Lately, I’ve been trying to make healthier choices without giving up the desserts I love. Ice cream is one I’m not ready to say goodbye to, so I’ve been finding ways to make it work a little better for me.
This Ninja Creami protein ice cream is the one I keep coming back to. It’s made with cottage cheese and a Fairlife protein shake, so you get 52 grams of protein per pint with no protein powder and no pudding mix.
It still feels like dessert, just a smarter everyday version. And if you’re more of a chocolate person, it only takes two swaps.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Protein Ice Cream
- What Is Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream?
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
- Chocolate Protein Ice Cream Variation
- Tips for Creamy Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
- 🍒 Mix-In Ideas
- How to Store Leftovers
- Tools You’ll Need
- Recipe FAQs
- More High Protein Ninja Creami Recipes
- Did you try this recipe?
- Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
Why You’ll Love This Protein Ice Cream
- 52g protein per pint. The cottage cheese and protein shake carry all the protein, so a single serving gets you 13 grams without adding anything extra.
- No protein powder. Powder is usually what makes protein ice cream taste chalky or spin up gritty. Using a ready-made shake skips that problem entirely.
- No pudding mix. Most protein Creami recipes lean on pudding mix to thicken the base. Here the shake and blended cottage cheese give it enough body to spin smooth on their own.
- Four ingredients. A protein shake, cottage cheese, allulose, and vanilla. Everything blends in one go, so prep takes about five minutes.
- One base, two flavors. Swap in the chocolate shake and a little cocoa powder, and you have chocolate protein ice cream with the same method.
What Is Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream?
Ninja Creami protein ice cream is a high-protein frozen dessert made by blending a protein-rich base, freezing it in a Creami pint for 24 hours, then spinning it until it’s smooth and scoopable. Most versions use protein powder or a protein shake as the base, with Greek yogurt or cottage cheese added for body.
This version skips the powder and pudding mix. A Fairlife protein shake and cottage cheese do all the work, so it tastes more like regular vanilla ice cream than a protein snack.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake: This is the base and the main source of protein. It’s high in protein and low in sugar, and it’s already lightly sweetened and flavored, so you don’t need protein powder. Premier Protein works about the same if that’s what you have.
- Low-fat cottage cheese: Cottage cheese adds more protein and gives the base the body it needs to spin creamy instead of icy. I use Knudsen low-fat. Blend it until completely smooth, because any curds left in the base freeze into little lumps you’ll notice in every bite.
- Allulose: Allulose sweetens without adding sugar, and it freezes softer than regular sugar, which helps a lean protein base stay scoopable. Granulated or liquid both work. Freezing dulls sweetness, so the blended base should taste slightly sweeter than you want the finished ice cream to be.
- Vanilla bean paste: The shake already has vanilla flavor, but the paste gives it a rounder, more noticeable vanilla taste, plus those little specks. Vanilla extract works too if that’s what you have.
How to Make Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
- Blend the base. Add the protein shake, cottage cheese, allulose, and vanilla bean paste to a blender. Blend until completely smooth with no visible curds, about 30 to 60 seconds. This is the step that decides the texture, so don’t rush it.
- Fill the pint. Pour the mixture into your Ninja Creami pint, stopping at the max fill line. Overfilling can strain the machine and keep the blade from processing the pint evenly.
- Freeze for 24 hours. Put the lid on and freeze the pint on a flat surface for a full 24 hours. A pint frozen at a tilt spins unevenly, and a base that isn’t frozen solid all the way through tends to come out soupy in the middle.
- Spin on Lite Ice Cream. Remove the lid, lock the pint into the machine, and run the Lite Ice Cream program. This setting is made for lower-fat, lower-sugar bases like this one.
- Respin only if needed. If it still looks dry or crumbly after the first spin, add a tablespoon or two of the protein shake and run Respin. Most of the time, one spin is enough.
Chocolate Protein Ice Cream Variation
To make it chocolate, swap two ingredients and keep everything else the same:
- Use the chocolate Fairlife Nutrition Plan shake instead of vanilla.
- Replace the vanilla bean paste with 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. The chocolate shake gives you the base flavor, and the cocoa deepens it so it tastes like chocolate ice cream instead of a frozen chocolate shake.
Blend the cocoa in with everything else until there are no dry pockets left, since unblended cocoa freezes into bitter little clumps. Then freeze and spin exactly the same way, on Ice Cream.
The numbers stay about the same as the vanilla version, at roughly 54 grams of protein per pint, since cocoa adds a couple of grams.
Tips for Creamy Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
- Blend longer than you think you need to. Cottage cheese curds that look small in the blender freeze into noticeable lumps. Keep blending until the base looks completely smooth and pourable.
- Taste the base before freezing. Cold dulls sweetness, so the blended base should taste a little sweeter than you want the finished ice cream to be. Adjust the allulose now, because you can’t fix it after it’s frozen.
- Freeze on a flat surface for the full 24 hours. A tilted pint freezes unevenly, and the blade ends up hitting a lopsided surface. Pulling it early leaves a soft center that spins up soupy.
- Let the pint sit before spinning. Give it about 5 minutes on the counter, or closer to 10 if your kitchen is cold. Lean protein bases freeze harder than regular ice cream, and a short thaw lets the blade cut through smoothly instead of shaving it into crumbles.
- Respin with the shake, not water. If it comes out crumbly, add a tablespoon or two of the protein shake and run Respin. Water adds iciness, while the shake keeps the texture creamy and the protein up.
- Want even more protein? Blend in a scoop of vanilla protein powder with the base, which adds roughly 20 to 25 grams depending on the brand. Powder dries the base out a bit, so it may need a respin with a splash of shake.
🍒 Mix-In Ideas
The vanilla base is mild, so it pairs well with almost any mix-in. To add them, make a well down the center of the spun ice cream, add the mix-ins, and run the Mix-In program so they get folded through instead of blended to dust.
- Chopped dark chocolate: Small pieces stay crisp in the cold and break up the smooth texture. Chop them small, because big chunks freeze rock hard.
- Crushed Oreos: The classic pairing. The cookie pieces soften slightly but keep some crunch. For a full high-protein version, see my Ninja Creami Cookies and Cream Ice Cream.
- Chopped peanut butter cups: Peanut butter and vanilla protein ice cream work well together, and the cups add a little fat that softens each bite. My Ninja Creami High protein Peanut Butter Ice Cream builds a whole pint around them.
- Freeze-dried strawberries: These stay crunchy in the pint, while fresh fruit freezes into icy chunks. Crush them lightly before adding.
- Graham cracker crumbs: These give it a cheesecake feel, which goes well with the slight tang from the cottage cheese.
For more on what to add and when, see my guide to the best Ninja Creami mix-ins.
How to Store Leftovers
Before refreezing, smooth the top of the leftover ice cream flat with a spoon. Uneven peaks and holes can strain the blade the next time you spin, and a flat surface freezes more evenly.
Put the lid back on and freeze the pint on a level surface. It will freeze hard again, so when you’re ready for more, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes, then run the Lite Ice Cream program to bring it back to a scoopable texture.
If you added mix-ins, they’ll get broken down further when you respin. To keep them chunky, store the base plain and add fresh mix-ins each time you serve.
Tools You’ll Need
- Blender: A blender is what gets the cottage cheese fully smooth. Whisking by hand leaves curds that freeze into lumps.
- Ninja Creami Deluxe: This recipe is sized for the Deluxe’s 24 oz pint. If you have the original 16 oz Creami, use two thirds of each amount.
- Extra Ninja Creami pints: Extra pints let you keep one in the freezer ready to spin while another is freezing, which helps if you’re making this regularly.
Recipe FAQs
Use Lite Ice Cream. It’s designed for lower-fat, lower-sugar bases like this one. If the pint still looks dry or crumbly after the first spin, add a tablespoon or two of the protein shake and run Respin.
Not once it’s blended. As long as you blend the cottage cheese until completely smooth, you can’t taste it in the finished ice cream. It just makes the base thicker and creamier, and it adds protein.
Yes. I’ve made this with Premier Protein shakes, and it turns out about the same. Use the same amount, and check the label, since protein and calories vary a little between brands.
Yes. This recipe is sized for the 24 oz Deluxe pint, so use about two thirds of each ingredient for a 16 oz pint: ⅔ cup cottage cheese, about ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons of the shake, ⅓ cup allulose, and 1¼ teaspoons vanilla bean paste. Keep the base under the max fill line.
The full 24 oz pint has about 52 grams of protein, or about 13 grams per serving if you split it four ways. The exact number depends on your shake and cottage cheese brands.
Yes. The base needs to freeze solid all the way through so the blade can process it evenly. If you spin it early, the center is still soft and the ice cream comes out soupy.
More High Protein Ninja Creami Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Ninja Creami Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami High Protein Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami Strawberry Protein Frozen Yogurt
Did you try this recipe?
Share how it turned out in the comments below, and if you loved it, share it on Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram.
Thank you! - Rose
Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ninja Creami Deluxe
- Blender
- 24 oz Ninja Creami pint
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake or Premier Protein
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- ½ cup granulated allulose
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the protein shake, cottage cheese, allulose, and vanilla bean paste to a blender. Blend until completely smooth with no visible curds, about 30 to 60 seconds.1¼ cups Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake, 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, ½ cup granulated allulose, 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- Pour the mixture into a Ninja Creami pint, stopping at the max fill line.
- Cover and freeze on a flat surface for 24 hours.
- Remove the lid, lock the pint into the machine, and spin on Lite Ice Cream.
- If it still looks dry or crumbly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the protein shake and run Respin.
Notes
- Thaw before spinning: Let the frozen pint sit on the counter for about 5 minutes, or closer to 10 if your kitchen is cold, for a smoother first spin.
- Chocolate version: Use the chocolate Fairlife Nutrition Plan shake, and replace the vanilla bean paste with 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.
- 16 oz Ninja Creami: Use about two thirds of each ingredient, and keep the base under the max fill line.
- More protein: Blend in a scoop of vanilla protein powder. It may need a respin with a splash of shake.
- Leftovers: Smooth the top flat before refreezing, then spin again on Ice Cream before serving.
Rose says
If you try this, I’d love to hear which shake you used. I’ve tested it with both Fairlife and Premier Protein, but there are so many brands out there now. Drop any questions here too, and I’ll help you troubleshoot.