What are your favorite vegan ice cream recipes?

June 12, 2008 4:10 PM

What are your favorite vegan ice cream recipes?

I want to start making my own, but I've read that it can be quite a challenge. I'm only looking for recipes that people have actually tried and had turn out correctly. Also, what ice cream maker do you use? Thanks!

posted by MaryDellamorte to food & drink (19 comments total)

"vegan ice cream" is a contradiction in terms, isn't it? I thought vegans didn't do dairy. And it can't be "ice cream" without cream. (It can't be frogurt without milk.)

I guess what I'm really asking is just what you think is, and is not, permissible as an ingredient? What do you mean by "vegan ice cream"?
posted by Class Goat at 4:19 PM on June 12

I don't have the actual recipes right now, but I have made vegan ice cream from the Veganomicon and the Voluptuous Vegan cookbooks with little effort. It's actually very easy if you have an ice cream maker - mine is manufactured by Deni and it works well.
posted by gnutron at 4:25 PM on June 12

BTW, key ingredients tend to be tofu or coconut milk (or both). If you use straight soymilk, you will probably need a thickener such as arrowroot powder.
posted by gnutron at 4:27 PM on June 12

Vegan ice cream = sorbet.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:28 PM on June 12

Vegan ice cream is a term for ice cream made without dairy or animal products, using substitutes such as soy, coconut, rice or almond milk. I guess it can technically include sorbet.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:34 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Better than coconut milk would be cream of coconut. It gives a really rich texture.

My mother makes pina colada sorbet using (canned) cream of coconut, canned pineapple chunks, rum, and enough orange juice to thin it to a good consistency. (Unfortunately I don't know the exact proportions, but I think it's pretty forgiving and depends on which flavors you like best.) She just buzzes it in a food processor, freezes it in a flat pan, and then breaks up the frozen sorbet and runs it through the food processor again.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:36 PM on June 12

Check these out, and don't be afeared to put your ice cream canister back into the freezer for final firming-up. The frozen canister type ice cream makers sometimes don't get cold enough to finish the job. The less saturated fat, the colder it needs to be to get thick. I'm making a beeline for the almond milk recipes, myself.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:41 PM on June 12

I just made this easy vegan frozen dessert. I wouldn't quite describe it as vegan ice cream, but it might be close enough for your purposes.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 4:52 PM on June 12

Pineapple Sorbet
Puree a pineapple. Add some sugar. Freeze it, either in ice cube trays, or solid. Take it out, throw it in a food processor until it is light and fluffy.
So it's not ice cream, but it's still delicious.
posted by msamye at 5:02 PM on June 12

Ms. Vegetable:

Check out these - I know the latest issue had some YUMMY recipes, but it doesn't look like 2008 issues are posted yet.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 5:33 PM on June 12

Anyone tried freezing soy yogurt? I've been trying it for baking and it *rocks* in the basic chocolate cupcake recipe in "Vegan cupcakes take over the world" - I add a little extra flour with it too.

This may seem like a side issue, but I bet some soy yogurt would give a great frozen ice-cream-like texture.
posted by amtho at 7:56 PM on June 12

I asked about ice cream not too long ago.

I've now tried the recipe that's marked as "best answer". Result....it's actually pretty good. The base is unsweetened coconut milk, other ingredients are sugar, water, lime and (in this case) Blue Curacao.

My goal was to get something with a blue color. Mission accomplished--it's severely BLUE. You could easily substitute lots of other things with comparable alcohol content or less.

More to the point, the frozen dessert has an ice cream texture, is "creamy", but contains no dairy or eggs. With the lime and the orange flavor from the liqueur, the overall flavor compares somewhat to a mild key lime pie filling. Starting with this concept as a base, there's probably lots of interesting things you could do.

Overall, it's one of the best items I've gotten from The Green here, and the whole concoction will be a big, big hit at the 4th of July party I'm going to this year.
posted by gimonca at 8:20 PM on June 12

(Ice Cream Maker--I have a Williams-Sonoma brand ice cream machine with built-in refrigeration that I bought on clearance 10 years ago. Still works great, although the timer has jammed and I have to remember to check it once in a while to see if the ice cream or sorbet is ready. From chilled mix to soft-servable dessert takes about 20 minutes. Consistency is usually best if you take the ice cream out before it gets totally hard, then let it firm up in the freezer.)
posted by gimonca at 8:26 PM on June 12

By the way, two easy sorbets:

Put cleaned, trimmed strawberries and sugar in blender or food processor. Puree. Put mixture in ice cream maker. Freeze according to directions. Congratulations, you got strawberry sorbet. Quality only depends on the quality of berries you're putting in.

Even easier: find an Indian/South Asian or Middle Eastern grocery in your area. Look for cans of mango pulp. Take it home, open can, pour into ice cream maker, freeze according to directions. Voila--mango sorbet. You can add extra sugar/flavors to taste, but it's usually pretty good with no extra additions.
posted by gimonca at 8:40 PM on June 12

Yes, totally get the latest Vegetarian Times. The peanut butter coconut ice cream is amazing, super amazing with chocolate sauce, and simple: coconut milk, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla. (About the vanilla: any extracts you use to make ice cream have to be alcohol-free, because alcohol messes up freezing points. The alcohol-free extracts I've seen are made with glycerin.)

