Ninja CREAMi vegan ice cream: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (no bananas, no coconut)!

This Ninja CREAMi vegan ice cream may become your new favorite “nice cream”!

Made with a few key (even secret!) ingredients, this vegan ice cream recipe is not just delicious – but quite simple to prepare.

Even better, this ice cream doesn’t have even one slice of banana… and not a drop of coconut milk or other coconut products. (No hate on bananas, it’s just they make all nice creams taste the same. No hate on coconut either, but people hate on my recipes when they include coconut! So, I take a breather from coconut comments and reviews.)

And, as much as I love chocolate… I don’t always want chocolate ice cream. In fact, vanilla ice creams are my favorite (unless the ice cream has some chunky bits of cookie or caramel swirl goodness in it – chocolate or vanilla that’s a bonus). I regularly have Nora’s ice cream in my freezer, and when I can get in a US grocery shop… Wicked vanilla.

Actually, I have more than a *little* selection of vegan Ice creams in my freezer. I love trying new vegan ice cream brands that make their way to stores – and consider it my duty as a vegan foodie to know all the flavors. 🤩

Trouble is, for me anyhow, a great many popular vegan ice cream brands include pea protein as an ingredient. I’m not sure why, maybe as a filler or to make the ice cream look more nutritious. (I mean, it’s ice cream, I don’t think we need to look at protein count). 🤷🏻‍♀️

So, I scour ingredient labels to buy varieties that don’t have pea protein – and there are only a few! Which is why making ice cream at home is so brilliant. Not only can you avoid those sneaky troublesome ingredients, you can also tweak the amount of sweetener, or add other flavors and add-ins as you like.

Up until this Ninja CREAMi machine hit the market, making vegan ice cream was possible, but not simplified. Since many vegan ice creams use bananas or other whole foods ingredients, when they are frozen after churning, they turn rock-hard!

Enter the Ninja CREAMi, which takes that rock-hard vessel and turns it into luscious and unbelievably dreamy ice cream.

When I got this machine, I knew the first vegan ice cream recipe I wanted to make with it would be vanilla. I think vanilla is often overstepped to create a chocolate or nutty version of vegan nice cream. Probably because bananas are usually in the base and so chocolate and nuts help to balance the flavor (and mask the color when bananas oxidize).

When I finished this recipe, our youngest daughter, Hope, said “Mom, I think this is the best ice cream you’ve made“. 💚

I won’t disagree! It’s delicious and really simple to prepare the blend.

The secret ingredient? Come on, guys… you know me…

Yep. Sweet Potatoes.

Not orange sweet spuds, but yellow. Preferable Hannah sweet potatoes, but Murasaki can also be used. I explain more in my video (and also show how to use the Ninja CREAMi):

In addition to the yellow sweet potato, that small amount of oat flour is a must. It brings a thick, creamy texture that only oat flour can offer. And, using flour instead of oats allows for a smoother texture if you don’t have a high-powered blender.

But, if you are shopping for a high-powered blender, I highly recommend a . Pro tip: Shop . These units are brand new housing with a reconditioned motor – basically brand new for a sweet deal.

Now it’s time to get to this ice cream… before it melts!

Yep, catch THAT drip! 😍 x Dreena

NOW try this ice cream with my dreamy vegan fudge sauce!

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4.92 from 12 votes

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Yellow sweet potato creates a thick, naturally sweet base for this exceptionally easy vanilla ice cream!

Course Dessert, ice cream

Keyword CREAMi, ice cream, Ninja, sweet potatoes, vanilla

Servings 1 full CREAMi pint

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked yellow sweet potato flesh not orange
• 1 1/4 cups plain or vanilla non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup soaked cashew pieces
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup light unrefined sugar see note
• 2 tbsp oat flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

• In a blender, add all ingredient and puree until very smooth, stopping to scrape down blender bowl once or twice as needed.
• Transfer mixture to a CREAMi container and freeze (see note).
• Once fully frozen, place in CREAMi machine and set to ice cream function, running through that cycle twice.
• Serve! Once at an easily scoopable, smooth texture, serve!

Video

Notes

Prep Note: You may yield a little more than the “fill line” for the CREAMi pint. Reserve extra to enjoy as a sauce, or to refreeze in the pint after enjoying some as soft serve.

Sugar Note: I prefer to use light, unrefined cane sugar in this recipe. If you use date sugar or even coconut sugar, it will not dissolve as well and will also be dark in color for the final mix. I wouldn’t substitute dates in this ice cream. Go with a different recipe that uses dates. Using the unrefined sugar, you can taste and adjust to use between 1/4 to 1/3 cup (not a lot of sugar for an entire batch)! Note that ice cream tastes sweeter at room temperature than it does when frozen.

Vanilla Bean Note: The vanilla bean powder gives a deep and beautiful vanilla flavor. If you don’t have it, you can substitute 1/2 – 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract. The vanilla bean powder is much nicer to use here.