Ninja Creami Pistachio Cherry Ice Cream (Spumoni)

This Ninja Creami Pistachio Cherry Ice Cream will remind you of delicious Italian spumoni. The texture is firm and creamy with sweet flavors of pistachio and fresh seasonal cherries. This recipe is both low in calories and high in protein.

Flavoring

The easiest way to obtain delicious pistachio flavor without adding a million calories is to use pistachio pudding mix. While I would love to use real pistachios, it would add 600-800 calories, and I try to keep all of my Ninja Creami ice cream as low-calorie as possible.

I also add a small amount of almond extract, which really enhances the flavor and will give you that Pistachio flavor you know and love.

Stabilizers

All Ninja Creami ice creams need ingredients to stabilize the mixture and make it nice and creamy (not icy). This is especially true if you are using low-fat ingredients. For this pistachio cherry ice cream, the vanilla protein shake, cottage cheese, pudding mix, and optional collagen all work as stabilizers, creating a creamy, firm ice cream.

Sweetener

This Ninja Creami pistachio cherry ice cream is naturally sweet from the protein shake and pistachio pudding mix, but depending on your taste you may want the ice cream sweeter. To make this ice cream sweeter without adding a ton of extra calories, wait until after you do the first spin on the ice cream setting. Then, if you want the ice cream sweeter after giving it a little taste, add 1 tsp of agave.

How to Get the Colors to Swirl

This is one of my most popular recipes because everyone loves the way the colors swirl. This is due to how I plac e the cherries for the “mix-in” phase. Typically when you are placing ingredients for your mix-in, you’ll make a hole in the center of your ice cream and place your mix-in ingredients all the way to the bottom. This ensures the ingredients completely mix-in throughout the entire pint of ice cream.

In order to achieve a look of the colors swirling, you are only going to place the cherries in the top half of the ice cream. Do not place the cherries all the way down to the bottom. This way when you use the Mix-In setting, only the top half of the ice cream will be mixed with cherries and turn pink. The bottom will stay the same.

Then, when you go to scoop the ice cream, scoop it from the top to the bottom. Then you’ll get a nice combination of both ice cream colors in your scoop, which will give the ice cream a swirled look.

Alternatives

• You can make this recipe using any type of sweetener; these are just my preferences to get the most natural flavor while keeping the ice cream low-calorie. I am not a fan of the aftertaste left but most sugar alternatives.
• If you do not have fresh cherries, you can use frozen cherries or even maraschino cherries.
• Feel free to use any pre-made vanilla protein shake you’d like.
• You can also use whole milk instead of a protein shake but you will likely then need to add more sweetener.

Tips & Tricks

• My biggest tip is to add the additional sweetener during your re-spin or mix-in. This will significantly reduce the amount of sugar needed in the recipe.
• Your mixture will likely be powdery after the first spin. For this recipe, instead of doing a re-spin, we just add the cherries, 2 tsp of additional protein shake, any extra sweetener, and then go straight to the Mix-In phase.

More Ninja Creami Ice Cream Recipes

All of my Ninja Creami recipes are designed for maximize flavor while still being low in calories and high in protein. I try to find a happy medium and experiment with different ingredients.