• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Loving It Vegan

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
  • Free Ebook
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
  • Free Ebook
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Recipes
    • Free Ebook
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Desserts

    Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream

    Published: Apr 13, 2019 Updated: Aug 6, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe
    Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream

    Creamy vegan pistachio ice cream. Smooth and wonderfully textured with all the pistachio flavor you can dream of! 

    Vegan pistachio ice cream topped with crushed pistachios in a black bowl.

    This vegan pistachio ice cream has such a gorgeous color. 

    And I was surprised because when I was first thinking about making it I was wondering if it might require something really green to be added in, like green food coloring or some spirulina or something like that to make it green. 

    Because while pistachio nuts are green, I didn’t know if the color would hold that well once mixed in with all the other stuff. And looking around the web I saw a lot of recipes adding in a little something something for color. Well… it wasn’t needed here. 

    The lovely green of this ice cream comes entirely from the pistachios, nothing extra needed, and it’s a really gorgeous pale green. 

    Vegan pistachio ice cream topped with crushed pistachios in a black bowl.

    How To Make Vegan Pistachio 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.

    So start off by adding pistachios to your food processor and process into crumbles.

    Pistachios added to food processor and processed into crumbs.

    Then add the coconut cream, coconut milk, sugar and syrup to a pot and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. As soon as it reaches a simmer, remove from the heat and add in the pistachios crumbles.

    Pistachio ice cream mix heated on the stove and then pistachios added.

    Use an immersion blender to blend it as well as you can and see if it’s smooth enough, if not, then transfer to a blender jug for a further blend to get the mix entirely smooth.

    Immersion blender blending ice cream mix.

    Then you transfer the ice cream mix to a container with a lid and place it into the fridge to cool overnight.

    If you’re in a hurry you can place it into the freezer until it’s chilled, that will only take an hour or two, but just keep an eye on it you don’t want to forget it in there. 

    When your mixture is chilled, the next step is to churn it in your ice cream maker until it reaches soft serve consistency and then smooth it down into a loaf pan, cover with foil and place into the freezer to set. 

    Pistachio ice cream mix in ice cream machine and then in a loaf pan.

    What is great about this ice cream is it doesn’t get so hard that you can barely scoop it until it’s thawed a bit. It maintains a really great scoop-able consistency even straight out the freezer. 

    Vegan pistachio ice cream in a blue ceramic loaf pan with an ice cream scoop.

    Success Tips

    High fat ingredients make the best ice cream. So this is why we use canned full fat coconut milk and canned coconut cream in this ice cream. Definitely don’t make this with low fat ingredients or light coconut milk, it really won’t be the same. 

    Pistachios. I used salted, shelled pistachios. Actually we had to shell them by hand because we couldn’t get ones that were already shelled. The saltiness of the pistachios really works wonderfully with the sweet creamy flavors in this recipe. 

    The shelled pistachios were ground to crumbles in the food processor. In theory you could skip that step since you’re going to be blending them into the ice cream mix anyway, but we preferred to grind them up first to make things as easy as possible.

    Blend it as smooth as possible. I struggled to get the ice cream mix smooth enough with only my immersion blender, so then I moved it to my regular blender and finished up blending it there. If you want to save time, you can just go straight to your regular blender, because the immersion blender doesn’t work quite as well with getting this as smooth as possible. But if you only have an immersion blender, then don’t worry, just get it as smooth as you can.

    Vegan pistachio ice cream topped with crushed pistachios in a black bowl.

    Storing Instructions

    Keep it stored in the freezer and ideally consume within the first week for the best taste results.

    Vegan pistachio ice cream topped with crushed pistachios in a black bowl.

    More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes

    1. Our vegan avocado ice cream is another gorgeously green ice cream as is our vegan mint chocolate chip ice cream. 
    2. Our vegan vanilla ice cream recipe is the recipe that started us off on our passion for making vegan ice cream recipes and our vegan peanut butter ice cream and vegan chocolate ice cream are both super rich and decadent.
    3. Our fruity flavors vegan strawberry ice cream and vegan mango ice cream are a blend of fresh fruit with perfectly textured creamy ice cream.
    4. If you don’t have an ice cream maker then definitely check out our peanut butter banana nice cream, made in a food processor, and our no-churn vegan cookies and cream ice cream. 
    Vegan pistachio ice cream topped with crushed pistachios in a black bowl.

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Vegan pistachio ice cream scoops in a black bowl.

    Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream

    Creamy and beautifully green vegan pistachio ice cream. Smooth and wonderfully textured with all the pistachio flavor you can dream of!
    4.77 from 17 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert, Ice-Cream
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour
    Servings: 8
    Calories: 390kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    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 Maple Syrup (60ml)
    • 1 cup Roasted Salted Shelled Pistachios (130g) Packed
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • At least the night before you want to make ice cream, make sure to place the bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer to freeze.
    • When you’re ready to make your ice cream, add the pistachios to a food processor and process into crumbles.
    • Then add the coconut cream, coconut milk, sugar and syrup to a pot and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. As soon as it reaches a simmer, remove from the heat and add in the pistachios crumbles.
    • Use an immersion blender to blend it as well as you can and see if it’s smooth enough, if not, then transfer to a blender jug and blend until smooth.*
    • Pour it out into a container with a lid and either refrigerate overnight to chill, or if you’re in a hurry, you can place it into the freezer to chill for an hour or two until cold. Just don’t forget it in there!
    • When the mixture is chilled, pour it out into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions until it reaches soft serve consistency, this can take 20-45 minutes depending on your ice cream maker.
    • Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Cover and freeze until set.
    • Scoop and enjoy!

    Notes

    1. If you don’t have an immersion blender, then just use the regular blender only.
    2. It won’t be entirely smooth, no matter how much you blend it, and this is okay. You are just going for as smooth as possible, which is not all the way smooth.
    3. Prep time does not include the time spent chilling or setting in the freezer.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Serve | Calories: 390kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 441mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 64IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2mg
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
    Get Your Copy! It's FREE!
    « The Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Sauce
    Vegan Cottage Cheese »
    10.6K shares

    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Valerie says

      July 22, 2024 at 9:03 pm

      This was delicious, but oh so rich. It took a lot to be able to eat it. It did have a lovely flavour. I would peel the pistachio skins if you want a greener colour. If you don’t care, then leave them on. it is easier.3 stars

      Reply
      • Nadine @ Loving It Vegan says

        July 25, 2024 at 10:54 am

        Thanks for sharing and for your review Valerie!

        Reply
    2. Natalia Seguí says

      July 02, 2024 at 6:29 pm

      Hi and thanks for sharing the recipe!
      I would like to know how I can prepare it without the ice maker machine.
      Thanks a lot in advance!

      Natalia ♥️

      Reply
    3. Mary Garafalo says

      June 22, 2024 at 10:15 pm

      I just made the vegan ice cream. It was good but a little flat tasting. It definitely needs vanilla and almond extract and maybe a little more sweetness.

      Reply
      • Nadine @ Loving It Vegan says

        June 28, 2024 at 11:02 am

        Thanks for sharing Mary! Our recipes are super versatile and can easily be made to your preferences. Hope you get to try it out again!

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Comment Policy: Your feedback is really appreciated! Please do us a favor and rate the recipe as well as this really helps us! The most helpful comments are the ones that give useful feedback for others who might make the recipe, tell about substitutions you made or adjustments you made and how it turned out, or assisting other commenters. Rude or insulting comments will not be accepted.

    4.77 from 17 votes (8 ratings without comment)

    Leave A Comment & Review Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi I’m Alison Andrews! I love making delicious vegan food and creating delicious vegan versions of all your old favorite dishes, so you can have your vegan cake and eat it too!

    More about me →

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest

    Popular Posts

    • Vegan tuna on an open faced sandwich on a wooden board.
      Vegan Tuna
    • Serving spoonful of vegan mac and cheese.
      The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese (Classic, Baked)
    • Vegan burritos stacked up on top of each other.
      Vegan Burrito
    • Vegan tofu scramble with sliced avocado and fried tomatoes on a white plate.
      Super Eggy Vegan Tofu Scramble
    • Thick slice of cashew cheese on a wooden board.
      Sliceable Cashew Cheese
    • Homemade vegan butter in a glass butter dish with a knife.
      Homemade Vegan Butter

    Veganuary

    • Vegan chop suey served in a black bowl.
      Vegan Chop Suey
    • Vegan German Potato Salad served in a black bowl.
      Vegan German Potato Salad
    • Vegan Italian Dressing
    • Vegan Thai Peanut Noodles in a black bowl.
      Vegan Thai Peanut Noodles
    • Slices of grilled vegan halloumi on a gray plate.
      Vegan Halloumi
    • Vegan stuffed mushrooms on a white plate.
      Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

    See all Veganuary Recipes →


    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    As Seen In

    Press logos black and white

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Follow Us

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest

    Contact

    • About
    • Contact

    Copyright © 2022 Loving It Vegan

    Get 10 fabulous dinner recipes!
    Absolutely free! Sign up below!
    Get Your Copy! It's FREE!

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.