Super Simple Bone Broth Ice Cream

Like many people, I love ice cream. I know that I’ve already explained that Ben of Ben n Jerry’s had anosmia, and thus was instrumental in creating the “chunks” in ice cream to add to the texture, but I mean it when I say I really love ice cream.

When I was on vacation in Italy, there were some days when we had gelato for literally lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and dessert, because I wanted to try one of every flavor, and every flavor combination. I’m not sure if this has anything to do with my anosmia or not, but I’m obsessed with trying every flavor combination there is, like a kid pouring every single soda flavor into a cup to see what they all taste like together (although they probably don’t let you do that anymore with COVID-19 restrictions, do they?)

Either way, my fascination with ice cream continued as I started to make ice cream at home. Wine ice cream, olive oil ice cream, cheese ice cream…I use my Lello ice cream maker every single day, and I don’t regret it one bit. But here’s the thing: in the summer, I was like, “Wouldn’t it be great AND nutritionally sound to just eat ice cream for dinner?”

So I decided to do just that. Over the winter, experimenting with a lot of leftover turkey bone broth, I decided to just go for it. Everyday, I experimented with making bone broth ice cream, and every day I got a little bit closer to achieving the texture and consistency I wanted until one day, I finally got it.

I didn’t put any toppings in this batch, but feel free to chop in some carrots, stir in some cooked spinach, or add chunks of cooked chicken. Ice cream soup for dinner? I’m all for it.

Ingredients

-3 cups bone broth
-1/2 tbsp beef gelatin
-1 scoop collagen powder (unflavored)
-1/2 tsp salt
-seasonings (to taste)
-1 duck egg (if you are allergic to duck eggs, don’t have any, just use 1-2 egg yolks)

Steps

1. Pour 1 cup of bone broth into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 tbsp gelatin and 1 scoop of collagen. Let sit.
   
2. Put 2 cups of bone broth in a medium-sized saucepan. Heat on low and add 1/2 tsp salt and any additional seasonings to taste. I like adding 1/4 tsp each of black pepper, cayenne, and aleppo pepper (or paprika!) for a truly mouthwatering kick, but if you don’t have a spicy palette, or if your bone broth is already seasoned, you can skip this step. You can also add some sugar here if you find the broth taste too bland for your tastebuds.
   
3. Using an electric hand mixer, mix the gelatin into the bone broth until its combined and there’s no gelatin clumps remaining. Gelatin clumps in your ice cream = not fun! Whisk mixture into the rest of the bone broth in your saucepan.
   
4. In the same bowl, crack an egg and then beat until fluffy and bubbles appear at the top, 2-3 minutes. Then pour into the broth and make sure to whisk quickly to make sure you don’t get any clumps of egg.
   
5. Your bone broth mixture should be lukewarm now. When you see little whisps of steam rising from the top (my husband knows when it’s done by smell – lucky him!), give it a final stir to make sure there’s no gelatin clumps and take it off the burner and put the pot in the fridge. Cock the lid so some hot air can escape, and then let it sit for 60 minutes.
   
6. After the hour has passed, pour into ice cream machine and churn as normal. DON’T let it sit in the fridge for longer than, let’s say 90 minutes. At that point, the gelatin starts to set, and you’ll have bone broth jello pudding! It takes about 15-20 minutes in my Lello, but may take more/less time depending on your ice cream maker!

Ta-da! You now have ice cream for dinner! Feed it to your kids as a sweet treat and never let them know they’re actually eating something healthy! And because there is no sugar and bone broth has a lot lower calories than heavy cream, this is a great way to incorporate ice cream on any diet! Enjoy!