Healthy Ninja Creami Coconut Ice Cream- High Protein
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My high-protein Ninja Creami Coconut Ice Cream is thick, sweet, creamy, and packed with 47 grams of protein and 313 calories per pint! Just like my Ninja Creami Almond Joy ice cream and my coffee protein ice cream, it’s the perfect healthy dessert or post-workout fuel for your muscles! 💪
Ninja Creami Coconut Ice Cream at a Glance
⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
❄️ Freeze Time: 24 hours
🍽️ Servings: 1 pint
👍 Difficulty: Easy
😋 Recipe Highlights: Excellent macros! High protein, low calories, natural ingredients, no refined sugar!
🛒 Featured Ingredients: Whey protein powder, coconut milk, vanilla paste, cottage cheese
🍎 Dietary Swaps: See the ingredients section for possible substitutes.
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This Ninja Creami coconut ice cream recipe is for anyone who loves coconut ice cream but doesn't want the added fat and calories of coconut cream to get good results.
Using carton coconut milk keeps the calories reasonable, while protein powder and cottage cheese give the ice cream the structure it needs to freeze and spin into a smooth, scoopable pint.
This simple recipe starts with my vanilla ice cream base that is part of many of my recipes, but uses unsweetened coconut milk instead of skim milk, and some McCormick Coconut Extract for that tropical coconut flavor.
This recipe goes great mixed with dark chocolate protein ice cream to make my chocolate-coconut Ninja Creami swirl! If coconut isn’t your thing, you may prefer my peanut butter protein ice cream or my raspberry protein ice cream.
Check out my Ninja Creami Recipes page to see all the different flavors I have.
Why This Recipe Works
Ice creams low in fat and sugar need to be designed carefully to turn out well. This recipe is perfectly formulated with the right ingredients to achieve stellar results!
This ice cream gets its thickness from just the right amount of protein powder–enough to make it thick and scoopable without relying on high-fat ingredients like coconut cream.
While allulose provides additional sweetness, it also lowers the freezing point of the mixture, which produces a much better texture after spinning the ice cream.
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Key Ingredients
To make this Ninja Creami coconut ice cream, you will need a handful of simple ingredients:
Cottage Cheese– I use 2% fat cottage cheese. Use whatever kind you’d like. Cottage cheese serves as the stabilizer for our ice cream, making it thick and creamy instead of icy and thin.
Vanilla Whey Protein Isolate Powder– Use a good powder that tastes great. I use Legion French Vanilla.
The amount used in this recipe is specifically for whey protein isolate. If your powder is a different form of protein, you may need to adjust the amount. The high protein gives a creamier result than recipes with lower amounts of protein.
Allulose– As with most of my Ninja Creami recipes, I use granulated Allulose to sweeten my pints. Allulose adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point of the mixture, which is essential for a smooth, creamy result. Find more information about allulose here.
Unsweetened Coconut Milk– I love coconut milk in my Creami creations! It is thicker than almond milk, lower in calories than regular skim milk, and super tasty.
Choose the coconut milk beverage carton to keep it low-calorie, but the high-fat canned version makes for a rich treat, too.
How to Make Ninja Creami Coconut Ice Cream
Making this Ninja Creami protein coconut ice cream base is very easy.
1. Combine & Blend Ingredients.
Add all ingredients to the Ninja Creami pint cup, saving the coconut milk for last. Fill the pint cup to just below the max fill line with coconut milk. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.
2. Freeze.
Freeze the pint container on a flat surface in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
3. Spin.
Install your Ninja Creami Pint into your machine as specified by your model’s instructions.
Spin once on “Lite Ice Cream.”
4. Check Texture & Re-Spin.
This ice cream is often a great texture after the first spin, especially for a firm, scoopable ice cream. For fluffier ice cream, you can reinstall the pint container into the machine and use the re-spin setting.
That’s it! Making this Ninja Creami coconut ice cream couldn’t be easier, and it’s the perfect base to take in all kinds of flavor directions!
Ninja Creami Tips & Tricks
•Your Creami should not have ice crystals. If you do, you need a better balance of ingredients. If you use less protein powder, a different kind of milk, leave out the sweetener, etc, you can impact your results.
•Do not thaw your Ninja pint container at all before spinning. The machine was designed to drill through the ice cream bases right out of the freezer. You risk damaging it or making your ice cream sloppy.
•If you don’t finish the whole pint, level the top of the ice cream flat before sticking it back in the freezer. Next time you want to eat it, spin it on “Lite Ice Cream” again. Alternatively, you can microwave the pint for 30 seconds, but re-spinning is better.
•If you’re having issues with your Ninja Creami machine, check out my Ninja Creami Troubleshooting Guide.
