How to Make (or buy) Good Vegan Ice Cream
Vegan black cherry ice-cream (Addicted to Dates)
Many people enjoy a bowl of ice-cream on a summer’s day, and it’s also good after relationship break-ups! But most dairy ice-cream is from factory-farmed cows, and most vegan ice-creams sold in stores are not up to much. So in this post, learn how to make your own simple ice-cream, and find good books and brands to help further.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods like chocolate, nuts, citrus and spices are unsafe near animal friends). Bin citrus and rhubarb scraps, as acids may harm compost creatures (same for tomato and alliums (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives). It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
Three super-simple vegan ice cream recipes
This recipe for vegan strawberry ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) contains a whopping 8 cups of fresh strawberries, and is super-easy to make (no need for an ice cream maker, frozen bananas, nuts or coconut cream). The secret is by cooking the strawberries first to remove most of the water, which results in a rich and creamy dessert, without any complicated extras. Choose organic strawberries for best flavour.
The only other ingredients you need are dairy-free cream, sugar, natural vanilla, cornstarch and vegan condensed milk (easy to find these days in stores). If you want the ice-cream to look like the photo above, then swirl a bit of the strawberry puree through the mix before freezing. Done deal!
This vegan choc chip ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) is much simpler to make, the only ‘difficult to find’ ingredient being vegan condensed milk, but you can now find this in most stores (Nature’s Charm and Biona are the main brands, though even Carnation now offers a version).
You will need an ice-cream maker for this recipe. But if you make a lot of homemade ice-cream, it’s worth it. Just mix your ingredients, pour into a chilled bowl and you can whizz up recipes to your heart’s content!
This recipe for vegan chocolate ice cream (Rainbow Nourishments) is so simple to make. You don’t need an ice cream maker, and it only takes 10 minutes to make, before freezing. And it’s just two ingredients (more on that below).
Thick dairy-free cream or coconut cream is needed for this recipe. The Coconut Collab is your best bet (and it doesn’t even taste of coconuts, so don’t worry if you’re not a taste fan). Or try Nature’s Charm coconut whipping cream
The other ingredient is a bit more tricky. It uses Nature’s Charm Fudge Sauce (which is difficult to find in UK stores – this recipe creator is Australian). Some health stores may stock it. If not, you could sub with this recipe for hot fudge sauce.
Then it’s just a case of freezing the mix in a tub for at least 4 hours.
Homemade vegan raspberry ice cream
Vegan Raspberry Ice Cream (Domestic Gothess) uses a base of cooked oats and cashews, instead of coconut. This gives a much deeper and richer flavour.
Homemade Vegan Banana Ice Cream
Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream (Ela Vegan) uses ripe frozen bananas (choose an organic peanut butter to avoid palm oil). Banana ice cream, often called ‘nice cream’ is one of the best ways to use leftover bananas. It’s simple, naturally sweet, and is no effort. All you need is frozen banana and a blender or food processor strong enough to handle it.
Start with sliced frozen bananas. Blend them until they break down into crumbs, then keep going. At first it may look dry or grainy, but after a minute or two it usually turns smooth and creamy. If needed, add a tiny splash of plant milk to help it along, though too much can make it loose.
You can eat it straight away as a soft-serve dessert, or freeze it for an hour if you want a firmer scoop. Because banana is the base, the result tastes clean and sweet rather than heavy. It feels like a proper pudding, though it starts with fruit that might otherwise have been thrown out.
To make a vegan banana split, just slice a fresh banana lengthwise, and add scoops of vegan ice-cream (vanilla and chocolate), and top with chopped nuts, dairy-free chocolate sauce and a spoonful of jam. Try this banana split smoothie (The Simple Veganista).
Use banana peel as homemade shoe polish!
The inside of a banana peel makes great shoe polish, just buff with a clean cloth to lift dust and give a mild shine. You can also use it over dry elbows and hands (or use a mashed banana as a face mask, due to potassium). If composting banana peel, remember to remove any plastic stickers.
A Book of Vegan Ice Cream Recipes
The Vegan Ice Cream Bible is a book of recipes, by a woman who uses fresh, seasonal and organic ingredients, to sell in her own vegan ice-cream parlour! Matching base recipes with ideal flavour pairings, the recipes are divided by season, to make the most of natural affordable ingredients.
Recipes include:
- Black Forest (cherry chocolate)
- White Coffee, Earl Grey & Orange
- Coconut & Lime
- Salted Pretzel & Caramel
- Turmeric Latte
- Walnut & Maple Syrup
- Plus sorbet recipes
Lucy Allary is the founder of a plant-based ice-cream shop in Munich, Germany. Interestingly, she has a take on why to eat vegan ice-cream that is often not mentioned. She says that cows are fellow females, so she doesn’t want to take their calves away from them, to drink their milk.
Booja Booja (dairy-free ice cream)
Booja Booja Dairy-Free Ice Cream is not sold in supermarkets, so find it in local health stores or farm shops. It’s made with a just a few (mostly organic, including nuts) ingredients, and packed in cardboard boxes that are easy to recycle.
This is really nice ice-cream! You’ll think you could finish the whole tub, but the rich ingredients means it fills you up quite quickly. Enjoy with fruit coulis, or a few scoops in a bowl. Or serve with homemade apple crumble.
Choose from a few flavours including:
- Vanilla
- Mango Raspberry
- Chocolate Salted Caramel
- Deeply Chocolate
- Caramel Pecan Praline
If you fancy something more warming, Booja Booja also makes delicious hot chocolate, (not for nut allergies).
Vegan Mr Whippy Ice Cream Vans!
The Rolling Coconut is just one example of a modern ‘vegan Mr Whippy ice cream’ that serves up plant-based ice-cream to people in England.
Why choose dairy-free ice cream?
Most dairy ice-cream is not made from milk from free-range organic farms, most comes from factory farms, where cows and their calves face rough conditions. Also many male calves are killed soon after birth (or separated from their mothers) as they have no financial value to the dairy industry.
Plant-based ice cream is free from cholesterol (and lactose) and easy to digest. As long as you’re not allergic, ‘good fats like nuts’ offer protein and calcium.
You can buy ice-cream in supermarkets, but it’s usually not made to the same quality as home-made or artisan brands. Many just use a lot of water and coconut oil, with a few cheap flavourings.
