It took me a minute to get my head around the Ninja Swirl machine. Having worked with my beloved Ninja Creami machine for so long, it took a moment to get into the headspace. Now that I have spent some time with the machine, I am thrilled to publish this delicious recipe for Ninja Swirl vanilla soft serve.
This recipe uses thickened cream, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and glucose syrup or light corn syrup. Xanthan gum is an optional ingredient but it really produces a smooth and unctuous soft serve that pipes perfectly and tastes incredible.
Ingredient notes for your Ninja Swirl vanilla soft serve
The magic ingredients in this recipe are the glucose or corn syrup and the xanthan gum. Although the recipe works without xanthan gum, it creates a smooth, soft serve texture that comes out of the machine like a dream. You can do what works best for you, but it does make a truly tangible difference.
The mixture without xanthan gum is pipes out of the machine in a more uneven, bumpy looking way. It still tastes delicious, but it doesn’t have that perfect soft serve look. It is also slightly less textured and chewy. Anecdotally, I felt that the mixture without xanthan gum also melted just a bit quicker than the version with it.
The second magic ingredient is the glucose syrup or light corn syrup (not high fructose corn syrup). Liquid sugars are such an incredible ingredient for Ninja Creami recipes (and ice cream recipes more broadly). They improve the texture and volume of your ice cream for a much more smooth and delicious result. In my experience, you can also add more of them than you would a regular sugar, which means you can push the sugar content a little higher (perfect for a sweet tooth).
Is there a substitute for the glucose syrup/corn syrup?
If you don’t want to use glucose syrup or corn syrup and caster sugar, you can use sweetened condensed milk. Simply make the recipe as is, but omit the caster sugar and syrup and use 125g sweetened condensed milk instead.
Remember that sweetened condensed milk is not the same as evaporated milk or any other canned milk product. When making this version of the recipe, 100% of the sugar is coming from the sweetened condensed milk. Without the sugar in it, your ice cream will have zero sweetness.
Ice cream science
I know I always yap on about this but I do think it is important, particularly with this machine.
Sugar is a key ingredient in an ice cream because it lowers the freezing temperature of the mixture. The more sugar you add, the less your mixture is able to set. This is why measuring is important and why you can’t just add sugar according to what your heart tells you.
The second important ingredient is the cream (and the overall fat content of your mixture). Fat contributes richness, texture and mouthfeel to an ice cream as well as carrying flavour. Too much fat, however, can cause your mixture to split and become grainy. It can also coat the roof of your mouth with an unpleasant texture.
Too much fat is an issue in a Ninja Creami or a Ninja Swirl because the speed of the blades can easily churn the cream into butter. The result is an ever increasing film of fat on the roof of your mouth with every spoonful.
Something I have noticed with the Ninja Swirl machine is that the function for spinning soft serve spins the mixture for too long. A spin for soft serve ice cream takes 5 minutes, whereas a spin for scoop ice cream takes 2 minutes. In this time, I find the machine over-processes the mixture and splits the cream.
So, my solution is to spin the ice cream on scoop and then (if necessary) allow it to sit and soften for 5-10 minutes. The result is a creamy soft serve that doesn’t split. Hallelujah!
Ninja Swirl tips
- As discussed, I highly recommend spinning cream based recipes on the scoop setting, regardless of what you are making. The soft serve setting spins the cream for too long and you end up with a fatty film on the roof of your mouth.
- In summer with a higher sugar recipe, I would spin it and return it straight to the freezer for 30 minutes before making soft serve. Sugar inhibits the ability of a mixture to properly freeze, which means it will be softer after processing. Giving it some extra time in the freezer before making soft serve will result in a firmer soft serve.
- That said, this can sometimes mean that your Swirl mixture becomes a bit too firm to make soft serve. If you get an error message as you start processing it, don’t panic! Just allow it to soften for 5-10 minutes before trying again.
- Don’t forget to close the bottom of your Ninja Swirl tub before pouring mixture in. Yes, this has happened to me once already!
- Allowing your Ninja Swirl tubs to fully dry before pouring new mixture in helps avoid ice in the bottom mechanism. This makes it trickier to open once you have frozen the mixture.
