This vegan ice cream recipe is truly the best! It is creamy and smooth and has the perfect ice cream texture. You will definitely not miss the dairy in this delicious dessert!
I have been making vegan ice cream for years and I truly think this is the most divine recipe.
Our goal was to create a texture that is pretty much identical to regular dairy-based ice cream. And we’ve done it!
It’s everything you want an ice cream to be, perfectly textured and perfectly sweet, ultra creamy and smooth and melts in your mouth.
The secret? We use a mix of homemade cashew cream and coconut milk to create the neutral creamy base that very closely matches a dairy cream base in terms of flavor. And to that we add cacao butter and coconut oil which creates the perfect texture.
If you love making vegan ice cream then you’ll also love our cashew ice cream and our vegan banana ice cream.
Serve it topped with vegan chocolate sauce or vegan caramel sauce or with add-ins like vegan cookie dough or vegan brownie pieces.
Ingredients You’ll Need For This Ice Cream:
Ingredient Notes
- Coconut milk – should be canned, full fat coconut milk.
- Cacao butter – cannot be mistaken for cocoa butter or coconut butter or any other ingredient that may sound similar. It HAS to be cacao butter. It looks like white chocolate and comes in hard uneven pieces. We chop it up and melt it down for this recipe. There isn’t a substitute, but if you don’t wish to use it, you can omit it from this recipe. However, it will result in a texture that isn’t quite as good.
- Coconut oil – you can use regular virgin coconut oil or switch it for refined coconut oil where the coconut flavor has been removed.
- Raw cashews – are soaked in hot water for an hour and then blended up with water to make a thick and ultra creamy cashew cream. This, together with the coconut milk creates the neutral creamy base for this ice cream.
How To Make Vegan Ice Cream
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- You start with making homemade cashew milk. It has to be homemade cashew milk because it’s creamy to the extreme and there is no store-bought option that will be this creamy. It’s really more like cashew cream than cashew milk.
- To make it, soak some cashews in hot water for an hour. Put your cashews in a bowl and pour boiling water from the kettle over the top. Leave them to soak for one hour. Then drain them and add them to your blender jug along with some water and blend up into a very thick and creamy cashew milk.
- Add the cashew milk to a mixing bowl along with full fat canned coconut milk and mix them together.
- Add white granulated sugar and water to a saucepan and heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is melted.
- Add chopped cacao butter, coconut oil and salt to the melted sugar and mix in until it’s all melted together.
- Pour this out into the bowl with the cashew milk and coconut milk mix, add vanilla extract and then use an immersion blender to get it all blended together.
- Place the bowl into the freezer for 15 minutes to get the mix nice and chilled, and then churn it in your ice cream machine until it reaches soft serve consistency.
- Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and smooth it down.
- Then cover with foil and place into the freezer to set.
- When the ice cream is set, scoop and serve.
Recipe Tips
Freeze the bowl. Don’t forget to freeze the bowl of your ice cream maker in advance (at least overnight). We just keep ours permanently stored in the freezer so it’s always ready to go when we want to make ice cream.
Let the ice cream sit on the counter at room temperature for 20 minutes. Vegan ice cream does tend to set VERY firmly. I have noticed the same thing in store-bought vegan ice cream so this is a common scenario. You can let the ice cream sit on the countertop for 15-20 minutes before scooping it so that it has softened up a little before scooping.
Heat the ice cream scoop. You can also heat your ice cream scoop in hot water to make scooping the ice cream easier. Just pour hot water from the kettle into a cup and then dip your scoop in the hot water before scooping.
Storing Tips
Homemade ice cream doesn’t last quite as long as store-bought ice cream. It tends to start forming ice crystals after about 2 weeks.
So it’s best to consume all your ice cream within the first 2 weeks after making it.
How To Make Vegan Ice Cream Without A Machine
It is possible to make vegan ice cream without a machine, and we have a couple of recipes that are designed around not needing to churn the ice cream at all, like our vegan cookies and cream ice cream or our peanut butter banana ice cream made in a food processor.
However, if you love making homemade ice cream recipes then getting an ice cream machine is very worthwhile. We have a Cuisinart and it is the bomb diggity. I love it! It churns almost any ice cream I make into a lovely soft serve consistency within about 25 minutes (which is fast).
But, of course if you don’t have one yet then this doesn’t help you.
What an ice cream machine does is incorporate air into the ice cream while it churns and freezes it. It also helps to keep the ice crystals really small so that it has a lovely smooth texture.
