Avocado Ice Cream
The fruit that pretends to be a vegetable, frozen
There's a moment of cognitive dissonance when you first encounter avocado ice cream. The brain insists that avocados belong in salads and on toast, not in desserts. But the avocado is, botanically speaking, a fruit—a berry, in fact—and its extraordinarily high fat content makes it a natural candidate for frozen desserts. The Aztecs were pureeing avocados with sugar long before ice cream machines existed, and they were onto something.
Jamie Oliver, whose enthusiasm for avocado borders on the evangelical, deserves credit for popularizing this recipe in the English-speaking world. The technique is straightforward: a citrus syrup infused with vanilla provides the sweet component, and the avocado flesh provides the fat that would normally come from cream. What you get is an ice cream of almost startling color—pale green verging on chartreuse—with a silkiness that rivals anything made with dairy.
The critical variable is avocado ripeness. Underripe avocados produce grainy ice cream with an unpleasant vegetal note. Overripe avocados taste of nothing. You want avocados that yield gently to pressure but spring back—the texture of a properly aged cheese. The rest is simply a matter of patience and, ideally, an ice cream maker.
Method
-
1
Make the citrus syrup
Combine sugar, all citrus zest and juice, vanilla seeds, and scraped pods in a saucepan with 150ml water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
💡 The syrup is extremely hot—don't taste it yet.
-
2
Cool the syrup
Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely. The syrup will thicken slightly as it cools. Remove and discard the vanilla pods.
-
3
Prepare the avocados
Halve avocados and remove stones. Scoop flesh into a blender or liquidiser. The flesh should be uniformly pale green with no brown spots.
💡 Brown-spotted avocados will taste oxidized.
-
4
Blend until smooth
Add cooled syrup and milk to the avocados. Blend until completely smooth and light—the consistency should resemble a thick smoothie.
-
5
Churn (if using ice cream maker)
Pour mixture into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions until frozen and smooth.
-
6
Freeze (without ice cream maker)
Pour mixture into a large shallow baking dish or metal tray. Freeze for 30 minutes, then whisk vigorously. Repeat every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours until frozen but still scoopable.
💡 Whisking breaks up ice crystals for smoother texture.
-
7
Serve or store
Serve immediately for soft-serve consistency, or transfer to containers and freeze for firmer ice cream. If frozen solid, let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before scooping.
Notes & Tips
Avocado selection
- • Hass avocados, with their darker skin and higher fat content, produce the richest ice cream. Larger, watery varieties like Fuerte give inferior results.
Preventing oxidation
- • Avocado oxidizes quickly. Work promptly from cutting to blending. A tablespoon of additional lime juice helps preserve the color if you're not churning immediately.
Additions (Jamie's suggestions)
- • Fold in chopped dark chocolate after churning
- • Add toasted coconut flakes
- • Swirl in dulce de leche
- • Incorporate crushed honeycomb
Dairy-free version
- • Replace milk with full-fat coconut milk for a vegan version that's arguably even creamier.
Storage
- • Best consumed within 3 days. The color fades to a less vibrant green over time but the flavor remains excellent.