one bad night away from eating a whole tub of the real stuff standing up at the freezer.
So I started building my own. I had a little frozen-then-blended machine a friend swore by, but you don’t need one — a decent blender does the same job. The trick is frozen banana for body, a scoop of casein and a scoop of whey for the protein and that thick, slow, melty texture, and a splash of milk to get it moving. You blend it cold, you scrape it down, you blend again, and what comes out is genuinely a bowl of soft-serve. Thirty grams of protein. Three hundred calories. The whole thing.
I make a version of this most nights now, love, and I have zero shame about it. It is a smart, satisfying, high-protein bowl that happens to taste like a treat — not a treat I have to pay for later. My partner steals half of it most evenings. Make it once and I think you’ll understand why I stopped telling myself no. I’ve got you on this one.
01Who it’s for & when to eat it
This is an anabolic dessert — built to land your evening protein in a form you actually look forward to. The base stays the same; what you change is the milk, the toppings, and how big the banana is. Here’s how I steer it.
The lean nightcap
Use a small frozen banana and skim or unsweetened almond milk. You get a huge, slow-melting bowl for very little — high protein, low calories, and enough volume to actually feel like dessert. This is my last meal of the day before a shoot.
Easy clean calories
Whole milk, a full banana, a spoon of peanut butter and some granola on top. Same creamy base, a lot more fuel — a painless way to add a few hundred quality calories when you’re trying to grow. See the variations below for numbers.
Steady evening fuel
A medium banana, semi-skimmed milk, a few berries on top. Moderate carbs, lean protein, easy on the gut before bed. Casein digests slowly, which makes it a kind dessert to sleep on.
Timing: I eat this as a post-training dessert or my last bowl before bed. The casein is slow-digesting, so it sits with you for hours — a nice thing to have on board overnight when you’re trying to hold muscle.
02Ingredients
Makes 1 big bowl — one generous serving. Want two? Double every line and blend in batches so your machine isn’t fighting a frozen brick. The frozen banana is what gives you the soft-serve body, so don’t skip it.
Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card- Banana, frozen sliced & frozen solid1 medium · 100 g
- Casein protein, vanilla for the body1 scoop · 30 g
- Whey protein, vanilla for flavour½ scoop · 15 g
- Skimmed milk or plant milk120 ml · ½ cup
- Plain low-fat yogurt2 tbsp · 30 g
- Cocoa powder, unsweetened optional1 tsp · 3 g
- Vanilla extract½ tsp
- Pinch of saltto taste
- Ice cubes for thickness2–3 cubes
- Sweetener if you liketo taste
Swaps I actually use: no banana? Use 100g of frozen cauliflower or a frozen courgette chunk for body — you won’t taste it, and it keeps the carbs and calories right down for a hard cut. All whey and no casein still works, it just melts faster, so eat it quick. A spoon of xanthan gum (just a pinch) thickens it beautifully if you’d rather skip the banana altogether. Cocoa makes it chocolate; leave it out for plain vanilla.
03Step by step
Slice it and freeze it solid first
Peel the banana, slice it into coins, and freeze it on a tray for at least two hours — overnight is better. Frozen banana is the whole secret to the thick, scoopable texture; a fresh one just gives you a milkshake.
Magnus says: I keep a bag of frozen banana coins on hand at all times. Future you will be grateful.
Liquid first, then everything else
Pour the milk and yogurt into the blender first, then add the casein, whey, cocoa if you’re using it, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Putting the liquid at the bottom helps the blades catch and saves you scraping all night.
Banana and ice go in last
Drop in the frozen banana coins and the ice cubes. Keep the liquid low for now — you can always loosen it, but you can’t thicken a soup. We’re chasing soft-serve, not a smoothie.
Magnus says: less liquid than you think. Add a splash at a time only if it won’t move.
Pulse, scrape down, pulse again
Blend in short bursts, stopping to scrape the sides down with a spatula between each one. It’ll look stubborn and crumbly at first — that’s right. Keep going and it suddenly turns over into a thick, glossy swirl.
Magnus says: patience here, love. The moment it goes creamy is worth the few extra scrapes.
Scoop it now, or freeze 15 minutes
It’s ready to eat straight away as soft-serve. If you want it firmer and more scoopable, spread it into a chilled bowl and freeze for ten to fifteen minutes — no longer, or it sets hard. Top it however you like and dig in.
04The spec sheet
Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes one big bowl weighing roughly 250g. Here’s what the whole serving gives you, and the same thing levelled out to a flat 100g so you can compare it honestly to anything else in your day.
| Nutrient | Per serving | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 300 kcal | 120 kcal |
| Protein | 30.0 g | 12.0 g |
| Carbohydrate | 28.0 g | 11.2 g |
| — of which sugars | 18.0 g | 7.2 g |
| Fat | 7.0 g | 2.8 g |
| — of which saturates | 3.2 g | 1.3 g |
| Fibre | 3.5 g | 1.4 g |
| Sodium | ~0.30 g | ~0.12 g |
Low for a dessert. That’s the whole point — you get a big, cold, slow-melting bowl that feels like plenty, and the calories stay honest while you do it.
