Best Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream

Name: Best Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: vegan
Ingredients: 1 13.5-ounce can of full-fat coconut milk; 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; 1/3 cup of real maple syrup; 1 cup pumpkin puree

November 14, 2018 / By Carrie Forrest, MPH in Nutrition / 33 Comments

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This creamy Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream uses coconut milk as the base, so it’s completely dairy-free and delicious!

Pumpkin Desserts

Okay, so maybe ice cream isn’t a traditional fall or holiday dessert, but I think it should be! I’d argue that this pumpkin ice cream even qualifies as being a nutritious dessert, since it’s full of antioxidant-rich pumpkin puree.

How to Make Vegan Ice Cream

I first learned to make homemade ice cream almost a decade ago from a vegan ice cream book author, so it’s pretty much the only way I know how to make ice cream at all! I almost always use a coconut milk base, but I’ve also used soy milk in the past with great results.

Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream Ingredients

As mentioned, this recipe uses full-fat coconut milk as the base with maple syrup to sweeten. This recipe has a total of five ingredients including:

coconut milk
maple syrup
vanilla extract
pumpkin pie spice
pumpkin puree

How easy is that?!

Vegan & Dairy-Free Pumpkin Ice Cream Steps

In addition to only needing five ingredients, you can make this Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream in just a few steps.

Freeze your ice cream bowl overnight.
Gather your ingredients: coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree.
Blend the ingredients and chill for 30 minutes.
Churn the mixture in your ice cream making for 30 minutes.
Eat!!!

Step-by-Step Photos for this Vegan & Dairy-Free Pumpkin Ice Cream Recipe

I used a high-speed blender to mix the ingredients, but you can also use a food processor. Here’s what it looks like when the ingredients get blended together and chilled.

Then, you just pour the mixture into an ice cream churner. Thirty minutes later, you have a creamy and delicious pumpkin pie flavored ice cream with no preservatives or additives.

When I make homemade ice cream, I usually transfer the mixture from the machine to the freezer to firm it up a bit before serving. By the way, I also get a lot of questions about how to make homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker. It can be done! It’s a little bit more time-consuming, but I wrote a blog post about how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Items recommended for this Vegan & Paleo Pumpkin Ice Cream recipe (some affiliate links included):

Questions about Making Dairy-Free Ice Cream

Do I need an ice cream maker to make homemade ice cream? It will make your life easier, but you don’t have to have one! They’re less than $50 on Amazon (this is the ice cream maker I have), but I totally get it if you don’t want another appliance or you don’t want to spend the money.

Feel free to make homemade dairy-free ice cream by freezing your mixture and stirring it every 30 minutes or so to help incorporate air and create a creamy texture. Read my whole tutorial on making homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Can I use lite coconut milk for this recipe? Yes, but I only tested it using full-fat milk.

Can I use real pumpkin that I cook at home in this recipe? Yes, but I have not tested it that way. I have only made this recipe using canned pumpkin puree.

Here’s the printable recipe for this Vegan & Dairy-Free Pumpkin Ice Cream: