Healthy Pumpkin Ice Cream
I have to admit, I have never really been a fan of pumpkin. Or pumpkin pie spice. Or pumpkin spice lattes. I’m sure you’re looking at your screen with a look of shock — eyes wide, eyebrows high. I mean, am I even a millennial if I don’t order my daily PSL from Starbucks? I’m only kidding 😉 And before you start thinking I’m some freak of nature, I’d like to clarify that I’ve come around to pumpkin flavor. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it anymore. Similar to how I’ve come around to whipped cream, cream cheese, Crème Brûlée, oatmeal, and in this season’s case, Pumpkin Pie! Even though a cold front came through Texas, the weather channel says it’ll start to warm back up again soon. And what better way to celebrate warmer weather than with ice cream?? Pumpkin Ice Cream, that is!
This Pumpkin Ice Cream is ULTRA creamy, perfectly spiced, and sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. Best of all, it’s made with 100% healthy ingredients!
Typical ice cream is made with heavy cream, egg yolks, and enough sugar to make your dentist cry. But not this one. This one is made with healthier swaps to make it fat free, refined sugar free, high protein, and eggless.
Instead of heavy cream, I used a mixture of evaporated fat free milk and fat free cream cheese. Instead of egg yolks, I added whey protein powder (I honestly didn’t think this was going to work, but it did!). Instead of white sugar, I used pure maple syrup, a tiny bit of molasses, and organic stevia extract.
A creamy and uber flavorful ice cream without all the heavy cream, sugar, and artificial ingredients? Yes, it IS possible!
Healthy Pumpkin Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 12oz can Evaporated Fat Free Milk
- 8 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese
- 1¼ cups 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree
- ⅓ cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 tbs Molasses
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 1 tsp Natural Maple Flavor
- 1 cup Unflavored Whey Protein Isolate (75g)
- 1 tbs Pumpkin Pie Spice
Instructions
- In a large blender (I used my Vitamix), add the evaporated milk, cream cheese, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, molasses, vanilla extract, stevia extract, and maple flavor. Blend until smooth.
- While blending, add the whey protein powder and pumpkin pie spice.
- Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to churn. Transfer the mixture into a freezer-safe container and freeze for ~3-5 hours, or until it's the consistency you prefer. Serve and enjoy!
This Pumpkin Ice Cream is so good! I’m still in shock that such a thing could exist.
After my first bite, all I could do was stare at the ice cream, grin, and scooped myself another (big) bite. Dang, that is some good stuff right there!
If you’re a fan of Gingersnaps and Mexican Spiced Coffee or anything with pumpkin pie spice, this is the ice cream for you.
And if you like tasty AND healthy desserts, then this is definitely for you too!
Enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
This ice cream looks so scrumptious. I’m curious about the ingredients like stevia extract and whey protein concentrate. Are there any substitutions I could make for these ingredients or could I just leave them out entirely?
Mrsblocko,
Stevia extract is a potent, natural sweetener, and made this ice cream even better. I would recommend using it (I put a link on the ingredient) because it enhances the other flavors and makes it feel like you are eating sweet, storebought ice cream : ) If you don’t end up using it, maybe try adding 1/4 cup more of the sucanat and 2 tbs more of the maple syrup — I haven’t tried this though (and I’m not an ice cream pro yet), but I hope it works if you try!
As for the whey protein concentrate, you can probably use dried nonfat milk or dried soymilk… the powder makes the mixture thicker as a replacement for cream. Good Luck!
-Jess
Hi Jessica, your ice cream looks great! I was also curious about the use of the whey protein in this ice cream. I’ve experimented a lot with trying to make lower fat, lower sugar ice creams and frozen yogurts. I’ve done a lot with emulsifiers (guar gum, xantham gum), egg yolks, and alcohol but I haven’t had great success in making creamy, scoopable-from-the-freezer ice creams. Does the whey protein make a difference? Thanks!
Cara,
I added the whey protein to thicken up the mixture to be a replacement for cream (I’m not sure exactly if it even helped with the texture of the ice cream!). Also, this ice cream turns rock solid in the freezer, that is why it needs to be left on the counter for 30+ minutes… I know, that part is a bummer : (
I’m still working on getting that “scoopable-from-the-freezer” effect! It’s hard when not using cream, a ton of sugar and alcohol… as I am not of age hah D:
Could anything be better than this ice cream?? I think not 🙂
Hey Jess! I don’t blame you if you don’t really like things like cheesecake, flan, creme brulee, oatmeal, jello, whipped cream, cream cheese and pumpkins. I have a friend that also don’t like to eat sweet stuffs like that. Although, I don’t really eat pumpkin as a dessert. But I’m curious of how’s it going to taste. Might as well try this recipe over the weekends.
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Jessica, I love pumpkin and ice cream anything, but I have to say I draw the line on fat free! The low fat versions of evaporated milk and cream cheese are not as full of the chemical additives and fillers they use to give better “mouth feel”. I would rather use skim evaporated milk and 1/3 less fat cream cheese and have the extra fat calories than the chemicals. Or if you are ambitious you can make your own evaporated milk! I just think fat free stuff tastes nasty and life is too short for nasty fat free cream cheese! Can’t wait to try this the less fat way.
Gina J,
Oh yes full fat ingredients are the way to go. Low fat products are not from nature,and yes taste nasty and actually they’re not slimming at all as some people would think.
We have an obesity epidemic, it’s not from full fat products, but from refined sugars and white
flour foods etc. etc.
Love this blog Jessica great recipes but I use natural full fat ingredients.
You can totally use full fat if you want, I honestly just used fat free because I wanted to see how it would turn out (and whether or not it would even work)… and it turned out awesome! Feel free to make whatever subs you want, the recipes I post are just the way I tested it in my own kitchen 🙂
Use low fat or full fat if you want, feel free! 🙂
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