This Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream is a dazzlingly delicious vegan and paleo dessert made in the blender with almond milk so it’s easy and healthy too!
Purple + ice cream. I cannot say no to a request that includes all my favorite things.
I told myself that this would be my last ice cream recipe for the summer. Made a mental promise to not post any more frozen scoop-able things. That lasted all of three days. Because then a lovely reader with very good ice cream tastes requested a purple sweet potato ice cream. And if you didn’t know this about me, purple food is sorta my can’t-resist weakness.
So here we are again – cone in hand, sweet stuff fast-melting, no churn recipe coming atcha!
I started this summer with mostly nice cream recipes plus one classically churned ice cream. But as the delicious season has carried along, I’ve come to love no-churn but banana-free ice creams best of all. Kinda like a combination of the two but no fancy machine necessary.
Plus there are so many different ways to go about making the blender base: nut butter, coconut, avocado, and this recipe is adding a low-fat option to that creamy dreamy list.
Because sweet potatoes are thick, sweet, blend-able, and (possibly) purple. Actually any kind/color of sweet potato will work here, although I do think the purple ones are especially sweet and tasty. Plus I have a sneaky-smart blender trick I stole from nice cream to turn banana-free ice creams into silky soft-serve consistency too.
With all of my no-churn ice cream recipes so far, adding a higher fat ingredient keeps the texture creamy even after freezing overnight. Even if it seems solid, ten or so minutes at room temp will soften it to scoop-able. But since this sweet potato version is made with from-a-carton almond milk and I skipped the dates for color purposes, thawing won’t magically make it creamy. But a high speed blender will!
If you freeze the ice cream base in a pan and then break it into chunks the next day (or even use an ice cube tray for automatic chunks!), you can pop those chunks back in the blender and blend to luscious ice cream bliss. Or a food processor will work too, although it will take a bit longer and more stops along the way. After blending the texture will be very similar to nice cream, so eat it as is or refreeze for about 30 minutes then scoop.
If all of that blending sounds like too much work to you, use full-fat coconut milk to start with and the second blend won’t be necessary. But we are talking about dazzling purpledelicious dessert-ness here, so it’s worth the double blend effort if you ask me.
Enough about the purple process though, let’s get to the ingredients in this good stuff…
Purple sweet potato. Obviously. I baked and mashed about five teeny tiny purple sweet potatoes. But if you have average-sized sweets, one or two will be enough. The microwave or oven works here, that’s up to you. As I mentioned, any color sweet potato will be fine here – orange, white…okay those are really the only other options. But note that the purple ones are very sweet, so if you use a regular orange one you may want to up the sweetening amount a little bit.
Maple syrup. I opted for maple syrup as the sweetener because dates would’ve marred the magical color and maple syrup is my next favorite form of sugar after Medjools. A quarter cup was plenty with these very sweet potatoes, but taste and adjust as needed. Or perhaps even skip it if the natural potato sweetness is enough for you.
Almond milk. Any kind of non-dairy milk is fine, I just happened to have almond in my fridge at the time. Cashew would be great, coconut from a can or carton would be extra rich, and homemade would be delicious! You want to use equal parts mashed sweet potato to non-dairy milk, so for me that was 2 cups of each. But you can multiply to make a bigger batch too.
Vanilla + sea salt. Optional, but both amp up the flavor. So I suggest a dash and a sprinkle.
Purple potato perfection, no magic or unicorns required. But feel free to add either.
Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- Yield: 4 people 1x
Description
This Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream is a dazzlingly delicious vegan and paleo dessert made in the blender with almond milk so it’s easy and healthy too!
Ingredients
- 2 cups purple sweet potato ((baked and mashed))
- 2 cups non-dairy milk ((almond milk used))
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a blender, and blend on high until creamy and smooth with no chunks.
- Pour into a shallow dish or ice cube tray and freeze overnight.
- The following day, remove from the freezer for 5 minutes to thaw. Then break into chunks.
- Re-blend the chunks in a high speed blender or food processor until thick and creamy like soft-serve. You will need to use the tamper or stop and scrape down the sides frequently.
- Serve immediately. Or spread into a shallow dish and re-freeze for 30-60 minutes until scoop-able.
- Enjoy!
