This fresh blueberry cashew ice cream is the most amazing colour and sings of sweet blueberries and roasty, creamy cashews. Its plant based and both dairy and egg free, perfect for those with allergies or dietary restrictions.

Originally I made this recipe with coconut. Delicious but not what I was going for. You can find my recipe for coconut blueberry ice cream here. Which is better? I couldn’t say, but I wrote a post comparing the two so you can decide for yourself. This version uses pure cashews in two different forms, a milk with raw cashews and a butter with roasted cashews. Its worth making the two to get a more complex cashew flavour and they are super easy to whip these up yourself at home.

The secret to this recipe is to blend blend blend. You will need a good quality immersion blende or you can use a food processor. I have a Breville Control Grip. The chopping bowl has seen better days and I’ve already replaced it once. But the motor attachment is still going strong and I use it all the time for ice cream, jams and hiding veggies from the kids in tomato based sauces. Plus its easy to store and clean, win win.

To make the blueberry cashew ice cream

Make the three elements first, then combine them at the end.

Cashew milk

Put the raw cashews into a large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for one hour. Don’t skip this step, you want to cashews to absorb the water and make them easier to blend into a nice creamy milk. There is some debate online on if soaking in boiling water reduces the nutritional value of the cashews. If you are worried about this you can cover with water and soak overnight in the fridge instead.

Drain the soaking water off and put soaked cashews into a deep bowl you can use a immersion blender in. I like my pyrex bowl, its deep and nice and tough. Alternately you can use a food processor. I don’t recommend using a blender as I find the finer pieces tend to get stuck in the bottom and its hard to get a smooth consistency. Plus they are a total pain to clean.

Add the cold water to the cashews. This can be water from the tap, it does not need to be cold water from the fridge or specially ‘room temperature’ water. Blend the water and cashews well until in forms a creamy milk. Taste the cashew milk or rub some between your fingers. It should have a smooth, creamy consistency. If there are still gritty large particles you need to keep blending.

Cashew butter

Next make the cashew butter. Put the roasted cashews into the chopping bowl of an immersion blender or food processor. Blend until it resembles fine bread crumbs and is starting to creep up the sides.

Add the peanut oil and blend again until a smooth paste forms. Test it will a spoon or between your fingers, again it should be smooth without any grittiness or large particles. If not, you need to keep blending. Its almost a shame to put this in ice cream, its so delicous you could easily pop it into a jar and spread it on toast instead of peanut butter.

Blueberry jam

To make the blueberry jam measure out the blueberries and add to small pot with the sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water to get it started. If you don’t want to use refined sugar you could substitute it for something like maple syrup but be aware anything other than plain sugar will have a stronger flavour which may distract from the blueberry and cashew flavour in the final ice cream.

Simmer on low, stirring frequently until rich and jammy and the total volume in the pot has reduced by about one third. Allow to cool, then transfer to a deep bowl you can use an immersion blender in, or a clean food processor. Blend until smooth, all the skins are blended up and the seeds are well blended as much as possible. The blueberry jam is harder to get very smooth due to the seeds, but do your best.

Hot tip: Wait untill the blueberry jam is properly cool. Do not try to blend hot blueberry jam or you may be badly burnt by hot, sticky jam going everywhere.

Once the jam is smooth add the lemon juice and mix well.

To finish making the blueberry cashew ice cream

In a deep bowl you can use an immersion blender in add the cashew milk, cashew butter, vanilla essence and salt. Blend well. Add the blueberry jam and mix well, either with a spoon or the immersion blender again.

Chill well in the fridge, for at least three hours, ideally longer.

If you are using a self refrigerating ice cream churner turn this on about ten minutes before churning your ice cream, and make sure your storage contain is in the freezer chilling. Other wise take your freezer bowl out of the freezer just before churning.

Churn your ice cream. It will bet the consistency of soft serve when done. Eat immediately or transfer to a chilled container and freeze overnight or until desired consistency is reached.

To serve

Remove the ice cream from freezer for five minutes to soften up then scoop and enjoy. Yummy served some extra blueberries and some crushed cashews on or its own. Delicious!

Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know how it went in the comments below.

Looking for more allergy friendly recipes? You can find my collection here of egg free, dairy free or entirely plant based and vegan recipes.

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5 from 4 votes