The most popular flavor of ice cream is vanilla ice cream! Vanilla ice cream is great on it’s own, but have you ever tried making it with vanilla bean paste instead of extract? There is just something so great about the rich vanilla flavor that vanilla beans give to ice cream. Yes, vanilla extract does the job, but vanilla beans give the ice cream such a rich and sweet vanilla flavor that you just can’t get from the extract alone. I’ll show you how to make the perfect Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream recipe. It’s great all by itself but is also the perfect base recipe to add mix-ins to.
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I almost always use vanilla bean paste whenever a recipe calls for vanilla extract. Vanilla bean paste is great to have on hand because it makes the process of using vanilla bean instead of just vanilla extract so easy. With vanilla bean paste, there's no longer a need to buy fresh vanilla beans or to go through the process of removing the beans.
When I first got the Ninja Creami machine, I tried the vanilla recipe that comes in the inspiration guide from Ninja and I was not in love with it. The flavor was okay but the texture was not good. Due to the recipe having too much heavy cream in it, the ice cream had a waxy feel. It's like the cream turned into butter and it never seemed to get hard enough to scoop and didn’t have the creamy texture I was looking for. So, I made some changes by lowering the amount of fat in the dairy by changing the amounts of heavy cream and milk, adjusted the cream cheese amount, and used vanilla bean paste instead of extract.
This vanilla bean ice cream base recipe can be used to create many other favorite ice cream flavors! Add in fruit to create a creamy strawberry ice cream. Add in chocolate chips to make the best chocolate chip ice cream! Mix in some caramel and apples to make the best taffy apple ice cream! Or, drizzle some hot fudge and sprinkle with nuts and cherries to make the perfect ice cream sundae! The options are literally endless.
Looking for more Ninja Creami recipes with a vanilla base? Be sure to check out my recipes for M&M ice cream, Ninja Creami chocolate chip ice cream, Ninja Creami maple bacon ice cream (this one has added protein powder), and Ninja Creami vanilla bean protein ice cream (this one uses sugar-free vanilla pudding mix).
Tips for making Ninja Creami Vanilla Ice Cream:
Vanilla bean paste is a thick syruplike vanilla flavoring. The vanilla bean paste is a combination of vanilla pods (the little seed-looking things inside the bean) and vanilla extract. The flavor is more intense but has less of an alcohol and artificial tasting. Vanilla bean paste is used just like vanilla extract, it's a 1:1 ratio. The result is a rich vanilla flavor with vanilla bean speckles throughout. You can buy vanilla bean paste at most grocery stores (even Home Goods and TJ Maxx sell it now!!) near the vanilla extract and on Amazon.
Usually, if your ice cream/sorbet comes out dry or crumbly it's due to one of the following reasons:
*Your freezer is too cold. Try to adjust your freezer to be a little warmer or let your ice cream sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes before processing it.
*Your recipe does not have enough fat in it. Try adding in a little bit of a higher fat dairy product to your recipe next time.
*Your recipe may not have enough sugar in it. The less sugar in the recipe, the icier and crumblier the ice cream will be. Regular sugar, honey, or corn syrup can be used to increase the sugar content if desired.
If you have made ice cream and it just isn't quite as creami as you would like, you can very easily get it super creami by using the re-spin function on the Ninja Creami. Simply place the pint into the outer bowl and snap it into place. Choose the RE-SPIN function. Once the cycle completes, remove the pint and enjoy! Your gelato should be nice and creamy again. ***Use re-spin on already spun ice cream. If the ice cream has been spun and then frozen again, do not use re-spin, Instead, use the original process (ice cream, gelato, etc.)
You sure can! But…you will need to use 2 pint containers instead of one. You always want to make sure that the pint containers are only filled up to the max fill line and not any more than that. In order for the ice cream to turn out creamy, it needs to be mixed by the machine after freezing. If you overfill the pint, the machine is going to have a hard time mixing it and the result will not be as expected. It's ok if you go over the max fill line a little bit when adding in the mix-ins after the ice cream has already gone through the ice cream function.
It depends. If you are keeping the ice cream in the Ninja pint container with the lid sealed tightly and are freezing it in a cold freezer (between 9 degrees F and -7 degrees F), your ice cream will keep for several weeks, even months. However, if you transfer your ice cream to another container or freeze it in a freezer that is not quite as cold (or that is accessed a lot/door opened and closed often), the lifetime of your ice cream will decrease greatly to just a few days and you will likely end up with freezer-burned ice cream.
Looking for more Ninja Creami Ice Cream Recipes?
