This keto butter pecan ice cream is so smooth and creamy and full of rich, buttery flavor and crunchy pecans. It's hard to believe that something this yummy is sugar-free and keto friendly!
Even though butter pecan is a popular ice cream flavor, we hadn't ever tried it until we made this homemade keto version in the Ninja Creami. Honestly, we were both blown away — we couldn't believe how much we loved it! And how come no one ever told us it was this yummy?!
It's hard to believe this healthier, sugar-free butter pecan ice cream stands up to (and even surpasses) the flavor of a regular, butter pecan ice cream like Häagen-Dazs (of course we had to compare it!). However, much of the credit goes to the Ninja Creami since it allows you to create rich, ultra-smooth and creamy ice cream with non-standard ingredients.
The rich buttery flavor includes caramel-ish, maple undertones due to the inclusion of sugar-free maple syrup and brown sweetener. It's just enough to add a caramel-like flavor and helps take the ice cream to the next level.
Making this ice cream is easy with the the Ninja Creami. The hardest part is waiting for the combined ingredients to freeze in the freezer before turning it into ice cream within a matter of minutes!
We highly recommend the Ninja Creami, if you're interested in making low-carb, high-protein, and/or low-calorie ice cream.
*For the integrity of our food blog, we do not engage in brand partnerships nor do we accept free products. We only review and recommend the products we enjoy.
*As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- Unsweetened almond milk: To create the right consistency, you need a liquid. We use unsweetened almond milk since it's keto-friendly and low in calories. You may substitute with another type of low-carb milk like unsweetened macadamia milk.
- Pecans: Obviously pecans are a must. We simply add as is, but you could also toast them in a pan with some butter.
- Butter: You've got to include butter in butter pecan ice cream! However, we're careful not to add too much in order to keep the calories low.
- Brown erythritol: We use Swerve Brown Sweetener, but you can use another brown sugar-free sweetener if you like. It helps create a caramel-like flavor in the ice cream.
- Vanilla protein powder: We use a vanilla whey protein powder to enhance the vanilla flavor in ice cream and increase the protein. Our favorite vanilla protein powder is Quest Vanilla Milkshake.
- Sugar-Free Maple Syrup: To add caramel and maple undertones, we use Lakanto sugar-free maple syrup. However, you can use any type of sugar-free maple syrup you like.
- Salt: Salt adds to the pecan and caramel flavor — another must!
- Guar Gum: Guar gum is thickening agent that helps create a creamy texture in ice creams and sorbets. You may substitute with xanthan gum, but the texture may not turn out as creamy.
How to Make
STEP 1: Combine all the ingredients except the pecans in a blender or food processor and pulse until fully mixed and smooth in consistency.
STEP 2: Pour the blended mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container and place in the freezer. Let freeze for at least 24 hours.
STEP 3: After freezing, take the lid off the pint container and place in the Ninja Creami outer bowl. Install the Creami paddle into the outer bowl lid, place the lid on the outer bowl and lock into place according to the instructions in the Creami manual. Select the Lite Ice Cream mode, and it will spin for several minutes.
STEP 4: When it stops spinning, take the container out and assess the consistency of the ice cream. If it's powdery in texture as shown in picture 4 (as opposed to creamy and smooth), then you'll need to respin.
STEP 5: If you need to respin, place the outer bowl lid back on and lock it back into the Ninja creami and push respin. Depending on your freezer's temperature you may need to respin multiple times.
STEP 6: After it's done respining, take out the outer bowl and assess the ice cream consistency. If its smooth and creamy, as shown in picture 6, then you'll add the pecans.
STEP 7: Create an indent in the center of the ice cream (there should already be a small indent from spinning) and add the pecans.
STEP 8: After, return it to the Ninja Creami and press the mix-in button to incorporate. When done spinning, serve immediately and enjoy!
STORING THE ICE CREAM
Ice cream made by the Ninja Creami is best when eaten immediately. Since it's not made with standard ingredients and in the same manner as regular ice cream, it does not store as well as traditional ice cream.
If you have leftovers, we recommend letting the ice cream melt until soft (which happens fairly quickly) and then storing it back in a Creami pint since you'll likely need to re-run the Creami on it after it re-hardens. Be sure to flatten the surface of the ice cream in the pint before placing it in the freezer.
To serve, simply re-run the Creami process again or respin the ice cream (as it may be frozen) until smooth and creamy.
WHY THE NINJA CREAMI CAN MAKE ICE CREAM OUT OF ALMOST ANYTHING
With traditional ice cream machines, the ice cream is stored in the freezer so it has to maintain its creamy texture while in there. Keeping a liquid creamy at freezing temperatures requires a careful balance of ingredients. For example, in traditional ice cream, if you reduce the amount of sugar in the mixture it will get too hard in the freezer to be ice cream.
By contrast, with the Ninja Creami you start by freezing your mixture into a solid and then the Creami pulverizes it to create ice cream. The benefit of this approach is almost any mixture will freeze to a solid. This is especially useful in low calorie or protein ice creams with non-standard ingredients that won't stay creamy in the traditional ice cream making process. The trade off is that you have to eat it right away and it can't be stored like traditional ice cream.