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So, I still have yet to try a purple sweet potato which is pretty insane considering I eat the orange/white ones for dinner multiple times a week. The color is so pretty, I can’t even with that blender shot!! I personally am not mad that you’re keeping it going with the ice creams, I say we enjoy ALL the flavors while we’ve still got the crazy hot temperatures 🙂 dare I say this one is the prettiest yet?! Looks SO good, hope your week is as fabulous as this is pretty and purple!
Wait really!?! I’m a little shocked, I thought you would’ve tried just about every kind of sweet potato by now. Although they can be tricky to track down, even whole foods didn’t have them😱 They are really sweet but I actually prefer the texture of the japanese and white ones. But if it’s a sweet potato turned into ice cream it could be pink for all i care😋 Hehe I hope your week is purple ice cream level magical too!
OMG, you goddess!
Never have sweet potatoes looked better in ice cream. The photos are gorgeous!!
I think most foods are at their prettiest in ice cream form…but maybe I’m just a smidge ice cream obsessed right now 🙂
I personally would prefer you NOT to stop with the ice cream recipes! The more the better in my opinion! Especially if they include vegetables!
I have a question about how to cook your sweet potatoes. I can’t figure out how to cook them to make them more starchy rather than soft and watery. How do you do yours??? They always look so perfect! I like the way they turn out in the microwave, but I don’t have one right now so I”m trying to figure out how to replicate that texture in the oven. Any pointers you can provide would be much appreciated. I need to make this asap!!!
Hi Sarah! They do turn out much less dry in the oven for me as well, but the type of sweet potato makes a big difference too. The Japanese sweet potatoes or these purple ones or even most white-fleshed varieties are much drier in general regardless of how you cook them than the orange ones in my experience. As for the oven method, I usually do about 45 mins to 1 hour at 400F. One thing that could help is slicing them in half before baking so some of that moisture can escape and isn’t all trapped inside the skin (plus they caramelize extra deliciously that way!) I hope that helps, and very happy to hear that you aren’t ice cream-ed out yet either 🙂
Thanks so much for the tips! I appreciate all the help I can get!! I have noticed the white colored ones to be drier – I think the Hannah variety are my favorite since they seems to be a little less sweet than the Japanese. I think I need to cook them in the oven at a higher temperature. I was doing 350 or 375, but the more I am learning about what happen when sweet potatoes cook it sounds like the longer they stay between 135 and 170 the sweeter they get. So then a higher oven temperature would surely help get them out of that zone faster. And if thats the case your suggestion to slice them would also help. That never occurred to me either! Ha ha. I tried cooking a Japanese and a regular Jewel last night – both wrapped in a paper towel and then foil at 375 degrees, but I overcooked as usual. I think the higher temp would work better and no foil. I think that trapped too much moisture inside. I also have a hard time calculating how long they will continue to cook after removing them from the oven. Ahh. There are just so many variables… Cooking is such a science that continues to stump me. But I am determined to figure out the perfect method for drier sweet potatoes!!! Anyway, thanks so much for the tips. I can’t find and purple sweet potatoes around right now, but I may still have to try making the ice cream with the orange ones. And maybe use “peanut butter milk” since the orange ones are particularly delicious with peanut butter in my opinion (but then I am also of the opinion that just about everything is better with peanut butter). Ooh and I may need to add some chocolate chips!! See the possibilities are endless and hence why we need more ice cream recipes from you!
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So beautiful! I can’t find purple sweet potato in my supermarket. Would it be okay to use the yellow ones too?
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Absolutely! Enjoy 🙂
Your food is just so beautiful! Your energy is very alive and creative!
I really appreciate you and all you bring! I often post your food and recipes on my page.
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Thank you so much Karen! For the kind words and for sharing my recipes, I really appreciate it 🙂
I have been waiting for this and just knew you had this sneaking purple sweet potato ice cream coming! The color is of course just beautiful and you know I am with you on the love of purple! I’ve seen some of these on pinterest but they all have coconut milk so I love that yours is much simpler and the technique to make it creamy because almond milk does get ice hard. Anytime I try to blend anything frozen in my Vitamix it just gets stuck and won’t work. I guess I should be more patient, hahaha. Well, I have yet to ever try a sweet purple potato but you know I love sweet potato ice cream in general and make it often and since these purple ones are even sweeter, that just sounds like a dream to me! The color is just so pretty and just pops off the page! I need to find some of these…they never have them in any of the stores around here but I’ve seen them at Whole foods but it is not close to me, so next time I will have to remember to get them!
