Ice Cream

Nomou

Nomou was launched in 2020 by two vegan parents Hemali Gala and Samir Pasad to cater to their vegan son’s desire for ice cream. This brand offers creamy, luscious ice cream with minimal ingredients. Yes, a clean label!

Most flavours are made with coconut milk or a coconut cream base and a few variants are made with almond or soya milk. These ice creams are sweetened with palm sugar which has a lower glycemic index as compared to refined sugar. There is also a date-sweetened fig-walnut variant which is diabetic friendly.

Range: 100% vegan range with a wide range of 21 flavours including a unique paan flavoured gelato.

Availability: Delivery across Mumbai when ordered from the brand website through Thrive Now. Available at big retailers like Nature’s Basket, and vegan-friendly stories in big cities across India like Greend India, Rare Earth in Mumbai, Earth Story in Chennai.

Benelato (formerly known as Vegan Heart)

This plant-based gelato was started in 2018 by a mother-son duo Guncha and Kapil Wadhwa. It is a healthy, dairy-free, sugar-free gelato sweetened with dates and made with oat milk. They use fresh natural ingredients with no artificial flavours or colours. Benelato also has cute gelato bites.

Range: 100% vegan range with unique flavours — Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry, Chunky Cookies & Choco Cream, Vanilla Bean, Mawa Malai, Chikoo, Salted Caramel, Thandai and chocolate vanilla Ice-Cream bites

Availability: Across Mumbai when ordered from Swiggy, Zomato and Thrive Now. Available at online marketplaces like Vvegano in Mumbai and at vegan-friendly stores in big cities across India like Sharan Organic Store in Mumbai, Dorabjees in Pune, Saukhyam in Goa. And a regular presence at pop-up markets.

White Cub

With a tagline, ‘consciously vegan’, White Cub is one of India’s foremost vegan food companies. Most ice cream flavours are made with a combination of coconut cream, and soy milk as the base and sweetened with unrefined sugar. There are also a few variants sweetened with dates or stevia which are diabetic friendly.

Range: 100% vegan with over 20 flavours in ice-creams and seven bars including a delicious Choco Crunchy Bar (For those who miss Wall’s Feast and Magnum.)

Availability: Delivery across Delhi and Gurgaon from the brand website. Available at big retailers/online marketplaces like Nature’s Basket, Big Basket and vegan-friendly stories in big cities across India.

Papa Cream

Started in Mumbai in 2015 near Churchgate, Papa Cream was the culmination of the founder Tanvi Chowdhury’s dream to bring gourmet ice cream to India. It was quite the rage in Mumbai for their decadent ice creams. They launched a vegan range which is delicious and creamy too. Most flavours are made with either coconut milk, soy milk or almond milk as the base and sweetened with sugar. There are two sugar-free variants too.

Range: Five vegan flavours: Vanilla, Choco Fudgy, Mango, Sugar-Free Belgian and Sugar-Free Espresso Cookie. This is not a 100% vegan brand so look for clear vegan labeling on the tub while purchasing.

Available: At stores like Nature’s Basket, online retailers like Big Basket and also specialist vegan stores like Vegan Dukan in select cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Baskin Robbins

A popular brand of ice-creams with parlours dotting the country, Baskin Robbins has three vegan flavours that are tasty and delicious. These were launched to offer vegans and those lactose intolerant their favourite luscious ice creams but in a non-dairy, vegan, cruelty-free form. The base is coconut milk and their promise —an ice cream as decadent and indulgent as their regular range.

Range: Three flavours — Vanilla, Mississippi Mud and Raspberry Sorbet

Available: At Baskin Robbins Ice-Cream Parlours and delivery via Swiggy and Zomato in major cities across India

Noto

Noto, positioned as a low-calorie ice cream, apart from regular dairy ice creams, also offers vegan, dairy-free, sugar-free ice creams. These are sweetened with a combination of erythritol, maltitol and stevia. The ice-creams are made with a mix of almond butter and coconut milk as the base. They also have a dark chocolate minis variant which is a great low-calorie fix to an ice cream craving.

Range: Seven flavours in the vegan range in tubs —Dark Chocolate, Mango & Raspberry, Mocha Almond, Salter Caramel, Pistachio, Choco Hazelnut, Strawberry and two minis — dark chocolate and coffee.

Available: Delivery directly from the brand website and food delivery companies like Zomato and Swiggy in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Delhi-NCR.

The Brooklyn Creamery

The Brooklyn Creamery has a range on offer, from chocolate ice cream in cones to coated bars to tubs — delicious vegan dairy-free ice cream in whichever format works best for you. Most of the variants use coconut milk as the creamy base and are sweetened with maltitol. They also have vegan bonbons.

Range: Five vegan flavours in tubs — Vanilla, Cookie Brownie, Chocolate Therapy, Acai Berry Banana and Mango Sticky Rice. Three bars — Chocolate Therapy, Chocolate & Coconut and Salted Peanut Butter and also vegan Chocolate Bonbons

Available: Delivering from the website Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and available on Zomato and Swiggy

Minus 30

Minus 30 offers a healthy range of ice creams sweetened by stevia but without sacrificing the decadence and luxury of ice cream. The vegan options are made with almond milk, almond butter or coconut milk. Minus 30 has interesting options like an ice-cream sandwich.

Range: 13 vegan dairy-free flavours in a tub, five flavours in bars or mini-sticks and two vegan dairy-free sandwich variants (ice cream between two thin wafer-like biscuits)

Available: Zomato, Swiggy in big cities across India

Amore

Amore has a range of vegan gelato made with plant-based ingredients with an end product that is delicious and creamy. Their vegan range has unique flavours that are worth exploring. The base is usually coconut cream and sweetened with organic sugar.

Range: Four dairy-free ice-cream variants —Mint Oreo Crumble, Coco Mocha Gooey Brownie, Belgian Nutty Brownie and Banoffee Crunch

Available: From the website across Mumbai. At Amore Gelato Outlets via Zomato and Swiggy in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune

Dittoo

This artisanal vegan ice cream brand launched in 2019. They took a short break last year and are now back. These vegan, plant-based ice creams are additives-free, artificial flavours-free, dairy-free, and processed fat-free as they have innovated on flavour at the forefront and presentation too — you can get your ice cream in a waffle cone!

Range: 9 flavours in tubs — each with a twist. Snowberry is a strawberry with vanilla and balsamic sauce and BBC is a blueberry cheesecake ice cream!

Available: Currently only in Bengaluru and at pop-up markets.

Mochico

Mochi is a Japanese dessert in which ice cream is wrapped in a soft outer layer made of glutinous rice flour. These pillowy pockets are perfect to sink your teeth into on a hot summer afternoon. Mochico is the first brand to bring this Japanese delicacy to India.

Range: Vegan Coconut, Vegan Cookies & Cream.

Available: Currently only in Mumbai via their Instagram account.

There are other brands like Caro, Get-A-Whey, and Go Zero that offer a few or maybe even just one vegan variant to the growing segment of health-conscious, vegan or lactose-intolerant ice cream fans. If you wish for a traditional Indian variant then get in touch with Health & Mo, based in Mumbai, for an amazing vegan dairy-free malai kulfi.

If you find yourself at a regular ice cream parlour or store’s ice cream freezer, simply look for a water-based popsicle, even from regular brands like Walls or London Dairy. Those variants are milk and milk-solids-free and make for a cold treat in the blistering heat that is the Indian summer.