A lifter’s metric. For something that eats like ice cream, getting ten grams of protein in every hundred calories is a genuinely strong ratio.
- Calcium~360 mg · 28% DV
- Phosphorus~300 mg · 43% DV
- Vitamin B12~1.1 µg · 46% DV
- Riboflavin (B2)~0.5 mg · 38% DV
- Potassium~520 mg · 11% DV
- Magnesium~55 mg · 13% DV
Macros are calculated from standard food-composition data and will shift a little with your exact protein powder, milk and banana size. Micronutrient figures are estimates against general adult Daily Values. Numbers are for guidance, not medical advice — see our Nutrition Disclaimer.
05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations
One base, three jobs. The blend stays the same — you adjust the milk, the banana, and what goes on top. Macros below are for the full bowl with the additions listed.
The lean default
Swap the banana for 100g frozen cauliflower, use unsweetened almond milk, and skip the toppings. You still get a huge, creamy bowl — just far fewer calories and carbs. This is the version I lean on hardest before a show.
Build it up
Whole milk, a full banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter blended in and a handful of granola on top. Same creamy base, a painless way to land a few hundred quality calories when you’re growing.
Steady & balanced
Semi-skimmed milk, a medium banana, and a small handful of berries on top. Moderate carbs, lean protein, gentle on digestion before bed — full and satisfied, nothing overshot.
06Meal prep & storage
This one is best fresh — it’s a ten-minute job — but you can absolutely get ahead. The smart move is prepping the frozen banana and the dry mix so the bowl comes together in minutes when the craving hits.
This doesn’t keep in the fridge — it’ll melt to a shake within the hour. Make it when you want it; the prep is fast enough that you can.
Leftovers freeze fine in a shallow tub, but they set hard. Pull it out 10–15 minutes before eating so it softens back to scoopable.
Frozen rock-solid? Don’t fight a spoon. Break it up, drop it back in the blender with a splash of milk, and pulse it creamy again in seconds.
My real prep is the banana: I slice a few up every week and keep the coins bagged in the freezer, with the casein and whey pre-measured in a little jar. When I want a bowl, it’s milk in, frozen banana in, blend — done before the kettle’s even boiled.
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07Common questions
Do I really need a special machine? +
No. A frozen-dessert machine gives you the smoothest result, but a sturdy blender or even a good stick blender does the same job — you just have to stop and scrape the sides down a few times. The frozen banana and the casein are doing the real work, not the gadget.
Why casein and not just whey? +
Casein thickens as it sits and gives you that slow, melty, ice-cream body — whey alone goes thin and melts fast. I use mostly casein for texture with a little whey for flavour. If you only have whey, it’ll still taste great; just eat it quickly before it loosens.
How do I make this without banana? +
Two easy ways. Use 100g of frozen cauliflower or courgette for body — you genuinely won’t taste it under the vanilla and cocoa — or add a pinch of xanthan gum to thicken the blend. Both keep the carbs and calories lower, which is handy on a hard cut.
It came out icy instead of creamy — what went wrong? +
Usually too much liquid or not enough scraping, love. Start with less milk than feels right and only add a splash at a time. Keep pulsing and scraping past the crumbly stage — it turns creamy quite suddenly. The yogurt and casein are what give it that smooth finish, so don’t leave them out.
Can I sweeten it more? +
Of course. The banana and the flavoured protein carry most of it, but if you like things sweeter, add a little sweetener of your choice — it won’t change the macros much. A few drops of vanilla or a pinch of salt also make it taste sweeter without adding sugar.
Is this okay to eat before bed? +
It’s one of my favourite nighttime bowls precisely because the casein digests slowly. That said, this is just food, not a supplement protocol — eat it when it suits your day and your hunger, and don’t lose sleep over the timing.
This bowl lives inside a full week of meals.
This protein ice cream is the dessert in my high-protein meal plans — a full week of meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths and feed you well.
See the meal plans →08Pairs well with
Magnus Olafsson
I’m Magnus — twenty years under the iron, from a cold gym in Stockholm to the classic-physique stage, and now mostly in my kitchen in a pink apron. I’ve cut for shows, bulked through winters, and I’ve been on TRT since I was thirty-five. I know what it takes to eat for the body you’re chasing, and I know it shouldn’t come with a side of shame.
Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.
Slim Diet Era shares recipes and general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietetic advice, and we do not provide guidance on obtaining or using any controlled substance. See our Medical Disclaimer and Nutrition Disclaimer.