Guiltless Pleasure: How to Make Vanilla Soft Serve in your Ninja Pulse
Angela | May 4, 2012I’ll be honest, this one has stumped me for a while.
Readers have been asking for a vanilla ice cream recipe for months (maybe even a year?!), and I have left the idea simmering on the back burner for way too long, mostly because I just couldn’t quite piece it together in my head. With no frozen banana to serve as the thickener, how would I deliver you a vanilla ice cream facsimile that you could whip up in your Ninja Blender?
Then it hit me. ICE. It is called ice cream, after all.
Now, y’all know I care about your health, so I tried to make this on the healthier side. You could take it in a completely different direction – so make it what you want. If nothing else, you can use this recipe as an idea, a suggestion. Go crazy with it if you want, or make it healthy like I did and satisfy a sweet tooth with very little guilt.
I made this in the Ninja Pulse, so I can’t vouch for how will it will work in the Ninja Professional Blender just yet. I’ll give that a try at some point as well. If you have the Professional and want to try it out and report back, please do. This recipe calls for ingredients you probably have on hand, so give it a whirl (ha, blender, whirl, get it?).
If you have a Magic Bullet or just a normal old-fashioned blender, this one should work for you as well, though you may need a skosh more liquid to get things moving.
Simple Blender Vanilla Soft Serve
Serves: 1
Time Required: Less than 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk beverage (or, 2% milk, soy, etc. – go with a thick milk, not almond or skim)
- Handful of ice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 scoop your choice vanilla protein powder (try to use one without artificial sweeteners)
- 2 teaspoons sugar of your choice. I used honey, but you could use anything you please, including just plain old table sugar. If you have a super sweet tooth, you may need to increase the sweetener. Go with what works for you.
Method:
- Add all ingredients to the single serve blending container and pulse to combine
- Then, blend until all the ingredients come together in a soft serve. You may have to add more liquid or more ice to get the right consistency
- For firmer ice cream, freeze for 2-4 hours before serving (which is why I have placed it into a plastic container – this bad boy is going straight into the freezer for tonight’s dessert)
Nutrition:
This is going to vary a lot depending on what ingredients you use, but I based this off of coconut milk and EAS Advantage Protein Powder (which was the only one in the recipe database I used). This will give you a rough idea!
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i LOVE THIS!!!
Geez. I got so excited I pressed enter before I was done. I’m such a silly nut. Any who. . . .now that I’m more composed. . . .YOU ARE SO THE NINJA QUEEN. Loving this. Does the coconut milk taste coconutty? Usually I use soy, just wonder it it hints at a vanilla coconut flavor. I lurv coconut:)
Hi Nicki,
Thank you for your kind words!
I don’t think coconut milk beverage tastes all that coconutty – just a hint of coconut flavor. Coconut milk like you would use for Thai cooking (in the can) definitely does (seriously, it is SO good). So if you are going for the coconut flavor, use that!
Hi Angela, on a not related to this post, how did your detox go? The three day fruit thing?
Hi Chandana,
It was good! I will write up a bit of a post on it – but all in all, I would recommend it as it was actually possible to follow (unlike a lot of the juice cleanses that are expensive and make you want to gnaw off your arm…)
Angela
This sounds great! I have not tried anything with coconut milk yet, but have you tried it with coffee creamer?? YUM, and you only need a TBSP or maybe 2, so less calories!
thanks! been trying to find a non fruit recipe for months! I had seen one for chocolate that used protein powder also. Would this work without the protein powder? I am wondering if the powder changes the taste from pure vanilla soft serve. If so, would it work to remove it or to freeze milk or cream into cubes? Or i saw one with chocolate pudding powder..Would it work for vanilla as well? THanks so much!
Hi Gina,
If you go with a vanilla protein powder, it (to me) tastes like a Wendy’s vanilla frosty. I haven’t tried making it without the powder, as I am always trying to sneak some protein into my plant-based diet. However, I do think you could remove it and probably would need to add more vanilla extract or vanilla bean for added flavor, or try the vanilla pudding powder. Come to think of if, the pudding powder would probably have the same effect as the protein powder — it would add the stronger vanilla flavor. As far as freezing the milk or cream, yes, you could definitely do that and then not add the ice cubes, but you would still need to add some milk or cream to make everything mix! But omitting the ice cubes and replacing with milk cubes would probably result in creamier soft serve.
As far as the “ice cream” pies, I know exactly what you are talking about. I happen to have a recipe I used to make that is pretty similar to what you are talking about for a strawberry version. I’ll make it up in the next couple of weeks and post it.
Please report back on how you make out with your modifications to the soft serve!
Don’t know if you were around then, butdo you or anyone remember the frozen “ice cream” pies that used to be around up through the 70s? They were very cheap, like less than a buck, not healthy, and were kind of like a cross between ice cream .mousse and pudding , on a graham cracker crust with whipped topping stars piped on top. I would love to see a recipe like that, that could be poured into graham cracker crust and frozen. Thanks!
Hey Angela, how do you think it would work if you froze the coconut milk instead of using regular ice?
i’ve seen them use frozen coffee cubes on QVC, so I’m wondering if it would work with frozen milk products?
I really should try this with my blender, but I bet it won’t be as good as the ninja. LOL
Hi Debbie,
You totally could freeze the coconut milk. Just be sure to add some liquid in addition to get things blending – you will still need the milk in liquid form as well. I actually think this would work fine in your normal blender! Good luck!
Angela
Hello all this is just what i have been looking for but if your interested i have found one other option that may work as well and perhapes not have the extra H2o so in afect more creamy 1 1/2 cups milk 1/4 cup whipping cream 1/4 cup suger 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract as i see it you could change up the ingredients to your taste so ok heres what you do mix all the stuff from above pour into ice tray or trays depending on size put in freezer freeze about 3 hrs or in till frozen solid remove from freezer put in ninja add a smijen more milk about another 1/4 cup blend till smooth yum yum in the tum tum Cheers.
