This sweet potato ice cream is made with cream cheese for a super creamy, fall inspired treat. It’s a slightly sweet, cinnamon infused dessert that gives pumpkin a run for it’s money.

After 15+ hours of driving this weekend, we’re in Topton, NC celebrating my brother’s 30th birthday lakeside in a beautiful log cabin home we spent almost two weeks researching and planning.

In our heads, this vacation was going to be a perfect extension of fall as NY would become colder and colder each day crossing into November and North Carolina would surely be at least 10-15 degrees warmer with peak foliage surrounding us in every direction in the mountains.

Except, as we drove deeper into North Carolina Saturday afternoon, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees, the misty rain turned to snow flurries, the winds picked up and before we knew it we were seeing car roofs covered in snow coming from the opposite direction on the highway.

Sweet potato cream cheese ice cream
Want to save this recipe?
Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus you’ll get new recipes from us every week!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

The direction into which we were headed.

About four hours later, we pulled into our house for the week to be greeted with about six inches of snow on the ground and the generator running from a power outage.

We couldn’t see much since it was pitch dark outside but yesterday morning we awoke to the beautiful lake view we were promised, minus one thing, the foliage we expected.

Instead of the extended fall conditions, we spent yesterday hiking in 38 degree weather with snow up to the top of our hiking boots and maybe 10% of the leaves still on the trees.

Sweet potato ice cream

If I didn’t know any better (and hadn’t driven 5 of the 15 hours on 2.5 hours of sleep), I’d have guessed we were in Nova Scotia, not 858 miles south in North Carolina.

Sweet potato cinnamon ice cream with cream cheese

If there wasn’t a kick-ass hot tub right outside my bedroom door, I’d say we should’ve just stayed in New York for the week, where this sweet potato ice cream is waiting for me in my freezer.

It’s creamy, decadent and rich (reminds me a lot of this Baileys ice cream actually except that one is made with an egg yolk base) and with such a unique combination like sweet potatoes and cream cheese in your ice cream, how can you not want to try it?!

It’s delicious and indulgent on its own but if you really want to make a statement, serve it with some air fried bananas on top and dig in!

If cream cheese in ice cream intrigues you, try this cottage cheese ice cream too. It’s such a great trick to add some protein to your sweet treat and because it’s whipped until creamy, there’s no weird texture issues!

Want to save this recipe?
Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus you’ll get new recipes from us every week!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
No ratings yet

Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Ice Cream

Servings: 10 servings
Prep: 2 hours 30 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 2 hours 50 minutes
This sweet potato ice cream is made with cream cheese for a super creamy, fall inspired treat. It’s a slightly sweet, cinnamon infused dessert that gives pumpkin a run for it’s money.

Ingredients 

  • 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon molasses

Instructions 

  • Combine sweet potato and milk in a medium sauce pot. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until fork tender.
  • Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, salt, spices and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
  • Transfer the sweet potatoes and milk to a blender and blend until smooth.
  • Pour the mixture back into the sauce pot over medium-low heat.
  • Whisk together the heavy cream and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour into the sweet potato mixture in the sauce pot and stir.
  • Add the brown sugar and molasses and stir until sugar is dissolved.
  • Turn off heat, add the cream cheese mixture to the sauce pot and stir until fully incorporated.
  • Pour the mixture into a bowl.
  • Place the bowl in an ice bath for immediate cooling or the refrigerator for 2-3 hours until chilled. If using the ice bath, let cool in the bowl, mixing occasionally for 20-30 minutes.
  • Once cooled, pour mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
  • Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for 2-3 hours to set before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1SERVINGCalories: 219kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 3gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 82mgSugar: 14g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
TRIED THIS RECIPE?COMMENT + RATE BELOW!
Founder and Writer at Running to the Kitchen | About

Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.

You May Also Like:

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




15 Comments

  1. Bummer to drive south to cold weather! This is totally my kind of ice cream. I love anything with sweet potatoes!

  2. Wow! That is crazy! We just came back from vacation and barely missed a snow storm! I hope the rest of your stay is better!
    This ice cream looks amazing!