Healthier Homemade Ice Cream and Sorbet Recipes

Few things are more refreshing on a 90-degree day than a melting, double-scoop ice cream cone. But after a few 300-calorie-plus servings (i.e., one-half cup of Ben and Jerry’s Brownie Batter), you might see the difference on the scale. These DIY healthier homemade ice cream recipes are invigorating, light, and chock-full of bone-healthy calcium.

Lemon Buttermilk Ice Cream

Five simple ingredients never tasted so good! Combining fresh lemon juice with sugar adds just enough citrus flavor without making the dessert too tart. The recipe uses fat-free buttermilk mixed with whole milk to get a creamy texture, without all the added fat. Though this frozen treat is kid-friendly, the hardest part is waiting the hour for it to freeze.

Fat Free Peach Ice Cream

This recipe combines two summer specialties: ice cream and fresh fruit. Using calorie-free sweetener and fat-free milk cuts calories, without cutting any of the sweet taste. Plus, the almond extract adds a nutty flavor that goes perfectly with the tangy peaches. It’s great served alone, or with an almond biscotti.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

This ice cream has all the flavors of classic Key lime pie—even the crust. The recipe calls for bottled Key lime juice for convenience, but you can also squeeze the juice from fresh Key limes if your supermarket carries them. Though it’s more than 300 calories per serving, note that this recipe is for 3/4 cup (a larger portion than average), it cuts 150 calories off a small slice of Key lime pie, and packs over 25% of your daily calcium.

Banana Ricotta Ice Cream

It’s become common place for low-sugar advocates to tout eating frozen bananas in place of ice cream, sometimes pureed and sometimes not — and there are even novelty appliances that puree it for you! While we can agree it’s a nice frozen treat, it’s just not “ice-creamy” to us. This Banana Ricotta Ice Cream, however, with the addition of ricotta cheese and some tasty spices, is a FAR more creamy, delicious and recommended swap for high fat ice cream.

Sake Orange Ice Cream with Sesame Brittle

This gourmet dessert will impress your friends both in taste and appearance. Sake lends sweetness to the cream, plus a subtle nutty top note that complements the brittle. The oranges bring vitamin C and the sesame seeds are a good source of iron and zinc. Though the ice cream is fat-free, the rich sake cream creates a completely sinful flavor.

BONUS!   What would ice cream be, without an ICE CREAM CAKE?

This healthier ice cream cake recipe is a much better choice than regular ice cream cakes, which are typically a mash-up of
white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artery-clogging cream and egg yolks — but they still warn us this isn’t an every-night is okay choice — this is still an occasional treat — but better for you.

Scroll these top 5 picks, and more, below!