Ingredient tips and substitutions for Ninja Creami Vanilla Ice Cream:
The full ingredient list is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
- Vanilla Bean Paste- I highly recommend using vanilla bean paste for this recipe as it adds richness to the ice cream. But, if you don't have access to vanilla bean paste, you can use vanilla extract instead. It is a 1:1 ratio between the vanilla bean paste and the vanilla extract.
- Cream Cheese (Room temperature)- Be sure that the cream cheese is room temperature otherwise it will not combine well with the other ingredients. If needed, you can microwave the cream cheese for 5-10 seconds to soften it up. You can use low-fat or regular cream cheese for this recipe.
- Sugar- Feel free to reduce or increase the sugar based on how sweet you would like the ice cream. You can sub the sugar out for your favorite sweetener like allulose or monk fruit.
- Heavy Whipping Cream- The heavy whipping cream helps to add to the creaminess of the ice cream. If you prefer, you can use half and half or a lower fat option. The results will be less creamy.
- Milk- I used whole milk but you can use lower-fat milk or a non-dairy option like oat milk, coconut milk , almond milk, unsweetened coconut cream, or unsweetened oat milk. Do not use heavy cream instead of the milk or it will be too high of a fat content and the texture will become butter-like.
Directions for Making the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla bean paste, sugar, and cream cheese into a small blender and blend until all of the ingredients have combined together. 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, pour in a tablespoon or two of milk and then re-spin. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Your ice cream is ready to eat! Enjoy!
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Recipe
Ninja Creami Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
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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
- ½ Tablespoon Cream Cheese (Room temperature- If you don't like cream cheese, you can use ¼ teaspoon of guar gum instead.)
- ⅓ Cup Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
- ½ Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1¼ Cup Milk
Instructions
- Pour the whole milk, heavy cream, vanilla bean paste, sugar, and cream cheese into a small blender and blend until all of the ingredients have combined together. 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.
- 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, pour in a tablespoon or two of milk and then re-spin. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Your ice cream is ready to eat! 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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Stephanie Paige Babikian says
How would it be to add unflavored protein powder?
Lauren Cardona says
You can add it to the recipe and it should work out fine. Although, I haven’t tried adding protein powder to this specific recipe.
Autumn Daugherty says
Best recipe ever! The perfect vanilla!
Lauren Cardona says
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it!
Gail Strome says
When you use monk fruit as a sugar substitute do you use granular or powdered? I was wondering if the granular would make it gritty? Thank you
Lauren Cardona says
Hi Gail, I don’t use monk fruit but many people do. I would think that either would work. When I use sugar or allulose, I almost always use granular and it dissolves and is not gritty at all, as long as you add it to the base recipe before freezing.
Victoria says
It was great! I do like to add more vanilla bean paste but I use this recipe as my “vanilla” base it tastes great with butterfingers and Oreos (and just by itself!). One question though – does the cream cheese work as a substitute for a vanilla jello packet? If it is, I definitely prefer it this way.
Mar says
Thank you for the recipe! I am receiving one in the mail. Can I add Isopure unflavored protein and also unflavored collagen to this without it changing taste/consistency? Thanks!
Lauren Cardona says
Usually adding extra dry ingredients will make the consistency a little different. You can try it, but I would probably use one of the Ninja Creami protein recipes that I have on the blog.
Cheryl Eckley says
I’d love to try this but my husband isn’t fond of cream cheese can I omit or or substitute something else in place of it ?
Lauren Cardona says
Hi Cheryl, Yes, YOu can substitute the cream cheese, although you can’t really taste it. Here’s a list of cream cheese substitutes that you can try. https://thetastytravelers.com/ninja-creami-faqs/#stabilizers
Tamara says
Can I use the cream cheese that comes in the tub for the 1/2 TBL that is required for the ice cream? )I hate to cut into an 8 oz block of cream cheese for such a small amount). In the past when I’ve done that, the cream cheese never seems to get used up before going bad.
Lauren Cardona says
Hi Tamara- yes. You can use the cream cheese that is in the block or in the container. Either will work. 🙂 For the block of cream cheese, I also have a tendency not to use it up before it goes bad. So, I’ve been cutting it up into tablespoon-sized squares, putting them in a freezer bag, and freezing them until I need them. It’s perfect for making ice cream. I just take a square out and microwave it until soft and add it to my ice cream base.
Charlie says
I’m so confused . Lime
Curd in Vanilla ice cream? To make vanilla do I just leave out the lime and graham crackers?
Lauren Cardona says
Oh my goodness! I was working on a key lime pie recipe earlier today and it looks like it updated this recipe card too. Standby! I’ll fix that right away. I’m so glad you commented!
Lauren Cardona says
Ok. It’s updated back to the actual vanilla ice cream recipe! I’m so sorry about that mixup!
bryce says
great