This homemade vegan ice cream recipe is easy, rich ‘n creamy. The best vegan vanilla ice cream—incredible vanilla flavor, made with simple ingredients.
Now that the official first day of summer is fast approaching, we’ve got to start getting serious about getting in shape for bikini season making the best friggin’ vegan vanilla ice cream recipe ever! Because ice cream is soooo much better than bikinis. And way less judgmental, ya know? 😉
Today’s vegan vanilla ice cream recipe is one of my absolute favorite ice cream recipes of all time because it’s so GOOD. Like, super good. It’s easy to make, oh-so-delicious, and bursting with that vanilla flavor you know you love to love.
Wanna hear more? Let’s make this!
homemade vegan vanilla ice cream recipe
This vegan vanilla ice cream is everything you’d hope for: rich and creamy, bursting with vanilla flavor, and sweet enough to satisfy that sweet tooth, but not too sweet that you can’t enjoy more than one scoop. Try your hand at making this homemade vegan vanilla ice cream and enjoy. Bonus: this vegan ice cream is dairy-free, healthy and refined sugar-free.
What is Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream?
What a mysterious and intriguing question! In general, vegan vanilla ice cream is vanilla ice cream that’s made without animal products. That means: none of the usual ice cream ingredients, such as: eggs, heavy cream, etc.
For this particular vegan vanilla ice cream, we’re gonna rely on coconut milk and coconut cream to replace the heavy cream, and a few other vegan ingredients to create non-dairy, plant-based vegan vanilla ice cream. And if you were actually more in the mood for chocolate vegan ice cream, try this dark chocolate nice cream recipe or my all-time favorite best vegan chocolate ice cream.
How to Make Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
Learn how to make vegan vanilla ice cream in just a few super simple steps.
Chill
About 24 hours before, grab the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and place it in the freezer to chill.
Add Ingredients
Day of, add all vegan vanilla ice cream ingredients except the vanilla bean pod into a good food processor.
Blend
Blend all the ingredients together until well mixed.
Scrape & Blend Again
Now, scrape the contents of the vanilla bean pod into the food processor and watch it blend beautifully into the ice cream mixture. Here’s where I get my vanilla bean pods.
Pour & Churn
Pour your vegan vanilla ice cream mixture into the chilled freezer bowl of your ice cream maker. Churn your ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s directions. Here is the ice cream maker I use. Churn until firm.
Enjoy
Enjoy the best vegan vanilla ice cream ever! Or, if you like it firm, go ahead and scoop your homemade vegan ice cream into an ice cream container and chill it until firm.
Vegan Ice Cream Recipes We Love: 3 Ingredient Mango Ice Cream · 4 Ingredient Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream · Coconut Chocolate Chip Vegan Ice Cream
3 secret ingredients for rich vanilla flavor
What makes this vegan vanilla ice cream the best vegan vanilla ice cream? In my opinion, three secret ingredients. You see, I spent oodles of time testing different amounts of vanilla, sweetener and coconut milk vs. coconut cream, guar gum vs. no guar gum and more. But something was always missing: an element of creaminess, lack of iciness and a flavor complexity.
These three ingredients solved it all: raw cashew butter, pure almond extract and real vanilla bean.
Raw cashew butter added a boost of creaminess to the texture of this vegan ice cream, and it helped to cut down on the iciness that’s par for the course in homemade vegan ice cream recipes. Lastly, it added a nutty, cookie-like flavor that helped to balance out the coconut flavors present in the coconut milk and coconut cream.
Then, I started playing around with different amounts of vanilla extract and found that none quite worked. So I threw in some almond extract, just to see what happened. Guess what? It brought out a special level of sweetness and flavor complexity that really drew out the vanilla in this vegan vanilla ice cream.
Lastly, I used moist, freshly-sealed real vanilla bean pods to kick up the real vanilla flavor for the best vegan vanilla ice cream ever!
The best vegan vanilla ice cream—rich and creamy vegan ice cream made with real vanilla beans and simple ingredients.
