The current consumer base is driving a movement for ‘clean label’ foods, i.e., foods with few and familiar ingredients. High pressure jet technology has recently shown potential in the development of clean functional ingredients by increasing foaming, viscosity, and emulsifying properties in skim and whole milk. The objective of this study was to utilize high pressure jet-induced functional properties in a low fat (6% fat) ice cream mix to create properties similar to those seen with the addition of emulsifiers and hydrocolloids. Ice cream mix or serum (nonfat portion of the ice cream mix) were subjected to 0.1 MPa (control), 200 MPa and 400 MPa high pressure jet processing. A similar formulation but containing polysorbate 80 (0.075% wt/wt) was also used as a control. The treated samples were evaluated for particle size, density, emulsifying and foaming properties, flow properties, crystallization kinetics, and fat-protein interactions. Foaming properties were evaluated by a foam expansion index (FEI), which compares the foam expansion to the initial liquid volume. The ice cream mix made with serum processed at 400 MPa exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced foam potential, foam stability, and mix stability, with FEI at 0 h and 8 h of 90% (~18% above control) and 78% (~78% above control), respectively. The ice cream mix processed at 400MPa showed increased viscosity (170 mPa.s vs. 3 mPa.s in control), increased foam stability (FEI = 46% at 8 h), increased particle size (D90 = 30 um vs 0.9 um in controls). These differences were attributed to an increase in casein-fat interactions and casein-casein interactions caused by the 400 MPa high pressure jet treatment. An increase in protein concentration in the sediment after ultracentrifugation (100 × kG for 30 min) supported this conclusion. Interestingly, the density of the ice cream mix processed at 400 MPa was significantly (P < 0.05) lower (0.69 g/mL) than the control (1.04 g/mL) as micro-bubbles were trapped in the mix matrix. These findings support the potential to use high pressure jet technology to reduce the need for non-dairy emulsifiers and hydrocolloids in low fat ice cream formulations.