• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Nourishing Gourmet

Nourishing. Satisfying. Gourmet.

  • THM Coaching
  • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact
  • Recipes
  • Cookbooks
    • Everyday Nourishing Food
    • Salad Cookbook
    • Soup Cookbook

Homemade coconut milk ice cream recipes

July 13, 2012 by KimiHarris 25 Comments

Thanks for stopping by! If you're interested in healthy eating check out my free gifts! and subscribe to get regular email updates. *Some links may be affiliate.*
Thanks for stopping by! If you're interested in healthy eating check out my free gifts! and subscribe to get regular email updates. *Some links may be affiliate.*

Babble’s 2012 Top 100 Food Blogs list was released today, and I am honored to be on the list! Check it out here.

Ice cold, creamy, soft, and sweet — what is there not to like about ice cream? The heat has finally caught up to us here in Oregon, and we are reaching for cooling foods and drinks everyday. None of us complain when we have ice cream on a hot day!

But when my daughter and I, through some testing, realized that we don’t tolerate dairy very well, I wondered if my ice cream loving days were over. Thankfully, I’ve found that delicious and creamy dairy-free ice cream is within reach.

The hardest part of dairy-free ice cream is getting a rich enough base to make it with, as many dairy-free “milks” are thin. If you don’t have enough fat in ice cream, it will become hard and ice-y. You want your base to be rich and creamy.

For our uses, we have found that full-fat coconut milk is the best. This does mean canned. I know that there are a lot of coconut milks available in milk cartons now, but these are much too thin for making ice cream. I am a big fan of making your own coconut milk (either from a whole coconut or from coconut flakes), but these too tend to be less rich and will make a hard ice cream. The only problem with canned coconut milk is that canned foods tend to have BPA, and even brands that don’t can contain small amounts of other toxins. Coconut milk is one of the only foods we use canned.

However, if you want to avoid that concern completely, you can certainly use a homemade version. The trick is to either serve it right away — straight from the ice cream machine — or to add certain ingredients that help keep it soft.

In the “Ice Dream Cookbook,” the author shares a tip for using gelatin or agar agar in ice cream recipes. These ingredients help stabilize the dessert as it freezes, add loft, improve the whipping quality, and yield a smooth texture after freezing. Adding gelatin helps make up for using nondairy milks that aren’t as creamy as real cream. For an example of how this works, check out the Roasted Banana Ice Cream recipe below.

Adding arrowroot powder, marshmallow root powder, egg yolks, or some type of alcohol can also help keep your ice cream creamy and soft. These types of additions help give a dairy-free ice cream the right texture.

Being all about simplicity, I tend towards just using full-fat coconut milk, and letting the high fat content keep it creamy. That has worked well for me!

I personally use the Cuisinart Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker and have loved it! It is definitely worth the purchase. However, you can also make homemade ice cream without one. Follow these instructions.

Here are some recipe suggestions, all using coconut milk with the exception of the last recipe.

Dairy-free ice cream recipes

1. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: My daughter and I love this flavor combination.

2. Roasted Banana Ice Cream: This is from the “Ice Cream Cookbook”, and it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

3. Vanilla Ice Cream: This coconut milk-based ice cream is delicious and perfect to serve with a chocolate sauce or chocolate cake. I use a lot of vanilla extract in it, since coconut has a more assertive flavor.

4. Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream : This lightly sweetened ice cream is always a favorite.

5. Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream: This is a personal favorite!

6. Raspberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream: Tangy, flavorful, yet rich, this is also a favorite. Because this recipe has so many berries in it (and I didn’t bother to add gelatin), I serve it right away, or allow to ripen in the freezer for just an hour or two, so that it doesn’t become too hard.

7. Yellow Plum Sorbet: This recipe doesn’t use any type of milk or cream, but is a very simple sorbet. Allow to ripen just an hour or two in the freezer, otherwise it will become too hard.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts

KimiHarris

I love beautiful and simple food that is nourishing to the body and the soul. I wrote Fresh: Nourishing Salads for All Seasons and Ladled: Nourishing Soups for All Seasons as another outlet of sharing this love of mine. I also love sharing practical tips on how to make a real food diet work on a real life budget. Find me online elsewhere by clicking on the icons below!

Latest posts by KimiHarris (see all)

  • 2 Ingredient Peppermint Bark - December 21, 2022
  • Herbal Hibiscus Lemonade (Keto, THM) - March 16, 2022
  • Creamy Curry Red Lentil Soup - December 8, 2021

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « Pennywise Platter Thursday 7/12
Next Post: Are you in a “harvest” season of life….continually? »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katie@ Mexican Wildflower

    July 13, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    I love mint chocolate chip! 🙂 I’ve made it with coconut kefir before.

