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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Recipes / Appetizer Recipes / Side Recipes / Fermented Side Recipes / Kefir Ice Cream Recipe

Kefir Ice Cream Recipe

by Sarah Pope / Oct 21, 2022 / Affiliate Links ✔

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How to make kefir ice cream that is thick, spoonable, rich and mild-tasting. You may find that you don’t even need fruit or sweetener!

kefir ice cream in a dessert glass natural background

Kefir made with live grains is the #1 most powerful probiotic food on the planet.

If you don’t eat grains, no worries. Kefir “grains” are not actually grains like a rice or wheat kernel.

They are simply grain-like microbial colonies that are a living culture for fermented dairy.

If you’re trying to save time by buying commercial kefir, don’t bother. Store bought kefir is a waste of money.

Commercial brands are not only fermented improperly, but they also contain a small fraction of the beneficial microbial strains of homemade made with a living culture (never use powdered starter).

Once you’ve experienced the truly life-transformative digestive benefits of traditional kefir, you might be game to trying something new…

My husband and I call it “kefir ice cream”.

All you have to do is use heavy cream as a substitute for roughly half the whole milk.

The best cream is raw and purchased directly from a dairy farmer. If you don’t have this amazing healthfood available, regular pasteurized cream is acceptable. However, be sure to avoid UHT “ultrapasteurized” cream, as it is too heavily damaged from high heat processing.

The result is super thick and spoonable like ice cream. It is also much milder tasting than kefir made with whole milk alone.

You might even eat a cup on its own like I do most mornings. No sweetener or fruit is necessary to cut the sourness, in my opinion.

This form of kefir is also much lower in carbs per serving than if you make it with just milk.

kefir ice cream in a dessert glass with grassy background
5 from 5 votes
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Kefir Ice Cream

How to make kefir ice cream that is thick, spoonable, rich and mild-tasting. You probably won't need any fruit or sweetener!

Course Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine Russian
Keyword creamy, probiotic
Prep Time 5 minutes
Fermentation time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 5 minutes
Servings 16
Calories 173 kcal
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 1 quart heavy grassfed cream preferably raw
  • whole grassfed milk preferably raw
  • live kefir starter "grains"

Instructions

  1. Pour quart of heavy cream into a half gallon mason jar.

  2. Top up jar to 2 inches below the rim with whole grassfed milk.

  3. Add live probiotic kefir culture and screw on the lid. Around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of "grains" is sufficient to culture the entire half gallon.

  4. Leave on the counter for 24-36 hours. If your kitchen is quite cool, the fermentation will take closer to 36 hours.

  5. Enjoy a small bowl of kefir ice cream immediately. It is thick and amazing at room temperature!

  6. Refrigerate leftovers. Kefir ice cream will stay fresh for eating for many weeks although the taste will slowly get stronger over time.

  7. Optional step. To transform into a frozen probiotic dessert, remove the live grains from the jar after fermentation is complete, stir in one-half to one cup of dark maple syrup (if desired but not necessary), and pour the contents into an ice cream maker to churn/freeze according to your appliance's instructions.

Nutrition Facts
Kefir Ice Cream
Amount Per Serving (0.5 cup)
Calories 173 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Fat 16g25%
Saturated Fat 11g55%
Cholesterol 65mg22%
Sodium 24mg1%
Potassium 75mg2%
Carbohydrates 2.75g1%
Protein 2g4%
Calcium 475mg48%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
vanilla kefir ice cream in a dessert glass
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Category: Alkaline Breakfast Recipes, Fermented Side Recipes, GAPS Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Immune support, Low Carb Recipes, Paleo Recipes
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (11)

  1. Christine Nestor

    Jan 6, 2023 at 4:49 pm

    5 stars
    How do you strain the kefir when it’s this thick? Even when just using raw milk my kefir is so thick it just sits on the mesh strainer not budging until I tap and pound and stir.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Jan 6, 2023 at 7:39 pm

      I keep the grains in a small cotton bag, then no straining is necessary. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-to-remove-live-kefir-grains/

  2. Andreas Ranthe

    Dec 14, 2022 at 8:36 am

    How much is a quart in ml and much milk do I need? A litre?

    Reply
  3. suzanne hardesty

    Oct 26, 2022 at 4:14 pm

    5 stars
    I would love to have you write about the health benefits of L-Reuteri yogurt. Been making for a couple months now using the Levele yogurt maker (has to ferment for 36 hrs. at 100degrees) and this machine does that.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Oct 27, 2022 at 9:05 am

      That’s a good idea! I’ve looked into it a bit, but haven’t researched too deeply as of yet.

  4. John

    Oct 26, 2022 at 9:06 am

    Please bear in mind that if you freeze, the result is in no way probiotic!

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Oct 26, 2022 at 9:13 am

      It is a myth that freezing harms probiotics! Try it for yourself … you can freeze live kefir grains and then thaw them out and they will still culture milk just fine!

  5. Ge Clay

    Oct 25, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    5 stars
    Kefir grains came from somewhere, how do you make kefir grains to start this process???

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Oct 25, 2022 at 10:16 pm

      Kefir grains are classified as a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY). It is not easy to grow a new microbial colony yourself, which is why these grains are typically acquired from established colonies. I’ve had mine for many years, which I got from a friend. The ones that exist today have been passed down for generations.

  6. Cheryl

    Oct 25, 2022 at 7:47 am

    5 stars
    Hi Sarah,

    Do I leave the grains in the ice cream when I transfer into the refrigerator (if not adding maple syrup and putting in the ice cream maker)? I previously I was leaving the lid off and putting a breathable cheesecloth on my kefir…you say to cap it with a lid on?

    We cannot wait to try this? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Oct 25, 2022 at 8:44 am

      You can remove them if you like. We usually do because we put on a new batch right away. Either cheesecloth or a lid is fine when fermenting kefir … the jar doesn’t need to breathe other than having a couple inches of air to the top of the jar rim.

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