I’ve been on a high-protein kick lately, and when I snagged a discount on Fairlife shakes at Costco, I started putting them in everything, including my Creami pints, like my Ninja Creami protein ice cream.
That’s how this purple sweet potato ice cream came about. Steamed purple sweet potato, cottage cheese, and a vanilla protein shake spin into a naturally purple pint with 46 grams of protein and no pudding mix.
If you’d rather go sweeter or richer, I also tested it with sweetened condensed milk and with half and half, and both work.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- What Is Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream?
- Purple Sweet Potato vs Ube
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- Substitution
- How to Cook Purple Sweet Potato for Ice Cream
- How to Make Ninja Creami Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- 🍒Fun Mix-Ins and Topping Ideas
- Tools You’ll Need
- Tips for Smooth Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- How to Store Leftovers
- Recipe FAQs
- More Purple and Sweet Potato Ninja Creami Recipes
- Did you try this recipe?
- Ninja Creami Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
Why You’ll Love This Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- 46g protein per pint. Cottage cheese and a vanilla protein shake carry most of the protein, so each serving has about 11 grams. That’s a lot more than a typical scoop of ice cream.
- Naturally purple. All the color comes from the sweet potato itself, so there’s no food coloring or ube extract needed.
- No pudding mix. The mashed sweet potato adds starch and body, and the cottage cheese adds thickness. Together they do the job pudding mix usually does in protein ice cream.
- Three ways to make it. Keep it high protein with allulose, make it sweeter with condensed milk, or make it richer with half and half. I tested all three.
- Six simple ingredients. Sweet potato, cottage cheese, a protein shake, allulose, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. No specialty products beyond the sweet potato.
What Is Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream?
Purple sweet potato ice cream is a frozen dessert made by blending cooked, mashed purple sweet potato into an ice cream base. The sweet potato gives it a naturally purple color, a mild earthy sweetness, and a thicker body. It’s a popular flavor in Okinawa, Japan, where purple sweet potato is used in many desserts.
This version is made in the Ninja Creami with cottage cheese and a protein shake instead of cream and eggs, so it’s lighter and much higher in protein than a traditional scoop.
Purple Sweet Potato vs Ube
Purple sweet potato and ube look almost the same once they’re mashed, but they’re different plants:
- Purple sweet potato is a sweet potato, the same family as the orange ones you find in most grocery stores. It’s mildly sweet and a little earthy, with a texture close to a regular sweet potato.
- Ube is a purple yam. It’s a staple in Filipino desserts like ube halaya. Its flavor is nuttier and more vanilla-like, and its texture is denser and stickier when cooked.
In the US, fresh ube is hard to find, so most ube recipes use frozen grated ube, ube halaya, or ube extract. Purple sweet potatoes are much easier to buy fresh, which is part of why I used them here.
You can swap one for the other, but expect a different result. Ube gives a stronger, more distinct flavor, and if you use ube halaya, it’s already sweetened, so you’d need to cut back on the allulose. If you want the full ube experience, try my Ninja Creami Ube Coconut Ice Cream or Ninja Creami Ube Cheese Ice Cream.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Purple sweet potato: This gives the ice cream its color, its mild earthy sweetness, and a lot of its body. I got mine at H Mart, where they’re simply labeled purple sweet potato. Steam it until very tender, mash it smooth, and let it cool completely before blending. Stringy fibers or warm sweet potato will both show up in the finished texture.
- Low-fat cottage cheese: Cottage cheese adds most of the protein and helps the base spin creamy instead of icy. I use Knudsen low-fat. Blend it fully smooth, because leftover curds freeze into small lumps.
- Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake: This is the liquid in the base and the second big source of protein. The vanilla flavor softens the earthiness of the sweet potato, and since it’s already lightly sweetened, you need less added sweetener.
- Allulose: Allulose sweetens without adding sugar, and it freezes softer than regular sugar, which helps keep a lean base scoopable. Freezing dulls sweetness, so the blended base should taste a little sweeter than you want the finished ice cream to be.