Great idea, Jason, thank you for sharing!
So glad you use protein powder in your recipe as I had gastric bypass surgery and have to have 70 grams of protein per day. I don’t eat that much meat anymore. I just got my ninja about a week ago and have been making smoothies galore. Next one I am going to try is watermelon with sparkling water. Thanks!
Hi Sue,
Glad you find the protein powder helpful! Happy blending!
Angela
Just bought ninja and disappointed no recipe book. Then I found you and this is way better than book. Thank you so much! Will try recipes soon, have to go to work now.
QVC sold it with a book – i t is called Pulse it Up. Not sure if it is available anywhere else yet. Here is a link at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B006VWYT2G/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all
It has a ton of recipes in it. Hope this helps.
I have been searching for a Chocolate Soft Serve Ice Cream in the Ninja. I am going to work with the vanilla idea and see what I can do. When they demo’d the Ninja Pulse on QVC (where I got it as a TSV deal), they showed a fruity soft-serve ice cream. Although I wanted to make that, I was really interested in making a chocolate soft serve. I thought I saw them make some on QVC but I went to their website to search for the recipe and it was nowhere to be seen. I went into their recipe request forum to ask about it. So far no response.
Anyway, I will try your version of vanilla and then play with it. I was thinking of freezing some chocolate milk and see if that works in it. What do you think of that idea?
Hi Risa,
I have a chocolate soft serve recipe for you – it tastes like a Wendy’s frosty:
http://testkitchentuesday.com/2011/07/12/faux-frosty/
Enjoy!
I have have made the vanilla ice cream by taking a cup of milk and adding 1 Tablespoon on vanilla then pouring that into my mini ice cream trays and when frozen put in ninja and added milk till right consistency. I have also added a couple of the vanilla cubes when using frozen fruit to make it not have such a strong taste. I am going to try to freeze chocolate milk in those trays and instead of adding white milk when I put it in my ninja I am going to add chocolate.
a great healthy frozen treat. Take frozen fruit of choice and add frozen yogurt to taste and milk to consistence you prefer and place in freezer for couple hours and it makes great smoothy or nice fruity frozen yogurt snack
So, basically, for an ice cream base, you just use milk, ice, and sugar/sweetener, then add whatever flavors you want, and adjust the ice/milk amounts to get the right consistency. AWESOME!!!!!! ^_^
I was wandering what the measurements would be to make a gallon. someone please help
Hi Shawna,
You can just scale the recipe accordingly to the size you want to make, but I wouldn’t really recommend making a gallon, as it won’t store long in the freezer. This is one of those things you need to eat the same day or it will crystallize.
Angela
I am allergic to dairy and soy and must drink almond milk. I love ice cream and trying to find a recipe where I can use almond milk. Any ideas?
Hi Shelley,
I don’t eat dairy or soy, and have no problems making a soft serve with almond milk, but I generally prefer to use coconut milk because it makes a thicker, creamier result. Here is a peach ice cream recipe I just published with coconut milk: http://testkitchentuesday.com/2013/07/09/peach-soft-serve-in-the-ninja-blender/
You could substitute other fruit for the peaches, like raspberries, mangoes, strawberries, etc. Last night, I made that recipe with raspberries and mango, and it was fabulous. If you use almond milk, go with less liquid because it is thinner. Also, check my Ninja Blender recipe page for other ideas, like Faux Frosty, Mixed Berry, etc. – you can use almond milk in any of those.
Hope that helps,
Angela
Thanks Angela. I will try it. I am looking forward to having ice cream again.
My kids loved this. For extra flavor and vitamins, I used carnation instant breakfast. My kids didn’t like it in milk but when i put in this ice cream they loved the flavor. Bothfrench vanillanand chocolate.
Hi Lisa,
So glad to hear it worked out for you!
Angela
Hi I just got my new Ninja today and saw this site and had a go. I ended up using what I had on site which was:
4 tbsp of plain unsweetened yoghurt
2 tsp of goats milk powder
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
1 tsp rum essence
1 scoop vanilla whey powder
2 tsp manuka honey
a little sweetener
(plus I threw in some fibre powder and some liver-tone)
added a little water…… and Wow it was awesome! Really really creamy and Oh so moresome!
So now its going to be known as “The Awesome Moresome”
Katie
Katie, sounds like you found a winner! Thanks for sharing!
Ohh I forgot to say the 4 ice cubes…..Katie
I tried this with Devil’s Food pudding powder, the result was very icy. Is there anything you can think of to help the icyness? I had already had a scoop of protein powder today so I used the pudding powder in place of.
Hi Britanny,
You could add 1/4 or 1/2 of an avocado to help make it super creamy, or, a little bit of your choice of greek yogurt (I use coconut greek yogurt sometimes…).
Hope that helps,
Angela
Got some great ideas from here for my new Ninja. Thanks.
Thanks for your note Carol, glad to help!
Just found your site and wanted to print this recipe. Thought I would let you know that by using the print button you provide, it not only prints the recipe, but also all comments….I followed one of your links to a ninja review & before I knew it had the recipe & 19 pages of comments. Yikes! I plan on trying the recipe it looks great, but maybe you could check with your web master about separating the recipes from the comments.
Thanks
Hi Dian,
Sorry you had that experience.
The recipe card is fed through a service called Recipage, so I don’t have any control over it. If you want the recipe card only, you have to click “print” from their content inside the page. It sounds to me like you might have clicked “full post” (which would be really easy to do) and is just to the left of the “print” button on the recipe card.
Angela