Vegans may feel deprived of ice cream's sweetness and creaminess, but that doesn't have to be the case. Many recipes for the treat omit dairy and create the same sweet taste for your favorite flavors. In addition to vegan ice cream recipes, there are even raw recipes that use completely fresh ingredients to recreate the dreamy taste of ice cream. Indulge your sweet tooth and try one today.
How to Make Vegan Ice Cream
Vegan ice cream typically substitutes soy or nut milk for dairy cream or milk. Many vegans also enjoy sorbet and frozen fruit treats, which can satisfy the urge for something cold and sweet on a hot summer's day.
Simple Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream
This simple vanilla recipe uses only a handful of ingredients and doesn't require an ice cream maker. All you need is a blender, a freezer-safe container, and the ingredients.
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. soymilk (vanilla or plain)
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 4 T. fructose
- 4-8 drops vanilla extract (use 8 drops if you are using plain soymilk)
Directions
- Blend the soymilk with vegetable oil for about a minute
- Add the fructose
- Blend for another minute
- Pour the mixture into the freezer-safe container, adding vanilla just to the top.
- Freeze the ice cream until it reaches your desired consistency. It should taste like vanilla ice cream. There may be some ice crystals on the bottom of the container; just soften the ice cream and remix or mash it up to blend them in, or enjoy the crystals as they are.
Fructose is a sweetener derived from fruit. You can also experiment with regular table sugar or other sweeteners, but check the sweetness and proportions when blending.
Coconut Vegan Ice Cream
This recipe requires some advance planning to chill the bowl ahead of time, but it's worth it. Fats in the coconut milk give the treat an extra creamy consistency.
Ingredients
- 2 cans of coconut milk (about 30 oz. total)
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
Directions
Place a freezer-safe bowl into the freezer and keep it there overnight. You want the bowl to be as cold as possible. When you're ready to make the recipe:
- Place the coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla in a blender
- Blend the mixture on high speed
- Pour it into the chilled bowl
- Freeze the ice cream until it reaches your desired consistency. You can also use an ice cream maker to finish the recipe.
Raw Vegan Ice Cream Recipes
Raw vegans do not eat any foods heated above approximately 116 to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. You can make desserts with a creamy consistency using only fruit and your freezer that adhere to a raw vegan diet.
Raw Vegan Banana "Cream"
Take a very ripe banana or two and peel them, slice them up, and place them into a freezer-safe container. Freeze the bananas for a day, then place the frozen banana slices into a high-speed blender and mix until smooth. The result is a fruit-based banana "cream" containing only real fruit, no dairy, and delicious taste!
Banana-Strawberry Ice Cream
Follow the recipe above, but include 1 cup of frozen strawberries with the bananas when you blend them.
More Tips on How to Make Vegan Ice Cream
Just because you're following a special diet doesn't mean you have to deprive yourself! Raw vegans and vegans eating cooked foods can find many more recipes and inspiration online as well as books devoted exclusively to making dairy-free ice cream.
- VegWeb features reader-submitted recipes. There are recipes for fruit-based ice cream, tofu and soymilk ice creams, sorbets, and more.
- Vegan Ice Cream Paradise is a blog devoted exclusively to vegan ice cream that offers tips and more.
- Clean, Green, and Simple offers tips for making vegan ice cream without a blender.
- Try The Vegan Scoop, a book by Wheeler del Torro that features 150 recipes for vegan ice cream.
Vegan ice cream recipes offer surprisingly easy ways to make creamy, sweet desserts. If you're tired of frozen fruit pops, try a dairy-free recipe today.
