This vegan berry ice cream has everything you want – vibrant berry flavor, sweetness with a hint of tart flavor, creaminess… It’s also scoopable and so easy to make! The recipe is vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, and refined sugar-free.
The gold standard in the vegan world of ice cream for mimicking dairy is full-fat coconut milk and coconut cream. Full-fat coconut milk is much like whole milk, while coconut cream resembles heavy whipping cream. The texture is smooth, and the consistency is thick and creamy. The only caveat here is the flavor.
Coconut milk and coconut cream impart coconut flavor to ice cream. That’s not necessarily bad if you’re making coconut ice cream or love coconut. But what if you want some different flavors, like vanilla or berry? Or what if you don’t like coconut?
That’s exactly what Jennifer Newman, the owner of Cashew Cow Parlor, asked herself when creating dairy-free ice cream. Studying different vegan ice cream formulas (primarily based on coconut cream), she came up with a genius idea – using raw cashews as the base.
Cashews provide a faint richness without any overpowering flavor. They are also high in fat, so you would never guess there’s no cream in the ice cream. As Jennifer Newman shared in one of her interviews, “The consistency is really rich and creamy, and I would put it up there with Häagen-Dazs”.
Curious how it’s done?
Tips for Making Vegan Berry Ice Cream
Ingredients
The ingredients you’ll need for this vegan berry ice cream are pretty basic:
- Berries: the flavor comes naturally from whole fruit, in this case, strawberries and raspberries. Feel free to use any berries you like. I was actually thinking of making triple-berry ice cream but then decided to keep it simple.
- Cashews: as I already alluded, the base of this berry ice cream consists of cashews. Raw cashews are neutral in flavor with a hint of sweetness and high in fat, which makes the ice cream rich and creamy.
- Coconut oil: another ingredient that gives ice cream its creamy and smooth consistency is coconut oil. The advantage of coconut oil over other fats is that it slows down the melting of ice cream. It also increases the richness of flavor in ice cream and is a great carrier and synergist for added flavor compounds. Since the amount of coconut oil in this ice cream is very little, the ice cream does not taste like coconut whatsoever.
- Maple syrup: I love the sweetness and robust flavor profile of maple syrup. It has a depth of flavor with a hint of caramel beyond regular sugar. Maple syrup is about as sweet as cane sugar, so it’s a great alternative.
- Vanilla: either a vanilla bean or vanilla extract is a common ingredient in strawberry ice cream. It adds sweet, warm notes and brings out the flavor of strawberries.
How to Make Vegan Berry Ice Cream
Making this vegan berry ice cream consists of blending and churning the ice cream base, making the raspberry puree, and assembling the ice cream. Here’s the step-by-step process:
- Freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker. At least 24 hours before you want to make homemade ice cream, freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker. The bowl must be fully chilled for the ice cream to firm up.
- Soak the cashews. Add the cashews to a medium bowl, cover them with water, and let them soak for at least 8 hours to soften up and blend easily. You can also add 1 tsp./5.7 g of salt to the soaking water to help activate the cashews and neutralize enzyme inhibitors in the nuts. When the cashews are done soaking, drain the water and rinse the nuts thoroughly.
- Blend the ice cream base. Add the strawberries, cashews, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth.
- Churn the ice cream base. Pour the ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker and let it churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I have the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and typically churn the ice cream base for 22 minutes. Churning accomplishes three things. It incorporates air into the mixture, making the ice cream light and fluffy. It reduces the size of ice crystals to less than 50 μm for a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. It breaks up any ice crystals that form as the mixture freezes. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can manually break up the ice cream ice crystals as the mixture freezes (see instructions in the recipe card below). However, manual churning will never create the same texture as an electric ice cream maker.
- Make the raspberry purée. Add the raspberries and maple syrup to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth.
- Assemble the ice cream. Transfer half of the churned berry ice cream to a freezer-safe airtight container. Add half of the raspberry purée and swirl it gently into the ice cream. Then add the other half of the ice cream, top it with the raspberry purée, and swirl it again.
- Freeze. The ice cream will have a soft texture immediately after churning, similar to soft-serve ice cream. To achieve a more scoopable consistency, freeze the ice cream until scoopable, for 2-4 hours, depending on how firm you like your ice cream and how deep/shallow your ice cream container is. I used a stainless steel 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.0-inch loaf pan.
How to Serve Berry Ice Cream
Berry ice cream is one of those desserts that’s perfect for an occasion.
Want a simple, delicious dessert on a hot summer day? Enjoy a couple of scoops of this vegan berry ice cream alone or with fresh berries on the side.
Celebrating a special birthday? Drizzle the ice cream with chocolate sauce and top it with coconut whipped cream.
Either way, you’ll have a delicious and refreshing dessert.
How to Store Homemade Ice Cream
- Freezing: keep the ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month. If the ice cream is too firm to scoop straight from the freezer, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften. As ice cream sits in the freezer, the ice crystals grow by re-crystalization. This increase in crystal size eventually reaches a point where the ice cream develops a coarse texture, at which point it has surpassed its shelf life.
More Homemade Ice Cream Recipes
- Vanilla ice cream: this vanilla ice cream is possibly my favorite on the blog yet. It’s perfectly sweet, vanilla-infused, with just a hint of coconut flavor you’d only pick out if you knew you were looking for it. Because this vegan vanilla ice cream is churned, it’s super creamy with a fluffy, airy texture.
- Chocolate ice cream: coming soon!
If you try any of these recipes, please leave a comment and rate the recipe below. It always means a lot when you do.
