This Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream is dairy-free and made from fruit and natural unrefined sugar! Healthy and made with cashews, yogurt and coconut milk!
VEGAN BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM
I’ve been sitting on this recipe for about a month and am excited to share it today. I shared a teaser pic on Facebook and my goodness, I had no idea how excited you would all get over blueberries….ok, who am I kidding, it’s the fact it is ice cream, let’s be real.
I love it when I can take 2 of my favorite cream cheese flavors on this blog and combine them into ICE CREAM. That is just what I did with today’s recipe. This recipe was inspired after my recent Strawberry Cream Cheese recipe and my original Blueberry Cream Cheese recipe. I combined both of those to create not just a blueberry ice cream, but a blueberry cheesecake ice cream. Oh my goodness, one word….delicious.
TANGY AND CREAMY FOR THAT CHEESECAKE FLAVOR
The yogurt and lemon juice help to give it extra tang and body, so that it doesn’t just taste like frozen blueberries. Now, I didn’t use strawberries in this recipe…that wasn’t the inspirational part from that cream cheese…it was the yogurt! Yogurt flat out gives such amazing body and tang to everything. And remember, it was the one of the magic ingredients in the Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake. However, several had trouble finding “plain” yogurt, but guess what, this one you can use sweetened or vanilla or even plain and should be totally fine.
Speaking of, I almost wished I had saved that Cheesy Mexican Tortilla Bake for my cookbook!! I guess I still possibly could put it in there since I’m putting some of the most popular, hmmm, we will see. I knew it was delicious, but the response has been phenomenal and more than I expected. Could it possibly surpass the Garlic Alfredo #1 spot for all of these years?! Hahahahaha. It has been made easily by over a hundred of you and it’s been a joy to read all of the wonderful comments on that post saying your non-vegan husbands and non-vegan kids/teenagers are scarfing it down. Soooo, if you haven’t made it yet, DO IT.
BLUEBERRY AND GRAPE VEGAN ICE CREAM
Back to this Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.
A little surprising ingredient that you’ll notice above…to further amp up the natural sweetness and flavor of the ice cream, I added black grapes! The black grapes give an additional boost of color as well. I felt the blueberries alone made it too light of a color that I wanted. It was like gray, lol. But when I added the black grapes, it gave it a beautiful warm lavender color and I thought it was gorgeous and natural. It gets even more purple-rich after it freezes.
So, what do we need? Easy and simple ingredients using whole foods and unrefined sugars:
- cashews
- dairy-free yogurt
- plant-based milk
- lemon juice
- maple syrup
- blueberries
- black grapes
- vanilla extract
To make this Vegan Blueberry Ice cream, you just need a blender and about 10 minutes.
Add your cashews, yogurt, non-dairy milk, lemon juice, maple syrup, blueberries, black grapes, vanilla and optional coconut sugar and salt to a blender, like a Vitamix. You will need to soak your cashews overnight if you don’t have a high-powered blender. Blend everything until smooth and then pour it into a container and freeze it.
How easy is that? No churn so no worrying if you don’t have an ice cream maker!
I hope you all really love this Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream! To say my hubby and daughter loved this would be the understatement of the year!
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) raw, unsalted cashews
- 3/4 cup (180g) "lite" canned coconut milk or cashew milk
- 1/2 cup (120g) vanilla dairy-free yogurt (any type should work)
- 2 tablespoons (30g) lemon juice (use 3 for a more tart flavor)
- 1 cup (150g) blueberries
- 1/2 heaped cup (90g) black grapes (this is what additionally helps the purple color and natural sweetness)
- 1/4 cup (80g) pure maple syrup or agave
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- optional: 2 tablespoons (20g) coconut sugar for a sweeter ice cream (I felt the ice cream was plenty sweet with all of the fruit, so taste the mixture before adding the sugar)
Instructions
- If you do not have a high-powered blender, then you will need to soak your cashews for 8 hours or overnight (preferred) in a bowl of warm water to soften them first. Otherwise, your ice cream will be gritty. Drain and rinse the cashews and proceed. No need to soak them if you have a high-powered blender.
- Add all of the ingredients (except the sugar) to your blender and process until 100% smooth. Taste and if you feel you want it sweeter, add the sugar. The grapes are very sweet, so I didn't feel it was absolutely necessary but of course my daughter liked it better with the sugar.