- Vanilla: A small amount rounds out the sweet potato flavor so it tastes like dessert rather than a side dish.
Substitution
- Half and half or any milk instead of the protein shake: Use the same amount. Half and half makes the ice cream richer and creamier, closer to a classic scoop. Regular, Fairlife, or plant-based milk keeps it lighter. Either way, the protein drops, since the shake is one of the main protein sources. With half and half, the pint comes to about 35 grams. Other milks land somewhere around there, depending on the brand. Choose this route if you don’t have shakes on hand or care more about richness than protein.
- Sweetened condensed milk instead of allulose: Use ½ cup of condensed milk in place of the ⅓ cup of allulose. It makes the ice cream sweeter, with the milky flavor you’d recognize from Filipino desserts, and the extra sugar keeps it softer and easier to scoop. It also adds a little protein, but it’s no longer sugar-free and it’s much higher in calories, so treat this version as an occasional dessert rather than a high-protein one.
How to Cook Purple Sweet Potato for Ice Cream
This is the step that decides how your ice cream turns out, so it’s worth taking your time.
- Steam it whole. Leave the skin on and steam the sweet potato whole for about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how thick it is. Cooking it whole keeps it from absorbing extra water, and the skin helps protect the color. In a hurry? Peeled 1-inch chunks steam in about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Cook it until very soft. A fork or knife should slide into the center with almost no resistance. Go a little past just tender, because softer sweet potato mashes smoother and leaves fewer fibrous bits that can show up in the ice cream.
- Let it cool. Let the sweet potato cool completely before you mash it. Warm sweet potato raises the temperature of the whole base, so the pint takes longer to freeze solid and can turn icy.
- Peel and mash. Once it’s cool, the skin peels off easily. Mash the flesh until smooth, and pick out any stringy bits you see.
- Measure. Pack the mash lightly into a measuring cup so the amount is accurate.
How to Make Ninja Creami Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- Blend the base. Add the cooled mashed sweet potato, cottage cheese, protein shake, allulose, and vanilla to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, with no curds or sweet potato fibers left. A smooth base before freezing means a smooth pint after spinning.
- 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 tilted pint freezes unevenly, and a base that isn’t frozen all the way through comes out soft 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 lighter, lower-sugar bases like this one.
- Respin if needed. If it looks dry or crumbly after the first spin, add a tablespoon or two of the protein shake and run Respin until smooth.
🍒Fun Mix-Ins and Topping Ideas
Purple sweet potato has a mild, earthy sweetness, so it goes well with toasty, nutty, and creamy add-ins. For mix-ins, make a well down the center of the spun ice cream, add them, and run the Mix-In program.
- Toasted coconut flakes: Coconut and purple sweet potato are a common pairing in Asian desserts, and toasted flakes add crunch on top.
- Mochi pieces: Chewy mochi contrasts with the smooth ice cream. If you like that texture, try my Ninja Creami Matcha Mochi Ice Cream.
- Toasted pecans or walnuts: Nuts bring out the earthy side of the sweet potato and keep their crunch once frozen.
- White chocolate chips: These add sweetness without overpowering the sweet potato flavor, and they look striking against the purple.
- Black sesame seeds: A light sprinkle adds a nutty, toasted note. For a full sesame pint, see my Ninja Creami Black Sesame Ice Cream.
Tools You’ll Need
- Steamer basket or steamer pot: Steaming cooks the sweet potato evenly without adding water to it, which keeps the mash from getting watery. [Affiliate link]
- Blender: A blender gets the cottage cheese and sweet potato fully smooth. Mashing or whisking by hand leaves curds and fibers 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 about two thirds of each ingredient.
- Extra Ninja Creami pints: Extra pints let you keep one ready to spin while another is freezing.
Tips for Smooth Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
- Cook the sweet potato past just tender. Very soft sweet potato breaks down completely in the blender. Slightly firm sweet potato leaves tiny fibrous bits you’ll feel in every bite.
