Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream

Vegan pistachio ice cream - this delicious ice cream is incredibly rich and creamy, easy to make and contains NO coconut or cashews!

It has a pure pistachio flavour and a smooth, creamy texture; the secret ingredient is oats!

This vegan pistachio ice cream is based on my delicious vegan vanilla ice cream recipe, which uses a base of cooked oats and cashews rather than coconut.

This gives it a more neutral flavour, meaning that whatever you decide to flavour your ice cream with doesn't have to compete with the coconut to shine.

With this vegan pistachio ice cream, I swapped the cashews for roasted pistachios, which provide flavour and a creamy texture all in one.

What Do I Need To Make Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream?:

Pistachios: Obviously. In my vanilla ice cream recipe I use blended cashews to provide creaminess; here I replace them with pistachios. You need to use roasted pistachios, the ones I use are also salted. There is no need to soak them before blending as that would dilute the flavour.

Porridge oats: regular rolled porridge oats or quick cooking ones are fine. You are going to simmer them with some plant milk until they are soft before blending them.

Plant milk: unsweetened soy milk is the best option here as it has a neutral flavour and creamy texture. (I like Alpro Unsweetened Soya milk the best).

You can use any kind of plant milk you like but bear in mind that the flavour of the milk will affect the flavour of the ice cream.

Caster sugar: I use white caster sugar (granulated is fine too) as it has a neutral flavour, I want the pistachio to be the star here! You can swap it for maple syrup or agave if you want but then your ice cream will taste like maple.

Don't reduce the amount of sugar by much or the ice cream won't be as creamy and it won't taste as good.

*Something to note, some white sugars are not vegan as they are processed with bone char. If you are in the UK then pretty much all sugar (except royal icing sugar) is vegan friendly so no worries there.

In the US I believe you may need to purchase organic sugar but check the specific brand to be sure. If the sugar is made from sugar beets then it is vegan friendly, sugar cane maybe not.

Xanthan gum: Pretty much all commercial ice creams contain some sort of stabiliser such as guar gum. This helps to stop the ingredients from separating and keeps the ice cream smooth and creamy.

Because guar gum is not so easy to get hold of, I used xanthan gum which is sold in most supermarkets and does the same job. You can just omit it if you can’t get hold of it.

Vodka: This is totally optional but a bit of alcohol helps stop the ice cream from freezing too solid (it will still be quite firm straight out the freezer however).

Vanilla: This adds a bit more depth of flavour.

Salt: A little bit of salt really helps to bring out the flavour and balance the sweetness. If your pistachios are unsalted then you may want to increase the salt to ¼ tsp.

How To Make Vegan Pistachio Ice Cream:

(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)

Make sure that the bowl of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for long enough, mine takes 11 hours to fully freeze.

Place the porridge oats in a saucepan with half of the soy milk and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the bottom from catching, until the oats are soft.

Place the pistachios in a blender with the other half of the milk and blend until very smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides a few times as needed.

Add the oat mixture to the blender along with the sugar, vanilla extract, salt, vodka and xanthan gum (if using).

Blend again until extremely smooth.

Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until completely cold; I leave mine in there overnight but it will take at least four hours.

Once the mixture is thoroughly chilled, give it a whisk then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturers instructions until it reaches soft serve consistency.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezerproof container and freeze for about four hours before serving.

Once fully frozen the ice cream will be quite solid straight out the freezer, let it warm up at room temperature for fifteen minutes before scooping.

What If I Don’t Own An Ice Cream Maker?:

If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can still make this vegan pistachio ice cream, it just takes a bit more work and the texture will be a bit more icy.

Once the base is chilled, pour it into a large freezerproof container and pop it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so, remove it from the freezer and give it a quick whisk with an electric mixer to break up any ice crystals then return it to the freezer.

Repeat this until it reaches soft-serve consistency then allow to freeze for a couple of hours before serving.

Top Tips:

As with all of my recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!

This vegan pistachio ice cream is quite solid straight out of the freezer so make sure that you take it out at least 15 minutes before serving to allow it to soften up a little.

My ice cream is naturally coloured which is why it isn't very green. If you want it to look a bit more like shop bought pistachio ice cream then you can add a drop or two of green food colouring.

Ideally you need a power blender (such as Froothie/Vitamix) for the smoothest ice cream. You can still make it with a regular blender, but it might not be quite as smooth and creamy.

More Vegan Ice Cream Recipes:

• Vegan vanilla ice cream
• Vegan coffee ice cream with chocolate fudge swirl
• Rich and creamy vegan chocolate ice cream
• Vegan peanut butter and cookies ice cream
• Vegan biscoff ice cream
• Vegan chunky monkey ice cream
• Vegan chocolate coconut sorbet

If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess

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