More Ninja Swirl and Ninja Creami recipes
- Ninja Swirl frozen yogurt
- Ninja Swirl Dole Whip
- Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream
- Ninja Creami raspberry sorbet
- Ninja Creami coconut ice cream
Ninja Swirl vanilla soft serve
Equipment
- 1 X Ninja Swirl machine with 470ml tubs
Ingredients
- 50-60 g caster sugar (see notes)
- 1-2 g xanthan gum (see notes)
- 275 g full fat milk
- 125 g full fat thickened cream (see notes)
- 60 g glucose syrup or light corn syrup (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract or paste
- Pinch fine salt
Instructions
- Whisk the caster sugar and xanthan gum together in a medium pot. Combining them helps disperse the xanthan gum which means less clumps in your ice cream.
- Have a silicone spatula in hand as you weigh in the milk. Quickly stir the mixture and scrape the sides of the pot to ensure no sugary xanthan mixture lurks in the corners.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Transfer to the stove for cook for 1-3 minutes or until the liquid sugar has totally dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
- Allow to come to a hand comfortable temperature before pouring into the 470ml Ninja Swirl tub. Make sure the bottom swirl mechanism is closed before you add mixture.
- Freeze for 24 hours with the lid off. Leaving the lid off can help prevent the mixture forming a hump which can damage your machine.
- When ready to eat, process your ice cream using the scoop and ice cream function. Scoop function doesn't over-process high fat mixtures and split them like the soft serve function does.
- If the mixture appears soft, place it in the freezer for 10-30 minutes. The higher the sugar content, the softer the mixture will be.
- Swap lids and put the piping nozzle onto the machine. Open the bottom mechanism and process the mixture using the soft serve lever. If you get an error message, allow the mixture to soften for 5-10 minutes before continuing.
- There will be some mixture leftover in the machine that is a bit icy. You can eat it as is or try re-spinning it for a scoop. This is the same for every Swirl – there is a bit left in the bottom that the machine doesn't seem to process.
Notes
- Use 50g caster sugar for a slightly less sweet mixture.
- You can omit the xanthan gum if you like but your mixture will not pipe out in lovely smooth swirls. 1g gives a modest aesthetic boost whereas 2g pipes lovely thick ribbons that hold their shape for longer. See what works best for you.
- The ‘swirl’ setting combined with ice cream processes a mixture for 5 minutes, whereas the ‘scoop’ setting combined with ice cream processes it for 2 minutes. High cream mixtures cannot be processed excessively or the cream starts to split into butter. Do not process this mixture on ‘swirl’ – your ice cream will split and it will coat the roof of your mouth unpleasantly and immediately.
- Full fat thickened cream contains 30-35% milkfat. In other places, it might be called heavy cream, heavy whipping cream or whipping cream. In Australia, thickened cream contains gums whereas it doesn’t seem to anywhere else. The most important thing is the fat content – try to choose a variety that contains 30-36% fat. Too high of a fat content (double cream, for example) will result in an overly fatty ice cream that will split.
- You can use lactose free dairy in this recipe. Use full fat lactose free milk and full fat lactose free thickened cream. Because lactose free dairy tastes sweeter than regular dairy, I would recommend using 50g caster sugar and maybe 50g glucose syrup or corn syrup.
- Glucose syrup is commonly available in Australian supermarkets. It is thick and annoying to work with, but if you submerge the container in warm/hot water it is easier to wrangle. It is such a great ingredient for achieving a lovely textured soft serve.
- Corn syrup is different to high fructose corn syrup, although some corn syrup does contain HFCS. I have tested Karo brand light corn syrup here. Light refers to the colour and flavour rather than the calories. Choose a light variety only for neutral colour and flavour. I am working on a condensed milk option for those who don’t want to use glucose syrup or corn syrup.
- Glucose syrup and light corn syrup are interchangeable in this recipe.
- You can use 125g sweetened condensed milk in place of both the sugar and syrup if you wish. I don’t recommend using all caster sugar as liquid sugar improves the body and texture of ice cream. I recommend sprinkling the xanthan gum over the sweetened condensed milk and whisking it in to help disperse it evenly. After this, proceed with the recipe as written.
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