Could ice cream go savoury and healthy at the same time? The strange new scoop that could combine flavour, protein and a whole lot of curiosity
So the idea of freezing a savoury food has been around for almost 200 years. Because it doesn’t taste sweet, a scoop packed with cheese, sauces and salty ingredients isn’t automatically healthier just.
Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook The Virginia House-Wife included a recipe for “Oyster Cream”, an unsweetened frozen preparation made with oysters. So “savoury” and “healthy” can’t simply be treated as the same thing. Ice cream has one job, right? Be cold, creamy and sweet. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mango, butterscotch. Even when brands get experimental, they usually stay somewhere on the sweet side. But what if ice cream didn’t have to be sweet at all? Imagine a scoop that tastes salty, tangy, spicy or deeply savoury. Something made with mustard, tomato, mushroom, cheese, herbs or even Indian spices. No caramel hiding underneath. No stevia trying to imitate sugar. Just savoury ice cream which is healthy, and maybe packed with protein too! It sounds odd. And that’s probably why it’s interesting. The idea isn’t actually new. Modern chefs have taken the idea much further. Masterchef Australia has showcased eggless mustard ice cream with French fries, chef Vineet Bhatia has experimented with butter chicken ice cream, while Himanshu Saini has worked with khandvi ice cream. Bengaluru restaurant Nāvu has played with fermented mustard ice cream, and Nila has explored Malabar tamarind in a frozen format. So this isn’t really about making ice cream weird for the sake of it. It’s about asking whether we’ve been too quick to assume that a frozen dairy product has to taste like dessert. One flavour profile could make the idea of savoury ice cream easier to understand: umami. The Japanese concept of umami is that deep, savoury taste found in ingredients such as mushrooms, seaweed, soy and aged cheese. It’s not sweet, but it can still feel rich and satisfying. Think roasted mushroom, parmesan and black pepper, seaweed and sesame, tomato and basil, smoked cheese or fermented mustard. Even wasabi ice cream exists, although most versions are still sweet ice cream flavoured with wasabi. The wasabi adds heat to an otherwise sugary dessert, so it isn’t truly savoury. A genuinely savoury version would have ingredients such as salt, acidity, herbs or fermentation doing the main work. Some of these combinations sound strange until you remember that the ingredients already work together in regular food. The cold temperature simply changes the experience. India has an interesting advantage here. We’re already used to dairy being savoury. Raita, chaas, kadhi and several regional yoghurt-based dishes have never needed sugar to make dairy enjoyable. We also have no shortage of bold flavours that could work in frozen form. That’s perhaps why khandvi, mustard, tamarind and butter chicken don’t feel completely out of place when chefs experiment with them as frozen preparations. The bigger opportunity may be to take the idea out of a fine-dining tasting menu and see whether it can become an actual product. And that’s where health enters the conversation. The ice-cream industry is already experimenting with the idea of making the category more functional. At ICAR-NDRI, dairy technologist Dr Shaik Abdul Hussain has worked on high-protein ice cream technology, looking at formulations that contain more protein while retaining the texture consumers expect. And that’s where two trends could potentially meet. Savoury flavour on one side. Protein on the other. Could you have a high-protein, genuinely savoury frozen snack instead of another chocolate or vanilla product sweetened with sugar alternatives? A herbed yoghurt-and-protein ice cream could work as a chilled appetiser. A smoked paneer version could be served alongside grilled vegetables. There could be chilli-lime, roasted garlic, coriander-mint or black-pepper versions. We’re talking about a completely different category. There is one big problem: sugar isn’t only there to make ice cream taste sweet. It also affects texture and freezing. Remove too much sugar and the product can become hard, icy or unpleasantly dense. Protein can change the texture too, while salt, cheese, mustard and fermented ingredients bring their own challenges. Then there’s lactose. A dairy-based savoury ice cream may still contain naturally occurring lactose even if no sugar is added. Sodium would need attention too. Someone has to get the science right.
The industry is already looking for its next idea
So the next question is obvious: does the next step have to be another sweet “healthy” ice cream? Not another “healthy chocolate ice cream” with a different sweetener. One says Japanese Umami. Another says Smoked Paneer & Black Pepper. And the third says Chilli Lime Protein Ice Cream.
Sudhir Shah, president of the Indian Ice Cream Manufacturers’ Association, has spoken about the need for innovation as the industry looks for new opportunities. In a message on the IICMA website, Shah wrote, “In fact, challenges spark innovation, and time and again, we’ve turned our hurdles into opportunities. He also highlighted the value of shared knowledge, insights and experience within the industry. Shah has also highlighted the industry’s interest in healthier and more varied products, including work around reduced sugar, fat and lactose. That doesn’t mean the industry is already moving towards savoury ice cream. There’s no evidence yet that consumers are demanding it at scale. But the pieces of the puzzle are there. That’s the difficult part. A chef can put one strange-looking scoop on a tasting menu and tell diners to try it. A supermarket customer is different. They’re probably standing in front of a freezer looking for chocolate, vanilla or something familiar. Why would they spend money on fermented mustard ice cream? Curiosity might get them to try it once. Taste is what gets them to come back. That’s why the first commercial versions would probably need to be less extreme. Something familiar enough to understand, but different enough to be interesting. Think salted herb yoghurt rather than straight-up garlic. Smoked cheese rather than fermented fish. Tomato and basil rather than a spoonful of seaweed. In the US and India, brands have already been selling ice cream built around protein and reduced sugar. Products from companies such as Protein Pints, Blue Bell PRO, David Protein and The Brooklyn Creamery show that some consumers are willing to rethink ice cream as more than an occasional dessert. But these products are still largely sweet. Or could the category move in a completely different direction? That’s where savoury ice cream gets interesting. Think about the kinds of products that have walked into Shark Tank India. Protein snacks. Millet products. Sugar-free sweets. Regional foods packaged for a new audience. Drinks built around wellness. But has anyone really asked whether ice cream needs to be sweet in the first place? That could be the pitch. Not another vanilla tub with a little extra protein. A completely new idea: savoury ice cream that doesn’t pretend to be dessert, with protein built into the product from the start. Picture an entrepreneur walking into Shark Tank India with three tubs. The Sharks take a bite. There’s a pause. And then comes the obvious question: “Do we have to choose between tasty and healthy, can’t we have both? Maybe that’s exactly the question someone needs to answer. Looking for trusted parenting advice? Follow TOI Parenting Circle on Instagram for expert guidance, relatable stories, and practical tips delivered every day.
