Wash and dry the fresh cherries. Then, remove the stems and pits from the cherries. You can use a cherry pitter or press a large straw through each cherry to easily remove the pit. From there, chop the pitted cherries into smaller pieces.

Add the pitted chopped cherries to a Ninja Creami pint container. Then, pour the protein shake into the pint container. As an option, thoroughly mix in the optional instant pudding mix. After that, place the lid on the container and freeze it for at least 24 hours. It’s helpful to place a lid that fits inside the container, such as the lid to a Mason jar, before securing the pint container lid and freezing the mixture to prevent any peaks from forming when it freezes.

Once frozen, remove the pint container from the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Then, remove the lid from the container and scrape off any peaks with a spoon so it has a level surface.

Place the container in the Ninja Creami machine. Once the container is secured, press the Lite Ice Cream button. After the first spin the mixture may be powdery, so add an optional splash of milk and spin it again on Lite Ice Cream. The mixture should be thick and creamy after two spins, if not, spin again.

Create a small well in the ice cream to pour the mini chocolate chips into. After that, use the mix-in feature on the Ninja Creami to mix in the mini chocolate chips. Or, mix them in with a spoon. Then, serve and enjoy!