Recommended Tools for the Best Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
Raw Cashew Butter + Vanilla Bean Pods + Pure Almond Extract
My 3 secret ingredients to creating the tastiest, best vegan vanilla ice cream. These 3 ingredients create creaminess, richer vanilla flavor and add a little sumthin’ sumthin’ to your new favorite vegan vanilla ice cream recipe.
Ice Cream Maker + Extra Freezer Bowls
I’ve been using the heck out of my ice cream maker! And tbh, I have several of them–that’s how much ice cream I make… 😉 The extra freezer bowls come in so handy–I can freeze multiples in advance and make several batches of vegan ice cream in a row without having to wait 24 hours for the first one to freeze.
So what do you think of today’s vegan vanilla ice cream recipe? You’re sooo ready for it, right? 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think! Leave me a comment below and let me know—I love hearing from you. Thank you for stopping by and sharing in these sweet dessert moments with me. ‘Til the next one…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
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More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe!
- 4 Ingredient Almond Butter Paleo Ice Cream
- Coconut Milk Ice Cream
- Almond Joy Vegan Paleo Ice Cream
- Best Strawberry Vegan Ice Cream
- Dark Chocolate Nice Cream
Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: about 15 1/3-cup servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe: this homemade vegan ice cream recipe is easy, rich ‘n creamy. The best vegan vanilla ice cream—incredible vanilla flavor, made with simple ingredients. Dairy-Free.
Ingredients
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk (13.66 oz.)
- 1 can coconut cream (13.66 oz.)
- ¼ cup raw cashew butter
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 vanilla bean pod
Instructions
- The day before, freeze your freezer bowl according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. This is the ice cream maker I use.
- Add all ingredients except the vanilla bean pod into a food processor.
- Slice the vanilla bean pod down the center, lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape the beans cleanly out of the pod and add to the food processor. Save the pod for another recipe.
- Cover the food processor and blend until smooth and well mixed. Scrape down the sides of the processor as needed.
- Pour mixture into ice cream maker. Follow directions for making ice cream according to ice cream maker’s directions.
- Enjoy immediately if you like super soft ice cream. If you like firmer ice cream, pour into an ice cream container and freeze for 2-4 hours, until firm.
- Vanilla vegan ice cream is best the first day. On Day 2 and forward, set ice cream out at room temperature to thaw for 20-90 minutes, until creamy and scoopable. Enjoy! Storing instructions below.
Vegan Ice Cream Recipes You’ll ❤️
Notes
Where to Buy Ingredients: Vanilla Bean Pods | Full-fat Coconut Milk | Coconut Cream | Raw Cashew Butter | Pure Maple Syrup | Pure Almond Extract
Storing Instructions: Store in an airtight, freezer-friendly ice cream container. If serving after completely frozen, allow about 20-90 minutes to thaw—until creamy and scoopable.
For Quick Thaw: heat in the microwave in 10-second increments until the edges are a bit melty and ice cream is easy to scoop.
Recommended Tools: Ice Cream Maker | Extra Freezer Bowls | My Favorite Food Processor | Freezer Door Ice Cream Container | Mini Ice Cream Containers (super cute)
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Chill
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: vegan vanilla ice cream, dairy free vanilla ice cream
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Hi
Can I make my own cashew butter for this recipe.
Normally I would roast the nuts and then put in blender. Would this work.
Hi Jo! You can definitely make your own cashew butter for this recipe. Just know that roasted cashews may have a stronger taste than raw and could affect the final flavor of the ice cream. Hope this helps!
All I can say is wow! Just made this and the whole family loved it. Best of all, no one can believe it’s vegan! 😁 Thanks for sharing such a wonderfully creamy, healthy recipe I can feel good about sharing with my family.
★★★★★
Woohoo! That’s so great to hear Stella. Nothing is better than tricking your family into eating something healthy. 😉 Thanks for stopping by to let me know!
Wondering if you have tried this with 2 cans of coconut cream excluding the coconut milk and if it turned out. Asking because I have 2 cans of cream in the pantry and 0 cans of milk with little desire to go to the store to get any. 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t tried using just 2 cans of coconut cream. I’m not sure how it would all turn out, but my guess is super, extra creamy? Let me know if you do try it and how your ice cream turns out! 🙂
Hi. I really want try that recipe. Do u know if i just use soaked cashew instead of cashew butter
Hi Alexa! I haven’t tried this myself so I can’t say for sure. I would recommend using cashew butter if possible because it will be smoother than blending the soaked cashews into the other ingredients. If you do give it a try, do let me know how it turns out!
