Ninja Swirl frozen yogurt

I recently purchased a Ninja Swirl to offer more Ninja ice cream recipes. It has taken me a while to get the hang of the machine, but now that I’m well versed I have so many recipes to share. Let’s start with this Ninja swirl frozen yogurt, shall we?

Tips for the Ninja Swirl

First, let’s start with some tips. I have learnt a lot of things from experimenting with this machine and I want to pass them along.

• Perhaps controversial, but I find it better to use the ‘scoop’ setting even if I am making a swirl. I find that the ‘swirl’ setting processes the mixture for too long and makes it too soft. This is of particular issue when making a higher fat recipe – the long spinning time starts to churn the mixture into butter. The result is a greasy mouthfeel even with recipes that are lower fat than those I make in my Ninja Creami machine. So, I recommend using the scoop function for everything and just allowing it to soften slightly on the bench of need be.
• It is ideal (although not always realistic) to allow your Ninja Swirl tubs to dry for at least a full day before using them. This is because freshly washed tubs have residual water droplets in the mechanism at the bottom which subsequently freeze into sheets of ice as your mixture freezes. This makes it really hard to open them in order to make soft serve.
• In summer, I’d recommend processing your mixture 30-60 minutes before you want to make soft serve. If you start making soft serve, decide it’s too soft and return it to the freezer, the mixture in the nozzle and bottom pipe for the soft serve is the first to freeze. The machine can’t press it out and you end up with an error message. In my experience, it is better to err on the side of caution and chill the processed mixture before starting.

The impact of sugar on ice cream

Boring I know, but we have to discuss how sugar works in an ice cream recipe. It plays such a critical role and learning how to control it will mean getting the most out of your recipe.

Sugar lowers the freezing point of a mixture. With every gram of sugar you add, the mixture is slightly less able to freeze solid. Add too much sugar and the mixture is physically incapable of freezing at all.

Compared to some of my other Ninja Creami recipes, this Ninja Swirl frozen yogurt is quite low in sugar. However, it is still the ingredient that can make or break your frozen yoghurt.

I have tested this recipe with high protein lactose free Greek yogurt (full fat) and coconut yoghurt. Plant based yoghurts generally contain thickeners, starches and sweeteners to create a velvety texture and a pleasant taste. This means that a plain coconut yoghurt has a little more sugar than a Greek yoghurt. A sweetened plant based yoghurt has more sugar still.

The point is that you need to assess the sugar content of your yogurt and adjust the added sugar accordingly. If you have a super sweet yoghurt, you probably don’t need to add any sugar at all.

If you like things super sweet, my new trick is to use glucose syrup or corn syrup (not the same as high fructose corn syrup). Liquid sugars add viscosity, thickness and body to ice cream recipes. My experience is that a combination of caster sugar and corn or glucose syrup allows you to push the sweetness of your ice cream without adversely impacting the freezing potential.

Ingredient notes for your Ninja Swirl frozen yogurt

• To make the recipe as outlined in the recipe card, choose a plain Greek yoghurt.
• To use coconut or a plant based yoghurt, check the sugar content before you start. If it contains sugars (real sugar or allulose) add less sugar to suit. Using too much sugar will result in a mixture that won’t set and your frozen yoghurt will be too soft.
• If your yoghurt is a super sweetened flavour (for example, a Gippsland Dairy twist flavour) don’t add extra sugar at all. Proceed with caution, too – it may struggle to set (watch this space as I am testing this).
• I LOVE using a combination of caster sugar or white sugar and glucose syrup or light corn syrup. The caster sugar brings sweetness and the syrup brings viscosity and body with a little extra sweetness. I love this combination for a great textured ice cream or froyo.
• Glucose syrup is commonly available in Australian supermarkets. It can be annoying to use, but I recommend putting the base of the container and two spoons in hot water. Dry off the spoons before you use them to scoop out the glucose syrup. This makes the process much easier and less sticky.
• In the US, corn syrup is more commonly available. Choose light corn syrup and choose one without high fructose corn syrup (particularly for low FODMAP). I use Karo light syrup (light refers to the colour and flavour rather than calories).

Dietary notes

To make this recipe low FODMAP, choose a lactose free plain yoghurt.

To make a low FODMAP dairy free frozen yoghurt, I recommend plain coconut yogurt. Check the label to ensure there is no sneaky high FODMAP ingredients like inulin or chicory fibre. Monash says that coconut yogurt is low FODMAP in serves of up to 200g per person. This recipe contains 500g yoghurt for the whole container.

To make the recipe dairy free, use a dairy free yoghurt of your choice. Read the notes above on sugar before choosing your yoghurt. I have only tested plain coconut yogurt and I used 25g sugar and 25g corn syrup.

Most yoghurts should be gluten free and nut free (flavour dependent) but check the label to be sure when catering to allergies.

More Ninja Creami recipes

• Ninja Creami protein ice cream, 5 ways
• Ninja Creami custard ice cream
• Ninja Creami açai bowl
• Ninja Creami coconut ice cream
• Ninja Creami mango ice cream