Vegan Ice Cream

4.91 from 54 votes

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!

Prep Time1

Total Time1

Course: Dessert, Ice-Cream

Cuisine: Vegan

Diet: Vegan

Servings:

Calories: 345kcal

Author: Alison Andrews

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.

Nutrition