Pistachio Ice Cream with White Chocolate (vegan)

October 27, 2023 0 Comments

pistachio ice cream pictured with pieces of white chocolate and pistachio nuts

I rarely make bold claims, but this is the best Pistachio Ice Cream you will ever eat. And as long as you get vegan white chocolate, it’s vegan.

Pistachio, a misunderstood flavor?

Growing up, I was never a fan of pistachio ice cream. Sometimes we had pistachio instant pudding for dessert at home. What is that flavor, anyway? Pistachio products rarely taste like the actual nuts. I recently ordered pistachio ice cream in a popular, “craft” ice cream shop, and while it tasted good, if I had been blindfolded I would have guessed it was peanut butter ice cream.

This ice cream tastes like pistachios, first and foremost. Then we swirl in some white chocolate for good measure, and end up in pistachio-white-chocolate heaven.

Making pistachio butter?

In developing this recipe, I learned a lot about making pistachio butter. (If you want the equivalent of a master class on the subject, check out this post from Love and Olive Oil.) We’re basically making pistachio butter first, then blending in additional ingredients. You’ll need a food processor or high-powered blender to do this.

To get the best pistachio flavor for ice cream, start with roasted, salted pistachio nuts. If you want to swap them for raw pistachios, feel free, but I prefer the deeper, roasted flavor. If your pistachios are salted, you don’t need to add more salt to the ice cream. However, if your pistachios are unsalted, add 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of salt, to taste.

I explored the possibility of buying pistachio butter to eliminate a step, and I don’t think it’s a good idea. Most pistachio butters have added sugar and milk products (like this one). A few contain only roasted nuts (like this) or raw nuts (like this). But all of them are very expensive! If you don’t have a food processor or high-powered blender, or you absolutely must buy your pistachio butter, look for one like this with just roasted pistachios and no added sugar. You may need to adjust the salt.

In the end, my method for making this ice cream is quick and easy, so don’t fear the nut butter! Details are in the recipe below, but basically you just blend until the nuts break down and start releasing their oils, before slowly adding the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste.

pistachio nuts and sugar in a food processor

How to get the perfect white chocolate bits

I hate when ice cream contains hard, crunchy chocolate bits. When you bite into them, they’re chalky. Then you swallow them before they’ve melted enough for you to actually taste them. Tragedy!

Here’s how we fix that: melt the chocolate with a small amount of oil. (Avocado, canola, and olive oil work well. Coconut oil doesn’t work, because it’s a saturated fat, so it becomes too hard when frozen.) Drizzle the chocolate-oil mixture slowly into the ice cream maker during the last minute of churning. The slow stream of chocolate will freeze almost instantly and break apart into big chocolate flakes. Because of the oil, the frozen flakes will be slightly chewy when you bite into them, and they’ll melt in your mouth quickly. Perfection!

To keep this Pistachio Ice Cream vegan, make sure to buy vegan white chocolate, such as this or this.

Pistachio Ice Cream with White Chocolate (vegan)

Makes ~ 1 quart

Recipe Category: Dairy Free Egg Free

Lactose Free

No Cook

Soy Free Vegan

Ingredients

Servings

For the ice cream base

1 1/2 cup shelled, roasted, salted pistachio nuts (165 g, add 1/4-1/2 tsp of salt if your nuts are unsalted)
1/4 cup sugar (60 g)
1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz/400 ml, full fat, unsweetened)
1/3 cup agave syrup (100 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (~5 ml)
1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, but improves the texture and longevity in the freezer)
5 ounces non-dairy milk of your choice (150 ml, plain, unsweetened)

For the white chocolate bits

3 ounces white chocolate (vegan) (85 g)
1 teaspoon neutral oil of your choice (avocado, canola, or olive oil work well (coconut oil does not work))

Instructions

START BLENDING THE PISTACHIO NUTS

Place the nuts and sugar into your food processor or high-powered blender. As you process, the nuts will go through several stages. First they will look like coarse sand, then they will start to clump up. Blend until the nut mixture starts to form a ball, then move on to the next step.
BEGIN ADDING COCONUT MILK, SLOWLY

Continue blending, adding 2 tablespoons of coconut milk at a time to the food processor. Alternate blending and adding coconut milk, slowly, until the mixture becomes smoother and glossier. Do this until you've gradually added about half of the coconut milk.
CONTINUE ADDING INGREDIENTS

Slowly add the rest of the coconut milk, agave syrup, vanilla, and xanthan gum. The texture should become a smooth paste, maybe almost fluffy.

Before you add the final ingredient for the ice cream base -- the non-dairy milk -- you might want to transfer the mixture to a large bowl. This will depend on how much liquid your food processor can handle. (If you're using a blender, of course you should be fine.)

In your blender, food processor, or a large bowl, mix in the non-dairy milk of your choice.
CHILL

Transfer to a container and chill in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

For a quicker chilling time, place the bowl containing your mixture in an ice bath (a larger bowl containing ice water) for a few hours. Stir the mixture occasionally. As the water in the ice bath warms up, pour off some water and add ice to keep the mixture chilling as quickly as possible.

Ideally, the mixture will be about 40 degrees when you churn it.
PREP YOUR WHITE CHOCOLATE

If your white chocolate comes in a bar rather than in pieces, you'll need to roughly chop it (or at least break it apart) so it will melt more quickly and evenly. Put the white chocolate pieces and the oil of your choice into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds. Stir, then microwave again on 50% power for another 30 seconds. At this point the residual heat should finish melting the white chocolate without further cooking. If your white chocolate hasn't melted after a minute or two, you may need to microwave again, but use caution! White chocolate can easily overcook and become thick, clumpy, and dry.
CHURN AND MIX IN WHITE CHOCOLATE

Before you start churning, set up everything you'll need to quickly transfer the ice cream from the machine into a container for freezing. I use a knife to scrape down the dasher (or paddle) and a wooden spoon to scoop out the ice cream.

Set up your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Pour your pistachio mixture into the ice cream maker and churn. Because this mixture is thicker than many ice cream bases, it churns more quickly than most. In my machine the perfect churning time is 11 minutes, but your experience may vary.

In the last minute of churning, slowly drizzle the melted white chocolate into the top of your machine, directly onto the ice cream as it churns. This will create the white chocolate bits.

The ice cream is ready when it has the consistency of soft serve and has started pulling away from the edge of the canister. You'll notice it also gets lighter in color as air is mixed in.
STORE

When the ice cream has finished churning, scoop it as quickly as possible into your storage container. Cover it with plastic wrap or parchment paper, if using. (Placing a sheet of parchment paper between the container and lid will help prevent frost, or you can press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream.) Put the container in the freezer. The ice cream will be fully firm in a few hours.