Related Recipes
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear your feedback! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag @lowcarbsimplified on your photo of this recipe on Instagram or Facebook. We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Recipe
Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream in the Ninja Creami
Equipment
- Ninja Creami (Use the 1x conversion button below if you have the original CREAMi)
- Ninja Creami Deluxe (Use the 1.5x conversion button below if you have the Creami Deluxe)
Ingredients
- 1 scoop Quest Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder (1 scoop is 31g)
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup Swerve Brown Sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ tablespoons Lakanto Sugar-Free Maple Flavored Syrup (or ¼ teaspoon maple extract)
- ½ cup pecan halves
- ¼ teaspoon guar gum
Instructions
- Blend ingredients: Combine all the ingredients except the pecans in a blender or food processor and pulse until fully mixed and smooth in consistency.
- Freeze: Pour the blended mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container and place in the freezer. Let sit for at least 24 hours.
- Turn to ice cream in the Ninja Creami: After freezing, take the lid off the pint and place in the Ninja Creami outer bowl. Install the Creami paddle into the pint lid, put on the outer bowl and lock into place. Select the Lite Ice Cream mode, and it will spin for several minutes.
- Respin if necessary: When it stops spinning, take the container out and assess the consistency of the ice cream. If it's a powdery in texture (as opposed to creamy and smooth), then you'll need to respin. To respin, place the pint container back in the Ninja creami and push respin. After it's done, take out and assess the ice cream consistency. If it's still powdery, then respin until smooth.
- Add pecans and serve: When ice cream is smooth, then you'll add the pecans. Create an indent in the center of the ice cream (there should already be a small indent from spinning) and add the pecans. After, return it to the Ninja Creami and press the mix-in button to incorporate. When done spinning, serve immediately.
Notes
- This recipe was designed for the original Ninja Creami. If you have the Ninja Creami Deluxe use the 1.5x conversion button in the ingredients section of the recipe card to adjust the ingredient amounts.
- You can toast the pecans in butter before adding them to the ice cream. Simply follow these instructions for toasting them in a pan with some butter.
- For a high protein version, you can reduce the pecans to ¼ cup and replace the butter with butter extract (~½ teaspoon to taste depending on the extract brand). This high protein version has 120.6 Calories, 8.3g Fat, 1.5g Net Carbs, 9.3g Protein, and 31% of calories from protein.
- If you have leftovers, we recommend letting the ice cream melt until soft (which happens fairly quickly) and then storing it back in a Creami pint since you'll likely need to re-run the Creami on it after it re-hardens. Be sure to flatten the surface of the ice cream in the pint before placing it in the freezer. To serve, simply re-run the Creami process again or respin the ice cream (as it may be frozen) until smooth and creamy.
Nutrition
*For the integrity of our food blog, we do not engage in brand partnerships nor do we accept free products. We only review and recommend the products we enjoy.
*As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Does the butter & pecans go in as a mix in, or do you put them in the blender with everything else as it seems to say??
are you reserving all the pecans for mix in at end, it’s not clear because it says put all ingredients in the blender
Good catch! It should say "all ingredients except the pecans". We've corrected this in the post and the recipe card. Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks, that's what I did, looking forward to a taste tonight!! Oops, I accidentally asked twice sorry!!
Hi is the protein powder needed ?
We haven't tried it for this recipe. However, based on our experience in developing the https://lowcarbsimplified.com/ninja-creami-keto-coffee-ice-cream-low-calorie/ recipe, you can probably lower the amount of protein powder but below 1/3 scoop of protein powder the texture will likely get too icy and it may effect the flavor.
Delicious! I bought my Creami finally after lots of soul (and bank account!) searching on whether I really needed another appliance or not.
I used to own a frozen custard store and we sold pints and quarts as well as ready-to-eat cones. We always told the people buying pints and quarts to microwave them when taken out of the freezer for a few seconds - 15-45 or so depending on the size of the container and how cold their home freezer was kept at. Otherwise, there's so little air in frozen custard that it'd be impossible to scoop, like a rock. I think the reason people are seeing powder on first spinning is that the mixtures are so cold and no air has been added to the mix by churning the initial liquid mixture. 'Overrun' is what air in the liquid mix is called and the more air, the easier to scoop and the cheaper the mix. You can tell in the store when you buy ice cream, pick up several half gallons and you can feel the difference in weight between the premium products and the cheap, half-air stuff. Real frozen custard is really heavy compared to the size of the container; it's a lot richer and more satisfying too. These new mixes/recipes for the Creami are sensational for keto diets, though! I wish I still had my store, I'd be making keto recipes and a fortune!
So to make a long story short, you can add bit of almond milk to the frozen pints before/after the first mix to slightly warm them, or microwave them a few seconds (YMMV) before spinning. It's all about how cold that container is.
