89% would make again
The Best Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
featured in Top Vegan-Friendly Desserts of 2018
Tasty Team
Ingredients
for 8 servings
- 3 cups cashews (390 g), ½ cup (65 g) if just making enough for the ice cream
- ¼ cup water (60 mL)
- 1 ¼ cups organic sugar (250 g)
- 4 tablespoons cocoa butter
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup coconut milk (240 mL)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean
Special Equipment
- ice cream maker
Nutrition Info
Shop ingredients with
- Calories 462
- Fat 37g
- Carbs 29g
- Fiber 1g
- Sugar 19g
- Protein 6g
Estimated values based on one serving size.
Preparation
- Place the cashews in a large bowl. Add enough room-temperature water to cover the cashews. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and soak overnight.
- Place the bowl of an ice cream machine in the freezer overnight.
- Add the cashews and soaking water to a blender. Blend, starting on low speed and increasing to high until smooth and frothy, about 40 seconds. Strain into a large bowl through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
- Reserve 1 cup (240 ml) of cashew milk for the ice cream and store the rest in the refrigerator for up to a week for another use.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the water and sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is clear, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and salt. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
- In a blender, combine the cashew milk and coconut milk. Blend on low speed. With the blender running, pour in the sugar mixture to emulsify. Continue until well-blended, about 2 minutes.
- Pour the mixture into a large metal bowl and mix in the vanilla extract. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and whisk to combine.
- Chill the base in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Add the chilled base to the ice cream maker and churn for 1 hour, or as long as the machine requires, until thick and creamy.
- Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and freeze overnight.
- Scoop and serve immediately.
- Enjoy!