Make this healthy cauliflower ice cream two ways, as an ice cream shake, and as scoopable ice cream. You cannot taste the cauliflower! And this recipe is an incredible way to get one of the most nutritious vegetables on the planet into your diet.
4-ingredient Cauliflower Ice Cream Smoothie Bowl
As you know, I am a big proponent of smoothies without bananas.
I love bananas actually, and their intriguing ability to turn into dairy-free ice cream is indeed remarkable, but we have a daughter who can’t eat bananas so we have to work out recipes that also include those without bananas.
If you are familiar with my recipes, you know that I use frozen zucchini quite often in smoothies as a thickener. And today, I am using frozen cauliflower!
To be honest, I didn’t boil/steam my own cauliflower and chop and puree. Instead, I bought frozen cauliflower rice and microwaved it to cook it. Then I cooled it and measured out what I need for this recipe.
It’s just ridiculously convenient and the frozen cauliflower rice is just cauliflower so I’m quite excited about it.
Of course, it’s a just a few extra steps to boil fresh cauliflower, chop and cool and puree, so don’t be deterred if that is the route you want to take. Plus, the colors of cauliflower – purple and orange – provide a lot of fun color potential, don’t you think?
How Healthy is Cauliflower?
Now, just to re-assure you, my smoothie does not taste like cauliflower, I promise! The cashew butter has a strong influence which proves cauliflower is actually the perfect blank slate. You can use your imagination and adapt it the way you want.
And so your final result with be creamy and delicious, and rich in all the good things cauliflower is known for, including vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, choline, dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, manganese, phosphorus, and biotin.
And while this recipe is primarily for an ice cream smoothie bowl, so many visitors clamored for a way to go further and convert this smoothie to actual cauliflower ice cream so I obliged! It was quite easy actually, and involved the addition of a only a few extra ingredients.
So that is why this post provides you with two options: A cauliflower smoothie and a cauliflower ice cream recipe. Enjoy this healthy dessert for breakfast!
Like working with recipes with sneaky nutritional ingredients? Here are two other recipes that use white beans:
2-ingredient Strawberry Protein Preworkout Bites
White Bean Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
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4-ingredient Cauliflower Ice Cream Smoothie
Make this healthy cauliflower ice cream two ways, as an ice cream shake, and as scoopable ice cream. You cannot taste the cauliflower! And this recipe is an incredible way to get one of the most nutritious vegetables on the planet into your diet.
Ingredients
Cauliflower Ice Cream Smoothie
- 1 cup cauliflower (boiled fresh, or store-bought frozen cauliflower rice)
- 1/2 cup plant milk
- 3 tbsp cashew butter
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
Scoopable Cauliflower Ice Cream (Fills 1 loaf pan)
- 1 cup cauliflower (boiled fresh, or store-bought frozen cauliflower rice)
- 1/2 cup plant milk
- 1 cup cashews soaked over night, rinsed
- 1 cup coconut milk (use full-fat and shake so the solids and liquids are blended)
- 4 tbsp cashew butter
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
Useful Equipment
- Covered Ice Cube tray (or use this brand, each tray here holds half a cup)
Instructions
Cook and Freeze Cauliflower the Night Before
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You can buy frozen cauliflower rice - most grocers stock it bags in the freezer area. Make sure you cook these bags - typically in a microwave. Then pour the cauliflower rice into a bowl and let it cool completely before using in this recipe. Also be sure to drain off any excess water.
If you are working with a fresh cauliflower head, cut it into florets, boil them in water for 10 minutes, drain and allow to cool.
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Either way, blend up the final cauliflower until creamy. It might be a little lumpy depending on the strength of your blender, but try to get it really smooth.
Then pour it into ice cube trays and freeze overnight. The covered ice cube tray I use (linked in ingredients) holds about one cup of mixture. The other tray I recommend has no cover, and holds only half a cup of mixture, but has the advantage of making smaller cubes that might be easier on your blender.
Make Cauliflower Ice Cream Smoothie
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Pop into a blender 1 cup of your frozen cauliflower cubes. You may have to let them sit and thaw a bit to not over-tax your blender.
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Add the milk, nut butter and syrup, and blend until creamy. If you used store-bought cauliflower rice, you might want to add a touch more milk. Taste-test for sweetness - you can either add more maple syrup or nut butter.
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I poured mine in smoothie bowls to spoon as a smoothie! But if you want to make a denser texture to be able to scoop, read on..
Make Cauliflower Scoopable Ice Cream
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Make the smoothie recipe above and add to the mixture 1 cup of cashews, soaked the prior night and rinsed to remove any phytates, and also add the coconut cream from one can of coconut milk. Once blended, taste-test to see if it is sweet enough for you. Add more maple syrup to increase sweetness.
- Pour the mixture into a parchment-lined loaf pan and freeze. Of course, at this point you could also add mix-ins or toppings. Freeze at least 5 hours and thaw for 10 minutes to be able to scoop!
Recipe Notes
The nutritional facts are for the scoopable ice cream. The smoothie will be much lower numbers.
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