8 Healthy Ice Creams That You Can Easily Make At Home

Fresh foods are essential to survive the intense and hot summers that we are experiencing. Salads of all kinds, flavored waters, lemonades, homemade soft drinks, fresh fruits and especially ice cream are the kings of the table in summer.

It is not necessary to eat your head a lot to make homemade ice creams that are 100% vegetable, but I understand that many times we do not have ideas or we think that it is easier to buy them, so in this article I am going to talk about the easiest ice creams to make in home, which will hardly cost you effort, which can be made with the flavors that you like the most and above all that are healthier and cheaper than commercial ones.

1. Ice creams

They are the easiest, cheapest and most refreshing options . Most of its content is water, which is what gives it body and solidity. To make them we can use very simple ingredients: homemade juices, soft drinks, vegetable drinks, etc. Think, for example, of cola, coffee or horchata ice lollies.

To make ice creams it is convenient to have molds, so we only take out one portion at a time. Also, if we want to make them healthier, it is better to opt for unsweetened ingredients and whole fruit whipped with water.

Oatmeal and coconut ice cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of oatmeal drink
• ½ cup of coconut drink

preparation:

1. Mix both vegetable drinks and distribute them into lollipop molds.
2. Freeze for at least 2 hours before taking them out.

Raspberry ice cream

Ingredients:

• 100 g raspberries (serve frozen)
• 1 cup of water

preparation:

1. Beat the raspberries with the mixer until pureed. Add the water and beat some more to mix.
2. If you do not want to find seeds, strain the mixture through a fine strainer.
3. Pour the mixture into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 2 hours.

You can change ingredients to taste and create your own ice cream flavors. These recipes can also be used to make flash ice cream.

2. Fruit ice cream

With very fleshy fruits like bananas you can make almost instant ice cream. The mechanism is very simple: fruits are cut and frozen and then beaten in a blender. With the shake, the mixture will heat up just enough to give us a creamy ice cream ready to drink.

The meatier and sweeter the fruits you use, the creamier your ice cream. With fruits with a lot of water like watermelon or melon you can also make popsicles a little creamier than ice ones.

The Frozen bananas also serve as a basis for many other easy homemade ice cream, which is called “nice cream” (by the union of the words “banana” and “ice cream”), with flavors like vanilla, chocolate, coffee, tea matcha green, rum with raisins, etc.

Banana and cherry ice cream

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 400 g of cherries

preparation:

1. Peel the bananas, cut them into slices and freeze them in a closed container.
2. Wash the cherries, remove the pits, and freeze them too. It will take a couple of hours.
3. Take out the frozen fruits, put them in the blender glass and beat everything together until a thick and smooth ice cream is left. Serve it in the moment.

Peach ice cream with lemon

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe peaches
• 1 lemon

preparation:

1. Peel the peaches, chop them, remove the pit and freeze the pieces for at least 2 hours.
2. Put the frozen peach in the blender glass, add the lemon juice and beat it all together until a smooth cream is left.
3. Serve immediately.

3. Frozen yogurt

It is an ice cream that became popular a few years ago, whose base is yogurt with fats, sweeteners and flavors. If we do it at home we can achieve wonders with the most common ingredients : vegetable yogurts (homemade or bought), fresh or frozen fruits, nut creams, chocolate, vanilla …

If you want it to have the same texture as in the places where they are sold, it is preferable to make them with a refrigerator, which prevents large ice crystals from forming and the texture is much finer. Also, when you finish making the ice cream, it is at the correct temperature to serve it: ice cream, but not frozen and hard.

In general, for a frozen yogurt to be very creamy, we have to reduce the water content and, whenever possible, increase the sugar and fat content. So that all this fits with a healthy frozen yogurt, what we can do is drain the yogurt with a muslin, so that it loses water, add very sweet whipped fruits, such as dates, and add a nut butter (homemade or purchased) like peanut butter or cashew butter.

When we make them only with yogurt and fruit, we will choose the meatiest ones and preferably already frozen in pieces.

Strawberry frozen yogurt

Ingredients:

• 4 soy yogurts
• 250g frozen strawberries

preparation:

1. Pour the yogurts into a bowl with a fine cloth or muslin and let it drain for a couple of hours, suspending it, for example, from the kitchen tap.
2. Beat the drained yogurt with the strawberries until it is a smooth cream without chunks.
3. Put it in covered containers and freeze it for at least 2 hours.
4. Let it thaw for a bit in the fridge before serving (15-20 minutes is fine).

Chocolate Cashew Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 4 soy yogurts
• 50 g of dark chocolate (> 75% cocoa)
• 3 tablespoons cashew butter
• You will also need a prepared refrigerator.

preparation:

1. Chop the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler.
2. Mix the yogurts with the cashew butter in a bowl with a whisk.
3. Add the chocolate while continuing to beat.
4. Transfer the mixture to the ice cream machine and put it on for 8 minutes, until it is well done (you may have to scrape the edges with a silicone spatula).
5. Serve it fresh.

4. Ice cream from vegetable drinks

They are like the creamy ice cream of a lifetime, but made with vegetable drinks instead of cow’s milk. Many manufacturers use rice or oatmeal drinks because they have the advantage of thickening quite a bit without forming ice blocks. At home we can make them from flaked oats and homemade rice milk.

The soy drink is also very good for its high protein content, and the coconut drink for its flavor and fat content. Of course you can use a mixture of two or more for the best result.

Oatmeal and vanilla ice cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1.5 cups of water
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 5 dates

preparation:

1. Put the oatmeal in the blender and beat it until it is powdered. Add the vanilla and dates (pitted) and beat one more minute. Finally add the water and beat to mix.
2. Put the smoothie in a small saucepan and heat it over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.
3. Transfer to a container with a lid and freeze for at least 4 hours.
4. Let it thaw a bit in the fridge before serving (20 minutes is fine).

Rice pudding ice cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of round rice
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup soy drink (unsweetened and unflavored)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• zest of ½ lemon
• 4 tablespoons sugar, agave or maple syrup

preparation:

1. Boil the water and add the rice. Lower the heat and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.
2. Add the soy drink, cinnamon, lemon and sugar, and leave it for at least 5 more minutes.
3. Let it cool or warm.
4. Pass it all through the blender and pour the puree into a container with a lid. Freeze it for at least 4 hours.
5. Let it thaw in the fridge for about 20 minutes before serving.