This Vegan Cinnamon Ice Cream is only 7 ingredients, dairy-free and oil-free and made with coconut milk and cashews! So easy, fast and delicious to make. So much healthier than dairy ice cream and makes being plant-based just as delicious.
VEGAN CINNAMON ICE CREAM
Simple, sweet and bursting with cinnamon. This dairy-freeย Cinnamon Ice Cream is the bomb. It is also proof you don’t need dairy. It couldn’t be more simple to make too. You only need a 7 ingredients:
- Full fat coconut milk
- Cashews or cornstarch
- Maple syrup
- Coconut sugar
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Vanilla
I looovee all the flecks of cinnamon throughout. Gorgeous.ย Yum. ๐
This is such a simple recipe and so satisfying. My husband LOVED it…especially considering it’s dairy free, yet still delicious. Vegan ice cream is every bit as yummy as regular ice cream. My husband who is known as an ice cream vulture, can attest to this truth.
Vegan Cinnamon Ice Cream
Ingredients
- Twoย 13.5 oz cans of ย full-fat canned coconutย milk I find Thai brand to be the best
- 1/4 cupย maple syrup
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoonsย coconut sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger spice
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2ย teaspoons vanilla extract use gluten-free if necessary
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch for corn-free, sub with 1/4 cup raw cashews
Update I no longer do the cornstarch cook version. I just use the 1/4 cup cashew version and I prefer the taste and texture, so I would suggest that option. Much easier and quicker too. Just blend and add to your ice cream maker!
Instructions
Cashew version
- For corn-free, then you can make this version. If you don't have a high-powered blender, you will need to soak the cashews for several hours in warm water, drain and rinse and proceed. Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 20-25 minutes until a soft serve consistency has been reached. Freeze for a couple of hours until firm and scoop-able.
Cornstarch version
- Combine all the ingredients, except the vanilla, into a small pot over medium heat and whisk well until there are no lumps.
- As soon as it starts to simmer, turn off the heat and whisk continuously for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla.
- Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to catch any possible lumps and thenย into an airtightย plastic container and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- After it has chilled, whisk again thoroughly to smooth out the mixture or strain again.ย Pour into your ice cream maker and see the magic happen. Mine took aboutย 25ย minutes. It will be a soft serve texture after churning in the ice cream machine. Place back in the freezer to firm up more for a few hoursย to desired consistency. If it completely freezes, set it out for a few minutes to soften some before serving. Use an ice cream scooper for best removal.
I had some leftover coconut milk last night so I made up the cornstarch version. I didn’t have an ice cream maker but it seemed to work fine… (I used your other method of keeping it in the freezer and stirring every couple hours). This kind of reminded me of coffee flavored ice cream (so I’m thinking of adding in some instant coffee too for a sort of cinnamon coffee flavor!) ๐ Anyway, this was very good. (Also I finally pre-ordered your cookbook. I’m so excited and can’t wait ”til it finally ships.)
Hi Allie, so thrilled to hear you enjoyed this, thank you so much for the awesome review! And a huge thank you for ordering my book, I really appreciate it! Yay! Be sure to email me a receipt copy so I can forward you the free bonus recipes! ๐
Do you know about the cruel treatment of monkeys used to harvest coconuts in Thailand? Because of this, i try to avoid all coconut products unless i have done the research and can confirm the coconuts used were harvested by humans. It turns out there are very few brands that are reliable (so far it seems the Philippines and Mexico are the only safe sources). Please help get the word out there and free the monkeys.
Here is more on the subject:
https://animalplace.org/did-a-monkey-pick-your-coconuts/
This sounds amazing! I plan to try it out for my family at our Thanksgiving dinner! Unfortunately, I don’t have an ice cream maker. Could a food processor work for this? Thank you ๐
Hi Lashonda! No, unfortunately a food processor won’t work like an ice cream maker. A food processor just blends ingredients but an ice cream maker chills and creates ice cream as it churns. It’s a special kind of bowl that you keep in the freezer to use in the machine. It is what makes the ice cream really creamy and not icy. The ice cream will be really icy without one. However, I do have another ice cream that I created that doesn’t need an ice cream maker.
It’s actually my #1 ice cream recipe, too!
https://thevegan8.com/2015/07/02/4-ingredient-vegan-chocolate-ice-cream/
Hi. I’ve been absolutely loving your recipes!!! Thank you for all of your hard work!
I assumed before reading through the comments section that I could simply follow your instructions (in your chocolate ice cream recipe) to make this without an ice cream maker. I got as far as chilling the cinnamon ice cream in the freezer (while stirring every 30 minutes) before reading above that it will simply turn icy.
My thought now is to just chill it in the fridge until tomorrow when I can go purchase an ice cream maker.
Any thoughts on if this might work? I’d hate to have wasted all that time (and ingredients).
~Elyse
Hi Elyse! That is so wonderful to hear, so glad you are loving my recipes! Yes, that will totally work, just chill it in the fridge and it will totally be fine! Just give it a good stir before adding it to the ice cream maker ๐ I think that should work just fine!
This recipe sounds delish and I would love to try it, but I’m confused about the ingredients. The ingredient list says to use two 13.5 oz cans of FULL FAT coconut milk, but in the reviews you mention that you don’t like the full fat coconut milk and use regular coconut milk from a carton. I do not care for the cococnut flavor, but would like a dairy free ice cream with a creamy texture. What would be the best way to accomplish this?
Thank you!
Hi Heather! I have since changed my original recipe because the light milk doesn’t freeze well and turns too icy when just lite was used. I have made this with the 2 cans of full fat milk and it was a great success. Even my non-vegan family and friends loved it. The coconut flavor is not strong either because of all the cinnamon. I do, however, love the combo of cashews and light coconut milk more and have a few of those recipes on the blog.
Here is one: https://thevegan8.com/mocha-ice-cream/
Here is also a super popular one made with no nuts: https://thevegan8.com/2015/07/02/4-ingredient-vegan-chocolate-ice-cream/
Also, this one is cashew-based and you can try this one without the pumpkin, maybe a few extra cashews and use cinnamon instead of the pumpkin spice, start with 2 teaspoons and increase if desired and see if you like that!
https://thevegan8.com/2016/10/05/vegan-pumpkin-spice-latte-ice-cream-no-churn/