    Reply
  2. Rhonda Roglaski

    July 13, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    Nom, Nom! I have got to try the roasted banana. I’m salivating just thinking about it. Thanks for these recipes. I’m in Grants Pass and yes, the weather does call for ice cream!

    Reply
  3. Evi

    July 13, 2012 at 11:22 pm

    Thank you so much Kimmy for your lovely recipes!
    My baby girl and I are on the GAPS diet so we have tried several of your super-tasty coconut milk recipes 🙂
    I like using banana as a sweetener most of the time plus a little bit of honey if needed.
    A hint: try making the chocolate ice-cream with a good quality 100% chocolate instead of cocoa, it turns out decandent as it is way creamier than the one with cocoa. I also add ripe bananas and a bit of date sugar.
    I use the Zotter 100% chocolate, I do not know if you can get it in the US, but it is the best one of its kind, a little bit goes a long way: http://www.zotterchocolate.co.uk/
    I served it to guests and could not believe that it was not the real thing 🙂
    Much love to you from Greece!
    You have a big fan club here even though we do not comment often, too busy with screaming kids 🙂

    Reply
    • KimiHarris

      July 14, 2012 at 2:12 pm

      Love all of your ideas! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Kelli

    July 14, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    “The Ice Dream” cookbook seems to be out of print. : (

    Reply
  5. Cathy @ Noble Pig

    July 16, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    Hey there…nice to meet you, I’m also in Oregon…McMinnville/Carlton area! Fabulous ice cream!

    Reply
  6. Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy

    July 16, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    pumpkin pie ice cream!! yummo!

    Reply
  7. Alexis Lee

    July 16, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    I’m going to try the Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, Raspberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream and Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream. Never tried them before. Thanks for sharing these recipes!

    Reply
  8. Kathleen

    July 17, 2012 at 11:16 am

    your website is absolutely to die for! If I simply want to make plain homemade coconut milk ice cream, do you have a recipe for that? Or do you always add additional flavorings? Thank you so much!

    Reply
  9. Banana

    July 17, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Wow, my mouth is watering! I tried making coconut milk ice cream and ended up with sweet ice. I was really curious what I did wrong, and I can’t wait to try again with your suggestions! Thanks!

    Reply
  10. Sarah

    July 19, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    In the interest of making pure coconut ice cream, has anyone tried adding fat to the thinner types of coconut milk?
    Pure coconut oil seems like it would thicken and enrich, probably it would also have the desired softening effect. Has anyone tried it?

    Sarah

    Reply
    • Evi

      August 7, 2012 at 2:02 pm

      Sarah I heard that coconut oil does not work well in coconut ice-creams.
      What I do use myself to make it creamier is either Tropical Traditions Concentrated Coconut Cream or the Nutiva/Artisana Coconut Butter.
      They both work just fine and give my ice-creams a creamer consistency.

      Reply
  11. Eli

    August 3, 2012 at 2:20 am

    Thank you for this article .. I attempted to make ice cream from full fat coconut Milk adding gelatin, lumina powder for sweetness and matcha green tea powder. Blended all first in blender , chilled in the fridge for few minutes and then added to ice cream maker.
    Cuisinart As well . It was my first time making the ice cream. So after 29 minutes in the ice cream maker .. I put if to the container and into the freezer. Went To sleep. Question : why is it do hard ? And what did I do wrong ? While in ice cream maker it was nice and creamy..I should of taken out earlier the mixture??? Please let me know.. I so wanted to make a nice green tea ice cream:) how to freeze it so it wouldn’t become too hard and wouldn’t get a freezer burn 🙁

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Charles

      August 29, 2012 at 9:29 am

      After you blend all the ingredients, refrigerate the mixture overnight. Then throw it in the ice cream maker. The mixture needs to be really cold before it goes in.
      After about 20 minutes in the ice cream maker it will be ready.

      Reply
  12. Eli

    August 3, 2012 at 2:22 am

    P.S
    Meant to type- Lukuma powder for sweetness( the ice cream mixture turned out not too sweet.. Added stevia to it) but over done with matcha powder ..

    Reply
  13. angela sackett

    August 7, 2012 at 6:41 am

    mmmmmm! so excited to try these, especially the roasted banana and the vanilla… or the chocolate… it’s hot in sunny fl and my daughter’s making us up a batch today! why not have ice cream in the morning?!

    Reply
  14. Deb

    August 20, 2012 at 9:09 am

    Was thinking of trying to incorporate a little nut butter into the chocolate recipe – any ideas??

