I remember when ice cream and macaroni and cheese were going to be the deal breaker.
If I couldn't find good replacements for these foods, I wasn't sure how long my vegan journey would last.
Fortunately, I was able to find So Delicious after testing out several vegan ice cream brands. It's creamy, the texture is similar to dairy ice cream and they come in so many delicious flavors.
It's addicting!
You can pick up a container of So Delicious for that ice cream fix or get in the kitchen and make your own using the recipes below.
Check out the end of this blog post for recipe tips.
3 awesome ice cream alternatives that are super close to dairy:
Click here to check out my original blog post for this recipe
Homemade Pecan Ice Cream
Keywords: vegan ice-cream
Ingredients (Serves 5)
- Meat from 1 young Thai coconut
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract (alcohol-free works best...I used one with alcohol in the video)
- 1 tbsp lecithin powder or granules
- ¼ cup coconut liquid, melted
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Place the cashews, water, coconut meat, maple syrup, vanilla, lecithin, and salt into a blender and process until smooth.
Add in the coconut oil and blend again.
Chill the mixture for about 40 minutes in the freezer, fold in pecans, and then process according to the ice cream maker instructions.
Click here to check out my original blog post for this recipe
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Recipe
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: n/a
Keywords: dessert vegan vegetarian ice-cream
Ingredients (Serves 3)
- 4 frozen bananas, chopped in small circles before freezing
- 3 tbsp Peanut butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 2-3 tsp of non-dairy milk, as needed
- Vegan chocolate chips, as many as you want
Instructions
Watch the video above for complete instructions
Click here to check out my original blog post for this recipe
Vanilla Ice Cream (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours
- 1 1/4 cups water
- Young Thai coconut meat (found in produce section)
- 2 tablespoons alcohol-free vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon lecithin powder (used to thicken ice cream and available at most health food stores or online)
- Pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid
Instructions
Place the cashews, water, coconut meat, vanilla extract, agave, lecithin, and salt into a blender and process until smooth.
Add the coconut meat and blend again.
Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
A few tips about the recipes that require young Thai coconuts (which are found in the produce department) & lecithin powder (found in health food store or online):
- Don't let opening the Thai coconut intimidate you. It took me a few times before I felt confident with handling this fruit.
- Here's a great tutorial and here
- Video for scraping out the meat
- Lecithin powder is used to thicken ice cream and available at most health food stores or you can order it online
If you don't have an ice cream maker (I bought a Cuisinart years ago for $20) you can just make the peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream (2nd recipe) which doesn't require one.
Let me know what you think once you try these recipes.
