This Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream recipe is a homemade take on an underrated but delicious flavor with a favorite green fruit as the creamy coconut-free base!
No it’s not just you, I too find it excessive that I am posting another ice cream recipe today.
I am well aware that the ice cream recipe frequency around here has gotten a little out of hand. But is it really possible to be bitter about an overabundance of cold creamy sweet concoctions? I didn’t think so. And pistachio in particular is a highly underrated flavor in my opinion, so I just couldn’t call it quits right before this one.
Also, I’ve been having fun lately experimenting with ice cream recipes that don’t use banana or coconut milk, and this batch is the product of another one of those ideas. Besides the instant soft-serve style blender nice cream, any well-textured ice cream base needs some form of fat to keep from freezing rock solid. Nut butter works wonderfully as evidenced by this bowl of peanut butter goodness, but there is a fruitier alternative I still wanted to test.
AVOCADO.
Avocado ice cream isn’t new, it’s been around for a few years now stealing some of the summertime avo stardom from guacamole. This was the first mention I remember seeing of the concept, but last week was the first time it’s made it into my ice cream bowl. And I must say I am quiet a fan. It’s creamy, it’s healthy, it’s nearly undetectable underneath all the other sweet stuff in here, and it’s the perfect color for pistachio ice cream. Meant to be.
Base. I used one whole avocado, but it was quite a hefty avocado. So one or maybe one and a half if it’s a small avocado(s) blended up with non-dairy milk is the base of this green and good stuff. Any kind of non-dairy milk from a carton will work, I personally used cashew but almond/soy/hemp/flax/etc. is fine too. You could of course use coconut milk for extra richness, but it is not necessary.
Pistachios. And next comes the nuttiness. Unsalted (and hopefully pre-shelled for the sake of your fingers!) pistachios blend right in with the avocado for color, extra creaminess, and most importantly flavor.
The true taste of a pistachio nut is not the same as the taste of “pistachio” ice cream we’ve come to expect. That unique flavor is the combined product of pistachios and almond extract usually, which barely even tastes like almonds if you ask me. To recreate the from-a-pint-pistachio taste, I did add half a teaspoon of almond extract to the recipe but it’s optional. If you prefer to just embrace the taste of pure pistachio, then skip it.
Sweetener. You have two options here, each with pros and cons…
Option 1: maple syrup. Easy, sweet, won’t mess up the pretty green color. But won’t aid at all in the no-churn texture/scoop-ability department.
Option 2: medjool dates. Fruity, sweet, make the whole mixture a little thicker and creamier. But green + brown does not make for the most attractive color.
So it’s up to you – texture vs. color. Personally I prefer the medjool date version, and you can actually even add an extra half cup of milk to that version since the dates thicken it up quite a bit. So basically that means more ice cream for your blending efforts.
However, if you are serving to others who might be turned off by moss-colored ice cream than maybe go the maple route. If it turns out not creamy enough, you can always break it up into chunks after it’s frozen and re-blend to make it ultra creamy. Or use the off-putting color to your advantage…more delicious-despite-it’s-color ice cream for you!
Extra green. Another optional addition is spirulina to amp up the green color of whichever version you choose. As long as you only add a little bit, the ocean-y flavor will be masked by sweet nuttiness. I added about half a teaspoon, but you can taste and adjust for yourself or skip it completely.
Pistachio ice cream – the other favorite green flavor.
Oh pipe down mint chip, you have enough adoring fans as is.
Vegan No-Churn Pistachio Ice Cream
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: frozen
- Cuisine: american
Description
This Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream recipe is a homemade take on an underrated but delicious flavor with a favorite green fruit as the creamy coconut-free base!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I used cashew)
- 1–2 avocados
- 1 cup unsalted pistachios, shells removed
- 1 cup pitted medjool dates (*see notes)
- Optional: 1/2 tsp almond extract
- Optional: 1/8 tsp spirulina (for color)
Instructions
- Combine the milk, avocado, pistachios, medjool dates, and almond extract in a blender. Blend on high until smooth.
- Add the spirulina slowly to achieve a pretty green color, tasting as you go and being careful not add too much or it will taste salty and ocean-y.
- Pour the mixture into a loaf pan, top with chopped pistachios, and freeze overnight.
- Remove from the freezer and let thaw for 10-15 minutes or until soft enough to scoop. Or if you want it SUPER creamy, break into chunks and re-blend until smooth.
