Oat Milk Vanilla Ice Cream (Ninja Creami, Dairy-Free Program)

Oat milk on its own has too little fat for ice cream, so this base borrows half a cup of coconut cream to bring the fat to roughly 10 percent, adds a third of a cup of sugar plus a tablespoon of syrup to lower the freezing point, and uses a quarter teaspoon of guar gum to keep ice crystals small. We tested it on the Ninja Creami NC601 using the Dairy-Free program, the only program in the current range built for plant bases, and it came out creamy on the first 160 second spin with zero re-spins. Each serving is an estimated 225 kcal, 2 g protein, 27 g carbs and 12 g fat.

Tested recipe

Oat Milk Vanilla Ice Cream

A smooth dairy-free vanilla ice cream built on full-fat oat milk and coconut cream, stabilised with a quarter teaspoon of guar gum.

Dairy-Free (Lite Ice Cream plus one re-spin on other models)NC6010 re-spins

Prep

5 min

Freeze

24 h

Process

3 min

Total

24 h 8 min

Servings

4 per pint

16 oz pint24 oz XL tub

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (300 g) full-fat oat milk (barista style)
• 1/2 cup (120 g) coconut cream, the thick part from a chilled can
• 1/3 cup (67 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp (20 g) light corn syrup or maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp (1 g) guar gum
• 2 tsp (8 g) vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp fine salt

Equipment

• Ninja Creami NC601
• 24 oz Deluxe XL tub (16 oz pint on NC301 and NC351)

Method

1. Add the oat milk, coconut cream, sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt to a blender.
2. Sprinkle the guar gum over the surface so it does not clump.
3. Blend on high for 30 seconds until the coconut cream has fully dissolved.
4. Pour the base into the tub or pint, stopping at the max fill line.
5. Lid the container and freeze it for 24 hours on a level surface.
6. Lock the frozen tub into the outer bowl, fit it to the machine and press Dairy-Free (Lite Ice Cream on the NC301, NC351, NC501 or NC701).
7. On a model without Dairy-Free, press Re-spin once, adding 1 tbsp oat milk first if the top is powdery.
8. Scoop, or lid and refreeze.

Nutrition per serving (estimated)

Calories

225 kcal

Protein

2 g

Carbs

27 g

Fat

12 g

Program: Dairy-Free (Lite Ice Cream plus one re-spin on other models) · Tested on NC601 · By Mike Lala

Tips

• Freeze the tub on a level shelf and check the surface is flat before you process. A sloped top gave us a soft wedge on one side in an earlier oat test, and the Dairy-Free program cannot correct for that in one cycle.
• Use the Dairy-Free program if your model has one. On the NC601 our standard oat base scored 4 out of 5 with zero re-spins; on the Lite Ice Cream program of the NC351 the same base needed one re-spin and a tablespoon of oat milk to reach the same score.
• If the top is powdery after the first spin, re-spin once before adding liquid. Add 1 tbsp of oat milk only before a second re-spin; adding it before the first re-spin made our pint soft and glossy rather than scoopable.
• Chill the can of coconut cream overnight and use only the solid part. The watery layer at the bottom dilutes the fat and the pint comes out icier.
• The center of the tub stays slightly soft on the NC601 straight after the spin. Ten minutes back in the freezer with the lid on firmed it up for clean scoops.

Variations

• Oat milk chocolate: whisk 3 tbsp (18 g) of cocoa powder into the oat milk, warmed for 45 seconds first so it dissolves, and raise the sugar to 1/2 cup (100 g).
• Vanilla bean: scrape one vanilla pod into the blender in place of the extract for the speckled look of our classic vanilla bean ice cream.
• Coffee oat: replace 1/4 cup (60 g) of the oat milk with cold brew concentrate.

Storage and refreeze

After scooping, press the remaining ice cream flat with the back of a spoon so the surface is level, then lid the tub and put it back on a flat shelf at 0 F. Give it a full 24 hours before the next spin. When you process it again, use the Dairy-Free program, or Lite Ice Cream plus one re-spin on other models, exactly as on day one. Plant bases lose more texture on refreezing than dairy bases, which is why the guar gum matters: our stabilised tub was still smooth after three refreeze cycles, while the tub without it had visible ice crystals by the second. If you process the full XL tub for a group, it serves six; the 16 oz pint quantities serve four.

The model and pints we used

We made this in the 24 oz XL tubs that ship with the NC601, which also fit the NC501 but not the 16 oz machines; the Deluxe XL tubs page lists the spare 2-pack, and the pints page covers the original pints for the NC301 and NC351 if you are using the pint quantities. The NC601 measured 83 dB at 1 m during processing. The fat and sugar targets this recipe follows, including the plant-base column, are in our base ratios cheat sheet, and the rest of our plant-based recipes are in the dairy-free hub.

Frequently asked questions

Related recipes