Dairy-free Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (low-carb)
This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.
This Dairy-free Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Recipe is the perfect refreshing treat for summer or anytime! Plus it's sugar-free and keto and has a vegan option so it works for almost any special diet.
When I was young, ice cream was one of my favorite treats – I was quite the sugaraholic and indulged a little too often. Now that we've gone sugar-free due to candida, I have turned to homemade ice creams like Chocolate Almond Chip, Mocha Chip, Lemon Poppyseed, and this recipe – Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.
I've always loved the flavor of mint and chocolate together.
My family lived on the East Coast and one of our favorite things to do was to visit the local Friendly's Restaurant. Now, when it came to dessert, I never could make up my mind which flavor of ice cream to get, so invariably I always chose The Sampler, which was 4 small scoops of ice cream in a dish (so I could agonize over choosing 4 flavors instead of just one!
Mint Chocolate Chip was always in the mix.
And whenever we bought ice cream at the grocery store, it was almost always Breyer's Natural Mint Chocolate Chip.
And believe me, it never lasted very long.
Why I Needed to Make this Dairy-free Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Fast forward to my life now with a son who has a life-threatening allergy to dairy and a family that is almost completely off sugar.
Well, were in Chicago recently and we splurged on a pint of dairy-free, no sugar added coconut milk ice cream.
A pint was on sale for “only” $3.59 (the regular price was $6.59!). Now, I don't typically pay $3.59 for a pint of anything.
But it sure was good and was a fun breakfast (yes, we ate it for breakfast :-)!) for all of us one morning, but my mind was already thinking about how I could make my own!
(I haven't figured out the cost per pint, but I can assure you that it is nowhere close to $6.59, or even $3.59 per pint :-)!)
Now you too can make amazing vegan mint chocolate chips ice cream that is:
- dairy-free
- sugar-free
- artificial anything free (including no fake green food coloring!)
- and tastes great! Regarding the green food coloring, one of the first things we avoided when our family started to go more natural with our diets was artificial food coloring. It really amazes me how “addicted” our modern society seems to be on foods being bright and “fun.” Sadly, these colors have been shown to cause issues for people. And with all of the toxins in our environment today, why add something else to the mix? I do enjoy making food fun when I have time, however, and so figuring out ways to add natural food color to dishes has been a favorite thing for me to experiment with in the kitchen. Here are some examples of that.
Ice Cream Maker Tips
I used the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for this recipe. It worked fine, but you have to have the mixture chilled prior to making desserts in this maker. Otherwise, it will be quite runny (albeit yummy) and will need to be solidified in the freezer if you want it to be scoopable.
If you decide to freeze it and it gets too hard to scoop, try this handy anti-freeze ice cream scoop.
Recipe Notes
- Milk: This Homemade Coconut Milk is a great homemade option, but be sure to strain the milk. Other milk will work as well as coconut milk, but for alternative milk, coconut and almond are among the better choices as they have more fat content and which will make a creamier end product.
- Sweeteners: I used a half-and-half combination of powdered xylitol and erythritol. You can use whatever you like to suit your dietary needs. Of course, with stevia extract, you will need a lot less (between 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon – see How to Use Stevia). You could also use 1 teaspoon liquid stevia (here’s how to make your own). I always find that combining alternative sweeteners results in the best flavor. You can also use honey or maple syrup for AIP.
- Chocolate Chips: These Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips, Homemade Mint Chocolate / Carob Chips, or sugar-free store-bought chocolate chips will all work well.
- Thickener: You probably won't need this if using quality coconut milk, but you can use this if desired. Arrowroot is a good vegan option. Glucomannan would work as well, but I haven't tried it yet and you might need to change the amount.
- THM: This recipe qualifies as an “S” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan as long as you use gelatin if using a thickener.
- Creaminess Ingredient Alternatives: Other oils will work as well but don't use an oil with a heavy flavor, such as regular olive oil.
- Topping Idea: For an extra special Mint Chocolatey treat, top with the Chocolate Mint version of this Homemade Chocolate Shell.
More Great Recipes Using Natural Food Coloring
Check out my posts on:
Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (dairy free with sugar-free option)
Ingredients
- 4 cups coconut milk
- 1 cup low-carb sweetener
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-3 tablespoons MCT oil (optional – for creaminess. See Notes)
- 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot (optional thickener; use gelatin for non-vegan)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes (optional; for coloring)
- 3/4 cup chocolate or carob chips (add more or less, to taste – use mint chocolate chips for a double-mint treat)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients (except chips) in blender (NOTE: if using gelatin, let it “bloom” in the coconut milk for a few minutes before you add the other ingredients).
- Blend until smooth (if you do not have a high-powered blender [aka Vitamix] and you are using a granulated sweetener, you may wish to heat the milk and sweetener in a pan until the sweetener is dissolved).
