As hot weather approaches a cold ice cream treat sounds so good. And there is nothing like homemade ice cream. But what if you are on a dairy free diet? Enter, coconut milk ice cream. Joel and I got hooked on coconut ice cream long before I had to go dairy free. It’s that good. It is incredibly rich and creamy. Coconut milk has such a melt in your mouth texture. It’s wonderful I can’t wait to try out new flavors, but chocolate is definitely a favorite.
This recipe does use an automatic ice cream maker. This newer ice cream makers are great. No worries of ice and salt, you just freeze the container part and you are ready to go! It’s wonderful for last minute, healthy desserts. We were given one as a gift from Joel’s family and we have loved it! But if you don’t have your own mixer, it still is possible to make at home. Check out this post, over at David Lebovitz’s blog for more info on doing that.
A few notes about the ingredients. We use Thai’s organic coconut milk (NOT lite). Not all coconut milk is made equally, and we have found that this one has the best flavor. But use what you can find (as long as it isn’t lite). I used agave syrup here, but you can use whatever sweetener you like. If you can have dairy, coconut milk and cream together make a wonderful ice cream.
We like this ice cream right out of the ice cream maker, where it’s like soft serve ice cream (like in the picture above). Mmmm…..
Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream
3 cups of unsweetened coconut milk (about two cans)
2/3 cup of cocoa powder
6 tablespoons agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk cocoa powder in a small amount of coconut milk, until smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until well combined. Or dump all ingredients together and blend with a stick blender. Make according to your machines instructions.
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This recipe is missing the fact that the ice cream mixture needs to be thoroughly chilled before trying to freeze in ice cream maker.
I chilled the mixture and then processed in my Kitchenaid stand mixer with ice cream attachment. The mixture never aerated (didn’t increase in volume) and it didn’t firm up (stayed runny).
I had much better results with another recipe that called for half milk and half coconut milk with granulated sugar. I think the all coconut milk and liquid sweetener is a challenging combo to pull off.
Still my favorite recipe! Always great results! I pour some into ice cream molds and dip them later in chocolate when it’s hardened. Perhaps others aren’t using the right brand of coconut milk and that’s why it’s runny. As a dairy free baker, Thai coconut milk is the ONLY brand I use because of its consistency. And always store your ice cream bowl in the freezer so it’s good and cold and ready to go!
Can I make this using Silk Pure Coconut Milk, or does it need to be the canned coconut milk found in the Asian section of the grocery store? Sorry, I’m new to the whole Coconut Milk thing. Also, how much honey instead of agave?
Hey Mary,
You need to use full-fat coconut milk (which is generally canned). Otherwise your ice cream will be much too ice-y. 🙂
I just tried this…wonderful! I did sneak a taste before it was done and put a pinch of sea salt in it which I felt helped bring out the chocolate.
I make my own coconut milk. Would it be better to let the cream separate and used just the cream or a mixture of 75% cream 25% coconut milk/water? Also curious on the honey question. I know in other recipes it’s a straight sub and your vanilla recipe uses honey. Anything you suggest in this to “cut the hardness” or is it not as hard as the vanilla would be without alcohol based vanilla?
If I was to add some heavy cream in place of some coconut milk, how much should I add?
Thanks want to try this sounds great.
I made this with non canned coconut milk. Was worried with all the reviews but it worked!! I don’t have an ice cream maker so I did by the directions posted for not having one. It was time consuming but worth it. Very rich! May use a little less cocoa next time and maybe throw in a few chocolate chips
I made this with the two cans coconut milk, 1/2 cup cocoa and 1/3 cup honey and 2 tbsns rum. It tastes like chocolate mousse. If I had an ice cream maker it would even have a lighter texture like mousse.
Yum!
This was delicious! It is very “dark chocolately”, though. So if you are making it for kids (my 4 year old didn’t like it this way), I highly recommend less cocoa and more sweetener.
Added sunflower seed butter!!!! (and used stevia for sweetener) so it was dairy free and sugar free….and tastes just like 31 Flavors Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream! YAY!!! Thank you!!! 🙂
So, I’m just curious, has anyone ever tried this recipe and bloomed the cocoa? I always do that with cocoa powder when I bake and it really seems to intensify the chocolate flavor. I don’t think it should make a difference in the base, because I always chill bases before turning in my ice cream machine anyway, it seems to make a creamier texture. But I admit, I’ve never tried to make a coconut milk ice cream before. I’m definitely thinking about adding some tiny banana pieces and/or some mini chocolate chips! I will try the recipe plain first though. Thanks for the great ideas!
I usd 1 t. xanthan gum in the base to make it less icy. I also chilled it before I turned it.