I recently published my pumpkin spice Ninja Creami ice cream recipe. Naturally, a vegan pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream had to follow suit! This recipe is very similar to that one, but I wanted space to run through some ingredient notes and tips for the best vegan Ninja Creami ice cream outcome.
Vegan pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream
This recipe takes 5 minutes to mix up and tastes incredibly good. We’re using sweetened coconut condensed milk as the liquid sweetener and either homemade or canned pumpkin puree for the pumpkin component. As we will discuss below, Flora Plant Cream (not sponsored) has been my go-to choice for vegan cream in ice cream recipes. It tastes pleasantly neutral and doesn’t give off a strong flavour – perfect in this recipe.
I live in Australia where pumpkin spice isn’t widely available. As such, I’m using Sally’s Baking Addiction’s recipe for pumpkin spice. You can use whatever brand or recipe you prefer and add it according to your preferences.
Instead of the milk specified in the original recipe, we’re using water. The vegan cream and sweetened coconut condensed milk contribute sufficient fat to this recipe. That means that we can add liquid volume without adding a plant based milk flavour to the ice cream.
That’s it! A simple and delicious vegan, gluten free and nut free ice cream that nobody will detect is vegan.
Ingredient notes and tips for your vegan pumpkin Ninja Creami
- I have tested Libby’s canned pumpkin and homemade pumpkin puree (which I make in the microwave). Both work well, although I prefer homemade.
- Homemade pumpkin puree tends to be sweeter (although I don’t know if pumpkins are naturally less sweet in the USA). If you are using homemade pumpkin and don’t have a sweet tooth, I recommend using 125g sweetened condensed milk.
- Flora Plant Cream tends to whip up into a foamy mixture very easily. I recommend very gently whisking your mixture to combine before switching to a spoon (or just using a spoon). The spices won’t look fully incorporated, but they will disperse when you process the ice cream.
- The problem with bubbles developing is that it causes a foamy layer which pushes the mixture over the Ninja Creami fill line. I have processed a foamy batch of vegan ice cream with no issues, but I don’t want to suggest this and have someone damage their machine.
- Not all coconut sweetened condensed milks are created equal. Look for one with coconut milk and cane sugar – not coconut sugar. Coconut sugar creates a distracting molasses-like taste that we don’t want here. In Australia, I recommend Pandaroo brand.
Vegan cream notes
As I have mentioned, I used Flora plant cream in this recipe. This isn’t sponsored, just genuine appreciation for a great product. The plant cream here in Australia contains 30g fat per 100ml. This is roughly on par with regular thickened cream, which is generally around 35g fat per 100ml.
The Australian version uses the following ingredients: ‘Lentil milk (water, lentil Protein (1%)), vegetable oils (coconut, canola),sugar, modified corn starch, emulsifiers (sunflower lecithin, sugar esters of fatty acids, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), stabilisers (guar gum, locust bean gum), natural flavourings, salt, colour (beta-carotene).’
If you’re based overseas, use a vegan cream with similar ingredients and proportions to the above for best results. Although I haven’t tested the versions overseas, they do seem to be very similar to the variety sold here in Australia.
International readers
In the UK, there are two varieties of Flora plant cream – regular and double. You want to stay as close to 30g per 100ml fat as possible, so choose the double cream variety.
In researching, I came across Elmlea brand plant cream which also has a very similar ingredient list to Flora Plant cream. Make sure you choose the 100% plant cream version, though, as there seems to be a buttermilk version with a confusing name – ‘alternative to double cream.’
In America, it seems as though there is Flora plant cream available in a limited capacity. However, it also appears that there is a variety from Country Crock that has similar ingredients to the Flora plant cream I used. It contains 30-36g fat per 100ml. I couldn’t tell if Canada has Country Crock or Flora plant cream available because their supermarkets have blocked international users from browsing.
I couldn’t find much information on the availability of vegan cream in Europe. Flora plant cream is made in Germany but I couldn’t determine whether it is available for sale there. I suspect that is to do with the fact that I live in Australia and I end up getting more local search results.
Either way, make sure your vegan cream is at least 30% fat and has a similar ingredients list to the cream I have used. I can’t guarantee results that use something different.
More vegan Ninja Creami recipes
- Ninja Creami coconut ice cream
- Ninja Creami raspberry sorbet
- Ninja Creami vegan chocolate ice cream
- Ninja Creami vegan vanilla ice cream
- Ninja Creami vegan strawberry ice cream (see the vegan option in the notes)
Vegan pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream
Equipment
- NC300 Ninja Creami machine with 470ml size tubs
Ingredients
- 200 g pumpkin puree (see notes)
- 125-150 g coconut sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk or any other non-sweetened canned dairy product (see notes)
- 100 g Flora Plant Cream (see notes in body of post for international options)
- 75 g water
- 1 – 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice, to your tastes
- Pinch of fine salt
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Very gently whisk to avoid to agitating the vegan cream which becomes foamy very easily. You can also simply use a spoon and stir until combined.
- Pour the mixture into your 470ml Ninja Creami tub. Place into the freezer with the lid off for 16-24 hours. Leaving the lid off can help minimise the mixture developing a frozen hump in the centre which can damage the machine.
- When you are ready, process the mixture once using the ice cream function. I find this mixture only needs to be processed once, but you can re-spin if necessary.
- Return any leftovers to the freezer with the lid on.
Notes
- I have tested Libby’s and homemade pumpkin puree in this recipe. I found homemade pumpkin puree to be sweeter, so if you are using homemade and don’t have a sweet tooth I recommend using 125g sweetened coconut condensed milk instead of 150g.
- You can experiment with dropping the coconut condensed milk back to 100g if you like. I haven’t tried it but I suspect it will work.
- Not all sweetened coconut condensed milk is created equal. Look for a brand with coconut milk and cane sugar – not coconut sugar. The coconut sugar version gives off too strong of a flavour and isn’t suitable here. In Australia, I recommend Pandaroo brand.
- If you’d prefer not to use sweetened coconut condensed milk, make the vegan version of my maple pumpkin Ninja Creami recipe.
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