- Make sure the mash is fully cool. Warm mash raises the temperature of the whole base, which slows freezing and can make the pint icy. If you’re short on time, chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Blend longer than you think you need to. Both the cottage cheese and the sweet potato need to be completely smooth before freezing. Any curds or fibers left in the base stay in the finished ice cream.
- 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. Purple sweet potatoes vary in sweetness, so adjust the allulose now if yours is on the mild side.
- Let the pint sit before spinning. Give it about 5 minutes on the counter, or closer to 10 if your kitchen is cold. A lean protein base freezes hard, 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 it creamy.
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover ice cream: Smooth the top flat with a spoon before refreezing. Peaks and holes can strain the blade the next time you spin, and a flat surface freezes more evenly. Put the lid on and freeze on a level surface. When you’re ready for more, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes, then run the Lite Ice Cream program again to bring it back to a scoopable texture.
Leftover mashed sweet potato: If you cooked more than you need, store the extra in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or freeze it for longer. Pre-portioned mash means your next pint only needs a quick blend. Let frozen mash thaw in the fridge and stir it well before using.
Recipe FAQs
I buy mine at H Mart, where they’re labeled purple sweet potato. Most Asian grocery stores carry them, and some larger grocery stores sell them too. Choose firm ones with no soft spots, and if you can, check the cut end to make sure the flesh is purple all the way through.
It has a mild, earthy sweetness, but it tastes more like dessert than a side dish. The vanilla shake and vanilla soften the earthy flavor, so it comes across as a gentle, nutty sweet potato note rather than a strong one.
You can try it, but you’ll get a different ice cream. Orange sweet potato is usually sweeter and moister, so the flavor will be stronger and the color will be orange instead of purple. Start with the same amount and taste the base before freezing.
Yes. This recipe is sized for the 24 oz Deluxe pint, so use about two thirds of each ingredient for a 16 oz pint: ½ cup mashed purple sweet potato, ⅔ cup cottage cheese, ½ cup protein shake, about 3½ tablespoons allulose, and ¾ teaspoon vanilla. Keep the base under the max fill line.
The full 24 oz pint has about 46 grams of protein, or about 11.5 grams per serving if you split it four ways. With half and half instead of the shake, it’s about 35 grams per pint. With condensed milk instead of allulose, it’s about 58 grams, but with a lot more sugar and calories.
More Purple and Sweet Potato Ninja Creami Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Ninja Creami Ube Coconut Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami Ube Cheese Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami Sweet Potato Marshmallow Ice Cream
- Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
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 Purple Sweet Potato Ice Cream
Equipment
- 1 Steamer basket or steamer pot
- 1 Blender
- 1 Ninja Creami Deluxe
- 1 24 oz Ninja Creami pint
Ingredients
- ¾ cup mashed purple sweet potato steamed and cooled
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- ¾ cup Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake
- ⅓ cup allulose
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or bean paste
Instructions
- Steam the whole purple sweet potato, skin on, for 30 to 45 minutes, until a fork slides into the center with almost no resistance.¾ cup mashed purple sweet potato
- Let it cool completely. Peel off the skin, mash the flesh until smooth, and measure ¾ cup.
- Add the mashed sweet potato, cottage cheese, protein shake, allulose, and vanilla to a blender. Blend until completely smooth.¾ cup mashed purple sweet potato, 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, ¾ cup Fairlife Nutrition Plan vanilla protein shake, ⅓ cup allulose, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or bean paste
- Pour 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 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.
- Faster cooking: Peel and cut the sweet potato into 1-inch chunks, then steam for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Half and half or any milk: Use the same amount in place of the protein shake for a richer pint. Protein drops to about 35 grams per pint with half and half.
- Sweetened condensed milk: Use ½ cup in place of the allulose for a sweeter, softer pint. It’s no longer sugar-free.
- 16 oz Ninja Creami: Use about two thirds of each ingredient, and keep the base under the max fill line.
- Leftover mash: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
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