Make Healthy, Dairy Free Ice Cream In Less Than 30 Minutes - Vegan Mango Peach And Strawberry Ice Cream Recipes

Vegan strawberry ice cream

Cuisinart ice cream maker

The ice cream is sweetened by a few dates soaked in milk.

The ice cream maker is filled with the mango-peach mixture.

Vegan mango peach ice cream

Delicious Dairy Free Ice Cream

I just bought a Cuisinart ICE-30BC 2 quart ice cream maker. I can't eat dairy so I thought I'd buy some equipment to help me make some healthful, dairy free ice cream. Well, it turned out to be the best $68 I ever spent! When I looked at the recipes that came with the machine I started to wonder if it was possible to make a tasty frozen dessert without the cream and the sugar but after experimenting a bit and trying some tricks passed on to me from my friend Bernadette, I quickly came up with a few delicious recipes.

Healthful Ice Cream

Most ice cream is loaded with cream, sugar, corn syrup, egg yolks and some even have artificial coloring.

Along with that come calories, saturated fat, cholesterol and tons of carbs. I won't try to convince you that Haagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry's taste bad. We all know how easy that finely tuned combination of fat and sugar goes down. But wouldn't you rather be able to eat something that delicious without the guilt? OK, maybe you don't have any guilt. Let me phrase it another way. Wouldn't you feel good about serving a delicious ice cream to your family knowing that it's as healthful as a bowl of fruit and a glass of dairy free milk? And if you are vegan or lactose intolerant, wouldn't it be nice to be able to enjoy ice cream again?

Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw Vegan Options for Making Healthful Ice Cream

These two recipes use unsweetened soy milk as a base. But you have many options. Just experiment using healthful ingredients that you enjoy the most. For example:

* For other vegan options, try almond, rice, coconut or hemp milk instead of soy milk.

* For a raw vegan dessert, use a raw nut milk like Raw, Fortified Almond Milk in place of the soy milk. You could also use macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, cashews or other raw nuts.

* If you eat dairy and just want a healthier ice cream, use 2% organic milk or plain yogurt or kefir instead of soy milk.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Ben and Jerry's strawberry ice cream has 230 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of which are saturated), 65 mg of cholesterol, 26 grams of carbohydrates and 25 grams of sugar per serving. This recipe has one third the calories, one tenth the fat (almost none of which is saturated), zero cholesterol and almost half the carbs and sugar. The sugar content comes from fruit, not refined sugar or corn syrup! The creamy texture comes from the added banana. The fresh fruit gives the added benefit of 2.4 grams of fiber per serving.

Mango Ice Cream

Haagen-Dazs mango ice cream has 250 calories, 14 grams of fat (8 of which are saturated), 85 mg of cholesterol (from cream and egg yolks), 28 grams of carbohydrates and 27 grams of sugar (from refined sugar and corn syrup). This recipe is less than one third the calories, only 1.3 grams of fat (only 0.2 grams of which is saturated), zero cholesterol, and less than half the carbs and sugar. The creamy texture in this recipe is from the mango. This recipe also provides two and a half grams of fiber.

Best the Same Day

Because of the low fat content, this ice cream tends to freeze pretty hard so it's best to serve it as soon as you make it. But it's not much of a concern since you probably won't have much left over. If you do have left over ice cream, put it in the freezer. Check out my technique of freezing left over ice cream in my Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream post.

Add a Shot of Omega 3 Fatty Acids

If you are trying to get more omega 3 fatty acids in your diet, add 2 tablespoons of flax oil to the mixture at the same time you add the fruit to the blender. It doesn't affect the taste at all and you get a whopping 1.8 grams of ALA Omega 3 fatty acid to each serving! Can this delicious dessert get much healthier??

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Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

[makes 8 servings]

3 pitted Medjool dates (soaked in soy milk below)

2 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk, or other milk

2 cups strawberries, cleaned and cut in half

1 medium banana, peeled and cut into 4 pieces (about 1 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

An hour or more before making the ice cream, soak the pitted dates in the soy milk. Keep refrigerated.

In a high speed blender, blend the dates and the soy milk until smooth. Add the strawberries, banana and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth. Add to the ice cream maker and process until frozen. Serve immediately. This takes around 25 minutes. To cut down the time you can freeze the fruit before blending.

Per serving: 73 calories, 1.3 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 14.6 g carbohydrates and 2.5 g of fiber.

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Vegan Mango Peach Ice Cream

[makes 8 servings]

3 pitted Medjool dates (soaked in soy milk below)

2 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk, or other milk

2 peaches, peeled and sliced (about 2 cups)

1 large mango, peeled and sliced

An hour or more before making the ice cream, soak the pitted dates in the soy milk. Keep refrigerated.

In a high speed blender, blend the dates and the soy milk until smooth. Add the peaches and mango. Blend until smooth. Add to the ice cream maker and process until frozen. Serve immediately. This takes around 25 minutes. To cut down the time you can freeze the fruit before blending.

Per serving: 78.5 calories, 1.4 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 16.1 g carbohydrates and 2.4 g of fiber.

