Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream
Today I have a special recipe for all pistachio lovers: a crazy delicious, creamy vegan pistachio ice cream with natural ingredients and no refined sugar.
Made from real pistachios and only a few other ingredients, this tasty ice cream is a great choice no matter if you follow a vegan diet or not. Being dairy-free, refined sugar-free and naturally gluten-free makes this pistachio ice cream healthier and lighter for the body without compromising the taste or texture.
It is super easy to make and tastes absolutely fantastic! With its smooth, creamy consistency and rich flavour, this amazing vegan pistachio ice cream is undoubtedly one of the best frozen desserts to enjoy all year round.
Ingredients for the vegan pistachio ice cream
- Raw pistachios – if you can find them raw, this is the best choice because they will give you the best flavour. You can also use roasted ones but try to get as good quality as possible to have as much pistachio flavour as possible. If you can only get salted pistachios, that is also okay, but then skip the additional salt in the recipe. Salted pistachios can also oftentimes be unhulled from the inside membrane, which makes them less salty.
- Cashews – I like to use them to get the creamiest possible consistency. If you need to avoid cashews in your diet for whatever reason, you can simply skip them and use more pistachios instead. It will result in a slightly less creamy consistency (nothing to worry about), but also in a richer pistachio flavour which is a good thing!
- Full-fat coconut milk – at least 60% coconut, but the more the better. The thicker and fattier your coconut milk is, the creamier ice cream you will get.
- Agave nectar or maple syrup
- Himalayan salt (optional) – just a pinch to add some depth to the flavour.
- Ground stevia leaves (optional) – I like to add some stevia leaves for an extra sweetness that doesn’t come from carbohydrate sugars. I only use real dried leaves from a stevia plant, not the glycoside powder. You can completely skip the stevia, or add some more maple syrup if you need the ice cream to be sweeter. It will not affect the consistency.
- Ground turmeric and spirulina powder (optional) – this is my little trick for enhancing the green colour in food! I only use small amounts of turmeric and spirulina powder to get a nice green colour naturally. It will be completely fine if you skip it.
How to make vegan pistachio ice cream
Making this delicious pistachio ice cream is super easy:
- Blend all the ingredients until smooth
- Pour into a container and close with a lid
- Freeze for at least four to five hours.
If you want to make it extra creamy, you can take it out of the freezer every hour or so to beat it a bit with a mixer as it freezes. This will create a super creamy texture – it is a hack that mimics an ice cream machine effect.
Also, if you have any kind of ice cream machine, you can pour the liquid mixture into the machine to freeze. Then transfer it into a container and keep it in the freezer.
Still, my favourite method is usually the quickest one: just blend and freeze. Works great and the result is creamy and delicious.
Serving ideas
Even though this tasty vegan pistachio ice cream is amazing on its own, here are some ideas for combining it:
- Sprinkle it with chopped pistachios or cashews;
- Decorate with your favourite wild edible flowers – check out this article for some inspiration;
- Serve it with this tasty strawberry crumble cake;
- These fluffy oatmeal pancakes with fresh strawberries and a scoop of pistachio ice cream? Yes, please!
- This juicy chocolate cake with spelt flour is so easy to make and also goes really well with a scoop of homemade pistachio ice cream.
Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream
This vegan pistachio ice cream is super tasty, creamy and made with natural ingredients. Enjoy this quick and easy dairy-free recipe with real pistachios and no refined sugar.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw pistachios (deshelled)*
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk*
- 1/3 cup agave nectar
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp ground stevia leaves (optional)
- 1/3 tsp ground turmeric (optional)*
- 1/3 tsp spirulina powder (optional)
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients in a blender to get a completely smooth and creamy mixture.
- Pour it into a container and freeze for at least four hours.
- If you are feeling extra motivated, you can mix the ice cream every half an hour or hour until it freezes - that will give you a more fluffy consistency. I just let it freeze and it was still very creamy and easy to scoop.
Notes
* You can also use salted baked pistachios. In that case, leave out the salt in the recipe.
* The thicker (more coconut) the better - I used 75%, but anything from 60% up is good.
* Stevia leaves are optional, and can be left out or replaced with more agave or maple syrup if you want more sweetness. I like to use some stevia leaves to have less sugar in the recipe. I use only dried leaves and not the steviol glycoside powder - it is just my personal preference, but I like it to be as natural as possible.
* Turmeric and spirulina are here only to enhance the green colour naturally. They are completely optional and feel free to leave them out.
* You will get the creamiest consistency if you use a high-speed blender, but this recipe will work with a regular blender or food processor too.
