Steve and I went to New York the first week of July and ate ourselves silly. We made a few trips to the gelato stands, and I totally fell in love with the pistachio gelato. I had to come home and make a cleaned-up Dairy Free Pistachio Ice Cream. (Or “mustachio”, like my 3-year-old calls it. I hope he never says that word correctly.)
I’ve made homemade coconut milk, almond milk, and cashew milk before, but never pistachio milk. Spoiler: pistachio milk isn’t any different.
I soaked the nuts like I do with almonds, then threw them into my Blendtec with some fresh water…
Then BOOM. Pistachio milk. I love the light green-ish color and richness it has!
I don’t think I’ve ever talked about my nut milk bag on here. I got it from Ellie’s Best and it really is THE best nut milk bag I’ve ever used. It’s big and sturdy and even stands up on its own while I’m pouring.
You can use it for nut milk or squeezing the water out of shredded zucchini/cauliflower or coffee. It makes it so much easier. And it cleans up well, too.
This is kind of an involved recipe, but it’s nice that you can break the prep work into chunks. The pistachio milk will keep for about a week in the fridge. And the ice cream base will keep chilled for a few days, too.
I don’t say this often, but one of my favorite things about this ice cream is that my kids didn’t like it. (Well, except for my “mustachio”-loving 3-year-old.) It’s something I can pull out for Steve and me and we can take our time with it and not open the freezer after the kids have gone to bed to find that they’ve already eaten it.
We’ve been on a low-carb/keto kick lately, so I used erythritol-based Swerve granulated sweetener in this. I’ve been buying it on Amazon for a while, but I noticed it’s less expensive on Thrive Market — if you happen to use them. It’s like an online natural foods-focused membership store. Like Costco. Only you don’t have a “snack lady” trying to convince you to buy a cheesecake on a Wednesday afternoon for no particular reason.
(Psst, by the way… If you use my link to Thrive Market you can get $25 off your first order. Try it for a free month and let me know what you think!)
Meanwhile, make a batch of this Dairy-Free Pistachio Ice Cream and enjoy a few more nights out on the porch after the kids go to bed.
More Ice Cream Recipes on Perry’s Plate
You can make almost any of my ice cream recipes low-carb/keto friendly by using a low-carb sweetener and swapping out the dates for avocado, when necessary Here’s a list of them below:
5-Minute Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream
Paleo Chocolate Blender Ice Cream
Ginger & Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream
Dairy-Free Pistachio Ice Cream
Dairy Free Pistachio Ice Cream starts off with homemade pistachio milk -- it's easier than you think! This ice cream is naturally sweetened and has a low-carb/keto option, too.
Ingredients
- 1 cup shelled pistachios
- 1/3 cup preferred unrefined granulated or liquid sweetener (see note)
- 5 egg yolks
- A few drops of vanilla stevia
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup coconut cream
Instructions
- If your pistachios are salted, give them a good rinse. Put the nuts in a small heat-safe bowl and pour very hot water over them. Let them soak for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Drain the pistachios, discard soaking liquid, then put the nuts in a high-speed blender along with 4 cups of fresh water. Blend for 2-3 minutes until the nuts are completely pulverized and the liquid has turned to a creamy light green. Strain the milk through a nut-milk bag or a coffee filter or a paper towel-lined fine mesh strainer. You can save the pistachio pulp for another use (energy bites?) or discard it. (Don't put your strainer away. You'll need it again.)
- Place the pistachio milk in a medium saucepan and add the granulated sweetener. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until it gets steamy and the sweetener has dissolved -- do not boil.
- Meanwhile, put the egg yolks in a small mixing bowl. When the milk mixture has heated, slowly whisk a ladle full of the hot liquid into the yolks. Then whisk the yolk mixture back into the milk mixture.
- Cook over medium low for another few minutes until the ice cream base has thickened slightly, lightly coating the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla stevia, vanilla extract, and coconut cream. Stir for a minute or so until the coconut cream melts.
- Strain the mixture again through a fine-mesh strainer -- if you want. This ensures that you don't have bits of scrambled egg yolk in your ice cream. Chill the mixture for at least 2 hours.
- Freeze the ice cream mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Serve. With some extra chopped pistachios, if you like.
Notes
Nat's Notes:
1. You can absolutely make the pistachio milk a few days before you make the ice cream base. And you can leave the ice cream base in the fridge for a couple of days before you freeze it. This doesn't have to be an all-day project. Space it out how you like!
2. I used Swerve granulated sweetener in this recipe. You could use another low-carb sweetener like erythritol or all stevia. Coconut sugar or honey would also work well in this recipe if you aren't watching your carbs, but still wanted to use a natural sweetener.
3. Putting 1/2 teaspoon spirulina powder into the base will make it more green -- like commercially-made pistachio ice cream -- without needing food coloring. Just whisk it into the base at the very end in step 5 when you add the vanilla extract.
Nutrition info (per 1 cup serving): 109 Calories | 9.8g Fat | 1.8g Net Carbs | 3.3g Protein
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases made by using these links doesn’t cost you any extra and helps to keep my content free.
Anu
Thursday 9th of July 2020
This looks great, I will try making this soon! For a dairy version, can I use double cream or clotted cream instead of coconut cream? Thanks!
Natalie Perry
Friday 10th of July 2020
Sure!
Katinkala
Friday 3rd of April 2020
Hey I‘ve eaten I think it was vegan pistachio ice cream which was made with olive oil instead of milk and tasted really good but don't know how to do it by myself. Have you any ideas how that could work?
Natalie Perry
Tuesday 14th of April 2020
The main ingredient in this recipe is milk... are you sure it was made with a few cups of olive oil in place of the milk? I've never tried it with olive oil, but I imagine you'd only need a few Tablespoon fulls to get an olive oil flavor. Otherwise you'd be eating a frozen oily mess.
Maria Eduarda de Souza Sodini
Friday 25th of October 2019
Hi. Do you have any idea of a vegan pistachio ice cream?
Natalie Perry
Friday 25th of October 2019
Hi! You could make this without the eggs for it to be vegan, but it won't be as creamy. I can't guarantee how it will turn out because I haven't done that with this recipe.
Olivia Craig
Monday 6th of August 2018
Yummy! Absolutely delicious! This is a different recipe and loved it.