So the way to cheat this if you don’t have an ice cream maker is to beat the ice cream mixture in your stand mixer if you have one of those. Then place it into the freezer and before it’s frozen, bring it out a couple more times and beat it again. This will come closest to what you’ll get with an ice cream machine.
More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes
- Vegan Coffee Ice Cream
- Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Vegan Avocado Ice Cream
- Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream
- Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream
- Vegan Coconut Ice Cream
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the Homemade Cashew Milk:
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g) Soaked in hot water for one hour
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp Water (270ml)
For the Ice Cream:
- 2 cups Homemade Cashew Milk (480ml)
- 1 cup Coconut Milk (240ml) Canned, Full Fat, Unsweetened
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- ¼ cup Water (60ml)
- ¾ cup Cacao Butter (100g) (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil (55g)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- The day before you want to make ice cream, put the bowl for your ice cream machine into the freezer to freeze.
- Prepare your homemade cashew milk. Add the cashews to a bowl. Pour boiling water over the top until they are completely covered and then let them soak for 1 hour. After 1 hour, drain the cashews and add them to the blender jug along with 1 cup + 2 Tbsp fresh cold water and blend very well until smooth and creamy. No need to strain this milk and you will use all of it in your ice cream.*
- Add the homemade cashew milk to a big bowl along with the coconut milk and set aside.
- Then get all your other ingredients ready before proceeding.
- Add the sugar to a saucepan along with the quarter cup of water. Stir constantly until the sugar is melted. You’ll know it’s melted when the wooden spoon is no longer making a scratching sound along the bottom of the saucepan.
- When the sugar is melted, add in the cacao butter, coconut oil and salt and mix in until everything is melted together.
- Add this to the bowl with the cashew milk and coconut milk along with the vanilla extract.
- Blend everything together in the bowl using an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, then transfer everything to your blender jug, blend it and then return to the bowl.
- Place the bowl into the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. If you find that the mixture has hardened slightly along the sides of the bowl when chilling, then just stir it up again.
- Pour the mixture into the ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer instructions until you reach a soft serve consistency. Depending on the ice cream machine you use this could take anywhere from 25-45 minutes.
- When it’s reached soft serve consistency, transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and smooth it down with the back of a spoon, cover and place into the freezer to set completely.
- When the ice cream has set, scoop into bowls and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- If your batch of cashew milk makes slightly more or slightly less than 2 cups (480ml), don’t worry about it, it should be pretty close so just use all of it in the ice cream. The difference would come about from the amount of water absorbed by the cashews while they’re soaking. It won’t make a difference to your end result if it is a little less or a little more.
- Prep time excludes soaking the cashews, chilling the mixture of the time taken for the ice cream to set in the freezer. It is just for hands on time, including churning.
- Recipe adapted from our cashew ice cream.
Maureen Cram says
Made this yesterday in my food processor with the whisk attachment. Did not have any cacao butter so used coconut cream instead of coconut milk. Tasted good (although my husband and friend said they could taste coconut (I couldn’t). But I think it needed a bit of something for creamier mouth feel. I have sourced some cacao butter but it will cost over R150 for the 100grams required so is a bit too expensive for ice cream for my budget. Any suggestions? Thanks :).
Alison Andrews says
Hi Maureen, there isn’t really a substitute for the cacao butter and that is really what creates the same mouthfeel as what you get with dairy ice creams. It is certainly an expensive ingredient though in some places.
Denice says
I made this ice cream and it turned out great. I did add 3 tbsp black cocoa powder and 6 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder. Just bc I looove chocolate so much. My kids couldn’t even taste it was vegan (they can be picky with that stuff. We only just recently turned vegan). I’ll be making this ice cream again tomorrow. I’ll try to make 3 flavors of the batch; strawberry, cookie and cream and (of course) chocolate. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Alison Andrews says
So happy to hear everyone enjoyed it! And awesome that you are using it as a base to create new flavors! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. 🙂
Vee says
Hi there. thank you for the recipe. I’ve tried this tonight, for my autistic 4 yo son, so instead of regular cane sugar, I went with coconut sugar and maybe because of that and the fact that I live in tropical country, our coconut milks (Even store-bought one) are so rich and creamy that the end result tastes so much like plain coconut! I ended up adding a few ingredients like date and a bit of almond milk (and a tiny banana) to even out the taste. But the texture is heavenly!