- Place in ice cream maker and process according to directions.
- When ice cream is starting to solidify, add chips and allow maker to mix in chips thoroughly.
- Scoop up and enjoy!
Notes
- Milk: See Easiest Homemade Coconut Milk for a great homemade coconut milk option. Other milks will work as well as coconut milk, but for alternative milks, coconut and almond are among the better choices as they have more fat content and will have the resulting product be more creamy.
- Sweeteners: I used a half and half combination of powdered xylitol and erythritol. You can use whatever you like to suit your dietary needs. Of course, with stevia extract, you will need a lot less (between 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon – see How to Use Stevia). You could also use 1 teaspoon liquid stevia (here’s how to make your own). I always find that combining alternative sweeteners results in the best flavor. You can also use honey or maple syrup for AIP.
- Chocolate Chips: Here are my Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips and my Homemade Mint Chocolate / Carob Chips. Here is a great sugar-free store-bought option for chocolate chips.
- Thickener: You probably will be fine not using a thickener as long as you use the MCT oil. Otherwise, it is recommended, but not necessary Use arrowroot for a vegan option. Glucomannan would work as well, but the amount would have to be adjusted and I haven't tried it.
- THM: This recipe qualifies as an “S” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan as long as you use gelatin if using a thickener.
- Creaminess Ingredient Alternatives: Other oils will work as well but don't use an oil with a heavy flavor, such as regular olive oil.
- Topping Idea: For an extra special Mint Chocolatey treat, top with the Chocolate Mint version of this Homemade Chocolate Shell.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
What is YOUR favorite ice cream flavor?
Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I recently bought a breville smart scoop ice-crean maker because for vegan Ice-cream we pay in Western Australia $13.99 for a Pint! It just got rediculous.. thanks so much for this recipe, it will christen my new ice-cream maker 🙂
Have you tried using homemade date paste to sweeten your icecreams? Might not work with some of the lighter flavours but would be great with chocolate or caramel flavours. Give it a go, it might be a good (and very cheap) solution?
I can’t handle date paste since we have candida. I love it though :).
If you use liquid stevia do you have to add water to compensate for the cup of sweetener?
Will So Delicious coconut milk work?
I don’t think you would need to add anything in ice cream to compensate, but in baking you would need to. I think any coconut milk would be delicious!!! Enjoy!
I’m glad to hear the So Delicious coconut milk would work. I was thinking that it was not high enough in fat like the canned or homemade versions.
I think it’ll work. Look at the comments – someone said that it needs agar, I believe, to be more creamy. I still have to take another run at it :).
Just wondering if you have figured out the recipe yet? I made this last night and it took 3 tries to get it to freeze in my Cuisinart and it NEVER froze up just liquid the whole time?? So I put the container and the liquid all in the freezer and took it out this afternoon and it is finally solid., but ice milk not cream!
Which recipe are you referring to, Debbie? Sorry, but I can’t see what comment you are referring to.
Thank you so much for this simple but delicious recipe. I’m an animal rights activist as well as a vegan. I used coconut milk. It came out great. You explained each step wonderfully. I will use this recipe over and over again. I just moved to Upstate, NY from NYC and cannot find any vegan ice cream. It then dawned on me… why don’t you buy an ice cream maker and make it yourself 🙂 thanks to you I have vegan ice cream back in my life.
Sincerely
Dianne Rochenski
Wonderful, Dianne! I was just sharing my ice cream recipe ideas w/ a family from church that has gone dairy free due to cancer diagnosis. Take care and hope to see you around!
Any tips on keeping it from freezing solid in the freezer?
I am thinking gum or gelatin. I need to work on this. If you end up with a winner please let me know! I haven’t made ice cream in awhile. The company that sells it uses gums. I was trying not to, but that may be the only option.
I love how healthy this is! And yet it still looks and sounds delicious. Nice job.
Thanks for stopping by Sweet Tooth Friday!
I’ve seen the coconut milk ice cream and have also wondered how it was. I love coconut and ice cream so I can’t imagine I wouldn’t like it! Very impressive that you were able to figure out a way to create such a fun treat for your family!
Hi Candy.
Actually, you don’t even taste the coconut, because of the mint and chips. But a coconut flavored one would be great too! Thanks for stopping by.
What an interesting flavor combination! I recently bought some coconut milk so that I can begin experimenting with it. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing on Sweet Indulgences Sunday.
If you have the VitaMix, you don’t even need a separate ice cream maker. 🙂 My sweetener of choice for this ice cream would be a very mild organic honey.
I assume you mean that you would use frozen coconut milk cubes, right? We have made lots of frozen fruit based ice cream in our Vitamix. Yum! Thanks for stopping by!
I love chocolate chip mint ice cream and yours looks delicious. Thank you so much for joining us for the ice cream social. La