I love making healthy plant-based ice cream, like my Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream, Pumpkin Nice Cream, or Ice Cream Bites. They are great simple desserts that my family loves. I enjoy an ice cream on a hot summer day but I enjoy even more knowing that my ice cream is healthier than whatever cone or popsicle I can buy in-store. This avocado ice cream is the posterchild of healthy ice creams.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Ripe Avocado – Pick a soft avocado but with a lovely green flesh and no dark spots. Lift the stem to find out if the avocado is perfect: it should be bright green. If the stem be hard to remove, the avocado isn’t ripe enough. If the flesh is brown under it, the avocado is probably too ripe. Lemon Juice or lime juice. The best is to juice a fresh lemon or lime, but you can also use a pre-made lemon juice. Full-Fat Canned Coconut Cream – It must be full-fat or the ice cream will form crystals. Maple Syrup or any liquid sweetener you love like agave syrup, rice syrup, or date syrup. Vanilla Extract – For flavors. Pure Peppermint Extract – This brings a refreshing taste to the ice cream. Fresh Mint Leaves – Mint leaves bring an additional minty taste, but also green spots in the ice cream. Chocolate Chunk or dark chocolate chips.
How To Make Avocado Ice Cream
It’s very easy to make avocado ice cream but there are a few tips and tricks you should know before starting.
Making The Ice Cream
First, in a food processor or high-speed blender add the ripe avocado flesh, lemon juice, full-fat canned coconut cream, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Blend the avocado ice cream batter until smooth and creamy. Stop the food processor, remove the lid, and using a silicone spatula, stir in the chocolate chunks or chocolate chips. Taste the ice cream and add more peppermint extract if you like your mint flavor stronger. Stir between each addition.
Freezing Ice Cream
There are 4 ways to freeze avocado ice cream.
1. Using An Ice Cream Maker
See the full method in the recipe card. This is the best way to avoid crystals in the ice cream mixture and make easy scoopable ice cream straight out of the freezer.
2. In Ice Cube Trays
No-churn ice cream gets very tough and hard after freezing overnight. The easiest and fastest way to smoothen the ice cream is to place frozen ice cream cubes in a blender and blend them with a touch of almond milk to form a quick avocado soft serve. For this method, don’t stir chocolate chunks in the ice cream batter before freezing.
3. Freezing In A Loaf Pan
The larger the container, the harder the no-churn ice cream becomes. You will have to store the container for at least 20-30 minutes at room temperature to make it easier to scoop. This is the best option if you plan to serve the whole batch of ice cream all at once.
4. Popsicle Molds
The last option is to freeze the avocado ice cream in popsicle molds to make avocado popsicles.
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
If you like healthy desserts, you’ll love these recipes: Since it doesn’t contain eggs or condensed milk, the ice cream will always:
Form an icy crystal texture this is because the ice cream freezes without being churned. Take longer to soften – because of the lack of eggs or high-sugar condensed milk, healthier no-churn ice cream always takes longer to soften at room temperature.
However, the above issues can be fixed with a few simple tips.
Avoid crystal icy texture in no-churn ice cream – adding spirits like a tablespoon of vodka or tequila or rum in no-churn ice cream prevents the ice cream from getting icy. Easy to scoop no-churn ice cream – freeze the ice cream batter without the chocolate chunks in plastic bags or ice cube trays. Then, before serving place the ice cubes or ice cream from the bag in a high-speed blender with a splash of almond milk and blend until a soft-serve texture forms. You can also freeze it into popsicles to make avocado popsicle ice cream that you can eat straight away from the freezer.