- Now, if you have an ice cream maker, then by all means, use it. Your ice cream texture will be even better AND more creamy, but if you don't have one, it will still work. Pour into a tight-fitting container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream and a tight lid. Place in the freezer for about an hour and stir the ice cream around really well, as the edges will start to firm up first. Add back to the freezer and do this every 30 minutes to an hour until it is solid or at your desired consistency. A few hours should do it, depending on your freezer temp. After that, if you let it freeze overnight, you may need to let it sit out at room temperature for about 15 minutes or so to soften a bit before eating. Again, this will depend on how cold you keep your freezer.
Notes
This recipe looks AH-mazing. So creative!!!
Aww, thank you so much Stephanie! That is so kind of you!
Yogurt is not vegan. I’m sure you know that. Am I missing something here?
Yes, I do know that regular yogurt is not, which is why I used dairy-free soy yogurt. It says “vanilla dairy-free yogurt (Soy or coconut will work)” on the recipe. There are a lot of vegan yogurts on the market. Soy, coconut, cashew, almond, etc. made by So Delicious or SILK brands.
And just when I thought I could love this spectacular purple stuff any more you snuck in extra fruit in the form of my favorite (underrated, I might add) color of grapes too! Gah I am in love less sugar needed, which I am all about. Besides the double fruit factor and of course the color though, I am really intrigued by the ingredient base. I’ve seen cashew ice creams and tons of coconut milk ones too, but not many that combine them both AND the added creamy tang of yogurt sounds totally unique and delicious. I would never ever skip that pinch of salt–makes all ice cream things so good! This is the most beautiful and flavor balanced blueberry ice cream, I want a bowl right now…a late dinner of sorts 😀
Haha, yes, perfect for dinner! 😉 Seriously, all that fruit, especially the added grapes really did make it sweet. I found just the 1/4 cup of syrup made it sweet enough but that extra 2 tbsp of sugar made my daughter and hubby REALLY like it, lol! Black grapes are my hubby’s favorite, too! In fact, he won’t really eat the green or red ones. The black ones are SO sweet, they are like sugar, so they worked so well in here. I’m thinking an all grape one would be delicious and gorgeous! I need to try that next, hmmmm 🙂 Thanks girl!!
Oh man. This looks so good. I love blueberries and am so intrigued by the grapes in this recipe!
Thank you Becky! It really kicked up the flavor a lot! And color, haha!
This looks so delicious! I love blueberries and love the addition of grapes in here–yum! 🙂 Plus, I love the “cheesecake” trick; I’ve used that before and it works like a charm! Pinning this one for sure, love it! 🙂
Thank you so much Heather! You are so kind!
I almost want to make this and use it as decor in my kitchen it’s so pretty! But I’m guessing I’d need to live in a freezer for that to work so fine, I’ll just eat it 😉 Looks and sounds delicious! I’m dying at the irony of this though with the sneak peek I posted of a recipe coming up in a few weeks, but you and I have crossed brains before so I’m actually not that surprised! LOL #soulsistas #samebrain #icecreamlovers
Haha, aww thanks, it would be a pretty melted purple mess and look like Barney threw up, lol! Yes! We have done this so many times, lmao! The pumpkin muffins and brownies I think too and well, that’s because you what they say…great minds think alike….#supersmartwomen
You are an absolutely MAGICIAN!!! I LOVE blueberries and I can only imagine how scrumptious this ice cream tastes!
Oh, you are the sweetest Casey, thank you so much! I don’t know about magician, lol, but I love ice cream and needed something other than indulgent chocolate for once, haha! I hope you try this!
We both have cheesecake on the brain! This looks awesome. It’s such a pretty colour. I love how you achieved that with the grapes. Such a great idea.
Ha! Awesome! The grapes really surprised me as well!
Yum! I had to pin this recipe before I even commented 😉 Looks deliciously creamy! Our neighbors just gave us a bunch of blueberries from their backyard and this looks like the perfect recipe to make with them! Love it, Brandi!
Thank you so much Vanessa!
That color! This looks so good, Brandi. I love blueberries, seriously, I eat several handfuls a day, so this is definitely getting made soon. Thanks!
Thank you so much Linda!
This sounds and looks wonderful. I’m surprised that it wasn’t purple enough without the grapes, but genius to add them.