The flavor of this ice cream is insanely good! It’s very creamy, and even after freezing overnight it’s not rock hard like some vegan ice cream I’ve bought. It’s not really just a vanilla flavor, it’s definitely got some coconutty maple-y flavor going on, which kind of tastes like a cookie. Yum!
BUT as someone who doesn’t use coconut milk/cream often, I was not aware that not all coconut products are created equal- Instacart brought me a different brand of coconut cream and this recipe turned out SOOOO sweet! I’m thinking I’ll use this batch blended with coffee for shakes to tone it down.
I’m trying to eat less dairy and this was my first experience in making dairy free ice cream- I would definitely use this recipe again, with a mental note to use *unsweetened* coconut cream, or less/no maple syrup!
★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lisa! 🙂 Definitely try it with unsweetened coconut cream next time–it should have less than 1g of sugar per serving. Happy ice cream making!
I don’t have the cashew butter, it’s 13 dollars ajar in my area. I left it out. Ice cream doesn’t last long in my home so won’t have to worry about that, Ha I substituted the maple syrup for hone and only used 3 Tablespoons. I didn’t use vanilla bean substituted it for pure Mexican vanilla.Oh I made the chocolate vegan dairy free ice cream did use 1/4 cup Hershey’s coco.
Tastes divine!
So glad to hear it worked out for you Francine! 😊
I love a good ice cream! I cannot wait to make this one again!
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad to hear it Kevin!
I would like to make this for my son but he is allergic to nuts. What can I replace the cashew butter with?
Hi Harriet! You can use sunflower seed butter. Hope you sun enjoyed it!
I am loving this vegan dessert! It is perfect for these hot summer days we are having.
Awesome! Hope you stay cool!
What a great way to cool down on a hot, summer day! Looking forward to enjoying this all season long!
★★★★★
Couldn’t agree more!
Love how the ingredient list is simple and easy! I bet the flavor is amazing!
★★★★★
Trust me, it’s outta this world! 😋
Oh my goodness, this vegan vanilla ice cream is incredible!!
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks Beti! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this vegan vanilla ice cream! It sounds AMAZING!!
★★★★★
Oh it’s absolutely delish Katerina!
This vegan vanilla ice cream looks incredibly delicious!
Thank you!
Yum! I can’t wait to give this a try! Perfect for the summer and after being outside all day! Thanks!
★★★★★
Thanks Beth! Enjoy. 🙂
As the weather gets warmer we start looking for great homemade ice cream recipes. This one looks amazing. I can’t wait to find my ice cream maker and give it a try!
★★★★★
I know you’re just gonna love it Angela! It’s so satisfying on a hot summery afternoon. 😊
This is such an amazing treat!! My kids can’t stop eating this!
★★★★★
Yay! So glad to hear it Toni!
I was looking for a recipe like this, thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Awesome! You’re so welcome Shadi!
The almond extract might seem unneeded but it really makes all the difference.
★★★★★
Oh exactly! The right extracts can really enhance the flavors so well. Glad you enjoyed it!
Grandson is allergic to many things including nuts of any sort. Could I use sunflower butter instead of cashew butter?
Hi Barbara! I haven’t tried it myself, but that should work. Let me know how it goes!
Hi, I made the ice cream with sunflower butter and it worked out well! I had to leave out the almond because of the nut allergy and I also didn’t buy a vanilla bean because it was over $8 for one bean!
I added more vanilla essence instead. All in all it tasted delicious with a strong coconut flavor. I think my grandson will like it. Thank you so much!
Hi Barbara! I’m so happy to hear that it worked out for you with sunflower butter! Sounds like you’ve got one lucky grandson. 🙂
That ice cream looks lush. Good quality vanilla extract and vanilla seeds from a pod makes such a difference.
Sharing this now!
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing Jacqueline!