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Caramelized Peaches with Soy Ice Cream and Almonds - A Delicious Low Calorie Vegan Dessert

Peaches are now available at your local farmer's market.

Boil each peach for 30 seconds before removing skin.

Caramelized peaches after broiling for 5 minutes.

Peaches are in Season

At the Sebastopol farmers market this weekend, it seemed like every stand was selling big, juicy peaches. Most of them were about $3 a pound but we found someone who was selling 10 pounds for $10 dollars. Only a dollar a pound, what a deal! With all of these peaches, I started thinking about simple and healthy ways of preparing them. This dessert makes a lovely presentation and takes less than 15 minutes.

I Can't Believe a Dessert This Good is Less Than 100 Calories

You wouldn't think a half of a peach with a few tablespoons of ice cream would be this satisfying, but it is. It’s a pleasurable mixture of textures and temperatures. The firm peach, the creamy ice cream and the crunch of almonds together with the frozen ice cream melting on the hot, caramelized peach delights your senses. And if you must, eat two halves. It’s still less than 200 calories, which is also considered a low calorie dessert.

Peaches - Sweet, Delicious and Rich in Fiber and Vitamins

A large peach is only 68 calories and contains high amounts of fiber (3 g) and vitamin C (11.6 mg). It’s also a good source of vitamin A (570 IU), niacin (1.4 mg) and potassium (333 mg).

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Caramelized Peaches with Ice Cream and Almonds [serves 4]

2 large peaches, 2 3/4 inches in diameter

4 teaspoons Sucanat or organic cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup soy or other non-dairy ice cream

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Boil peaches in a small sauce pan of boiling water for 30 seconds to loosen skin. Remove and skin the peaches, cut in half and discard pits. Arrange peach halves in a pie pan. In a very small bowl, combine Sucanat or sugar with the cinnamon, and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the 4 peach halves. Broil the peaches 5 inches away from the broiling element for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the peaches caramelize. Remove from the oven and place each peach half in a small, shallow serving bowl. Scoop out the soy ice cream with a mellon baller and place a small scoop (about 2 tablespoons full) on each peach half. Top with sliced almonds and serve immediately.

Per serving: 98 calories, 2.2 g fat, 0.1 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 1.9 g protein, 19.1 g carbohydrates and 2.6 g of fiber.

Ice Cream Tart with Raspberries—Vegan Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt and Goat Milk Ice Cream Options

4 1/2 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.


The pleasure of a dessert has many facets. Of course it has to be delicious but it also adds a lot to your experience if it’s beautiful. And, I must admit, there’s nothing much prettier in the dessert department than a tart!

So I went on Amazon looking for miniature tart pans. They were selling a set of six 4 ½ inch pans with removable bottoms (very important), from Golda’s Kitchen (a company in Mississauga, Ontario). I’m still experimenting with recipes, but the easiest and most tasty so far is one that uses a simple raw vegan crust made from walnuts and dates and is filled with my favorite soy ice cream. Top it with some raspberries and you have an elegant and delicious treat. Its presentation will impress your guests and they will never know it took you 10 minutes to prepare it. The soy and walnuts make this a heart healthy, guilt free dessert.

I love soy ice cream but you need to taste different brands to see which one you like as they vary in sweetness and texture. There are some terrific ones on the market now and the selection continues to grow. I like Turtle Mountain’s “So Delicious Dairy Free Creamy Vanilla” and another favorite is “Soy Dream Green Tea”.

For my non vegan friends, feel free to fill this tart with healthy, low fat frozen yogurt full of live cultures. Our local yogurt shop makes a flavor called, “simply Sebastopol”. It contains organic non fat milk and is sweetened with organic agave syrup which has a lower glycemic index than regular cane sugar.

Another non vegan option for those of you who may be allergic to cow milk or soy milk products is Laloo’s goat’s milk ice cream. Their grass fed goats roam around on 350 acres in Sonoma County, California. Their ice cream is low in fat, contains no growth hormones, has live active cultures and allows superior digestibility over cow’s milk. Many lactose intolerant people can tolerate goat’s milk. My husband picked up some “Deep Chocolate” for his tart and it was truly amazing.

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Ice Cream Tart with Raspberries
2 1/4 cups raw walnuts
9 large Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
¼ teaspoon salt
Quart of your favorite ice cream
Raspberries for garnish

Remove ice cream from the freezer and let soften. Process walnuts and salt in a food processor until course. Add dates and process until the mixture starts to stick together but be careful not to over process. This will make 3 cups of crust. Use a minimum of 1/3 cup per tart. Oil the bottom and sides of the tart pan. Press the nut mixture firmly in the bottom and place enough ice cream over the crust to fill the pan. With a very long and thin spatula (the kind used to ice a cake), spread the ice cream out until it is very smooth and completely even with the top of the pan. Place in the freezer until hard (at least 4 hours). Carefully remove the tart by placing it on top of a small glass or jar smaller than the removable disk in the tart pan (I use a large vitamin bottle) and pushing down until the tart comes out. Leave the disc on the bottom of the tart (it’s too hard to remove) and place tart in a small dish. Garnish with raspberries and serve immediately.