Blueberry Cheesecake Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
By Emily Carter ·
Published
Quick answer
Blend 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese with 1/4 cup milk, blueberries, cream cheese, sweetener and lemon zest for 60 to 90 seconds until smooth, freeze the pint for a full 24 hours, then spin on Ice Cream, re-spin once with a tablespoon of milk if crumbly, and run Mix-in with 1 crushed graham cracker sheet. The pint carries roughly 42 g of protein, about 10 to 11 g per serving across 4 servings.
Blueberry Cheesecake Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream is the jammy, purple pint that tastes like summer cheesecake. It is cottage cheese, milk, blueberries, cream cheese, sweetener and lemon zest, blended smooth, frozen solid, spun creamy and finished with crushed graham cracker. Fruity, tangy and properly high protein at the same time.
Why you’ll love it
- Tastes like blueberry cheesecake, not like a protein shake that got frozen.
- About 10 to 11 g of protein per serving from label values, about 42 g per pint.
- Five minutes of hands-on work, then the freezer and the machine do the rest.
- No protein powder needed, since cottage cheese carries the protein here.
- Graham crumbs folded through give a real cheesecake base crunch.
Ingredient notes
Blueberries: fresh or thawed both work, but thawed berries must be drained well. Extra berry juice thins the base and turns the pint icy instead of creamy. Three quarters of a cup is enough to color the whole pint purple.
Cottage cheese: full-fat gives the creamiest result. Low-fat works too and keeps the protein high, but the pint freezes a little firmer. Small curd or large curd does not matter, since everything gets blended smooth for a full 60 to 90 seconds.
Cream cheese: two tablespoons is all it takes to push the flavor from berry ice cream into true cheesecake territory. It adds richness without changing the spin.
Lemon zest: the small ingredient with the biggest job. A teaspoon makes blueberries taste twice as blueberry, because citrus lifts berry flavor without adding sourness.
Graham cracker: one crushed sheet through the Mix-in cycle gives the cheesecake base note. Use a gluten-free cracker if gluten matters to you, since the rest of the pint is naturally gluten-free.
The freeze and spin rule that makes or breaks it
Two rules decide this pint, and both are about patience. First, freeze for a full 24 hours on a level surface, with the top smoothed flat. A pint frozen for only a few hours, or frozen at a slant, spins soft and uneven. Second, do not judge the first spin. Berry cottage cheese bases often look crumbly after the first cycle, and that crumbly look sends a lot of people to the conclusion that the recipe failed. It did not. One tablespoon of milk and one re-spin turns it thick, creamy and scoopable. Only after the re-spin does the graham cracker go in, through the Mix-in cycle, so it stays crunchy instead of dissolving.
Variations
- Berry swirl: after spinning, fold in a spoonful of mashed fresh blueberries with a spoon, just twice, so the fruit ripples through instead of blending away.
- Lemon blueberry: add an extra half teaspoon of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice to the base for a sharper citrus edge.
- Streusel top: finish each bowl with a spoonful of oat crumble instead of the graham mix-in for a coffee cake style finish.
- Mixed berry cheesecake: swap half the blueberries for raspberries for a deeper, tarter berry pint.
What we learned testing it
- Lemon zest proved its worth in the side by side test. The pint with zest tasted bright and doubly blueberry, while the pint without it tasted flat and one-note.
- Thawed and drained berries matched fresh berries closely. Undrained berries thinned the base and spun icy, so draining is now part of the recipe.
- The re-spin mattered as usual. The first spin looked crumbly, and one re-spin with a tablespoon of milk turned the pint thick and scoopable.
Read how we test recipes.
Blueberry Cheesecake Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
Makes 1 pint (about 4 servings) · 24 hr 10 min total · Easy
Ingredients
Equipment
Blender · Ninja Creami machine · Ninja Creami pint container with lid
Instructions
-
Blend the blueberry base until smooth and purple
Add the cottage cheese, milk, blueberries, cream cheese, sweetener and lemon zest to a blender, leaving the crushed graham cracker aside for later. Blend for 60 to 90 seconds until completely smooth and evenly purple, scraping down once, with no curd texture left.
-
Pour into the pint and freeze for 24 hours
Pour the base into your Ninja Creami pint container, staying below the max fill line. The fruit brings the base right up to the line, so pour slowly. Smooth the top with a spoon so it freezes level, snap on the lid and freeze the pint on a level surface for a full 24 hours. A shorter freeze gives a soft, slushy spin.
-
Spin on Ice Cream, then re-spin if crumbly
Take the pint straight from the freezer, remove the lid and load it into the machine. Select the Ice Cream setting and let it run the full cycle. If the pint looks powdery or crumbly after the first spin, add 1 tablespoon of milk and press Re-spin. That one re-spin is what turns this base from crumbly to creamy.
-
Mix in the graham cracker and serve right away
Make a small well in the center of the spun pint with a spoon, drop in the crushed graham cracker and run the Mix-in cycle. The crumbs stay crunchy and give a cheesecake base note in every few spoonfuls. Scoop into bowls right away, while the texture is at its best.
Notes
- A teaspoon of lemon zest makes blueberries taste twice as blueberry. Citrus lifts berry flavor without adding sourness, so do not skip it.
- Thawed berries must be drained well. Extra berry juice thins the base and turns the pint icy instead of creamy.
- Use a gluten-free graham cracker if gluten matters to you. The rest of the pint is naturally gluten-free, so the cracker is the only swap needed.
- If your freezer runs very cold and the pint is too firm to load, let it rest on the counter for 2 to 3 minutes before spinning, no longer.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition information is being calculated.
Substitutions
- Blueberries
- Use the same amount of blackberries or raspberries instead. Raspberries add more seeds, so strain the base before freezing if seeds bother you.
- Cream cheese
- Leave it out and add an extra 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese. The pint stays good but loses a little of the cheesecake richness.
- Graham cracker
- Use crushed vanilla wafers or shortbread instead for a different crunch, or skip the mix-in entirely for a smooth berry cheesecake pint.
Storage and make-ahead
The texture is at its best in the first few minutes after spinning. If you have leftovers, smooth the surface flat, put the lid back on and refreeze. Re-spin leftovers straight from the freezer on Ice Cream, adding a tablespoon of milk if they look crumbly. Eat refrozen leftovers within 3 days for the best texture.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes. Thaw them first and drain well, since extra berry juice thins the base and turns the pint icy. Thawed and drained berries matched fresh berries closely in testing.
Why is lemon zest in a blueberry recipe?
Citrus lifts berry flavor without adding sourness. A teaspoon of zest makes blueberries taste twice as blueberry, while the pint itself stays sweet and creamy.
Can I make this blueberry ninja creami without the graham cracker?
Yes. Skip the mix-in and you get a smooth berry cheesecake pint at the same protein. The cracker is the cheesecake base note, not the base itself.
How much protein is in this ice cream?
These are label-based estimates, not lab tested numbers, and they vary by brand. The pint carries roughly 42 g of protein in total, about 10 to 11 g per serving across 4 servings. Check your cottage cheese labels for your exact numbers.
Can I refreeze and re-spin the leftovers?
Yes. Smooth the surface flat, lid the pint and refreeze it. Spin leftovers straight from the freezer on Ice Cream, with a tablespoon of milk if they look crumbly. The texture is best within 3 days.