    Reply
  15. erika

    August 29, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Looks so yummy! I will try and make this 🙂

    Reply
  16. Nancy

    October 6, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    I was looking for ideas for a dairy free, not-to-coconut ice cream for my son and found these. I made one modeled on the raspberry one, but with blackberries. It was great, but my son didn’t like it. But I decided to experiment a little with the coconut base idea and some soy milk. When I’ve made soy milk based ice cream before it turns rock solid in the freezer as it’s so low-fat. I tried adding a couple of tablespoons full of coconut oil in with a soy milk, honey and banana base. It worked great for rich texture and it didn’t freeze solid when stored in the freezer. BUT that might have been due to the 2 T of vanilla I put in as I think it has lots of alcohol.

    Reply
  17. Suzie Leong

    October 8, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    please email me the receipe of the coconut icecream and how to make coconut icecream

    Reply
  18. Caitlin

    March 28, 2013 at 4:57 pm

    can you please actually put the recipe up so i can make it or do i have to guess how to make it. This would be a better recipe if it was actually up.
    Thanks,
    Caitlin

    Reply
  19. linda

    May 24, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    I love the the taste of coconut dislike the taste of honey any suggestions for a coconut flavored ice milk ice cream?

    Reply
  20. Penny

    June 5, 2013 at 9:56 am

    Oh my goodness!!!! I am going to have so much fun with these recipes.
    Thanks to you and other wonderful blogs, we have not been missing dairy icecream at all. Thank you so much!!

    Reply
  21. Diegolady

    June 23, 2013 at 10:56 am

    Can ripe fresh peaches or apricots be made with the canned coconut milk? I was going to use them for sorbet, but the ice cream sounds so much yummier.

    Reply
  22. Jane Watkins

    December 10, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    I was wondering which coconut milk is used, have tried a few now and they are not working, either no cream on the top or the cream just turns to powder in the mixer!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

ConvertKit Form

Get Every Recipe

And the insider's view from our kitchen

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Follow Me

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Search

Please Read:

The information you find here at The Nourishing Gourmet is meant to help you become a better cook! This site is primarily for sharing family friendly recipes. It's not meant to give medical advice or to make any health claims on the prevention or curing of diseases.This site is only for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss with your own, qualified health care provider before adding in supplements or making any changes in your diet. Also, any links to sponsors or affiliates (including Amazon) may give me a percentage of the sale or a pay per click. Thank you for supporting this site.

Categories

  • $10 Main (42)
  • $5 Dishes (43)
  • 52 ways to save money on a healthy diet (53)
  • AIP (23)
  • Baked Goods (83)
  • Beverages (72)
  • Breakfast and Brunch (61)
  • Condiments (8)
  • Dairy Free (492)
  • Desserts (184)
  • Dietary Needs (6)
  • Egg Free (11)
  • Egg Free (86)
  • For the Kids (66)
  • For the Love of Food and Books (18)
  • Gluten Free (484)
  • Grain Free (95)
  • Health (75)
  • Kitchen Tools (4)
  • Main Dishes (126)
  • Nourishing Frugal Recipes (167)
  • Nourishing Frugal Tips (70)
  • Nourishing Practices (56)
  • Nutrient Dense Foods (70)
  • Q and A (15)
  • Salads (39)
  • Sides (101)
  • Snacks (124)
  • Soups (50)
  • The Healthy $1 Menu (21)
  • The Low Energy Guide to Healthy Cooking (18)
  • THM (2)
  • Trim Healthy Mama (2)
  • Uncategorized (846)
  • Vegan (241)
  • Vegetarian (361)

Recent Posts

  • 2 Ingredient Peppermint Bark
  • Herbal Hibiscus Lemonade (Keto, THM)
  • Creamy Curry Red Lentil Soup
  • One-Pot Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese
  • Healthy Pumpkin Spice Granola
  • Crispy Pumpkin Spice Granola (oil-free)
  • Why I Use THM Principles Now
  • Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad
  • Coconut Flour Pancakes
  • Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken

Recent Comments

  • Dorene St G on Cracker Toffee (Easy Peasy Christmas Candy)
  • Nadia Kriston on Finding a Toaster Oven Without Nonstick
  • KimiHarris on How to make heavenly coconut milk whipped cream (with an isi dispenser)
  • KimiHarris on Autumn Beef Stew (Tomato Free)
  • KimiHarris on How to make heavenly coconut milk whipped cream (with an isi dispenser)

Fresh: Nourishing Salads for All Seasons

Get Every Recipe

And the insider's view from our kitchen

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Footer

Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework