A new generation of sustainable producers is upending consumer perceptions of non-dairy ice cream.
Historically, vegan ice creams have struggled to replicate the creaminess of dairy versions. Now, advances in food tech are making non-dairy decadence cheaper, meaning that vegan scoops can be just as indulgent as traditional brands.
Whether dairy or not, the flavour and texture of ice cream ultimately boils down to the fats used to make it. Today, producers have a wide range of plant-based options to choose from, with coconut fats leading the way.
Meanwhile, food tech breakthroughs are promising to make the non-dairy ice creams of the future even tastier. The alternative ingredients sector has developed precision fermented milk fats without the cows, opening even more exciting possibilities for sustainable summer treats.
What makes an ice cream taste good?
Fats are fundamental to the luxuriousness of ice cream. Non-dairy ice cream is no exception.
The secret of ice cream is in how fats are combined with air.
When milk is whipped and frozen, some fat sticks together forming random clumps. These clumps cluster around and secure tiny air bubbles, creating a network of fat throughout the ice cream. This results in the dreamy mouthfeel of ice cream we know and love.
Usually, dairy ice cream gets fat from cow’s milk. Premium ice creams contain the highest fat percentage while regular ice cream contains a bit less. In the US, the FDA stipulates that ice cream must contain at least 10 percent milkfat to be marketed as such.
Plant-based fats
To achieve the beloved textures and flavours of conventional ice cream, vegan offerings must replace fat from livestock with fat from other sources.
Vegan ice creams are possible because fats are also found in plants. Today, most of the vegan ice creams on the market will use coconut fat, which is rich in the saturated fats that makes the sweet treat so satisfying.
Magnum, which reported a 95 percent jump in growth for its vegan range between 2024 and 2025, is one of the biggest companies leading the non-dairy charge in supermarkets. Its range of vegan ice creams draws on coconut fat with a base of soy protein.
At the other end of the corporate scale, Greek startup Plan(e)t Foods (founded 2021) makes their vegan ice cream with Greek oats and coconut fat as a source of added fat. In June 2025, the vegan food producer raised €1.05 million.
Booja Booja, a stalwart of the vegan ice cream sector, uses fat from cashew nuts plus coconut syrup for a perfectly creamy bite. The combination works for a brand that pitches itself as a maker of luxury desserts that just happen to be plant-based.
Small companies, big flavours
Industry heavyweights like Magnum and Ben and Jerry’s are mainstreaming non-dairy in supermarket aisles everywhere.
Yet when it comes to the most exciting vegan tasting experiences, it is sometimes the smaller, more specialist startups pulling the weight.
Kind Kones may not be a household name (yet) but their ice cream innovations showcase the gastronomic potential of non-dairy desserts.
The Singaporean vegan ice cream wants to eliminate not just animal products in ice cream but also artificial ingredients. While some plant based options are stacked wtih preservatives, Kind Kones’ ingredient lists stand out for their natural simplicity.
Kind Kones puts to rest the notion that vegan desserts can’t get experimental with flavour. So far, it has put out around 150 flavour combinations on the market.
Some cater to the Southeast Asian palette like its Pandan Gula Melaka, inspired by the shredded coconut buns popular in the region.
In the US, black-owned Cajou Creamery has made cashew cream-based ice creams that are a veritable tasting menu of South American flavours: their horchata tub evokes the flavours of the vanilla and cinnamon drink popular in Mexico while Cortadito mixes the coffee and sweet steamed milk to conjure up the Cuban espresso.
Chewing the fat
Further advances in vegan ice creams will rely on breakthroughs in the alternative food tech sector.
For years, the alternative ingredients sector has been busy developing vegan versions of basic ingredients used across food production, including fats.
Ice cream companies are a key target market for vegan fat producers.
Ice cream makers need high quality fats to replicate the melt, texture, and creaminess of dairy ice cream for a customer base that demands moreish luxury from their products.
Coconut oil has been the go-to non-dairy ice cream fat yet some are keen to find alternatives.
