My mom is superwoman. Every weekday, her alarm rings before 5 am so she can squeeze in a run, shower, and slip into a chic dress and heels before hopping in the car to drive to the office by 6:30 am.
After her hour-long commute, she jam-packs her days as the head of the science team at the foundation where she works with meetings, phone calls, emails, writing grants, presentations, planning travel, and more. She truly throws her entire heart and soul into her job, and it shows! By the time she starts home on her two-hour commute (California traffic is horrendous, especially in the afternoons!), she somehow managed to complete a 10-hour workday in 8 hours or less.
There’s a reason my mom is my biggest role model!
As a special treat each morning (and to give her a little energy boost for the day ahead!), Mom makes herself a chai latte. She mixes it up at home using vanilla almond milk and her favorite chai concentrate, then pours it into a travel mug so she can slowly sip it on her drive to work. She started that daily routine about 10 years ago, and she always makes sure to fit in that chai latte, even if she’s on travel and has to order it from Starbucks instead!
So when Mom suggested that I turn her favorite drink into homemade ice cream, I immediately agreed and created this 25-Minute Healthy Chai Spice Ice Cream for her. It’s full of the same cozy spices as her lattes, and it’s just as smooth and creamy as the ice cream you’d buy from a traditional ice cream parlor. Even better, it contains no heavy cream or eggs, and it’s just 78 calories!
So I told Mom it was perfectly fine if she wanted to sneak an extra scoop. ?
To make this healthier ice cream, you’ll use Greek yogurt and 2% milk as the base. If you’ve been around AHB for a while, you already know how much I love Greek yogurt! It’s thick and creamy, which makes it perfect for this ice cream base. Greek yogurt also contains a whopping 21g of protein per cup, as compared to regular yogurt with around 10g, so it gives this ice cream a big protein boost. Each serving contains nearly 8g of protein!
For the milk, I highly recommend that you use at least 2%. Ice cream requires a certain amount of fat to achieve that smooth and creamy texture. (I explain a lot more about how to achieve that perfect ice cream texture in this blog post, and I really suggest that you read it!) Do not substitute nonfat, 1%, almond, or cashew milk. These contain too much water and not enough fat, so your ice cream would have a hard and icy texture.
Instead of granulated sugar, you’ll sweeten this ice cream with another one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s very concentrated. A little goes a long way—you’ll only need 1¼ teaspoons for this ice cream. That’s the equivalent of 10 tablespoons of sugar! This is the brand that I use because I love its warm vanilla flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, and I almost always buy it online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Many traditional ice cream recipes include eggs to help thicken the ice cream and bind the other ingredients together, but… I’m impatient and want to eat my ice cream ASAP, so I’d much rather skip the cooking-the-custard step! So instead of eggs, you’ll use a special ingredient called xanthan gum to hold those other ingredients together and achieve that creamy texture. Do not skip the xanthan gum; your ice cream will taste icy and hard without it. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online.
For that special chai flavor, you’ll add in cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. My mom walked into the kitchen right after I measured all of those spices, and her face broke out into a huge smile. “It smells so cozy and delicious!” she exclaimed… And I totally agree! There’s something absolutely irresistible about spices in cold, freshly churned ice cream. This flavor has been my entire family’s favorite so far!
For the best texture, I highly recommend that you use an ice cream maker! This is the inexpensive one made by Cuisinart that I own, and I absolutely love it. My ice cream is always ready in just 20 minutes (or less!) after I’ve poured in the milk base, and it’s so easy to use.
Time for a scoop (or two)! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees that I’ll see the notification from you! ?) I’d love to see your ice cream and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| 25-Minute Healthy Chai Spice Ice Cream | | Print |
- 1 cup (240g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (240mL) 2% milk
- 1 ¼ tsp vanilla crème stevia
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp salt
- The night before you plan on making your ice cream, place the bowl of an electric ice cream maker in the freezer. Freeze for at least 12-16 hours.
- Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute or until very frothy.
- Working quickly, remove the ice cream maker bowl from the freezer. Place it on the ice cream maker, attach the paddle and the lid, and turn it on. With the ice cream maker turning, pour in the milk mixture. Let the ice cream maker churn for 15-20 minutes or until the ice cream is frozen and has reached your desired consistency. For the best texture and taste, serve immediately.
You can use higher percentages of milk (i.e. whole milk) if you prefer, but do not substitute nonfat or 1% milk. I also recommend against substituting almond or cashew milk.
I have not tried substituting other sweeteners and do not know how they will turn out. If you prefer not to use the vanilla crème stevia, you’ll need the equivalent of ½ to ¾ cup granulated sugar.
Do not skip the xanthan gum. Without it, your ice cream will taste icy and hard rather than smooth and creamy.
I own this ice cream maker by Cuisinart, and I love it! It’s so easy to use and really inexpensive.
After about 10 minutes, I found that my ice cream started getting “stuck” and wasn’t fully churning around the ice cream maker. If that happens to you, carefully “help” it along by gently pressing down with a small spatula to get the ice cream moving around the ice cream maker’s bowl. (I did that very frequently for the last 10 minutes of freezing!)
To achieve the best smooth and creamy texture, the ice cream should be made in an ice cream maker. If you don’t own one, use the following method (but keep in mind that the ice cream will turn out with a grainier and harder texture).
No Ice Cream Maker Method: After Step 2, add the mixture to an 8”-square baking pan, and place in the freezer, ensuring that the pan is flat and level. Freezer for 2-3 hours, vigorously stirring with a spatula for 2-4 minutes every 30 minutes to break up any chunks and mix air into the ice cream.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar, higher protein}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ 25-Minute Healthy Vanilla Ice Cream
♥ 25-Minute Healthy Chocolate Ice Cream
♥ Chai Spice Snickerdoodles
Skinny Chai Frappuccino
♥ Chai Latte Muffins with Vanilla Drizzle
♥ Chai Latte Granola
This sounds amazing! Can it be made with a non-dairy milk? I love cashew milk right now, so creamy.
Cashew milk is one of my favorites as well! I answer that question in the text of the blog post, as well as the Notes section underneath the Instructions. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the ice cream Sarah!
As I type this, I’m drinking a chai latte and wishing it was this ice cream. 😉 This look amazing ad always Amy!! I know people who don’t like chai spices and I think they’re missing out on life!
SO true!! Anything with chai spice (aka that much cinnamon) is always amazing, at least to a spice-aholic like me. 😉 Would that be the chai latte in your Instagram picture from brunch today? The food looked amazing!
Love love love chai lattes and tea but never really have them in the summer cause of the heat, this will be a hit for me and my hubby!
I can’t wait to hear what you and your husband think of the ice cream Jen! 🙂
Yes to this ice cream! I LVOE all things chai spice! Love that you used greek yogurt to make it healthier!!
Thanks Bethany! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of the ice cream if you try it!
This is an amazing recipe. I love it. I could even eat this when doing my workouts and losing weight doing a dance workout system.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the ice cream Susan! 🙂
I have a question what makes Stevia different from cane sugar? They’re both plant based. Why are they recommending it over cane sugar? Oh and I can’t wait to make this recipe, it sounds delicious!!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Susan! Stevia is a no-calorie sweetener, so it won’t spike people’s blood sugar the way cane sugar does. It’s also much more concentrated. I explain what stevia is the text above the recipe, if you’d like to know more! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this ice cream!
Can I use something else as a stabilizer instead of xanthan gum? Would cornstarch work?
I’m honored that you’d like to try making this ice cream Sarah! Unfortunately, cornstarch won’t work. Cornstarch requires heating to activate its thickening and stabilizing properties… And that’s the exact opposite of what you do to make this ice cream! 😉 You can substitute guar gum, if you have access to that. If you truly can’t find xanthan gum, you can omit it, but just keep in mind that the texture won’t be the same! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this ice cream if you try making it!
Gotcha. What about whip cream stabilizer? It’s made of gelatin and dextrose. I have some of that already. I’m just trying to avoid buying 8 oz of xanthan gum when all I need is a teaspoon, but I also want creamy ice cream.
I haven’t tried whipped cream stabilizer, so I’m not personally sure. You’re welcome to try it, if you’d like! I just can’t personally guarantee the results. 😉 Sometimes grocery stores have xanthan gum in bulk bins; maybe that’s worth checking?? I know many of my local grocery stores have reopened their bulk bins, but I completely understand that not all stores have quite yet!