What if I told you that you could make soft, decadent pumpkin pie ice cream without an ice cream maker?
Not only is it possible, but it’s extremely simple. This recipe is a play on the most popular recipe on my blog: Healthy No-Churn Soft Serve Ice Cream.
If you love pumpkin pie, this is the dessert you need.
We’re going to use a blender to create this soft pumpkin ice cream very easily, and we’ll be folding in some simple graham cracker pie crust pieces to take this to the next level.
This recipe makes two servings, each with under 300 calories and containing a very generous 19g of protein.
And no, this is not some combination of ice & protein powder to create high-protein ice cream. This stuff is the real deal!
I prefer to enjoy this recipe as a Pumpkin Pie Blizzard (since I absolutely love soft-serve) but if you add this pumpkin pie ice cream to the freezer to firm up, you’ll have yourself some scoopable ice cream that you can enjoy in a bowl or ice cream cone.
How to make healthy pumpkin pie ice cream
I discovered a very easy way to make delicious, authentic soft serve ice cream with my Healthy No-Churn Soft Serve Ice Cream recipe.
For this pumpkin pie ice cream recipe, we’re going to follow the same formula. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Fat-free evaporated milk (note that this is different than condensed milk)
- Powdered sugar substitute (or regular powdered sugar)
- Vanilla extract
- Canned pumpkin
- Cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
All we have to do is mix up all of these ingredients, let the mixture freeze, then blend it up into soft ice cream!
Mix all of your ingredients together in a large bowl, then pour the mixture into a large freezer bag to lay flat in the freezer. You can also pour the mixture into an ice cube tray, but I find the freezer bag method to be the easiest.
By laying the bag flat in the freezer, it creates a mixture that is very easy to break apart once frozen.
Let the ice cream mixture freeze for about 8-10 hours, but letting it freeze overnight (or even longer if needed) will give you the best results. If the mixture isn’t fully frozen, your ice cream will be too soft.
Once it’s fully frozen, you should be able to break the mixture apart to add directly to your high-speed blender or food processor.
Run the food processor on high for about one minute until you have a crumbly mixture.
Scrape the sides, then add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to your food processor (any milk will work just fine). One tablespoon worked for me, but you can always add another if needed.
Run the food processor on high again, letting it run for a minute or two until it becomes silky smooth pumpkin ice cream.
Once the ice cream is blended up, we’re going to fold in some graham cracker crust pieces.
We’re simply going to combine graham cracker crumbs, vanilla extract, butter, and a little bit of vanilla protein powder to create a pie crust crumble. If you don’t have (or don’t want to use) protein powder, you can omit it here no problem. I just prefer a little protein boost, but this will be great without it.
Add the pumpkin pie ice cream into cups or bowls, top with some additional graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon, and enjoy!
I absolutely love soft serve ice cream, so I enjoyed this recipe the most as a pumpkin pie Blizzard, but if you prefer scoopable ice cream this recipe works great for that, too.
And yes, this does pass the Blizzard “upside-down” test!
How to turn this recipe into scoopable ice cream
Since this is low-fat & high-protein ice cream, it will freeze very hard. Think about any of those healthy ice cream pints you buy at the store and how you have to give them time to thaw before digging in.
But if you prefer scoopable ice cream, it’s very easy to do.
Once you blend up the pumpkin pie ice cream, add it back to the freezer in a sealable container for about 2-3 hours. In my experience, this is the perfect amount of time to firm the ice cream up.
If you leave the ice cream in the freezer longer than that, it will freeze completely solid.
When it does freeze solid, simply leave it out at room temperature for about 15 minutes or so to let it soften and you’ll be good to go.
More recipes for ice cream lovers
If it wasn’t already obvious, I absolutely love ice cream. If you’re looking for more healthy ice cream recipes, I have a ton here for you:
Ingredients
Ingredients for Ice Cream
- 12oz (1 Small Can) Fat Free Evaporated Milk. Note that this is NOT condensed milk.
- 64g Powdered Sugar Substitute (or regular powdered sugar)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice or Cinnamon
- 75g Canned Pumpkin
- 1 Tbsp Milk of Choice (any milk will work)
Ingredients for Pie Crust Mix-In
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, pumpkin, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Pour your mixture into a large sealable freezer bag and make sure to remove all of the air. Using this method makes it very easy to break the mixture up and add it to the food processor once frozen, but you can also pour the mixture into an ice cube tray.
- Lay the bag flat in the freezer (if the bag is standing upright, it will all freeze into a block at the bottom of the bag) and let fully freeze, about 8-10 hours. I highly recommend just freezing it overnight to be safe, because if it is not frozen solid your ice cream will be very loose.
- Quickly prep the pie crust mix-in by combining the graham cracker crumbs, protein powder, vanilla extract, and butter in a bowl until it forms a crumble. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to serve your ice cream.
- Once your ice cream mixture is fully frozen, break it up (either with your hands or by banging on the counter) and add the pieces into your food processor or high-speed blender.
- Blend on high for about 60 seconds, until everything blends up into a mixture that is a bit crumbly.
- Add roughly one tablespoon of milk to your blender (any milk works for this purpose) and use a silicone spatula to scrape the edges to make sure everything will blend together. If you find you need additional milk, it’s okay to add more, just be sure to use small amounts.
- Run the food processor on high, and let it do its thing for another minute or two until it smooths out into soft-serve ice cream. Once it’s good to go, crumble in your pie crust mixture and fold it into the ice cream, then serve!
- If you want to enjoy this pumpkin pie ice cream as soft serve or as a Blizzard, serve immediately. If you want the ice cream to be scoopable, add it to a container and place it in the freezer for about 2 hours until it is firm enough to scoop.
Notes
- Placing the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours works great to firm it up and make it scoopable, but keep in mind that it will freeze completely hard if you leave it for long enough. If you find that to be the case, simply leave the ice cream out at room temperature to thaw.
- If you want to make this ice cream dairy-free, check out my recipes for the Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Blizzard.
- I do not count the sugar substitute in my carb totals below since it contains 0 calories, so be sure to account for those if you are strict about your carbs.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 2
Serving Size 1/2 Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 290Total Fat 5gCarbohydrates 41gProtein 20g