Re: ice cream makers, the one I have experience with is an older Krups model bought for cheap on eBay. It works really nicely - liquid to ice cream in twenty minutes flat.
posted by clavicle at 10:17 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

I believe the best ice cream maker on the market is Musso 4080.

And...

Concord Grape Sorbet*
===============

4 cups concord grapes
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup filtered water

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. pass thru a fine mesh strainer, discard the solids
c. chill thoroughly in fridge
d. process in your ice cream maker

Vanilla Ice Cream*
=============

2 cups raw cashews, soaked 4 or more hours
2 cups coconut meat
1 cup filtered water
1 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup coconut butter (aka coconut oil--get unrefined)
2 tbs vanilla extract
seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean or 2 additional tsp of the extract
1/2 tsp sea salt

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. chill thoroughly in fridge
c. process in your ice cream maker

Lavender Ice Cream*
=============

2 cups raw cashews
2 cups coconut meat
1 cup filtered water
1 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup coconut butter (aka coconut oil--get unrefined)
2 tbs vanilla extract
2 tbs edible organic lavender flowers
1/2 tsp sea salt

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. chill thoroughly in fridge
c. process in your ice cream maker

Hazelnut Gelato**
===========

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups pitted dates
meat of 2 thai baby coconuts
1 vanilla bean
3 cups coconut water

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. at first just blend with half the water and then add water as needed (trying to use as little as possible) until you've got a creamy consistency.
c. process in your ice cream maker

Vanilla Macadamia Ice Cream**
==================

1 vanilla bean
1 1/4 cups macadamia nuts
3/4 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup coconut water
2 cups water as needed

a. Blend all but water in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. add just enough water to get a smooth cream
c. process in your ice cream maker

Lemon Mint Ice**
===========

juice of 2 lemons (about 4 tbs)
1/2 bunch fresh mint leaves torn into small pieces
1 cup water

a. combine everything
b. process in your ice cream maker

Apricot Sorbet**
==========

3 cups ripe apricots, peeled, pitted, diced
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 vanilla bean
juice of 1 lime, about 1 tbs
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 cup water as needed

a. Blend all but water in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender)
b. add just enough water to get everything to blend smooth
c. process in your ice cream maker

Persimmon Gelato***
============

2 tbs coconut milk
2 cups chopped persimmon
1/4 cup coconut water
2 tbs raw orange blossom honey
1/8 tsp fresh lime juice
pinch of celtic sea salt

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender) till smooth
b. process in your ice cream maker

Pineapple Gelato***
============

2 cups chopped pineapple
2 tbs coconut milk
2 tbs plus 1 tsp maple syrup
1/8 tsp fresh lime juice
seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean (optional)

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender) till smooth
b. process in your ice cream maker

Pecan-Maple Ice Cream***
===============

2 cups Peacans, soaked for 8 to 10 hours
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup pecan water

a. Drain the pecans, reserving 1 cup of the water.
b. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender) till smooth
c. pass thru fine mesh strainer
d. process in your ice cream maker


Coconut Sorbet***
=========

Water and meat from 1 young thai coconut
3 tbs honey granules or to taste

a. Blend in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender) till smooth
b. pass thru fine mesh strainer
c. process in your ice cream maker

Sultana Sorbet***
===========

2 cups sultanas, soaked for 1 hour in 1 cup of water
1 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

a. Blend everything including the soak water in a blender (preferably a vitamix or a blendtec or other high end blender) till smooth
b. pass thru fine mesh strainer
c. process in your ice cream maker


* Raw Food Real World
** Ani's Raw Food Kitchen
*** Raw
posted by dobbs at 11:33 PM on June 12 [3 favorites]

This is not real ice cream, but it is delicious and tastes just like ice cream and I had it all the time as a child and by total coincidence I was planning on making some tomorrow...

Banana ice cream

It's so simple, anyone can make it. And you don't need a fancy machine, only a blender.

Freeze a number of bananas. You have to peel them, and for best results break them into smaller pieces before freezing. Really ripe bananas are great for this.

Once frozen, you blend them (food processors don't seem to work, you need a blender for this) with just enough soy milk to make it smooth (very little is needed, maybe a teaspoon or so per banana). Add honey or sugar to taste, and a splash of vanilla extract.

Bananas magically store ice crystals in just the right form so that, when blended, you end up with a creamy cold concoction that's almost exactly the consistency of gelato.

Really tasty, really simple.
posted by Deathalicious at 1:01 AM on June 13 [1 favorite]

Also, I would have thought this was obvious, but people use the term "ice cream" to refer to a kind of cold treat. Whether it contains dairy products or not really isn't central to its identity as a frozen desert generally recognized as "ice cream". And, no, not all vegan ice cream is sorbet. Sorbet is generally made either with flavored water or with juice and fruit. It's hardly creamy. But it's totally possible to have the ice cream experience without using cow juice.

Incidentally there's also soy yogurt and soy cheese (which, to be fair, is usually an abomination unto Taste).

You all might be surprised to learn that it's also possible to have "leather" shoes made out of vinyl, marbled floors that are not actually made entirely of marble, and jewelery that is not made out of actual jewels. Sheesh.
posted by Deathalicious at 1:09 AM on June 13 [2 favorites]

Vice cream
posted by davar at 3:44 AM on June 14