Homemade Ube Oreo Ice Cream

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

This post is sponsored by Instant Pot. All opinions are my own.

Homemade ube Oreo ice cream is a rich purple yam ice cream you can make in about 20 minutes in an ice cream maker. Heavy cream, coconut milk, and sweetened condensed milk get blended with ube halaya and ube extract, then crushed Oreos are folded in for cookies-and-cream crunch.

Years ago when I first got serious about cooking, I bought one of those ice cream makers where you freeze a giant bowl for six hours, then race to churn before it warms back up. Spoiler: it almost never worked. So making ice cream from scratch had basically fallen off my radar.

Getting a countertop ice cream maker with a built-in compressor changed that completely. You pour everything in, press a button, and 20 minutes later you have real, scoopable ice cream. It is so easy that I’m kicking off a whole homemade ice cream series, and ube Oreo felt like the only way to start.

Another one for the series: my Homemade Choco Taco uses store-bought cookie dough bent into a taco shell, filled with vanilla ice cream, and dipped in a hard dark chocolate coating.

The next flavor in the series is Homemade Biscoff Cookie Butter Ice Cream, which churns that warm, caramelized Biscoff spread into a rich, creamy scoop with crumbled Biscoff cookies folded through.

Get Recipe Ingredients

It also made my list of 36 Easy Asian Desserts, alongside a bunch of other favorites.

What Makes This Ube Oreo Ice Cream So Good

Ube brings a nutty, vanilla-like sweetness and that unreal purple color, while the Oreos add dark cocoa crunch and a cookies-and-cream vibe. The coconut milk gives it a subtle tropical richness that plays right into the ube. If you love that flavor combo, it’s the frozen cousin of my ube Oreo mini cheesecakes.

What is the flavor of ube ice cream?

Ube ice cream tastes mildly sweet and nutty, like vanilla with a soft, earthy, almost pistachio-like edge. Ube is a purple yam from the Philippines, not to be confused with taro, and it has a creamy, coconut-friendly flavor that is more delicate than its bold purple color suggests. If you want the full backstory, The Kitchn has a great primer on what ube is and what it tastes like.

What flavor is the ube Oreo?

The ube Oreo pairs a golden vanilla cookie with a purple ube-flavored creme, so it leans sweet and vanilla-forward with that same gentle ube note. In this recipe I use regular chocolate Oreos instead, because the dark cocoa cookie is the contrast that makes the purple ube base pop. If you can find actual ube Oreos, they make a fun swap for an all-purple batch.

Is ube healthier than ice cream?

Plain ube, the purple yam itself, is a vegetable packed with fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C, so on its own it is much healthier than ice cream. Once it is blended into a cream-and-condensed-milk base like this one, though, it’s a dessert, plain and simple. Think of the ube as a flavorful, colorful upgrade rather than a health food.

Tips for the Best Homemade Ube Ice Cream

1. Use ube halaya plus ube extract

Ube halaya (purple yam jam) brings real ube flavor and body, while a teaspoon of ube extract deepens both the taste and the color. Using both is the trick to an ice cream that actually tastes like ube and not just sweet cream. Ube extract on its own gives you that signature purple, which is all my ube coconut rice pudding needs, but the ube halaya here is what makes it taste like real ube. You can find ube halaya at Filipino markets or make your own with this halayang ube recipe.

2. Add the Oreos near the end

Fold the crushed Oreos in during the last few minutes of churning. Add them too early and they dissolve into mush; add them at the end and you keep distinct cookie chunks in every scoop.

3. Chill or freeze for texture

Straight out of the machine it is soft-serve consistency, which is great right away. For firmer scoops, transfer it to a freezer-safe container and freeze for a couple of hours before serving.

Storage and Leftovers

Store the ice cream in an airtight, freezer-safe container with a piece of parchment pressed against the surface to prevent ice crystals. It keeps well for up to 2 weeks. If it freezes rock-hard, let it sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes to soften before scooping.

Equipment

• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 1.25 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup ube halaya (purple yam jam)
• 1 tsp ube extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 Oreos, crumbled

Instructions

1. Add everything except the Oreos to the ice cream maker: heavy cream, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, ube halaya, ube extract, and vanilla extract.
2. Fit the lid and churning paddle, then start the ice cream setting and let it churn (about 20 minutes).
3. While it churns, crumble the Oreos into a bowl.
4. With about 3 minutes left, add the crushed Oreos through the mix-in hatch (or drop them in and let the paddle fold them through).
5. Serve it soft right away, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze a couple of hours for firmer scoops.

If you make this ube Oreo ice cream, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and drop a comment to tell me how it turned out. Your reviews really help other readers find the recipe.

Print

Print