Vegan Berry Ice Cream
Ingredients
Strawberry Ice Cream
- 5 cups strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups raw cashews , soaked*
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. coconut oil , melted
- 1/2 vanilla bean
Raspberry Swirl
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
Instructions
- Freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker. At least 24 hours before you want to make homemade ice cream, freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker. The bowl must be fully chilled for the ice cream to firm up.
- Blend the ice cream base. Add the strawberries, cashews, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth.
- Churn the ice cream base. Pour the ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker and let it churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I have the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and typically churn the ice cream base for 25 minutes.
- Make the raspberry purée. Add the raspberries and maple syrup to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth.
- Assemble the ice cream. Transfer half of the churned berry ice cream to a freezer-safe airtight container. Add half of the raspberry purée and swirl it gently into the ice cream. Then add the other half of the ice cream, top it with the raspberry purée, and swirl it again.
- Freeze. The ice cream will have a soft texture immediately after churning, similar to soft-serve ice cream. To achieve a more scoopable consistency, freeze the ice cream until scoopable, for 2-4 hours, depending on how firm you like your ice cream and how deep/shallow your ice cream container is. I used an 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.0-inch stainless loaf pan.
- Store. Leftover berry ice cream keeps well in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Love your website! Can’t wait to try your recipes.
Thank you so much Mary! I hope you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Petra I am addicted to ur channel..;)
I have made many of ur recipes, no sweets for me, and they r right up my alley! Easy, mostly raw, delish, and made with unprocessed ingredients. Can u please make a vegan CHEESE that actually tastes good and is not made with cashews? Also, a vegan LASAGNA….;)
Yummmm!
Health & Happiness❤️
Hi Maria – so good to hear from you! I just uploaded a video for vegan (and paleo) cheese that is made from blanched almonds (no cashews). Will that work for you? Also, thank you for your kind words. I am so happy you’re enjoying the videos/recipes! It’s always very encouraging to read comments like this so thank you! Oh and lasagna is in the works – I have gotten a few requests for lasagna video so now I just have to find some time to film it, lol. But it’s coming!
Thank you for sharing. Always look forward to your videos.
Aw, thank you so much, Hazel. You’re too kind❤
Great recipes!Absolute in love with this site! 🙂
Thank you so much, Angela! So happy you’re enjoying the recipes ❤
I just made this ice cream and it is delicious. Thank you so much. I looked every where for a recipe without Coconuts as the base and this just fitted the bill. I shared it on FB and Instagram. I didn’t do the raspberry as I was too busy cooking for the week. I follow you on Youtube and love your recipes. Thanks again
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share your feedback, Mariam! I appreciate it more than you know. So happy you liked the recipe ❤️
How many grams of strawberries is 5 cups? The ice cream looks great and I’m hoping to try it out!! Just don’t want to get the measurements wrong fan from Singapore..
Hi Matthias – if you look at the recipe box, there are two headlines – “ingredients” and “instructions”. Right above the “instructions” headline, there is a green text that says “US Customary – Metric”. If you click on the “metric”, the measurements will change to grams and milliliters. Hope it helps 🙂
Hi Petra,
I haven’t tried any of your recipes yet. I just discovered your YouTube channel today. Videos are very easy to follow and makes you want to run to kitchen to try recipes.
I am wondering if the ice cream setting on the vita mix may be used in place of an ice cream machine?
So happy you’re enjoying my videos, Pamela. I am gonna disappoint you, but no. The ice cream setting on the Vitamix is there for ice cream that is supposed to be consumed immediately. (For instance, you can blend frozen fruit in the Vitamix, which will result in a soft-serve consistency. If you tried to put the soft-serve into the freezer, you would get something like granita because the Vitamix ice cream doesn’t contain the ingredients necessary to hold the emulsion and prevent crystallization). I am using Vitamix for the Berry Ice Cream to blend all the ingredients together. However, freezing anything from liquid-to-solid means you’re creating hard ice crystals (= icy ice cream). So as your ice cream mixture freezes, you want to break up those ice crystals as much as possible. This is why you need an ice cream machine – it churns the mixture as it freezes. Please, let me know if you have any questions 🙂
Hello, Petra!
Although I usually do not prefer fruity or berry tastes in ice cream,I decided to make that strawberry ice cream (without rasberry)because I had a lot of strawberries at home.
So – the taste was unbelievable!!! Soft, smooth, very rich taste of strawberries , extremely refreshing! I was really surprised that I liked it so much!!
We ate it on it’s own and with chocolate foundain.
Definitely going to make it again!
Pictures of it were sent to your e-mail :))
Dear, Petra could you kindly advise me if I can make Mango gelato ice cram (no churn) exactly with the same directions/ingredients as the strawberry ice cream, without coconut milk?
Thank you so much for your help!!!
Petra!
I love that
Thank you
Awesome! Thank you so much for the feedback 🙂
Hi
I just made this ice cream and I liked it so much. It’s really good.
Awesome! Thank you so much for the feedback, Jessica! I really appreciate it. ❤️
Hey can I use Frozen berries
Hi Shyma – yes, but thaw them first.
Hi Petra! I love this recipe and all other recipes. You are so calm I really enjoyed watching them. A quick question, can I use a food processor instead of a Vitamix? Thank you and God bless you and your family.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Beulah!❤️ If you have a powerful food processor that can essentially turn nuts into nut butter (you need to cashews to be completely smooth), a food processor should work just fine.
Hi Petra thank you for responding and for your advice. All the best and God bless you and your family.
Hi,
I want to know if the weight of the cashews is for soaked or unsoaked?
Hi Kay – it is for unsoaked cashews.