Sweet and creamy, sugar-free and keto vanilla ice cream made in the Ninja Creami! It's just as yummy as store-bought vanilla ice cream and so easy to make in the Ninja Creami!
We went through many iterations to create our favorite keto vanilla ice cream in the Ninja Creami. We tried various versions with almond milk, protein powder, and alternative sweeteners. In the end, this sugar-free vanilla ice cream made with heavy cream and allulose won over our taste buds.
We love the sweet cream flavor in this ice cream, thanks to the heavy cream. It's hard to tell this vanilla ice cream is even keto or sugar-free due to it's smooth, creamy texture and sweet vanilla flavor, which comes with no strange aftertaste.
Vanilla may not have the excitement of other flavored ice creams, but it should! It's an ideal base for so many fun and tasty add-ins like keto-friendly cookies, chocolate chips, nuts and more. Plus, it's perfect with pie or cake!
Each serving of this ice cream is just 1.6 net carbs and 177 calories.
Unlike some of our other Ninja Creami recipes, we strongly recommend using allulose as a sweetener for this recipe. In our experience, recipes that combine a large amount of heavy cream and erythritol based sweeteners (such as Swerve) in a Ninja Creami result in a gritty and powdery texture no matter how many times you respin it.
Ingredients
- Heavy cream: To get the right sweet cream flavor, we use heavy cream in this ice cream. The ice cream just isn't the same without it. To balance the amount of carbs and calories, we combine it with unsweetened almond milk.
- Unsweetened almond milk: We combine unsweetened almond milk with heavy cream since it's low in carbs and low in calories. You may substitute it with another type of low-carb milk like unsweetened macadamia milk.
- Allulose sweetener: When using heaving cream, you need to use allulose to create the right consistency. Please note: you can not use erythritol based sweeteners (such as Swerve) in the recipe or else the ice cream will remain powdery in texture.
- Vanilla: Of course, you need vanilla extract in vanilla ice cream! We use 1.5 teaspoons, but you may use slightly more for a stronger flavor.
- 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.
- Xanthan Gum: This is a new ingredient we recently added to improve the texture to make it creamier and minimize any ice crystals.
How to Make
STEP 1: Combine all the wet ingredients (almond milk, heavy cream and vanilla) in blender and mix briefly (too long and you'll whip the cream too much).
STEP 2. Combine all the dry ingredients (allulose, guar gum, and xanthan gum) and blend with wet ingredients in blender. Make sure you've mixed the gums evenly into the allulose. If the gums aren't spread evenly in the dry mixture they can clump together when mixed with the wet ingredients and won't work properly.
STEP 3: Pour the blended mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container and place in the freezer. Let freeze for at least 24 hours.
STEP 4: 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.
STEP 5: Select the Lite Ice Cream mode, and it will spin for several minutes. 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 5 (as opposed to creamy and smooth), then you'll need to respin.
STEP 6: If you need to respin, place the outer bowl lid back on and lock it back into the Ninja creami and push respin.
STEP 7: 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 7, then it's ready for serving.
STEP 8: Immediately serve in bowls and enjoy!
EXPERT TIPS FOR USING THE NINJA CREAMI
- When using a larger amount heavy cream, you CAN NOT use erythritol as an alternative sweetener since the texture will likely remain powdery. We recommend using allulose as an alternative sweetener. We have not tried other alternative sweeteners like stevia or sucralose.
- When freezing your mixture make sure your pint is on a level surface in the freezer and that you don't fill the pint past the fill line.
- The Creami instructions also recommend freezing for at least 24 hours to make sure its fully hardened.
- Depending on the recipe and your freezer's temperature, you may need to respin multiple times. For example, if our mixture is frozen at a low temperature, we typically need to respin multiple times. We've even had situations where we needed to respin as much 8 to 10 times. If this happens to you frequently, consider increasing the temperature of your freezer.
- If you want to include any mix-ins like sugar-free chocolate chips or candy, simply add them to the spun ice cream and press the mix-in button to incorporate. If you use the other settings, your mix-ins will be shredded too finely.
STORING THE ICE CREAM
Ice cream made by the Ninja Creami is best when eaten immediately.
Since this ice cream is made with heavy cream (which contains a high amount of fat), it stores better than our other ice creams without heavy cream.
If you have leftovers, simply store in the freezer and serve when desired. You may need to let it thaw slightly for a few minutes but there is no need to respin this ice cream before serving left overs.
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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!
Ninja Creami Keto Vanilla Ice Cream
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 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon allulose (we strongly recommend a pure allulose sweetener for this recipe)
- ¼ scant teaspoon guar gum
- ¼ scant teaaspoon xanthan gum
Instructions
- Prepare the base: Combine all the wet ingredients (almond milk, heavy cream and vanilla) in blender and mix well. Combine all the dry ingredients (allulose, guar gum, and xanthan gum) and blend with wet ingredients in blender. Make sure you've mixed the gums evenly into the allulose. If the gums aren't spread evenly in the dry mixture they can clump together when mixed with the wet ingredients and won't work properly.
