My love of Ninja Creami ice cream continues, so today we’re diving right into this delicious Ninja Creami coconut ice cream. If you are a coconut lover, this recipe is for you. It has a rich and ready full on coconut flavour and a beautiful creamy texture.
Ninja Creami coconut ice cream
This recipe uses three ingredients – coconut sweetened condensed milk, full fat coconut cream and coconut milk (light or regular). Salt adds flavour complexity but is an optional ingredient, making this ice cream easy to whip up from pantry staples either way.
The ice cream is gluten free, dairy free, egg free and vegan. It is bursting with creamy coconut flavour and something I recommend for coconut lovers only! This is not a subtle coconut flavour – it is full on coconut. Side note: I have a vegan vanilla Ninja Creami recipe if that’s what you’re looking for.
Ingredient notes
Each ingredient for this recipe has been specifically chosen and we’ll briefly go into why. First, the coconut condensed milk. In Australia, condensed milk implies a sweet and sticky dessert style condensed milk. It is different to evaporated milk or any other unsweetened canned milk variety.
Ninja Creami recipes (and ice cream recipes more generally) benefit from liquid sugar. It makes for a more creamy consistency that is more stable and less icy. I find this particularly important when it comes to using coconut cream and milk in ice cream. They are more prone to a slightly icy texture than regular cream and milk, in my limited experience.
An important note on the brand if you live in Australia: don’t use Coles ‘Nature’s Kitchen’ generic brand for this recipe. It seems to be a condensed milk ‘style’ and the primary ingredient is coconut nectar. The mixture is a brown colour, thinner and generally split between nectar and coconut milk, which is why I wonder if it has been condensed or just combined. Either way, it gives a strong coconut flavour and doesn’t seem to provide enough thickening capacity here.
The condensed milk should have coconut milk as the primary ingredient and sugar as the sweetener. The ingredients list should be short. I like Pandaroo brand in Australia.
Next up, the coconut cream. I have used full fat coconut cream here which is around 20-30% fat – similar to regular cream. Getting the fat content of an ice cream is important for texture and mouthfeel. Too much fat leaves a coating on the roof of your mouth. Too little fat makes an ice cream that is icy and lacks a rich consistency. It can also be a lot softer (like a coconut slushie) straight from the machine.
Finally, the coconut milk. I have tested light coconut milk and regular – both work here. Light coconut milk is also a low FODMAP product (as is full fat coconut cream) so this recipe can easily be low FODMAP (see more in the recipe notes).
What sort of coconut cream and milk should I use?
I want to discuss this very briefly because it does impact the final ice cream in various ways.
I have tested both pure, 100% coconut cream and coconut cream with thickeners and stabilisers. For the pure coconut cream, I used Ayam brand 100% natural coconut cream (in the small green tin). For the brand with stabilisers, I used TCC brand which contains cellulose gum.
My experience was that the pure coconut cream produced a slightly grittier ice cream due to the presence of real coconut bits. It also was just very faintly tinged with a grey hue from the natural coconut cream.
Personally (and if you have no restrictions) I recommend using a brand with gums added here. Gums (like guar gum or xanthan gum) are very helpful in ice cream making. They create volume and a creamy consistency/mouthfeel. This is particularly helpful when you’re making a free from ice cream as the consistency can be quite different from the regular varieties.
Both work, but the version with added gums just add a bit more smoothness and a creamier texture which I really liked.
Tips
- I recommend Pandaroo coconut condensed milk in Australia. I haven’t tried homemade dairy free condensed milk in this recipe yet.
- Coconut cream and milk with added gums makes for a creamier texture but products without gums also work.
- I find that coconut ice cream can take multiple respins to get the right texture. My research tells me this happens when a Ninja Creami is too cold, so I wonder if coconut freezes quickly. If you are having trouble with yours, leave it out on the bench for 10 minutes or so before processing.
- An interesting thing I noticed during spinning is that the powdery, icy iteration of this Ninja Creami coconut ice cream increases significantly in volume. It goes right up to the top of the tub. I have developed the recipe to sit a little under the fill line before processing to account for this. So you’re not being stooged, it is on purpose.
- A balance of fat content and sugar content is important to ensure your ice cream sets up firmly but not icily. Too much sugar creates soft ice cream. Too much fat creates a split, fatty mouthfeel and too little fat creates an icy result that lacks texture or cohesion.
- Liquid sugar (like coconut condensed milk) creates body and cohesion in ice cream which is why we’re using it. It results in a better mouthfeel here compared to using sugar. I have not tested sugar for this reason.
- Coconut products are naturally a bit sweet which is why we’re using less condensed milk than some of my other recipes.
More vegan Ninja Creami recipes
- Ninja Creami vegan vanilla ice cream
- Ninja Creami strawberry ice cream (there is a vegan option in the post)
- Ninja Creami raspberry sorbet
- My Ninja Creami vegan ice cream recipe e-book (coming very soon)
Ninja Creami coconut ice cream
Ingredients
- 175-200 g full fat coconut cream (see notes)
- 175-200 g full fat or light coconut milk (see notes)
- 80-100 g coconut condensed milk (I like Pandaroo brand, see notes)
- Pinch of salt
- Dash of vanilla bean paste or extract (optional)
Instructions
- Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Taste and adjust for salt and vanilla (if you are using it).
- Pour the mixture into a 470ml Ninja Creami tub. Freeze the mixture with the lid off for 12-24 hours.
- When you are ready to consume, take the tub out and let it thaw for 10 minutes. This is optional, but it can lessen the need for re-spinning the Creami. Often Creamis that are too cold result in that icy, powdery texture on the first spin.
- Process the ice cream on the ice cream function. If it is powdery or balled up, simply process it on ice cream again. Don't add any liquid – it will get there without it. When the consistency is smooth and creamy, you're good to go.
- Store leftovers in the freezer with the lid on.
Notes
- I recommend choosing a full fat coconut cream with around 20-25g fat per 100g. I have tested TCC brand coconut cream (with gums) and Ayam brand coconut cream (without gums). Read the notes in the body of the post for more information.
- You can use regular or light coconut cream here. Again, I have tested TCC with gums and Ayam without gums.
- I have not tested a version of this ice cream without coconut condensed milk.
- I recommend Pandaroo brand in Australia because it is made in a similar fashion to regular condensed milk. Coles brand uses coconut nectar as their primary ingredient. There is more nectar than there is milk. It gives a super coconut flavour and a higher fructose content (which doesn’t matter to everyone but it does to a FODMAPpy gal like me).
- On that note, this ice cream can be low FODMAP in the right serves. Coconut condensed milk is low FODMAP in 40g serves. It contains moderate fructans in serves of 85g or more.
- Full fat coconut cream and light coconut milk (without inulin, which is different to gums) are both low FODMAP in serves of up to 500g. So, choose these and your ice cream is low FODMAP in serves of 1/2 the tub or a little less (depending on how much condensed milk you use).
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