How can you make the strawberry-vanilla-chocolate trifecta even better? Add dragon fruit! This sweet, tropical fruit (also known as pitaya) lends a refreshing flavor with subtle hints of citrus. The pink variety also provides a brilliant hue, and is the type used in this award-wining, dairy-free Neapolitan ice cream pie recipe.
Dragon Fruit Neapolitan Ice Cream Pie that’s Simply Brilliant
This creative Neapolitan Ice Cream Pie was the hands-down, grand prize winner in a frozen dessert recipe contest that we previously co-hosted with So Delicious. It was whipped up by Lindsey Lee. We’ve recently updated the recipe, adding more ingredient options, nutrition facts, and helpful details.
Why We Love this Recipe!
- Clever Crust: The brownie crust is genius! It’s much easier to work with than a cookie crust, and it doesn’t freeze solid or get crunchy. Plus, it tastes like a brownie sundae!
- Vibrant Taste: The berry-dragon fruit hue is mesmerizing, but it also provides fresh flavor.
- Chocolaty Base: Three layers of chocolate create a delicious fudgy bottom. Don’t worry, the vanilla in the middle ties the layers together and balances the intensity.
- Convenient Ingredients: This is a great throw-together recipe that can be adapted to suit your favorite dairy-free ice cream or what’s on sale.
- Foolproof Dessert: Every time we’ve made Lindsey’s recipe it looks just like her pictures! With little fuss, you get a rather stunning pie that will impress any guest, dairy-free or not!
What is Dragon Fruit?
Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is an exotic tropical fruit that’s become quite popular in recent years. Most varieties found at the store have a scaly pink outer shell with inner flesh that contains tiny edible seeds and has a hue that ranges from white to vibrant pink. It’s sweet but has light citrus notes. This recipe uses dragon fruit puree, which you can make yourself. But most grocery stores sell convenient packets of dragon fruit puree in the frozen fruit section.
Special Diet Notes: Dragon Fruit Neapolitan Ice Cream Pie
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and top food allergy-friendly. Just be sure to choose ingredients (i.e. brownies, ice cream, etc) that suit your dietary needs. See below the recipe for ingredient suggestions.
Dragon Fruit Neapolitan Ice Cream Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Put the brownie and melted buttery spread in your blender or food processor. Pulse or blend until the mixture combines.
- Press the brownie mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Rinse out your blender (see Blender Alternative below). Add the chocolate frozen dessert and blend until smooth. Spread the chocolate frozen dessert evenly on top of the crust. Freeze for 30 minutes or longer.
- Melt the chocolate chips with the milk beverage or oil. Use oil if you want a softer ganache, milk beverage for a firm chocolate layer. Evenly pour the chocolate mixture over the frozen chocolate dessert in the pie pan. Freeze while you prepare the vanilla frozen dessert.
- Rinse out your blender. Add the vanilla frozen dessert and blend until smooth. Spread the vanilla frozen dessert evenly on top of the crust. Freeze for 30 minutes or longer.
- Rinse out your blender. Add the berry frozen dessert and dragon fruit, and blend until smooth. Spread the mixture evenly on top of the crust. Use a fork to create swirls in the top, and then freeze for 2 hours or longer.
- To serve, release the springform pan and slice the pie into 12 wedges.
- Cover and store the dairy-free ice cream pie in your freezer for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Dairy-Free Brownie Options
There used to be several brands of dairy-free brownie bites on the market, but some have been discontinued. Many grocery stores still carry brownie bites at their in-store bakery, and they are often dairy free (we’ve found dairy-free ones at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods) Brands like Abe’s, Flax4Life, and Katz are also great.
Another easy option is to make your own from a dairy-free brownie mix! As you can see in our guide, many everyday brands are made without dairy. If you prefer from-scratch brownies, I recommend our Allergy-Friendly Brownie Bites Recipe or my Classic Dairy-Free Brownies Recipe. Both are quite easy and use simple ingredients.
In a Pinch: If you can’t find any good dairy-free brownie options and don’t feel like making any, you can use our Dairy-Free Cookie Crust Recipe (or buy one at the store!).
Best Dairy-Free Ice Cream Choices
Vanilla: For store-bought options, see our Best Dairy-Free Vanilla Ice Cream Taste Test. If you prefer homemade, I highly recommend my Classic Dairy-Free Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe and my Vanilla Coconut Milk Ice Cream Recipe.
Chocolate: For store-bought options, see our Best Dairy-Free Chocolate Ice Cream Taste Test. If you prefer homemade, I highly recommend my Chocolate Tofu Ice Cream Recipe and my Chocolate Cashew Ice Cream Recipe.
Berry: Lindsey originally used So Delicious Mixed Berry Coconut Milk Ice Cream, but that variety has been discontinued. Here are some other great options:
- So Delicious Strawberry Plant-Based Frozen Dessert
- Oatly Strawberry Frozen Dessert
- Tofutti Wild Berry Frozen Dessert
- Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Fresh Berry Option: You can alternatively buy two pints of vanilla dairy-free ice cream, and blend fresh berries and the dragon fruit into one of the pints.
Also Try Our Dairy-Free Mint Chip Ice Cream Pie Recipe!
