Ben & Jerry's Vegan Ice Cream with Maple

Three ingredients. That’s it. Water, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar. Heat, cool, freeze, scrape. Done in 8 hours total, mostly sitting in your freezer doing the work for you.

Why You’ll Love This Vegan Frozen Dessert

Tastes like Ben & Jerry’s without the dairy or the price tag. No ice cream machine. No churning. Just fork work at the end and it’s done.

Works on the hottest summer days — actually tastes better when it’s brutal outside. Gluten free naturally. Vegan without trying.

Makes six servings from basically nothing. Maple pecan pie vibes without the complicated baking. Cold, sweet, done.

Cleanup is a bowl and a saucepan. Not nothing, but minimal.

What You Need for This Vegan Sorbet

Water. Regular. Tap is fine. 260 ml.

Maple syrup. The real stuff. 130 ml. Not the fake kind. Makes a difference.

Apple cider vinegar. That’s the whole trick right here. 150 ml. The vinegar cuts the sweetness and makes it taste less like a syrup situation and more like actual frozen yogurt. Bright. Something happening on your tongue. Not white vinegar. Apple cider.

How to Make Vegan Frozen Yogurt

Heat the water and maple syrup together in a small saucepan over medium. Stir occasionally. Watch it come up to a boil — 3 minutes total, maybe less if your stove runs hot.

Once it’s actually boiling, let it bubble gently for exactly 3 minutes. Stir it. The heat dissolves the syrup completely and that matters. Stops it from being gritty later.

Pull it off the heat. Let it sit until it’s not warm anymore — room temperature, fully cooled. An hour, give or take. Just don’t put it in the freezer hot. That’s the mistake people make.

How to Get This Plant Based Frozen Dessert Frozen Right

Mix the apple cider vinegar into the cooled liquid. Stir until it’s actually combined — it takes maybe 20 seconds. The color shifts slightly. Becomes a little less golden.

Pour it into a shallow container with a lid. Shallow matters. It freezes faster and more evenly than if it’s deep. Something like an 8-inch square pan works. A lasagna dish. Whatever.

Seal it. Put it in the freezer.

Wait 3 hours minimum. Longer is better — overnight is ideal. You’re looking for solid layers to form, not total ice. The texture is the whole point here. It should scrape, not shatter.

Dairy Free Sorbet Tips and Common Mistakes

The fork work at the end is everything. Scrape the top layer with the tines — not a spoon, the fork itself. You’re creating tiny ice crystals that break up. That’s what makes it feel like soft-serve instead of a popsicle.

Don’t stir it while it freezes. Leave it alone. One solid block is what you want before you scrape it.

Serve it immediately after scraping. Temperature matters. Spoon it into dishes and eat it right then. Five minutes in the freezer after serving and it starts to melt back into sorbet liquid. That’s fine. That’s kind of the vibe.

Tastes better the next day sometimes. The flavors sit. Becomes less syrupy and more like something with actual depth.

Ben & Jerry's Vegan Ice Cream with Maple

By Emma

Prep:

5 min

Cook:

3 min

Total:

8h

Servings:

6 servings

Ingredients

• 260 ml water
• 130 ml maple syrup
• 150 ml apple cider vinegar

Method

1. 1 Heat water and maple syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring until syrup dissolves.
2. 2 Remove from heat. Let cool completely to room temp.
3. 3 Mix in the apple cider vinegar thoroughly.
4. 4 Pour liquid into a shallow container with a lid. Seal tightly.
5. 5 Freeze for at least 3 hours until solid layers form.
6. 6 When ready, scrape the frozen surface with a fork to create fluffy ice crystals.
7. 7 Spoon granité into six dessert dishes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional information

Calories

110

Protein

0g

Carbs

29g

Fat

0g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Ben & Jerry’s Vegan Ice Cream

Can you make this without an ice cream machine like dairy free ice cream? Yeah, that’s the whole point. No machine. Just a fork and patience. It’s technically a granité, not ice cream, but it tastes close enough and nobody cares once they’re eating it.

Is this actually vegan? Completely. Water, syrup, vinegar. Nothing from anything that had a face.

How long does this frozen non dairy dessert keep? Month, easy. Maybe more. It doesn’t really go bad — the vinegar acts like a preservative. Flavor gets stronger over time, which is good.

Can you use a different vinegar instead of apple cider? White vinegar works. Sharper though. Apple cider is smoother. Haven’t tried red wine vinegar but probably not.

What if it won’t freeze solid? Freezer might be too warm. Or the container’s too deep. Try shallower next time. Also depends on how much water you used — measure carefully.

Does this work as a sorbet vegan option if I want something fancier? It’s already a sorbet technically. Just dress it up — add fresh berries on top, a drizzle of maple syrup, crushed nuts. Maple pecan situation if you scatter some toasted pecans over it. Looks intentional that way.