The Best Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
Introducing the BEST vegan vanilla ice cream! This plant-based ice cream is irresistibly creamy, infused with plenty of fresh vanilla flavor, and has nothing to envy its dairy counterpart. Nut-free and coconut-free!
Ingredients
- 670 ml unsweetneed soy milk or any other plant-based milk
- 88 g deodorized cacao butter or deodorized coconut oil
- 45 g sunflower oil or other neutral oil
- 10 ml vanilla extract 2 tsp
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean optional
- 122 g granulated sugar
- 55 g dextrose
- 2 g lecithin powder about 1 tsp
- 1 g locust bean gum about 1/2 tsp
- 0.5 g guar gum about 1/4 tsp
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
Prepare the ice cream base
- Melt the cacao butter. Add the milk, cacao butter, oil, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds, if using, to a saucepan. Heat over low-medium heat until the cacao butter has melted.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, dextrose, lecithin, gums, and salt.
- Combine everything. Add the dry ingredient to the pan and heat the mixture to 170°F (75°C), constantly whisking. You must bring the ice cream base to this temperature to activate the locust bean gum.
- Blend. Transfer to a high-speed blender and blend for 5-10 seconds. This will help emulsify everything.
- Chill. Finally, transfer the ice cream base to a large bowl and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
Churn
- Turn on your ice cream maker and slowly pour in the chilled ice cream mixture. Churn on low speed (I used the Kitchenaid attachment on speed 1) for 20-25 minutes or until it looks like fluffy soft-serve ice cream.
- Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 6 hours before enjoying! The ice cream will keep for up to 3 months in the refrigerator.
Notes
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- Substituting cacao butter. You can substitute deodorized coconut oil for the cacao butter, but be aware the mouthfeel will be slightly different. Since coconut oil has a lower melting point, the ice cream will melt a bit more quickly in the mouth. It will, however, have a more neutral flavor, as deodorized cacao butter still has a subtle cacao flavor. You can also use a combination of both.
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- Do not make any other substitutions. I do not recommend replacing any other ingredients as it will alter the texture of the ice cream.
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- Do not omit the salt. It rounds up and enhances the overall flavor.
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- Feel free to play with the ratios and ingredients. If you are feeling adventurous and want to adjust the sweetness or tweak the ratios, I am sharing with you my Vegan Ice Cream Ratio Sheet. I used it to develop this recipe. It can be helpful to use vegan milk that is higher/lower in fat or already sweetened. Simply copy and paste the table into a new sheet and play with the amount of fat/sugar.
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- Make sure your ice cream bowl is cold enough. I recommend freezing your ice cream bowl for at least 15 hours to ensure it is completely ice cold.
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- Let the mixture chill overnight. Your ice cream base must be completely cold as well, do not try to run it into your ice cream maker if it's warm or at room temperature. It simply won't freeze.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 scoop (1.5 ounces) | Calories: 70 kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.4 g | Protein: 0.1 g | Fat: 4.3 g | Saturated Fat: 1.3 g | Sodium: 23 mg | Potassium: 22 mg | Fiber: 0.1 g | Sugar: 5.3 g | Calcium: 35 mg