This vegan and AIP Blueberry Swirl ice cream is rich, creamy and full of wild blueberry flavour. It’s refined-sugar free and so delicious!
This Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream recipe began with some jam that I made with a bag of frozen wild blueberries. While the “jam” by itself is just incredible, swirled into a creamy coconut base, it is truly next level.
Fun fact – Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of wild blueberries. Thousands of acres of wild blueberries grow here naturally every year. Even though the harvesting season for wild blueberries is pretty short, they can still be found frozen year-round. Because they’re typically frozen at the height of nutrient value, frozen ones are just as delicious and nutritious as fresh.
Here are the main ingredients in this recipe:
- frozen wild blueberries – While you can absolutely make this recipe with regular frozen blueberries, wild blueberries are quite different. These tiny wild babies taste like the essence of blueberry-ness and pack a much tangier, sweeter punch than their cultivated counterparts.
- coconut cream and full fat, additive free coconut milk – these are key to the texture of the ice cream and I don’t recommend any substitutions.
- maple syrup and pure vanilla extract – to sweeten and complement the blueberry flavor in this recipe
- lemon zest – this adds a lovely flavor to the blueberry compote
FAQs
Can I substitute the wild blueberries?
Though I haven’t tried myself, you can likely use regular frozen blueberries although they aren’t as sweet and pungent as wild blueberries. You can also try with other frozen berries like raspberries or strawberries.
Can I make this without an ice-cream maker?
This recipe needs the ice cream maker to churn the liquid ingredients but I have a number of no-churn ice cream recipes on the blog. See below for some ideas.
Looking for more AIP ice cream recipes?
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Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream (AIP, vegan)
- Total Time: 3 hours
Description
This vegan and AIP Blueberry ice cream is refined-sugar free, rich, creamy and full of wild blueberry flavour.
Ingredients
Blueberry Jam
- 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
- 1 TBSP lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 TBSP pure maple syrup
- pinch of sea salt
Ice cream
- 1 1/2 cups organic coconut cream (additive free)
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk (additive free)
- 3 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup tapioca starch + 1/4 cup water
- pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Blueberry Jam
- Add frozen blueberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and maple sauce to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over low-medium heat
- Once boiled, reduce to low heat and let simmer until wild blueberries begin to break down (~10 minutes)
- Continue cooking uncovered until mixture thickens.
- Remove from heat and let cool completely before adding to ice cream.
Ice Cream
- Add coconut cream and coconut milk to a saucepan with maple syrup, salt and vanilla on low-medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
- While coconut milk mixture warms, add water to tapioca starch to make a slurry.
- Add slurry to saucepan and stir rapidly to thicken mixture.
- Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.
- Pour mixture into a bowl and let chill for at least 2 hrs, or until cold.
- Add the mixture to your ice cream machine and churn according to your machine’s instructions.
- Transfer prepared ice cream to a large bowl. Using a spatula, fold in blueberry jam mixture ensuring you leave visible swirls of blueberry goodness.
- Enjoy immediately as soft-serve or transfer to loaf pan and freeze until a scoop-able texture is formed.*
Notes
*Once solid, coconut ice cream gets very hard. Defrost on counter well in advance of serving. It will be creamiest within 2-3 days of being made.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Desserts
Unfortunately that much tapioca leaves a odd flavor and weird texture. My ice cream never got bigger. I like the idea of the blueberry but I will have to use a different recipe for ice cream base,
So sorry you didn’t love it. This hasn’t been my experience when using full fat coconut milk and cream.
Hi, I would also suggest less tapioca. The amount as written caused my machine paddle to seize.
It would seem very good otherwise.
The links to the coconut cream and full fat, additive free coconut milk are broken, could you list what brands you recommend?
Sorry,ShopAIP isn’t currently selling coconut milk. I hope they’re back in stock soon! I like Thai Kitchen Unsweetened Coconut Milk in the box (no additives), Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk (no guar).
Hi! So my blueberry stuff came out not so much like a jam, and the tapioca seemed to be too much. Can you give me insight on what I did wrong?
Hi Lydia. You should boil the blueberry mixture on the stovetop until it thickens. I’m not sure what consistency yours was so it’s hard to advise you. The tapioca isn’t added to the blueberry jam, it’s added to the coconut milk mixture and you’ll want to make it into a slurry with water before adding.
Overall this is a great recipe. I made this twice with a few adjustments on the second round.
I reduced the tapioca slurry by half and thought it gave a better consistency.
It may just be the maple syrup I was using but I went 1.5x recipe and liked that degree of sweetness.