A beautiful, colourful and creamy ice cream made from purple sweet potatoes and coconut milk. Vegan, dairy-free and paleo-friendly recipe!
What's better than sweet potoato? Purple sweet potato!
Not always easy to find, but well worth looking out for. Not only for it's beautiful colour, but its health benefits too.
It's been declared a miracle food, due to it's high levels of anthocyanins, which help improve blood flow and cognitive function.
Other purple foods also contain this compound so if you can't find purple sweet potato, try blackberries, aubergine or red cabbage.
The sweet potato gives this ice cream extra creaminess and the most wonderful texture, not to mention colour and flavour!
If you can't find purple sweet potato, try looking for Ube puree in your local Asian supermarket or use orange sweet potato instead (it will still be delicious.)
When it comes to sweeteners, I really recommend maple syrup for this recipe. It seems to really pair well with the sweet potato.
It can sometimes be hard to find (in the UK, at least) and can be a little expensive so using agave nectar is the second best option.
This purple sweet potato ice cream is:
- Dairy-free & eggless
- Vegan
- Gluten-free & paleo-friendly
- Refined sugar-free
- High in anthocyanins - a brain-boosting compound
- Ultra creamy and smooth
More vegan ice cream recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
The most smooth, creamy ice cream made with purple sweet potatoes and coconut milk.
Ingredients
- 360 ml / 1 ½ cups coconut milk, full-fat
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder*
- 60 ml / ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup purple sweet potato puree or ¾ cup chopped, boiled purple sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Optional 1 tbsp alcohol, such as vodka or gin**
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients, except the vanilla and alcohol, together in a blender and mix until smooth.
- Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and whisk until smooth and thickened.
- Stir in the vanilla and alcohol.
- Pour into a container and chill overnight.
Instructions for using an ice cream maker
- Once the mixture is chilled, you simply need to add it to yourice cream machine, following the manufacturer's instructions. Once churned, add to a shallow, freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Instructions without using an ice cream maker
- If you have a stand mixer with a metal bowl, you can freeze the bowl overnight and "churn" the ice cream using the paddle attachment.
- Otherwise, you will need to whisk the mixture well before freezing it and may need to check on it a couple of times and whisk again to add lot's of air to it and prevent it turning icy.
Notes
*Arrowroot powder can be found in the baking aisle of the supermarket. You can also use tapioca flour or corn starch.
**The alcohol is to help keep the ice cream from freezing too hard.
Choclette says
Oh wow, what an amazingly wonderful recipe. We used to grow purple Peruvian potatoes which made for great mashed potato, but I'm not sure they'd be so brilliant in ice-cream. But I can see how sweet potato would totally work.
Vegan Heaven says
Oh my gosh, that color!!! <3 I seriously can't wait to give this ice cream a try. It looks absolutely gorgeous, Aimee! :-)
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
wow what an ice-cream! i am so curious to know what it tastes like.. so beautiful!
Nicole says
You are one smart lady! This is so beautiful. I hope I can track down some purple sweet potatoes here to try this out.
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
How insanely gorgeous is this!?! Wow Aimee, I am so glad you found those purple potatoes so this beautiful chilled treat could happen <3 Mmm the color! And yes I agree it does pair very well with maple syrup, that has become my favorite sweetener lately for almost everything. And with the flowers too, these pics are stunning!