Without re-blending it is pretty much a purple iceberg lol. Yes almond milk definitely requires a little extra care for ice cream-ing, especially the stuff from a carton that is mostly water anyways. I think with enough batches of nice cream I’ve perfected the frozen chunks in a Vitamix technique but the line between gently forcing and overheating is a fine one 😀 Japanese sweet potatoes in here would be good too, just as sweet as the purple but easier to find. Sometimes I think it’s safer for me that Whole Foods isn’t TOO close lol.
Ube is not a purple sweet potato. It’s a yam. People sometimes confuse it with taro, but they’re not the same thing either.
I thought they were different, but wasn’t sure. That is why I did not call this Ube ice cream, because I don’t think the ones I got were true ube. But thanks for the info 🙂
So I looked up Ube because I was sure you were wrong. We have plenty of it here in Hawaii and everyone here calls it sweet potatoes. And many Filipinos are selling it at da markets. Also we have Ube ice cream. I gotta say Magnola has an ube ice cream that is ono. Even better is da macapuno- ube one. Which is coconut- sweet potato. Only thing is it has a lot of bad stuff in it but oh man da taste. And I do eat foods from da health food store. When I was in California at Whole Foods they had popsicles crepthat was ube but had beans in it. I neva like with da beans. Brand name was Magnolia and same insignia but had natural ingredients. So maybe same company and they make healthier versions. Wish they was a good version of da Macapuno- Ube. I was gonna say Whole Foods and Sprouts had carried them for a time period. They said they can only get it during certain time of da year. Also , believe they were called Okinawan sweet potato.
Yes the purple ones are also called Okinawan sweet potatoes. There may be a difference between those and ube, I’m not really sure, but any kind of sweet potaot of any color will work here really. There are so many varieties of sweet potatoes I’ve never even seen or heard to it’s crazy! They are tricky to come by here anyways, I don’t know any grocery store that carries them year round, but if you can find them it’s totally worth grabbing a few to try your own homemade purple ice cream 🙂 And yes you definitely need to bake them first! You can roast them in the oven instead of the microwave too, just takes a bit longer. You could try steaming them, but that will add more water which you don’t really want for ice cream because water = ice. Good luck!
This. Is. Stunning. No shame at allllllll in endless frozen scoop-able recipes, girlfriend! Do your THANG! You rock our socks off.
Oh good! Because I’m plotting a pumpkin one now🙊
Do you have to bake da potatoes.? I refuse to microwave anything. I normally steam my potatoes and what with da cost of electricity here in Hawaii, I don’t use da oven much other then for cookies and cakes.
This sounds super good! I really want to try it but…
1. I only have access to whole fat milk
2. I am a big texture person and want to use an ice cream churner
Do these things still allow for me to make it?
Yep, both of those changes should be just fine! Hope you enjoy 🙂
Can I use dairy milk? Low fat or full cream? Any changes to the recipe?
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I haven’t personally tested it so I can’t say for sure, you will just have to try it and see. Higher fat will yield a richer/creamier ice cream (dairy or non-dairy), although cream may be TOO rich. I’d recommend something in the middle. Good luck!
I’ve yet to taste the finished product that I made today, 1/31/19, however we love eating these sweet potatoes. It is so smooth and creamy. I used defrosted potatoes and peeled the skins. Took a little longer but we’ll worth the reward. Thanks for the recipe and please make more.
We add them in our laulau which my granddaughter thinks is the way it’s supposed to be. We went to a party and she opened her laulau up and asked her mom, “ where’s my sweet potato?” 😁
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Hahaha aw that is so cute!! Well I hope the ice cream comes out just as delicious as the sweet potatoes themselves, although I am so happy you are enjoying them too 🙂
How would I do this with frozen shredded ube?
If you have already frozen ube I’d just blend that with a little bit of milk (coconut milk will be the creamiest) and sweetener and make like “nice cream” but with ube instead of bananas!
Any substitute for the maple syrup? I do not want any artificial ones, just can’t do maple as I think I’m allergic to it…Thank you
You could blend in a few dates instead!