If you like the taste of green tea, then you’re just going to love this matcha green tea ice cream.
Matcha is like the best green tea, and pairing the flavor of it with ice cream is a big winner.
You may know I’m a fan of matcha, I love it in frostings and I love it in a smoothie. And now – I most definitely love it in an ice cream too.
The color is just beautiful on this ice cream.
I only used a tablespoon of matcha since I prefer a more subtle flavor and I also don’t want to be climbing the walls (caffeine sensitive), but if you love the caffeine or want a stronger color, then you can use up to 4 Tbsp of matcha in this ice cream.
So, the higher quality your green tea (and matcha is very high quality), the more important it is that you don’t boil it.
So for this recipe, I heated up the other ingredients to a simmer – important when making vegan ice cream so that the fats are homogenized and don’t create a grainy texture – but only added the matcha once removed from the heat.
So the process is simple, heat up all the ingredients to a simmer except the matcha and vanilla, remove from the heat and add the matcha and vanilla, then give it a quick (30 second) blend with an immersion blender if you have one, or transfer to a blender jug if you don’t have one.
Then you transfer your mixture to a container with a lid and place into the fridge to chill overnight.
Then you just churn it in the machine according to manufacturer instructions. If you have a powerful ice cream maker like mine (a Cuisinart) then it doesn’t usually take longer than 30 minutes. But if your machine is less powerful it can take up to 45 minutes. You’re going for soft serve consistency.
Then smooth it down into a loaf pan, cover with tinfoil and place into the freezer for a few hours to set completely.
When you serve, top it with crushed hazelnuts or pistachios. Yum!
This matcha green tea ice cream is just sooooo good. It’s ultra-creamy, smooth, rich and wonderfully textured. It’s really like the best ice cream you ever had.
Couple that with the beautiful light green color and the subtle but delicious green tea flavor and you have a real winner here.
It’s ice cream, so of course it lasts a while in the freezer, but with homemade ice cream it’s always best when fresh, so you’ll get the maximum enjoyment from it if you eat it within the first few days after making it.
Let me know what you think of this matcha green tea ice cream! And if you have any questions, fire away!
If you make this ice cream, let us know how it turned out! And if you take any photos please tag us #lovingitvegan on instagram so we get to see all the good stuff you’re making!
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Vegan Matcha Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 14 ounces Canned Coconut Cream (400ml) Unsweetened
- 14 ounces Canned Coconut Milk (400ml) Full Fat, Unsweetened
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ¼ cup Golden Syrup (60ml) or Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Matcha Green Tea Powder
Instructions
- The day before you want to make ice cream, put the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer to freeze properly.
- Then add your coconut milk, coconut cream, sugar, and golden syrup into a pot and heat to a simmer, stirring regularly.
- Once it reaches a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and matcha green tea powder.
- Blend the mixture with an immersion blender directly in the pot for 30 seconds. This step removes any remaining graininess from your mixture. If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a regular blender by transferring the mix to a blender jug. Just be very careful that the lid is on firmly as the mix will be very hot.
- Transfer the mix to a sealable container and place into the fridge to chill completely, preferably overnight.
- When your ice cream maker freezer bowl is frozen, transfer the mix to the bowl and churn until it reaches a soft serve consistency. Depending on your ice cream maker, this could take anything from 20-45 minutes.
- Transfer the ice cream from the ice cream maker into a loaf pan and smooth down. Cover with tinfoil and place into the freezer to set completely before serving.
- Serve with chopped hazelnuts or pistachios.
Notes
- You can use up to 4 Tbsp Matcha Green Tea Powder, it depends on how strong you want the flavoring to be. My preference was to keep the flavor mild.
- Nutritional information is for 1 serve of 8 served plain without crushed nuts.
I always want it to do vegan ice cream but I wonder, what can I do if I don’t have an ice cream maker? Do I really need one?
Love you recipes, they’re very delicious!
Hi Anahi, so happy you like the recipes! If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can still make ice cream, but if it’s something you’ll be making often it’s worthwhile to get one. We have instructions for how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker in this post for vegan ice cream. 🙂
Superb Ice Cream