- Scoop into bowls or cones. Enjoy!
Notes
*Medjool dates make for the best creamy texture, but not the best color when mixed with green. For a prettier color, use 1/3 cup maple syrup instead and decrease the amount of non-dairy milk to 2 cups.
Keywords: frozen, dessert, soft serve, no churn, vegan, dairy-free
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You’ve done it again Natalie! This looks absolutely stunning! Love pistachios and think they’re so underrated! Glad I found someone else who appreciates them as much as I do 😉
They are underrrated but you use them so beautifully as a topping and ingredient often too, I always love the pretty green addition💚 Thanks Nadia!
That colour!! So beautiful! Pistachio ice cream is such an under appreciated ice cream flavour, but it’s one of the bests!
There’s no such thing as too many ice cream recipes – I’m kind of living for all of your unique takes on it <333
Gotta show some attention to the slightly more offbeat flavors, chocolate can’t get all the love. Actually it could, I wouldn’t be too made about that, but variety is good for me haha! Thanks lovely <3
I LITERALLY have pistachio ice cream in my freezer as we speak, but it’s the Nadamoo brand that they sent to me and there’s doesn’t have avocado, haha! I LOVE pistachios, they are one of my favorite nuts. They are so darn creamy and delicious. I think I even like them as much or more than pecans now and can eat a bag of them. I am so weary of avocado in desserts because I always have tasted them in the past but maybe this nutty concoction that I love so much would totally erase those fears! I love the color. When you first posted this on IG I thought it was green tea or matcha since I’ve seen so many of those around, I can’t believe I didn’t think of pistachios since I have some in my freezer, haha! Great recipe Natalie!
And yes, you are on quite the ice cream roll lately, I think you should rename your blog to Feasting on Ice Cream, hahaha! 😉
Ooooh you lucky ducky with a freezer full of Nadamoo! I haven’t tried that stuff yet, but every single flavor they make sounds amazing. Whoa did you just say “more than pecans”?? 😱 I am amazed, how did I not know this about you? Haha! I seriously considered matcha with the avocado base, but pistachio is much more of an ice cream classic if you ask me. Hehe yes that would be a pretty apropos name right now…and somehow I think the domain might be available lol 😀
Oh, I’m SO glad you did pistachio and not matcha! Way better!
Aaaah Vegan 8 and feasting on fruits together, yessss
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This is not excessive in any way WHATSOEVER. In fact, whatever “excess” you have, I will take and eat happily. First of all, I love this flavor because every time I eat pistachios, which isn’t often enough, I like suddenly remember how good they are! Plus, the fact that you used pretty green avocados as the base is so genius. I can’t even imagine how ridiculously creamy the texture is because of it. Yum!!
Hahaha turning the “excessive” into snacks–I love it! I know right, I haven’t had a pistachio in years until this recipe but they always surprise me too. Although in ice cream is still probably my favorite way to consume them 🙂 Thanks Sara!
First – how much maple syrup? Second I only found roasted and salted shelled pistachios – can I use? I’m probably going to add a little green food coloring. I’m looking forward to trying as the coconut based ones are not my favorite.
Hi Jennifer! For the maple syrup option I used 1/3 cup. And yes, roasted pistachios will be fine for taste and texture it will just make the color slightly more brown. You may want to rinse them first to remove some of the salt so your ice cream won’t be excessively salty though. Even as a coconut fan I get tired of every vegan ice cream recipe being coconut milk based, so I hope you enjoy this yummy alternative 🙂
I added 3 Tbls of maple syrup, 1 1/2 med avocado, 2 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk and the 1 cup roasted and salted pistachios. 2 drops of green food coloring 😉 I tasted it before freezing and it was delicious – so creamy and not overly sweet. Looking forward to trying it later. Thanks!
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That sounds lovely, hope it turns out sweet enough and very delicious!
Please don’t ever use food coloring! https://www.special-education-degree.net/food-dyes/
Wishing you good health and happiness!!!
This turned out really yummy…I used a big FL avocado and followed the recipe except I added 2 bananas and doubled the almond extract. Next time I think I’ll smash the pistachios with a spoon and leave some whole instead of pureeing any. I ended up adding some dried cherries before freezing and that really gave it great texture!
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Woohoo! I am so happy to hear it was a success. Dried cherries–never would’ve thought of that but they do pair well with pistachios now that you mention it. Great idea, and the pistachio chunks sounds delicious too! I hope there are many more delicious batches to come 🙂
Any sub for avocado? Thanks for this awesome recipe!!!
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Cashew butter or another nut butter would be the best substitute, or coconut cream would work as well. It will be about 1/2-3/4 cup of either 🙂
Thank you 👍
Okay I’m going to have to make this like tomorrow!!
Hi there, this recipe looks yummy and can’t wait to try it!
I’m French though and can’t work out the quantities, as converstions I find on the net are for liquid or sugar/flour. Not sure what 1 cup of pistachios would amount to in grams..?? Would you be able to help please?
There is no easy conversion between cups and grams, it varies for each ingredient and I don’t know the weight measurements for each ingredient since I don’t bake that way. But according to the back of the pistachio package, 1 cup is approximately 120g. And for the dates, 1 cup is approximately 270g. I hope that helps, and for this recipe in particular small variances will certainly not ruin it!
Very helpful! Thank you so much Nathalie!
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I’ve just made it, I used rose extract instead of almond (pistachio and rose go very well together, bit exotic 😀 ) and it almost didn’t make it to the fridge, sooooooooo good!!! Can’t wait until tomorrow to try it as ice cream!
One cup of pistachios feels like a truckload when you have to shell them though…
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Whoa sounds absolutely lovely with the rose extract! I can’t wait to try that now, thanks for sharing. Haha it makes for a pretty yummy pudding too. And I feel you, my fingers were protesting too. Although check the baking section sometimes you can find them there already de-shelled!
Reading the recipe, it looked great and sounded easy, but it did’t turn out well. It had great flavor, but was very icy. Even when it thawed a bit, it was still icy. I blended it, and it was still off. I put it in the food processor on a few pulses, but it was still off. Not sure what I did wrong, but I followed the recipe to the T.
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Hmm mine came out really really creamy, so I’m not sure why that is. What kind of milk did you use? And what type of blender do you have?
I used vanilla almond milk. For the blender, I don’t remember the brand, but it’s fairly standard, not super high-powered or anything. I’m thinking that maybe there wasn’t enough fat in mine, that maybe the avocado wasn’t big enough.
The milk should be fine, and as long as the blender is powerful enough to get rid of all the pistachio chunks then that should be fine too. Not enough avocado could defiantly cause a lack of creaminess next time. Mine was quite large, so perhaps consider using 1 1/2 or 2 next time if they are on the small side. Hope that helps!
The flavour before frozen was delicious, but mine came out icy too. I didn’t see the reduce milk amount (to 2 cups) note if using maple syrup till too late. I am hoping to add more avocado and put it in my ice cream churner to try and fix it 🙂
I also added a touch of artificial vanilla extract 🙂
Looking forward to trying this recipe! Kind of made me laugh when you talked about the color! Thank you.
Haha yes green recipes are always…interesting 😀 Can’t wait for you to taste it, this is probably my favorite ice cream of the year!
Great recipe! Would churning add to the creaminess/smoothness of the ice cream?
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Yes it would! So if you have an ice cream machine, go for it 🙂
Thanks much 😊
Hi, I plan to make this ice cream this week, however it’s still cold in my country to eat ice cream now.. for long would this ice cream be good in the freezer?
Hi Christina! It will last a while, but does get less creamy with time so I really recommend making it just a day or two before you plan to eat it for best texture 🙂
Made it today as follows: used regular sweetened almond milk, cup Medjoul dates, 2 small avocados, 100grams shelled pistachios and teaspoon and half vanilla extract. Colour was really nice light green. Taste incredibly good! I already ate 2 scoops 🙂 will definitely be making this again, maybe next time with cashew nuts instead of pistachios
Made it today as follows: used regular sweetened almond milk, cup Medjoul dates, 2 small avocados, 100grams shelled pistachios and teaspoon and half vanilla extract. Colour was really nice light green. Taste incredibly good! I already ate 2 scoops 🙂 will definitely be making this again, maybe next time with cashew nuts instead of pistachios
Thanks for the feedback Christina, I am so happy it turned out well! Yes it would totally work with cashews too 🙂
Hi Natalie, I like your recipe soo much that I want to do it with other nuts… I’d like to make this using hazelnuts instead of pistachios, but I’m not sure if to use raw or roasted ones; which do you suggest?
Oooh that sounds so yummy, especially if you added chocolate too! I would recommend raw hazelnuts (or any kind of nut) for this. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out🤗