Thank you for your comment and compliments! So cool you owned a store! Recently took an ice cream course to improve our knowledge in making these so it's always great to hear from those who worked in the ice cream industry. Unfortunately, haven't been able to find anyone who has done a deep structural analysis of creami style ice cream like has been done for regular ice cream. We've also used the almond milk trick and know others who just leave the pint out to thaw or run it under hot water. Thanks again.
I never comment on recipes, but making an exception here to add my voice to the chorus of praise for this one, it’s utterly delicious! Thank you for sharing! I only had xanthan gum on hand and it was just fabulous, great texture - in fact it’s the first Creami sugarfree recipe I’ve tried that hasn’t needed multiple respins. So good I’ve just done another batch for tomorrow. Can’t wait. Thanks again!
So great to hear! Also glad to hear xanthan gum worked well. We learned from another fellow commenter that you can add a little almond milk before respinning and that should help cut down on the number of respins you need to do.
Do you use the same amount of butter extract (i.e., 2 Tablespoons)? That seems like a lot so I figured I'd ask. Seems like it would be less than the actual butter amount.
Yes that would likely be too much! It depends on the brand (and if you are using butter extract or butter flavoring) but rough guideline would be to start with 1/2 tsp (which is what we've used) and increase if needed by tasting the mix before you put it in the freezer.
Just bought the Ninja Creami and had to look online for Keto recipes since the machine didn't offer any sugarless recipes. This was the most AMAZING tasting ice cream I have ever had! After one bite, my husband and I ran this over over to my brother and parents houses and they loved it so much they went out the next day and bought a Ninja Creami as well. The pecans are so buttery and crunchy and the flavor is so rich without any after taste of monkfruit and so creamy! I can hardly believe this is made from Almond milk and is sugarless! Thank, thank, thank you for posting this recipe!! I will definitely be whipping up more of your Ninja Creami recipes.
WOW, SOOO happy to hear this! We, too, are pretty amazed by the ice creams you can make with the Ninja Creami. We're ice cream freaks so the Ninja Creami is a game changer for us. Hope you and your family have fun experimenting more with it!
I'm giving 5 stars even though I haven't made this yet. I'll be making a version though using similar but different ingredients, as I do LOVE maple pecan ice cream! I've been making my own recipes for light ice creams/milks for a couple weeks now and find I like them with far less fat than recipes usually call for.
Here's my BEST TIP for dealing with powdery ice creams after the initial spin - I found this online and it has worked for me consistently: Instead of re-spinning again and again, add a couple teaspoons of milk of your choice into an indention in the middle of the ice cream and then, re-spin. It comes out absolutely perfect every time!
Yes! Awesome tip, thank you! We'll need to include in our tips!
I goofed and used heavy cream in place of almond milk. After I did one spin on the icecream setting, I opened my Ninja to find powder. Tried to fix it by adding more liquid. It was salvaged but texture was grainy.
I'll have to try again because the flavour was excellent.
Yes, heavy cream and Swerve don't work together in the recipe. And, yes, you'll get a grainy, rather than creamy, texture when you combine them. But, Swerve and almond milk work well together. If you prefer to use heavy cream, then you'll need to use allulose instead of Swerve. We're actually working on a vanilla ice cream with heavy cream and allulose right now.
Try browning the butter instead of just melting it - it is life-changing. 😉
Thanks for the suggestion! We'll definitely have to try it. Might need to incorporate recommendation into recipe...
Yummalicious!!!!
This recipe is absolutely scrumptious, easy-peazy to prepare and I can eat every ingredient this gem requires!! I am in Butter Peacan Ninja Creami heaven.
The only substitute I use is Cashew Milk in place of Almond Milk.
I am lactose intolerant, eat only gluten-free and sugar-free products so when I saw this recipe I was sooooo excited.
Be Still My Heart incredibly delicious, delectable and creamy.
Thank you for an awesome Ninja Creami ice cream recipe.
So happy you can eat and enjoy this ice cream!
Does this make a full pint?
Yes, it makes close to a full pint -- or slightly less.
Crazy good! I didn't have the Quest vanilla, but did have the salted caramel. Wow, so flavorful and easy! Will definitely be a go to recipe forever! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!
So glad you liked it and good to hear that salted caramel worked just as well! Thanks for dropping us a note!
Another idea, this one for pumpkin ice cream is to use your same base:
almond milk, 1 scoop vanilla or salted caramel Quest protein powder, 1/4 c. pumpkin puree, and 1 Tb. pumpkin pie spice. When using the vanilla powder, I add about 1/8c. Swerve powdered sweetener, but find that when I use the salted caramel I don't need extra sweetener. I add a little almond milk in the creami pint (maybe 1/2 c.) then add the scoop of protein powder and other additions, mix slightly with spatula and then use my stick blender to mix it up. I add more almond milk to move the level up to a little under the max line on the pint and them blend it one more time.
My husband even like this pumpkin version! You may like it too! Thanks for the wonderful recipes!
That sounds awesome and THANK YOU for sharing! We love pumpkin! We'll give that a try soon when things calm down over here. Hoping in the next week or so. It's at the top of our list though. We'd love to do a post on it!