- 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 smooth and creamy, serve immediately. If still powdery, continue to respin until you reach the desired consistency.
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.
- Unlike some of our other Ninja Creami recipes, we strongly recommend using allulose as a sweetener for this recipe. In our experience, recipes that combine a large amount of heavy cream and erythritol in a Ninja Creami result in a gritty and powdery texture. We have not tried other alternative sweeteners like stevia or sucralose.
- Allulose is technically a rare sugar and NOT a sugar alcohol. However, the nutritional information listed for this recipe treats allulose as a sugar alcohol because it does not impact glucose levels and is typically subtracted out for net carb counts.
- When freezing your mixture make sure your pint is on a level surface in the freezer and that you don't fill the pint past the fill line.
- The Creami instructions also recommend freezing for at least 24 hours to make sure the contents are fully hardened.
- Depending on the recipe and your freezer's temperature, you may need to respin multiple times. For example, if our mixture is frozen at a low temperature, we typically need to respin multiple times. We've even had situations where we needed to respin as much 8 to 10 times. If this happens to you frequently, consider increasing the temperature of your freezer.
- If you want to include any mix-ins like sugar-free chocolate chips or candy, simply add them to the spun ice cream and press the mix-in button to incorporate. If you use the other settings, your mix-ins will be shredded too finely.
- If you have leftovers, simply store in the freezer and serve when desired. With it's higher fat content it will remain soft in the freezer and there is no need to respin leftovers of this ice cream before serving.
Has anyone tried adding an egg or egg yolk?
Have not tried it but expect it would taste creamier yet add more steps to the recipe and have a lower protein percentage. This recipe is more like a Philadelphia style ice cream, while adding egg yolks would essentially convert it to a French style (aka custard style) ice cream. Egg yolks will add fat and emulsification (so you can probably drop the guar gum). However, if you do use egg yolks, you'll need to carefully cook the base to the appropriate temperature and then place it in an ice bath before freezing. For example, this is an official Ninja Kitchen recipe that uses egg yolks and describes the steps for cooking and chilling the base.
Wonderful base recipe, quite luscious. I agree this outperforms any low carb or keto commercial ice creams I have tried. Allulose performs so well in ice cream, unfortunately it sends me straight into the bathroom for quite a while - some folks really cannot metabolize it at all - sigh. Also this level of cream does the "coat-the-whole-mouth-and-back-of-tongue" thing as well. With nut allergies, I swapped unsweetened coconut milk for the unsweetened vanilla almond milk and upped the vanilla extract. I think I'll set aside the high fat (HWC) based ice creams for now and try the chocolate protein one next. Thanks for helping me get started with my lovely Christmas present, the Creami!
Indeed it was intended to be a rich and luscious recipe. If it's too waxy on the tongue then lowering the heavy cream and increasing the milk alternative can be done to compensate and lower the fat content.
Unfortunately, allulose is our recommended sweetener in this recipe since using erythritol creates a sandy texture in this particular recipe. We believe it may be possible to combine erythritol and a sweetener like monk fruit as an alternative, or to use other sweeteners like xylitol, but have not verified or experimented yet in this area. What sweeteners do you tend to prefer?
As much as I love the functionality (freezing inhibitor, dissolution, lack of cooling sensation, lack of recrystallization) and flavor of allulose, I'll be focusing on your high protein recipes from here on out. However I also have trouble with the oligosaccharides in Swerve. I tend to order pure single ingredients from Amazon (NOW, Keystone) and make my own allulose/stevia or erythritol/stevia blends for 1:1 baking when volume and caramelization is needed (curd, fudge, marshmallows). Otherwise I use stevia drops for anything I can. I know stevia use is a delicate thing with bitterness and even more precarious with chocolate, but monk fruit does not read to me as sweet as stevia. I know trying to use drops right now while just learning would be foolish as it would throw off the volume-liquids-thickener-flavor balance you've got going on. Thanks for your expertise!
That's interesting about allulose vs. swerve since it's generally allulose that's considered better tolerated in general but everyone is different. We generally try to pick ingredients that are easier to obtain which is why we typically use Swerve since it's in all of our local grocery stores but allulose is harder to find. But expect you could definitely substitue Swerve in our recipes with a different erythritol brand that's similarly ground (i.e. confectioners vs granular).
Yeah, you're right. It should be possible to use a liquid sweetener like stevia but you'd need to combine it with a powdered sweetener and/or some other bulking agent (like maybe polydextrose or soluble corn fiber) to get the right balance of total solids and sweetness but we haven't played around enough with that yet. That being said, it should be easier to do with the creami than other ice cream makers.
Keto or not, this is the best Ninja Creami ice cream I've tasted by far. You can't tell it's keto or sugar free. My son's and I all agree, it is amazing! I didn't even have to tweek it. You have to give it a try.
So good to hear! We are updating this in the next few days to improve the texture by adding some xanthan gum. We think this makes it taste even better. =)
I'm very interested to hear the results with the xanthum gum addition!
We updated the vanilla ice cream to add 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. We felt the texture became creamier with less ice crystals. Definitely worth it if you have it around!