Coconut fat works in some vegan ice cream formulations but not in others. The coconut flavour can become noticeable in milder flavouring combinations.
Developing the perfect non-dairy fat with a neutral taste has been a particular obsession for the food tech industry. Now, many believe the hope for the creamiest, most convincing non-dairy ice cream fats lies with the biomanufacturing technique called precision fermentation.
Precision fermented fats are fats produced in the bodies of microbes rather than taken from either animals or plants.
One advantage of these microbe-produced fats is the freedom they offer to food producers. These fats are, in theory, endlessly customisable. Simply by altering the microbes, producers can achieve different kinds of fats with different properties.
These fermented fats mimic the crucial chemical properties that impart that moreish ‘ice-cream’-ness to the entire ice cream, by clinging onto the flavour and slowly releasing it in a deliciously rich medium.
Animal-free fats from the lab
Yali Bio is one company pioneering in fermented fats, collaborating with Givaudan, Ingredion, and AAK.
The food tech company recently demonstrated its fermented fat at a Food Tech event in San Francisco. The ice cream they used to showcase the ingredient reportedly ran out in an hour.
Ice cream is the most obvious application for Yali Bio’s fermented fat. However, it could also be a game-changer for non-dairy baked goods. This is because the melting point of Yali Bio’s fat can be fine-tuned to meet the needs of different products.
Fermented fats of the kind that Yali Bio and others are developing could be the tipping point that the industry needs to convince a much larger market to adopt vegan offerings, not just for ice cream but savoury products too.
Often, the reason that non-dairy baked goods like pastries and cakes fall short are the way the fats they contain react with sugar, eggs, flour, and other elements.
It is difficult to use plant-based oils and butters in ways that impart richness, flavour, and moisture in as many different products as animal butter.
Apart from their convincing chemical qualities, companies like Yali Bio argue its precision fermented fats are even more planet friendly than even some of the plant-based ingredients like coconut oil.
This is because microbes need drastically fewer resource inputs to make ice cream-friendly fats than cultivated coconuts and cashews, including water and land area. Using fewer cows products would also mean cutting the greenhouse gas emissions associated with livestock agriculture,
Eliminating palm oil with microbes
Greenhouse gas reductions are only one of the environmental benefits that precision fermented fats offer.
They could also reduce the damage to wildlife that certain plant-based ingredients can cause.
One area where fermented fats could support a more ethical food supply chain is by displacing palm oil, a relatively common ingredient in non-dairy ice creams.
Some vegan producers opt for palm oil fat as an additive in their non-dairy ice cream to raise the melting point so the product holds its shape in high summer temperatures for longer.
However, palm oil plantations have destroyed tropical forests across Asia, Latin America and West Africa. 90 percent of global supply is now grown on a few islands in the highly biodiverse countries of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Dutch startup NoPalm is turning precision fermentation to the task of eliminating palm oil from non-dairy ice creams and other products.
The company specifically produces tailor-made oils and fats grown inside microbes to replace the habitat-wrecking ingredient in all kinds of vegan foods.
Non-dairy ice creams of tomorrow
Precision fermentation of complex biological structures like dairy proteins is still not cost-effective. However, startups like France’s Verley are already producing some precision fermented dairy proteins and trying to scale.
With these lab-made fats and dairy proteins coming to the fore, the vegan ice creams of the future could be new sites of bold flavour experimentation.
What makes precision fermentation such a powerful biomanufacturing tool is that it can copy any biological material in large volumes without needing to slaughter any animals.
Everything that animal creams and fats do in non-dairy desserts today could be replicated in the vegan ice creams of the future – without the ecological and carbon footprint of livestock dairy.
Fermented fats and proteins could also open the door to ice creams healthier and more accessible.
Fermented ingredients are customisable on a precise molecular level, paving the way for dairy proteins without lactose allergens or ice creams that use healthier fats while still offering the creamy density of dairy options.
With the power of precision fermentation, the future of non-dairy ice cream looks delicious.
