Pumpkin Ice Cream | Keto, Sugar-Free

Satisfy your pumpkin cravings all year round with this easy and delicious recipe for keto pumpkin ice cream!

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It's the second week of September and I am ready for fall. The weather is perfect, the clothes are the best, and of course, fall food takes the (pumpkin spiced) cake!

Unfortunately, mother nature has other plans and the temperatures this week are close to 100 degrees. So what is a fall loving lady to do?

If you said crank up the AC, put on her favorite hoodie, light a scented candle, and enjoy this pumpkin ice cream in pure bliss then you, my friend, are 100% correct!

Tips for making the perfect sugar free pumpkin ice cream

• I like to use cashew milk because I find that it is the creamiest of all the low carb milk varieties. However, any milk or milk alternative will work fine.
• I find that powdered sweetener works best in ice cream as it doesn't have the grainy texture that ea granular sweetener can have. With that said any sweetener that you like will work. I use lakanto powdered sweetener, if you are using something else, be sure to check out this conversion chart!

Right now you can get 10% off of all Lakanto products with the code "THISMOMSMENU" when you order from the Lakanto Website!

• To keep things easy, I use premade pumpkin pie spice. If you don't have any or prefer to make your own you can check out this recipe for an easy DIY pumpkin pie spice.
• After the ice cream is done churning, it will be about the consistency of soft serve. To make it firmer, you will need to transfer it to the freezer until it reaches the desired consistency.
• Like most homemade ice creams, this one does get pretty hard after it has been in the freezer overnight. From this point, it's best to allow it to sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes before scooping.
  • To shorten this time, I like to store the ice cream in single-serving portions using these Rubbermaid takealong containers. They hold just about 1 cup which is a serving, and the lids twist on so you don't have to worry about leaking. As a bonus, it also makes it much easier to stick to a single portion 😉

Do I really need to cook the ice cream base?

You may be wondering why it's necessary to cook the ice cream base since there are no eggs. I found that when the pumpkin puree wasn't cooked with the milk, it had a raw and almost bitter taste that was far from the sweet and creamy texture that I was aiming for.

Cooking the pumpkin for just a few minutes gave it a much creamier flavor and brought out some of the pumpkins natural sweetness, so don't skip this step!

What is the best ice cream maker?

There are two basic types of ice cream makers. First, you have the old fashioned kind that requires ice and rock salt to freeze the ice cream base and turn it into ice cream.

The benefit to these types of ice cream makers is that they are more affordable and they generally can make more ice cream at once. Also, they don’t require as much planning ahead as the other variety. The downside is obviously that you need lots of ice and salt in addition to the regular ice cream base.

The other kind of ice cream maker comes with an aluminum bucket that is pre-frozen before making ice cream. Once frozen the ice cream is then churned right inside this bucket.

The benefit here is that they don’t require any extra supplies, while the cons are that they do require some pre-planning as the aluminum base needs to freeze for about 9-12 hours between ice cream batches. On top of this, you can expect to pay a pretty steep price if you want to make more then about 2 quarts of ice cream at a time.

I went with the second type and chose the Cuisinart ICE-30BC. It has been so easy to use and the ice cream is ready in under 30 minutes. This particular model will hold about 2 quarts and costs around $65 on Amazon.

With that said, any ice cream maker will work fine for this recipe, just be sure to follow the manufacturer instructions for setting up the machine.

Ways to change up Homemade Pumpkin Ice Cream

• Replace ¼ to ½ cup of the cashew milk with brewed espresso or strong coffee to make this a pumpkin spice latte ice cream!
• Stir about 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of Kentucky Straight Bourbon into the pot with the pumpkin and milk. Not only will it add a lot of delicious flavors, but the alcohol in the bourbon will help to minimize crystallization when the ice cream freezes.
• Add chopped pecans 20 minutes into the churning process, then churn an additional 5 minutes.
• Add crumbles of keto ginger snaps or cinnamon cookies into the ice cream 20 minutes into the churning process, then churn an additional 5 minutes. (I like this recipe for keto molasses ginger cookies!)

Be sure to check out these other great recipes:

• No-Churn Mint Chip Ice Cream | Keto
• Keto Coconut Chip Ice Cream
• Keto Pumpkin Pancakes
• Triple Layer Pumpkin Dessert | Keto
• Keto Pumpkin Scones
• Low Carb Noosa Style Yogurt

📖 Recipe