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Coconut Protein Ice Cream Macros
For one pint of this ice cream, the nutritional info is as follows:
| Macro | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | 313 |
| Protein | 47 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 37 g |
| Net Carbs* (without allulose and fiber) | 13 g |
Coconut Ice Cream for the Ninja Creami FAQs
This recipe is written specifically for unsweetened coconut milk from a carton, the type intended as a beverage. This keeps the calories low while still giving you a really creamy result. You can use full-fat canned coconut milk, but it will bump up the fat and calories quite a bit-and with the Ninja Creami, it isn't needed to get a great texture.
I know cottage cheese can sound a little strange in ice cream if you've never used it this way before. It doesn't make the ice cream taste like cheese at all. Instead, it blends completely smooth and acts more like a stabilizer, helping low-fat ice cream freeze creamy instead of icy. Once it's spun in the Ninja Creami, all you notice is a thicker, smoother, creamier texture-no cheesy flavor left behind.
This recipe is built around whey protein isolate because it produces consistently good results and is easily digestible for most people. Other protein powders-like casein, blends, or plant-based powders absorb liquid differently, which can throw off the texture.
You can use other types of protein powder, but it’s not necessarily interchangeable 1:1 with whey protein. Too much of some types of protein may make your ice cream dry, chalky, or even give it an overpowering flavor. Using too little can make your ice cream thin or icy.
Sticking with whey isolate gives you the smooth, creamy result this recipe is designed for. You can try other powders, but be aware that you may get a different texture than what I show here.
Healthy Ninja Creami Recipes
Here are some more healthy Ninja Creami recipes to fill your freezer with!
Want More Recipes Like This One?
If you love my Ninja Creami recipes and want some more fun flavors like S’Mores, Pistachio, Monster Cookie, Black Forest Cake, or even Moose Tracks, check out my Ninja Creami Recipe eBook!
The recipe book is available for instant download and offers delicious recipes in an easy-to-access eBook without any ads.
Enjoy a Scoop of Tropical Heaven! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a comment and review! It means the world to hear from those who try my recipes.
What flavors would you like to see next? Let me know in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Healthy Ninja Creami Coconut Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ninja Creami Ice Cream Maker
- Immersion Blender optional, but recommended
Ingredients
- 100 grams 2% Cottage Cheese about 1/2 cup
- 50 grams Vanilla Whey Isolate Protein Powder about [adjustable1 1/2[/adjustable] scoops–see notes
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste or vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Coconut Extract
- 24 grams Granulated Allulose about 2 tbsp
- 240 milliliters Unsweetened Coconut Milk 1 cup
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to your Ninja Creami pint container. Blend with an immersion blender, or whisk very well to combine ingredients.100 grams 2% Cottage Cheese, 50 grams Vanilla Whey Isolate Protein Powder, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste, 1/4 teaspoon Coconut Extract, 24 grams Granulated Allulose, 240 milliliters Unsweetened Coconut Milk
- Freeze your pint container for at least 24 hours on a flat surface in your freezer.
- When ready to eat, install your Ninja Creami pint container into your machine per the manufacturer's instructions for your model. Spin once on "Lite Ice Cream."
- When the spin is over, peak at your ice cream to check the texture. If it looks good to you, go ahead and enjoy! If you want to smooth it out a bit more, put the pint back in the machine and press the "Re-Spin" button.
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I’d like to try this recipe, but you don’t specify if you used coconut milk from a can (If so was it light coconut milk or full fat) or did you use coconut milk from a carton? I usually like the So delicious brand of unsweetened coconut milk, that will be much low in calories than the canned varieties.
Hello! So Delicious is what I use. You can check the ingredients section in the blog post if you want to see pics of the ingredients used and more details. 🙂 Hope that helps!
This was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe but just used ‘Swerve’ granulated sweetener and ‘Jocko Molk’ vanilla whey protein…my new favorite ice cream for sure and can’t believe I’m not ‘cheating’ given how incredible this tastes!
I’m so glad you loved it! That’s one of my favorite ones, too! So creamy and delicious. I love crumbling one of those little fiber one brownies into there. The coconut brownie thing is soooo good.
I’m excited to try this! Is the allulose just for sweetening or does it also contribute to the texture? My gut is sensitive to allulose, so I was going to use monk fruit if it would not affect the creaminess.
Hi Rebecca! Yes, you can absolutely swap out the allulose for something else! I’ve also used the Whole Earth Monk Fruit Blend successfully. 🙂 You could omit a sweetener if you want, too, but the flavors will be a bit dull after freezing without one.
Loved it! This was great with graham crackers and flaked coconut. Just like pie! One of my favorite creami flavors for sure 😀