Thank you so much Ellen! I’ve seen other vegan blueberry ice creams and I think why they appear so much more purple (or edited that way) is because they use a lot more blueberries. I didn’t want to use too many blueberries because then it would make the ice cream more icy. I added enough to give it the blueberry flavor I wanted, but the color was too mild. Bingo, grapes helped!
Blueberries and cheesecake flavor are made for one another! This is a brilliant recipe idea. I love the way you added yogurt and agree that salt really is a flavor key that people forget about a lot in ice cream and mock cheesecake.
Thank you so much Alisa! Yes, salt enhances everything and to me, makes everything taste better.
Totally full of all my favourite ingredients.
There’s something about blueberries too – just YES to those! I love the way you have arranged it in a long dish with fresh blueberries scattered nicely on the top too. I think I’d like that whole dishful please 🙂
Aww, thank you Trinity so much! I am so glad you like the presentation lady!!
Thank you for this recipe. It is absolutely delicious! I am really enjoying this today!
Yay Valerie! So very happy to hear you made it and loved it! Thank you so much for leaving your feedback!
Oh, Brandi, this was DEVINE! Even my non-vegan husband said it tasted exactly like blueberry cheesecake! This is a perfect recipe for summertime. I whipped up 1.5 batches to fit in my ice cream machine. (We were so anxious to try it we cheated instead of using the freezer method. :0) Since we both prefer less sweetness I didn’t add the coconut sugar and boy, oh, boy did the fruit shine through! Believe it or not I had never tried black grapes, but now they will be going into my morning smoothies. Thanks for another winner! I daresay it is now tied with your chocolate mocha ice cream, which in my humble opinion, is the BEST vegan ice cream recipe on the planet! 🍨
Yay Colleen! I always love reading your comments, they always make my day! So, so happy you and your hubby loved this so much! This was a big hit with my husband as well, since he loves fruit so much. I agree too, that is why I made the sugar optional, because to me, it really doesn’t need it. Aren’t black grapes amazing?? So, so sweet on their own and really gave a lot of sweetness naturally to the ice cream. I would even borderline call this ice cream “healthy” haha! Thanks so much for the awesome review! Oh yes, that IS the best ice cream on the planet, I won’t argue and you will be soooo excited because my cookbook is featuring a similar version to that one!! 😉
Thanks for the feedback about the optional sugar. I was afraid it would be too sweet with it but was worried it wouldn’t be sweet enough without it. I’m glad I read the comments because I’m going to make it without the sugar! Thank u!
Loved this—had it 5 hours after making—more like soft serve. Next time will have it more like regular ice cream. So delicious! Pure and natural, no artificial anything. Easy to make as well. Nice to not schlep the ice cream maker out. Sometimes I can’t find room for the ice cream maker in the fridge, but was able to put a round glass dish in that held the 3 cups nicely.
Your detailed instructions are so appreciated—I liked how you gave a heads-up on stirring the sides that would freeze first.
The big question: do you and your family just have half a cup as a serving? We’re pretty good with portion control and are used to having just half a cup of ice cream (and this is so much more satisfying than commercial ice cream), but I can see where it would be tempting to have more….
This is awesome Ellen, so happy it was such a hit! Thank you so much for leaving this wonderful review. I know, right? I pretty much have been making all my ice creams without my ice cream maker now.
As far as servings, half a cup is at the very most that I would have personally. I love to make and create ice cream flavors, but I honestly am not a big eater of it..meaning I have a few bites and am good. I am more of a brownie/cookie person, where I want to devour them all, haha! But 1/2 cup is a fair portion and what is always listed on ice cream cartons in the store, so that’s why I put that. Also, my daughter is good with about 1/2 cup. I have taught her pretty well about self-control, so she usually just gets a small amount and is satisfied. Just depends on the person I guess 🙂
Good gracious this looks AMAZING!! I love that it’s such a healthy treat! I love food and eating healthy is so important to me (Check out my yummy Peaches + Kale Summer Smoothie Recipe here –> https://healthyhabits.sendlane.com/view/healthyhabits) Thank you so much for sharing – can’t wait to try this one!!
xxo -Amber
Thank you so much Amber!!
Loved this recipe Brandi!! I made it in my ice created maker and it was perfect. As a bigger compliment, right after my kids finished their B&J’s pint, they ate some of yours and said how good yours was 😀😀
Thanks for another winner!!
