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If you love lemon desserts, you’re going to love this Ninja Creami lemon ice cream. It’s bright, refreshing, and has the most perfect balance of sweet and tart from real lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. This is the kind of ice cream that’s perfect for a hot summer day…or any day!
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Lemon ice cream is one of those flavors that you don’t see at every ice cream shop, but it should be. It’s so refreshing and so different from the usual chocolate or vanilla. This Ninja Creami lemon ice cream is bright and tart from real lemon, but still creamy and smooth like a classic ice cream should be. It’s somewhere between a lemon ice cream and a sorbet.
This recipe uses THREE different types of lemon to get that bright, real lemon flavor. Fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and pure lemon extract all work together to make every bite taste like real lemon. The lemon zest is what really takes the flavor up because the peel has all of those intense lemon oils that you can’t get from juice alone.
A combination of skim milk and half and half gives this ice cream a really nice creamy texture without being super heavy. The half and half adds enough fat to keep it creamy, while the skim milk keeps it light enough that the lemon flavor really shines through. If you want it even creamier, you can swap the skim milk for whole milk or use all half and half.
The cream cheese in this Ninja Creami ice cream recipe acts as a stabilizer and gives you that thick, scoopable texture without making the ice cream taste like cheesecake. Make sure it’s at room temperature before adding it to the blender so it blends in smoothly without leaving any lumps.
If you want to take this lemon ice cream up a notch, there are so many fun ways to dress it up. A spoonful of lemon curd or canned lemon pie filling swirled in would be amazing. Crumbled graham crackers or shortbread cookies as a mix-in would give you a lemon pie vibe. Fresh blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries would also be really good if you want to add a little fruit on top after scooping.
Tips for making Ninja Creami Lemon Ice Cream
Lemon zest is small shavings of the lemon peel. The peel contains a lot of intense lemon flavor and provides great texture! To easily get the zest from a lemon, I recommend using a zester, which can be found at any kitchen store. If you don’t have a zester, you can use a vegetable peeler, but make sure to only peel off a thin layer and then chop it finely. You do not want to get the white part of the peel.
Usually, dry or crumbly ice cream is from one of these three things: your freezer is too cold, your recipe doesn’t have enough fat, or your recipe doesn’t have enough sugar. To fix it, add 1 tablespoon of dairy to the pint after processing and re-spin.
Yes, store-bought lemon juice works fine if you don’t have fresh lemons. Fresh lemon juice has a brighter flavor, but the difference isn’t huge once it’s frozen and blended with the other ingredients.
You can, but I really don’t recommend it. The lemon zest is where most of the bright, real lemon flavor comes from. Without it, the ice cream will still be lemony but the flavor won’t be as strong or as fresh tasting.
Not with this exact recipe since it has dairy and cream cheese in it. If you want a lemon sorbet, you would need a totally different recipe that uses water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar with no dairy.
Ingredient tips and substitutions
The full ingredient list is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
- Skim Milk: You can use any dairy or non-dairy milk in place of skim milk, just know that the higher the fat content of the milk, the creamier the ice cream will be.
- Half and Half: Heavy cream can be used in place of half and half for an even richer ice cream, or you can use more skim or whole milk if you prefer a lighter version.
- Granulated Sugar: You can use your favorite granulated sweetener in place of regular sugar, just make sure it’s a 1:1 ratio with sugar (allulose works great).
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice gives you the brightest flavor, but store-bought lemon juice will work in this recipe too.
- Cream Cheese: Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so it blends in smoothly, and if you don’t have cream cheese, you can use 2 tablespoons of sugar-free instant pudding mix or ¼ teaspoon of guar gum in its place.
- Lemon Zest: Fresh lemon zest is a must for that real lemon flavor, and you’ll need a zester or a fine vegetable peeler to get just the yellow part of the peel without any of the bitter white part.
- Pure Lemon Extract: Make sure to use pure lemon extract and not imitation since pure extract has a much better flavor (the imitation version can taste a little fake).
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Vanilla bean paste can be used in place of vanilla extract at a 1:1 ratio.
- Milk (Optional): This only gets used if the ice cream looks like sand after the first spin, and any dairy or non-dairy milk works in its place like whole milk, 2% milk, half and half, heavy cream, coconut milk, oat milk, or Fairlife milk.
Directions for Making the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the ice cream base ingredients 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 “ICE CREAM.”
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking (like sand), pour in a tablespoon or two of 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 Lemon 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
- ⅔ Cups (157 ¾ ml) Skim Milk
- ⅔ Cups (161 ⅓ g) Half & Half
- 3 ½ Tablespoons (3 ½ Tablespoons) Sugar (Granulated )
- 1 Tablespoon (1 Tablespoon) Lemon Juice (Fresh )
- 1 Tablespoon (1 Tablespoon) Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
- ⅔ Tablespoon (⅔ Tablespoon) Lemon Zest (Zest of ⅔ of a lemon)
- 1 ⅔ Teaspoons (1 ⅔ Teaspoons) Pure Lemon Extract
- ⅓ Teaspoon (⅓ Teaspoon) Pure Vanilla Extract
Optional
- 1-2 Tablespoons (1 Tablespoons) Milk
Instructions
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the ice cream base ingredients 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 "ICE CREAM."
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking (like sand), pour in a tablespoon or two of 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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