The BEST Dairy-Free Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
my ice cream base and endless ways to riff off it
My brother, the self-professed family-ice-cream-maker-extraordinaire, claims that my dairy-free ice cream is equivalent to his dairy base.
His qualifications? He asked our mom for an ice cream maker for his birthday (when he was 8) and burnt the motor out within 3 years (so clearly he's made a lot of ice cream in his day), and while the boy has only made one ice cream flavor to date (pistachio to be specific), it's damn good ice cream.
So count me thrilled that he thinks this meets his ice cream standards!
And, I don’t throw around the term “best” lightly; I truly do mean it when I say that this is the BEST freakin dairy-free vanilla ice cream!!
Welcome back to another peek into my recipe development process - we’re chatting all things base recipes, aka my cheat sheet to the baking universe.
The moment you have a solid base recipe, you’re golden! You can riff off that base in a million different ways.
So I give to you my dairy-free vanilla ice cream base (recipe here) that I spent a silly amount of time developing because it needed to be close to perfection - deep flavor, perfect texture, silky smooth, etc. Plus, this base recipe is dairy-free and refined sugar-free. But, it can still be made with regular dairy ingredients if you prefer/your stomach can handle it (jealous).
Now you can obviously just go make that ice cream I linked above, but I wanted to expand more on how this ice cream works so you can use it as your base recipe and riff off it all summer!
ingredients, why they work, ratios, etc.
Like most custard-based ice creams, this base starts off with egg yolks, cream, sugar (in this case, honey), and salt. Yep, that’s literally all you need to make fabulous ice cream - just 4 ingredients and a few flavor agents (like vanilla).
my golden ratio!
My ratio of ingredients that I swear by is 5 egg yolks, 3 1/4 cups of my homemade nut milk, 1/2 cup honey, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. It works every time and is so easy to play around with to create different flavors!!
and now for the ingredients, because your ice cream is only as good as your ingredients
Most traditional ice creams use a mixture of milk (typically 2%) and heavy cream - to replicate this with a dairy-free alternative, I made my own homemade nut milk (as one does) that perfectly replicates the milk and heavy cream combo and yields very similar results. And before you ask, yes, I’ve experimented with store-bought dairy-free milk/creams and NOTHING beats my homemade nut milk! It’s an extra step in prep, but so worth it.
Now the not-so-secret ingredient in this custard ice cream is the egg yolks - not only do they make this ice cream rich and creamy, they also help stabilize the base.
And lastly, the sugar. Sugar plays a vital role in this ice cream - obviously, it’s a sweetener (duh), but it also acts as a flavor agent. So, depending on the flavor of ice cream you’re making, you can swap in different sweeteners that complement the flavor profile you’re building. For instance, I LOVE marrying together cardamom, pistachios, and honey - it’s a match made in heaven. So using honey in my pistachio ice cream is a no-brainer. However, if you’re making cookies n' cream ice cream, granulated cane sugar or even coconut sugar would work better.
Ok, last, last thing, flavor agents. Most ice cream will typically use vanilla extract or ground vanilla bean (my personal favorite), paired with another agent (like cocoa powder for chocolate ice cream, matcha for green tea ice cream, etc.).
Sharing a handy dandy list below with some ice cream flavors you can make using my base recipe (which is here btw).
endless possibilities
Ok, now for the fun stuff, riffing off this base - leaving a handy dandy list of my favorite flavors and ice cream things below, along with recommended sweeteners and complementary flavor agents!
Berries n’ cream ice cream - vanilla bean ice cream w/ berry compote rippled through
Make a simple berry compote using either blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, or strawbs (this recipe here is a good guide on making compote for ice cream), and ripple that through the ice cream right before churning.
Cherries, chocolate, and cream – vanilla bean ice cream w/ cherry compote and chocolate syrup spooned over
Make the ice cream as directed, stew some pitted and halved cherries with a sprinkle of sugar or honey until jammy and the juices become syrupy, spoon over the ice cream, along with a drizzle of melted dark chocolate.
More mix-ins than ice cream – a cookie monster type vanilla bean ice cream
Make the ice cream as directed, but after it’s done churning (and before freezing), fold in crumbled chocolate chip cookies, chopped dark chocolate, etc.
Recommend using cane sugar or coconut sugar (if you want to keep this refined sugar-free).
Matcha ice cream – for all my matcha girlies
Once you’ve cooked the custard, take it off the heat, remove 1 cup of the custard, and whisk in 1 tbsp of matcha (I would use Ippodo’s Sayaka matcha), then dump it back into the custard and whisk well. Then strain and continue as directed in the recipe.
Honey works best as the sweetener for this flavor.
Mint chip ice cream – a highly underrated flavor, that when done right, is exceptional!
Before churning the ice cream base, whisk in 1 tsp of mint extract. Once the base has churned, fold in 3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate (or dark mint chocolate) by hand. Then continue as directed in the recipe.
Honey or cane sugar works best as a sweetener here.
Cookies n’ cream ice cream – oreos in vanilla bean ice cream, need I say more?
Once the ice cream is done churning, fold in 1 1/4 cups roughly chopped oreos or your favorite sandwich cookie.
Recommend using cane sugar or coconut sugar (if you want to keep this refined sugar-free).
Coffee ice cream - exactly what it sounds like, coffee vanilla bean ice cream
Add 1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) finely ground coffee to the milk mixture when heating to infuse the milk.
Recommend using coconut sugar or cane sugar as a sweetener here.
If you have any questions about a flavor you want to make, lemme know!
Happy summer peeps! :)
-Yasmeen