Yay Sue! Love to hear that, thank you so much!
This looks amazing! I have a kid at home with cashew allergy. What can I substitute this with?
Hi Donna! This ice cream really won’t work without the cashews, as they are the main ingredient that makes it creamy and like ice cream. Unfortunately, no other nut will yield the same results. I do have a couple of other ice cream recipes on the blog that I created without cashews though, they are both chocolate. This one is my most popular ice cream recipe: https://thevegan8.com/2015/07/02/4-ingredient-vegan-chocolate-ice-cream/
Oh wow! This looks so delicious Brandi 😀 I absolutely love coconut and cashew based ice creams 🙂
Thank you so much Nadia, I do too!
HOLY COW, 🐮this was another hit at my house! I made this yesterday to be dessert followed by your Lentil Loaf for dinner – if you’ve been waiting to try either of these dishes – hesitate no more!
We followed your directions to the T ( mixing every hour etc) and we ate it 6 hours after initially putting in the freezer. It was not the conisistency of soft serve (like most banana based vegan iice creams. Our dinner guest, a dairy consuming ice cream aficionado had this to say… ” OMG, what is in this ice cream, it so friggin good!”
1/2 cup serving? I think not, we couldn’t help ourselves last night – we will have to increase our walking today to burn off the extra calories. We couldn’t control ourselves, lol.
Again, thank you for the no oil recipes!!
Thank you for creating this deliciousness.
Yay!! I’m beyond thrilled to hear how much you all loved this ice cream!! Hahaha, that is too funny! Thank you Persiphone for leaving these lovely reviews, it means so much!
Do you think I could sub the 1 cup of cashews for 1/2 cup of cashew butter? I have a high speed thermo blender but I need to make huge quantities for it to mix properly without everything getting splattered to the sides within 2 seconds and thus not blending nuts properly.
I have fresh blueberries I picked last week and would love to make this ice cream!
Ok, so I went ahead and used 1/2 c cashew butter (I usually use half the volume if I’m subbing butter for whole nuts).
I can’t get my hands on light coconut milk so I went with a half/half mixture of soy milk and soy cooking cream, which is what I usually use for ice cream with great success.
And I used 70g homemade vanilla sugar instead of a liquid sweetener because I didn’t have any vanilla extract. It’s more processed but I like the texture it gives to vegan ice cream.
Turned out superbly with a great cheesecake taste!
Hi Estelle, sorry I didn’t see your comment right away. Glad to hear it worked out and you loved the ice cream!!
Hi Brandi,
All your recipes are just soooooo amazing! I’d like to try this next but there’s no soy or coconut yoghurt in my area. What can I use as a substitute?
That is so kind, thank you so much Tee! Any dairy-free yogurt will work, it doesn’t have to be soy or coconut!
Hi Brandi! Wonder how this would work if I used an ice cream machine and poured it into small popsicle molds? Have you tried that? Thx for another great recipe!
Hi Mimi, I think that sounds like a fantastic idea!!
Well, you did it again! Another fantastic recipe! My oldest who is 17 & not vegan, but vegan at home, LOVED it! He thought it tasted more like a REALLY good berry frozen yogurt (which, I guess is kind of like blueberry cheesecake ice cream). 🙂 My husband and I tried it last night, and totally agree…AMAZING! We didn’t try it the night before because we were busy chowing down on your chocolate ice cream, which is more like a heavenly gelato!!!
That’s so awesome to hear, thank you Kelley!!
whwn u say “and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream ” do you iterally mean directly on the ice cream so its touching it and then put the cover on ?
Yes! 🙂
Wow. It is so so delicious. I Divided the recipe so I could share with my daughters and their family. They don’t do a whole food plant-based so I only gave them a little to taste. Well after I made it it was so good one family didn’t get any at all I eat it the other family liked it so much she wanted the recipe and now they’re making it it really is good and easy I loved it thank you so much and I don’t have a high-speed blender I just had a regular blender
So very wonderful to hear this Jeanie, thank you!
I can’t believe that this ice cream is dairy free! Tastes exactly like cheese cake! And the color is gorgeous! You are a genius Brandi! Your recipes never disappoint! Thank you!!!
Soooooo Gooood!!! Thank You!
Yay!