Esti Allina-Turnauer says
OMGosh – delish! I had some straight out of the ice cream machine – so creamy. This is the best vegan ice cream recipe. I’m interested to see how it scoops after being in the freezer for a bit. That’s my biggest frustration with other recipes I’ve tried – the ice cream has to set out for a long time to be edible – not even scoopable. I never would have thought of using cacao butter – which I had in my pantry – what a great idea, and great use of it!! Can’t wait to make a chocolate version of this. It actually is a bit too sweet (I can’t believe I wrote that), so I’ll try it with a bit less sugar next time. Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Alison Andrews says
So glad you love the taste! Homemade vegan ice creams (including this one) do tend to set very firm! We find heating the scoop in hot water makes it scoop a lot easier.
Bonnie says
Going to try this today! When you say “full fat” coconut milk, do you mean to just use the fat that rises to the top after refrigerating or do you use the entire can of milk??
Alison Andrews says
Hi Bonnie, you just use the coconut milk as is, so you can shake up the can, and then measure out a cup and use that. No need to chill it first to separate the cream.
cindy lou says
Can I use store-bought cashew milk creamer instead of homemade cashew milk? since that will be richer/creamier than normal store-bought cashew milk.
Also, what effect will removing cacao butter have on the texture?
Otherwise, really excited to try this. I’m always looking for good homemade vegan ice cream recipes (and real ones – not frozen-banana-based). Love your blog and love your videos!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cindy, yes if it’s a really rich and creamy then that will work fine! Removing the cacao butter will affect the texture but it will still be delicious. Hope you love it and so happy you like the blog, thank you!
Tracy says
Can this be made without the coconut oil?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tracy, yes it can, but it will have a small effect on the texture.
Valery Baur says
What does the cocao butter do for this recipe? Never used this ingredient before. Trying to see if I can make it without it…..
Alison Andrews says
It’s for texture!
Dil says
curious to try this recipe. Does this have a coconut flavour? How else can I make vegan vanilla ice cream that doesn’t taste like coconut? Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
It does not have a coconut flavor at all.
Dil says
fantastic! I’m definitely going to give this a try. Can I use Erythritol or monk fruit instead of sugar? Thanks again
Alison Andrews says
Hi Dil, you can definitely experiment, but I haven’t tested any of those options.
David Peltomaa says
Hi there! Can I do it without the Coconut milk or use homemade almond milk instead? Is it the creaminess of the coconut milk that you need?
Alison Andrews says
Hi David, yes you can do it without the coconut milk. If you sub in another very creamy milk like a homemade almond milk or just make up extra cashew milk.
Sam says
Can I make it without the ice cream machine? I don’t have one 🙁
Alison Andrews says
Yes, there are instructions in the blog post for how to make it without an ice cream machine. 🙂
Lola says
Hi I would like to add mango and make a mango ice cream. When would be the best time to add it? Do you think I would have to change some other ingredient when adding the mango?. Thank so much. Your recipes are great!
Alison Andrews says
We do have a mango ice cream recipe! 🙂
Joanne says
I just made this recipe, and today it’s about 85 degrees in a 130-year old house—if my kids had been over, we would have eaten it straight out of the machine. I have never tasted vegan ice cream this good!
I don’t keep coconut oil in the house, and I don’t have any cacao butter, but I have a wonderful coconut butter (for making raw vegan candy), so I used that as a substitute. When I get a chance, I will get some cacao butter because it would be easier to get that out of the package than scooping a cup of coconut butter out of a jar. Luckily, it was warm today, so it was pretty melty.
Homemade ice cream makes SIP much more bearable. Probably be making this recipe once a week during the warm weather!
Thank you, Alison, for another wonderful (and easy) recipe!
Alison Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed it Joanne! Thanks for sharing!
Tracy Vegan says
This looks amazing! Can I use a can of coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
Alison Andrews says
Sure! That will work fine! 🙂
Molly says
So thrilled to find this recipe! I’ve experimented with making vegan ice cream before and had to try this one. I’ve recently been trying to perfect vegan white chocolate recipes so I had some cocoa butter in my fridge. Using cocoa butter with cashews and coconut milk is a great way to veganize white chocolate.
I loved the flavor and texture of this ice cream. Have you ever thought of calling it white chocolate ice cream?
It’s definitely a success! Me and my husband loved it! Thank you so much for the recipe.
Alison Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed it Molly! And so glad you’re getting a white chocolate flavor from it! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review.