Every time I eat this ice cream, I can’t believe how good it tastes.
You really have to try this, trust me.
I’ve been playing with ice cream recipes for years, trying to find something dairy-free that tastes half-decent.
I tried soy ice creams, nut milk ice creams, frozen fruit ice creams, but none of them really measured up. (Although I’ll admit, it was fun trying.)
And then I created this. And it tastes SO much better than half-decent.
In fact, it tastes amazingly, shockingly, brilliantly awesome. It’s possible, just possible, that this ice cream tastes better than chocolate. Maybe.
And it gets better. Not only is it dairy-free, but it’s also nut-free as well.
My kids love this ice cream, and eat it almost every day. (Good idea? Who knows. But I can’t resist feeding them good food when they love it so much.)
And when I took some to Christmas lunch last year, all of the kids loved it. Even the fussy eaters went back for seconds.
Kid-friendly and healthy. Awesome.
Did I mention that it’s to die for? Or better yet “to live for”.
OK, reality check. This is still ice cream.
So if you eat this and nothing else all day, every day – which I have definitely been tempted to do – you’ll probably miss out on one or two essential nutrients. Eventually.
But you’ll be happy. And that’s what life’s all about, isn’t it?
Vegan Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 400 ml coconut milk (1 tin)
- 1/4 cup agave nectar (70g)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
- 1 tsp vanilla vodka or vanilla essence
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp guar gum
Method
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Chill mix in freezer for 20 minutes (or 1 hour in fridge).
- Churn in ice-cream maker until smooth and creamy (about 20 minutes).
Preparation
- Before: -
- During:10 mins (mix) + 20 mins (freeze) + 20 mins (churn)
- After: -
- Need: Blender, ice-cream maker (optional)
Nutrition Information
Tips
- If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, here are 6 different ways to make ice cream without an ice-cream maker. Essentially, the more you can mix it as it freezes, the creamier it will be.
- You can use coconut cream instead of coconut milk, if that’s what you have on hand, although you may want to dilute it with some water first.
- I’ve found that the brand and fat content of coconut milk can make a big difference to the result. If your ice-cream is not as smooth and creamy as you’d like, try a different brand. My favourite brand at the moment is Spiral Foods‘s low fat organic coconut milk, which has around 6% fat.
- If you’re trying to convert reluctant family members to this ice cream, you can increase the agave up to a 1/3 of a cup to make it sweeter, and then slowly reduce it each time you make the recipe.
- If you don’t have vanilla powder, which is just ground vanilla beans, you can scrape out a fresh vanilla bean or two into the mix, or add another 1-2 tsp of vanilla essence
- Vanilla vodka is made by soaking vanilla beans in organic vodka for a few months, which extracts the vanilla essence. Vodka is not raw, but the small amount of alcohol seems to help keep the ice cream scoopable.
- Guar gum is not raw, but it acts as an emulsifier, which makes the ice cream smoother. I have tried Irish Moss, which is raw, but it wasn’t quite as creamy.
- You can easily double or triple this recipe, if you’re making it for a crowd, but make sure you don’t churn more than the capacity of your ice-cream maker at once.
Take it further
- You can make this recipe mostly raw by making your own coconut milk from fresh, mature coconuts.
- Use Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt instead of regular cooking salt to add valuable minerals to your ice cream.
And you can thank me later. I’m too busy blissing out on ice cream.
Have an awesome day.
12 comments
Debbie Hooper
Been trying to find a yummy dairy free recipe that I could get the ingredients for for my 2.8 year old who has had to go dairy free. We can buy dairy free vanilla ice cream from the shops but she wanted other flavours. I tried your recipe and adapted it to be cherry and dark chocolate chip and .. WOW!! Yum! Delicious! The recipe worked in the time you said and is delicious. I’ve currently got it chilling in the freezer for desert with fresh cherries. I’ll be using it to make many different flavours for her! May even try a little coconut cream to make it more creamy next time!
Thanks so much for sharing!! :)
Nikki
Hi Debbie,
I’m so pleased you’ve found something that works for your daughter. I know too well how fussy kids can be, and how much of a relief it is when you finally find something they will accept!
The cherry and dark chocolate combination sounds amazing! Thanks for letting me know :)
Donna
Hi Nikki,
We are playing with this, because Minka got an icecream machine for Christmas and I wanted something lighter than the cream/eggs icecream Brent was experimenting with. First batch I worked with what we had on hand, which was coconut cream (22% fat), and maple syrup. Brent churned it, and says it went in to a hard lump immediately! He froze it anyway and it was on the hard side, and definitely not light, but it still tasted good (though too rich for my taste). Got the ingredients to make to your recipe exactly, and the mix is chilling in the frig now :) Looking forward to it!
I also love how quick and easy it is to mix this, compared with the involved process of a dairy & custard icecream.
Nikki
Hi Donna,
I’m pleased you had a go at this. I have discovered that the coconut milk seems to make a big difference to the results. I’m guessing it’s the fat content, but honestly I’m not 100% sure. The Spiral brand organic milk (at 6% fat) still makes the nicest ice-cream in my opinion, but recently I’ve started experimenting with making my own milk from shredded coconut and water. It’s working OK so far, and maybe when I’m happy enough with the results, I’ll post another version, because I like the idea of not being dependent on a specific brand of coconut milk. And quick and easy is definitely my favourite kind of recipe!
Søren Jensen
I tried this last night and I think it’s super yummy. I used xanthan gum for lack of guar and it worked really well. I might want to try to blend in a few bananas next time. Thanks for a great recipe, Nikki.
Nikki
You’re most welcome. I’m glad it turned out well for you. I’d love to know how it goes with added bananas.
Dee
Could you use gelatin in place of guar gum? I don’t have any on hand & I’m not sure if my health food store sells it.
Nikki
Hi Dee,
I don’t see why not. Ultimately the guar gum acts as an emulsifier – it helps the ingredients stay well mixed, which gives a smoother, creamier result. So anything that does that should work. You can also use xanthum gum, and I’ve also tried it with irish moss (which is a raw food seaweed emulsifier).
This is a great article with alternatives to guar gum:
https://gluten-free-bread.org/5-alternatives-to-xanthan-gum-and-guar-gum-in-gluten-free-baking
which suggests that chia seeds, psyllium husks, flax seeds, gelatin and agar-agar can all work well as guar gum substitutes (depending on the recipe, of course).
So have a play with the gelatin and let me know how it goes.
George
Great knowing how to make home ice cream during these HOT days.
Nikki
Hi George,
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and frankly, I’ll even eat this stuff in cold weather, it tastes so good!
Paul
This is the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.
Nikki
Yes it is :)