If you love the flavor of warm cinnamon and tart green apples, this Ninja Creami Cinnamon Green Apple Protein Ice Cream will be your new favorite recipe. It's sweet, creamy, and packed with protein, making it a dessert you can actually feel good about eating. Every spoonful tastes like a crisp fall day in the best way possible.
This recipe comes in at 248 calories, 25 grams of protein, 18 grams of sugar, 5 grams of fat, 49 carbs, 25 net carbs (total carbs-allulose) for the ENTIRE pint. See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all nutrition facts.
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When I first started experimenting with fruit-flavored protein ice creams, I knew I wanted to make something using Kool-Aid, but I didn’t want it to be too sweet and I still wanted it to have the best texture. The combination of cinnamon, applesauce, and Kool-Aid powder gives this recipe the perfect balance of sweet and tart, while still feeling cozy and comforting. It's smooth, creamy, and has that signature Ninja Creami texture we all love.
This recipe comes together easily using the Ninja Cream machine, and it's easy to customize based on your favorite protein powder or sweetness level. Whether you're enjoying it as a post-workout treat or a healthy dessert after dinner, this Ninja Creami Cinnamon Green Apple Protein Ice Cream delivers all the flavor of fall without the extra sugar.
You’ll notice a unique ingredient in this recipe, and that’s Kool-Aid powder. The Kool-Aid powder adds a ton of flavor without adding much of anything else. Since I used just the powder packet, and not the kind that comes in the big container, there’s no sugar added to it. A little of the powder goes a VERY long way. It might not seem like there’s going to be enough powder added to the recipe to make a difference, but trust me when I say there is.
If you want to add a little crunch to the ice cream, you can add in small chunks of fresh apples. I’d probably go with Granny Smith apples since they are a little tart and have a firmer consistency. If you use a softer apple, the Ninja Creami ice cream maker will mix in the apples so much that you might not get any crunch at all.
Tips for making
Yes, you can but it’s a very mild apple flavor. Adding the green apple Kool-aid powder really helps kick up the apple flavor in the ice cream.
The applesauce helps add a nice texture, but it still needs a very small amount of guar gum to help create a thick and creamy ice cream. Without the guar gum, the ice cream will be a thinner consistency, softer, and not as creamy.
This recipe tastes more like a tart green apple than it does like cinnamon. You can taste the cinnamon, but it’s not strong or overpowering.
I’d go with small chunks of real apples, nuts like peanuts or pecans, cookies like nilla wagers, or mini chocolate chips.
Yes, you can use flavored protein powder instead of the unflavored that the recipe calls for. However, based on the flavor that you choose, you will need to adjust the other ingredients in the recipe. You may not need as much cinnamon. And, if the protein powder that you use is sweetened, you will need to reduce the amount of allulose used in the recipe.
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Ingredient tips and substitutions
The full ingredient list is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk– If you prefer, you can use a different dairy-free milk or dairy product like coconut milk, oat milk, whole milk, 2% milk, half and half, or Fairlife milk. The higher the fat content, the creamier the ice cream will be.
- No-Sugar-Added Apple Sauce– I use store-bought apple sauce because it’s convenient. If you prefer, you can use homemade applesauce or store-bought with sugar. If you make your own applesauce, you’ll need to taste the ice cream mixture before adding the cinnamon and allulose, as your homemade version might not have quite the same flavors and sweetness as the store-bought.
- Unflavored Whey Protein Powder– If you prefer, you can use a different protein powder or flavor, but the texture and flavor may not be quite the same. If using a flavored protein powder, adjust/reduce the sweetener that is in the recipe accordingly. If you were to choose a flavored protein powder, I would recommend using vanilla protein powder or apple pie flavored protein.
- Allulose Granular Sugar Substitute– Feel free to use your favorite sugar substitute or actual sugar that is a 1:1 ratio with sugar.
- Green Apple Kool-Aid Mix (Unsweetened-Just the mix)– This is the powdered mix that comes in the little packet, without the sugar. Do not use the kind that has sugar in the bigger container.
- Cinnamon– Use ground cinnamon. If you don’t have cinnamon, you can use apple sauce that has added cinnamon in it.
- Guar Gum– If you don’t have guar gum, you can use xanthan gum or a stabilizer from this list: Stabilizers
Directions for Making the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the unsweetened almond milk, apple sauce, protein powder, sugar substitute, kool-aid mix, cinnamon, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour the mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Directions for Processing the Ice Cream Mixture
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on “LITE ICE CREAM.”
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking (like sand), pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. If the ice cream looks like little balls of ice cream, respin without adding liquid. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
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Recipe
Ninja Creami Cinnamon Green Apple Protein Ice Cream
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Equipment
Add Food Grade Vegetable Glycerin To Make Leftover Ice Cream Scoopable Right Out of the Freezer
Per 16 ounce pint: *Add 1 Teaspoon to full fat/full sugar bases *Add 1.5 teaspoon to high protein bases *Add 2 teaspoons to low sugar/low fat lite bases. Freeze and process per the recipe. Take the leftovers out of the freezer and scoop without having to reprocess. ***This is a guideline and adjustments may be needed based on your recipe.
Original, Breeze, Swirl, and Deluxe Ingredient Measurements
Use the multiplier below to adjust quantities based on the machine that you own. ***If you have the Original, Breeze, or Swirl machine, which use 16 ounce containers, choose the 1X option. ***If you have the Deluxe or XL machine, which use 24 ounce containers, choose the 1.5X option.
Ingredients
Ice Cream Base
- 8 Fluid Ounces (236 ⅗ ml) Unsweetened Almond Milk
- ¾ Cup (183 g) No-Sugar-Added Apple Sauce
- 1 Scoop (1 Scoop) Unflavored Whey Protein Powder
- 2 Tablespoons (2 Tablespoons) Allulose Granular Sugar Substitute
- ½ Teaspoon Green Apple Kool-Aid Mix (Unsweetened-Just the mix)
- ½ Teaspoon (½ Teaspoon) Cinnamon
- ⅛ Teaspoon (⅛ Teaspoon) Guar Gum
Optional
- 1-2 Tablespoons (1 Tablespoons) Unsweetened Almond Milk
Instructions
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the unsweetened almond milk, apple sauce, protein powder, sugar substitute, kool-aid mix, cinnamon, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour the mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Process the Ice Cream
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on "LITE ICE CREAM."
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking (like sand), pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. If the ice cream looks like little balls of ice cream, respin without adding liquid. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. Optional ingredients are not included in the nutrition information.
Recipes that use allulose:
Allulose is a low calorie sweetener that your body doesn't fully digest, so it provides only 0.4 calories per gram instead of 4. That's why the calorie total doesn't match what you'd expect from the carb count. Calories from allulose are calculated based on metabolized carbohydrates. Allulose contributes fewer calories than standard carbohydrates.
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