The smoothest creamiest vegan peppermint ice cream with crushed candy canes. Loaded with peppermint flavor and fabulous any time of year!
Peppermint ice cream with crushed candy canes churned into the ice cream, I mean, what could be better?
If you love peppermint then this is a definite winner and it’s wonderfully festive and perfect for the holidays.
It also has the most divine texture, it’s wonderfully smooth and creamy and just melts in your mouth.
This recipe is adapted from our recipe for the best ever vegan ice cream, and you’ll also love that recipe.
How To Make Vegan Peppermint Ice Cream
Freeze the Bowl of your Ice Cream Maker:
- Don’t forget to freeze the bowl of your ice cream maker! This needs to happen at least the day before you want to make ice cream.
Make Homemade Cashew Milk:
- On the day you want to make the ice cream, place some raw cashews into a bowl and pour boiling water from the kettle over the top until they’re covered. Leave them to soak for one hour and then drain and rinse them.
- Add the soaked cashews to your blender along with some water and blend very well until you have a thick creamy milk, it’s more like a cream consistency than a milk consistency and this is perfect. You will use all of this in your ice cream.
- Now add your homemade cashew milk and some coconut milk to a mixing bowl.
- Then get all your other ingredients ready because once you start, it will move quickly.
Make the Ice Cream Mix:
- Add some sugar and water to a pot or saucepan and heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is melted. You will know the sugar is melted when your wooden spoon is no longer making a scratching sound against the bottom of the pot.
- Add in some chopped cacao butter and coconut oil and salt and stir in until melted.
- Pour the melted sugar/cacao butter/coconut oil/salt mix in with your cashew milk and coconut milk in the bowl and add in some peppermint extract.
- Use an immersion blender to get everything properly mixed. If you don’t have an immersion blender then transfer the mix to a blender jug and blend and then return it to the mixing bowl.
- Place the mixing bowl into the freezer for about 15 minutes to chill. If the mix has hardened slightly along the sides of the mixing bowl after 15 minutes then just give it a stir.
Churn:
- Pour the ice cream mix into your ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer instructions until you reach soft serve consistency. This could take anywhere from 25-45 minutes.
- In the last 5 minutes of churning, when it has reached soft serve consistency but is still soft enough to churn another 5 minutes, add in some crushed candy canes and let them churn with the ice cream for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Cover with foil and place into the freezer for at least 6 hours (or overnight) until properly set.
Can You Make This Ice Cream Without An Ice Cream Machine?
Okay so first up, if you see homemade ice creams in your future, then getting an ice cream machine is very worthwhile. We have a Cuisinart ice cream maker and just love it.
But if you don’t have one right now and want to make this ice cream anyway then you can! It won’t be quite as fluffy and delicious or smooth and creamy as the one made with an ice cream maker though.
What an ice cream maker does is it incorporates air as it churns, it also keeps the ice crystals small as the ice cream freezes creating a really smooth texture.
So the way to cheat this if you don’t have an ice cream machine is to beat the ice cream mix with your electric mixer. Then place the mix into the freezer and just before it freezes bring it out and beat it again, then repeat a couple more times. This will get you closest to the consistency you’ll get with an ice cream maker.
More Delicious Vegan Ice Cream Recipes!
- Vegan Coffee Ice Cream
- Cashew Ice Cream
- Vegan Banana Ice Cream
- Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream
- Vegan Avocado Ice Cream
- Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream
Vegan Peppermint Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10
Description
The smoothest creamiest vegan peppermint ice cream with crushed candy canes. Loaded with peppermint flavor and fabulous any time of year!
Ingredients
For the Cashew Milk:
- 1 cup (150g) Raw Cashews (soaked in hot water for 1 hour)
- 1 cup (240ml) + 2 Tbsp (30ml) Water (total = 270ml)
For the Ice Cream:
- 2 cups (480ml) Homemade Cashew Milk
- 1 cup (240ml) Coconut Milk*
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Water
- 2/3 cup + 1 Tbsp (100g) Cacao Butter (Finely Chopped)
- 1/4 cup (55g) Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Peppermint Extract
- 1 cup Crushed Candy Canes (about 12 full size Candy Canes)
Instructions
- At least the day before you want to make ice cream, make sure you place the bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer to freeze.
- When you’re ready to make your ice cream the first thing to do is make the homemade cashew milk.
- Place the cashew nuts in a bowl and pour boiling water from the kettle over the top until they’re covered. Leave them to soak for one hour then drain and rinse.
- Add the soaked cashews to your blender along with the water and blend very well until you have a thick creamy milk, it’s more like a cream consistency than a milk consistency, this is perfect. You will use all of this in your ice cream, it may be a little more or a little less than 2 cups, this is not an issue.
- Add your homemade cashew milk and the coconut milk to a bowl and set aside.
- Then get all your other ingredients prepared as once you start, it will move quickly.
- Add the sugar and water to a pot or saucepan and heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is melted. You will know the sugar is melted when your wooden spoon is no longer making a scratching sound against the bottom of the pot.
- Add in the chopped cacao butter and coconut oil and salt and stir in until melted.
- Pour the melted sugar/cacao butter/coconut oil mix in with the cashew and coconut milk in the bowl and add the peppermint extract.
- Use an immersion blender to get everything properly mixed. If you don’t have an immersion blender then transfer the mix to a blender jug and blend and then return it to the mixing bowl.
- Place the mixing bowl into the freezer for about 15 minutes to chill. If the mix has hardened slightly along the sides of the mixing bowl after 15 minutes then just give it a stir.
- Pour the ice cream mix into your ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer instructions until you reach soft serve consistency. This could take anywhere from 25-45 minutes.
- In the last 5 minutes of churning, when it has reached soft serve consistency but still soft enough to churn another 5 minutes, then add your crushed candy canes and let them churn with the ice cream for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Cover with foil and place into the freezer for at least 6 hours (or overnight) until properly set.
- Heat up an ice cream scoop by placing it in a cup of hot water and scoop your ice cream into bowls and serve.
Notes
*Coconut milk must be canned full fat coconut milk.
*Even though this is ice cream, it is still at its best within about a week after making it. It will still be good after that, but it’s at its best when fresh.
*Prep time does not include time spent chilling/setting.
- Category: Dessert, Gluten-Free
- Method: Churn
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 10)
- Calories: 413
- Sugar: 32.5g
- Sodium: 250mg
- Fat: 26.1g
- Saturated Fat: 15.2g
- Carbohydrates: 42.7g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 3g
Keywords: vegan peppermint ice cream
So creamy and delicious. It is the best vegan ice cream that I have made so far. Besides the extract I added 4 tsp of peppermint liqueur, very nice peppermint flavor. I’m very exited to try the rest of the ice cream recipes that you have. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much Livia!
I can’t eat nuts, what other “milk” substitute can I use? Is plain unsweetened soy milk ok?
Its not not rich enough for ice cream so I’m not sure that there is a good substitute for this recipe.
Can I make this without cacao butter? Would anything be a suitable substitution? I just want to make it ASAP and don’t want to wait for cacao butter to arrive in a few days!
You can make it without the cacao butter, it does affect the texture but it is still super delicious!
Thank you. Should I substitute with oil or butter? Or just leave it out?
Just leave it out.
I’m looking for a recipe that I can use to make an icebox pie. Do you think the consistency of this ice cream would spread well into a “Graham“ crust?
Hi Nicole, I think it would, but I have also never made an icebox cake of any kind so that is also a factor! 🙂
Hi Alison,
I just made my first batch of this very delicious ice-cream and I added the full amount of crushed peppermint candy canes at the very beginning of the churning of my ice-cream making, I think it turned out fantastically!! AND I will be adding this to my ice-cream recipe folder. It’s very pink but I love it and if my wife doesn’t like it well I’ll have something sweet for myself, but I’m hoping she does indeed love it, because I made it for her as she’s lactose intolerant.
Hi Thomas! So happy it came out well and that you love it! Thanks for sharing your review. Hope your wife loves it too! 🙂
I’m pretty crazy about all things peppermint so this ice cream is right up my street! Totally delicious and perfect for the holidays!
★★★★★
Hi Rachelle! Yes, this is a perfect holiday recipe! 🙂
I’m excited to try this recipe! Can you make it without an ice cream maker? That is unfortunately the only kitchen appliance I don’t have…
You can make it without an ice cream machine, my mom makes my ice creams and doesn’t have an ice cream machine and she says they come out perfect. It takes a bit more work though, whip the cold mixture up with an electric mixer. Then let it freeze until it’s starting to get frozen along the sides then take it out and whip it up with the electric mixer again. and then freeze again, let it thaw slightly and then whip again. You can whip it for quite a bit each time, the purpose is to remove all the ice crystals so that you get the smooth texture you’re going for. You should do this about 4-5 times. I will definitely do a no churn ice cream recipe soon, I have found that if you use dates as a sweetener, you can get a great texture ice cream without churning or whipping, but I don’t know that dates would work well in this peppermint ice cream so I think whipping with the electric mixer will be the best bet!