Dairy-free Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (low-carb)
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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 merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
What is YOUR favorite ice cream flavor?
Thanks for a Great Ice cream recipe. Do you have any other dairy free and egg free recipes that would work for a Keto diet? I am really struggling with going egg free. Thanks for your help
Hi there! Welcome, Sharon. Almost my whole site is egg free and it is completely dairy free (or has dairy free options). What type of recipes are you looking for?
I also wanted to tell you that I have a new Healthy Living Community on Facebook and we were just talking about putting together a file of an assortment of low carb and dairy free summer treat recipes so if that interests you we’d love to have you!
Welcome again and hope to see you around again.
Alright, I just added gelatin to my cold liquid and it’s all clumps. Now what? I simmered my coconut milk with fresh spearmint and started it cooling before I added the gelatin. Is this still going to work out and make more scoopable ice cream?
I don’t know. Typically you can bloom gelatin in cold water? Maybe take the gelatin out and make it without? I have been trying adding 3 T MCT oil to the ice cream and it’s working out very nice.
How is the MCT effecting the ice cream? Is it to make it scoop better or some how thicken it, since you mentioned it in reply to a question about thickener?
It makes it creamier.
This recipe mint chocolate chip is NOT SUGAR-FREE, as it contains maple syrup or honey..
.
Hello Kathleen. We wrote “sugar free option” so you could choose the sweetener that works for you. Hope that helps.
Are you up for a butter pecan challenge???? I am craving some so bad and have no idea how to go about getting that taste!
I LOVE Butter Pecan! Will see what I can do!
I made this. The only change I would make next time is using less mint extract. Maybe it depends on what brand extract? I typically use 1/8 teaspoon mint extract so 3/4 teaspoon was way too much. I love mint but it was overpowering. I’ll definitely make this again tho!
Maybe it does. Glad you liked it otherwise!! I need to make some soon myself!
Just tried this ice cream. VERY dissappointed. Turned into a rock and is more sherbert-like in taste than ice cream. Not creamy at all.
Hmmm..wonder what went wrong. did you change the recipe at all? It does get hard if it refreezes.
Hey Adrienne! I just wanted to hop on here and tell you you’re doing a great job and offering so many options and alternatives for people and dealing with their questions! I’m sorry you’re having to deal with some of this negativity and craziness!
Aww thank you! It was pretty odd for sure. I understand that people get confused about whether things like eggs are dairy (because we all know that the grocery stores make that confusing by putting them in the dairy section) but this was crazy. I get confused about things too–but the right thing to do is admit you’re wrong and learn and move on. Thanks again ??.
Hi Adrienne, I sometimes use arrowroot & it always seems to be heated. I notice that you did not mention heating the arrowroot or similar products. Can you say whether it needs to be heated or not. Thanks for any further information you can give.
From what I have read, you don’t need to heat it when using it to thicken ice cream. Thanks!
I grew up in CT and my parents used to take me and my brothers and sisters to Friendly’s ALL THE TIME!
Mint Chocolate Chip was always one of my favorites! Thank you, for posting this recipe:)
You are so welcome!
The parsly didn’t make it very green, so I added 1/2 tsp of spirulina and that did the trick. using 2 T of arrowroot made it a bit creamier the second time around. In the spring, I may try this with actual mint from my garden. I think that would make it green and flavor it in one fell swoop.
Nice tip!
This looks yummy! I’ll have to try it.
You do not know what a bad reaction to a sweetener is unless you cannot digest xylitol, as my grandson’s and I CANNOT. Never again!