We pair the zing of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and zest with the creaminess of coconut milk and the sweetness of blueberries. It's creamy, rich, perfectly balanced and so much better than store-bought! This vegan blueberry lemon ice cream is the ideal summer treat.
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🍨 Why We Love This Recipe
- Easy prep: Just soak the cashews, blend everything together, and pour it into your ice cream maker. That's it. Homemade vegan ice cream doesn't have to be complicated!
- Light and refreshing: We love cookie dough ice cream as much as the next person, but sometimes it's good to change things up a little bit with a lighter, more refreshing dessert. This vegan blueberry lemon ice cream strikes the perfect balance between decadent and refreshing!
- Super creamy: Our blueberry lemon ice cream is totally vegan, but we use coconut milk and soaked cashews to replace the creaminess that regular dairy products create.
🍋 Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this vegan blueberry lemon ice cream:
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Coconut milk: The higher fat content in coconut milk mimics heavy cream in traditional ice cream. Make absolutely sure to get canned full-fat coconut milk (NOT the "lite" version), which is often in the Asian section of the supermarket. The coconut milk that comes in a carton (that you'd use for cereal) will NOT work in this recipe.
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries in both steps of this recipe. Both regular and smaller "wild" blueberries will work just fine.
- Agave nectar: You can replace this with honey or even maple syrup, but these modifications will affect the flavor. (Not necessarily in a bad way – maple syrup would give this blueberry pancake vibes!)
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
Prep: Soak cashews in room temperature water for 2 hours. Drain and rinse after soaking.
Pre-cool your ice cream maker if necessary.
(1 & 2) Combine the 1 cup soaked cashews, 1 can of coconut milk, 1 ½ cups blueberries, ⅔ cup agave syrup, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1.5 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 teaspoon lemon zest in a high speed blender and blend until creamy. We typically go through two full blend cycles to ensure all of the cashew and blueberry pieces are well incorporated.
(3) Pour mixture into ice cream maker and press start.
(4) Add 1 cup fresh blueberries when the machine indicates, or fold them in once ice cream is finished. Transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe pan, cover, and let harden for 3-4 hours. Remove from freezer about 5-10 minutes before scooping.
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Allow 2 hours for the cashews to soak. If you're pressed for time, you can add the cashews to super hot water for 30 minutes to an hour to speed up the process a bit, but 2 hours in lukewarm water produces the best results.
- Use full fat coconut milk for the best results.
- Allow for 3-4 hours for the ice cream to harden in the freezer after removing from your ice cream maker.
- Note that 1.5 cups of blueberries are added to the blender mixture, and then 1 cup of blueberries are added later while the ice cream is churning.
- Not vegan? We haven't tested it, but you should be able to sub out the coconut milk with regular whole milk.
- If you're in the market for an ice cream maker, we wholeheartedly recommend Breville. We've had ours for years and it makes perfect vegan ice cream every time. The model we have in on the pricier end (we use it a lot!), but here's another less expensive option we've heard good things about.
The best way to do this is to limit the ice cream's exposure to air. We would recommend transferring the soft ice cream into a loaf pan or similar container, and then store in a gallon freezer bag. If your container doesn't fit in a bag, give your container a thorough wrap with plastic wrap.
🍽 Related Recipes
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Print📖 Recipe
Blueberry Lemon Ice Cream
- Total Time: 6 hours
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
We pair the zing of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and zest with the creaminess of coconut milk and the sweetness of blueberries. It's creamy, rich, perfectly balanced and so much better than store-bought!
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked in room temp water for 2 hours
- 1 can (14.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 cup fresh blueberries to mix in at end
- ⅔ cup agave syrup*
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Soak cashews in room temperature water for 2 hours. Drain and rinse after soaking.
- Pre-cool your ice cream maker if necessary.
- Combine the 1 cup soaked cashews, 1 can of coconut milk, 1 ½ cups blueberries, ⅔ cup agave syrup, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1.5 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 teaspoon lemon zest in a high speed blender and blend until creamy. We typically go through two full blend cycles to ensure all of the cashew and blueberry pieces are well incorporated.
- Pour mixture into ice cream maker and press start.
- Add 1 cup fresh blueberries when the machine indicates, or fold them in once ice cream is finished. Transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe pan, cover, and let harden for 3-4 hours. Remove from freezer about 5-10 minutes before scooping.
Notes
You can use maple syrup instead of agave nectar if you wish. Replace the agave syrup with ½ cup of maple, taste, and add more if it needs more sweetness.
Blend the ice cream mixture twice to make sure that the cashews and blueberries are fully incorporated.
The ice cream will take 3-4 hours to harden in the freezer.
Coconut milk: The higher fat content in coconut milk mimics heavy cream in traditional ice cream. Make absolutely sure to get canned full-fat coconut milk (NOT the "lite" version), which is often in the Asian section of the supermarket. The coconut milk that comes in a carton (that you'd use for cereal) will NOT work in this recipe.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Freeze Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Freezer
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Scoops
- Calories: 388
- Sugar: 29.2 g
- Sodium: 12.5 mg
- Fat: 22.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 44.1 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 5.7 g
Griffin says
Incredible recipe!! We had the good fortune of having some freshly picked blueberries to use for this and it is one of our favorite vegan ice creams we’ve tried (and we’ve tried many!). Used 1/2 tbsp almond extract instead of vanilla
Brent Harrison says
Great, thanks for the review!
Jacquie says
Made this today and it is SO delicious!
Tomi says
What could be substituted for the coconut milk? I can't do coconut, but this looks amazing!
Brent Harrison says
Hi Tomi, you can try soy milk, oat milk, or cashew milk.
Daniela says
Made it last night, followed the recipe entirely however it did not thicken at all!?!?
betsy says
I have never made ice cream before, so I was a little nervous. It was so easy and tastes delicious, I did use maple syrup instead of agave.
Lexi says
Yay so glad to hear that, Betsy!