This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my affiliate disclosure. If you purchase items through my affiliate links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn't change.
Briana has been having fun experimenting lately. 😉 Periodically I’ve mentioned that my approach to recipe creation has changed since I published my cookbook and have more time to devote to experimental science, and I hope to film a video about this soon (videography being another field in which I would like to start dabbling now that I’m not under deadlines). Instead of playing things so safe and only creating recipes that I’m 90% sure will work, I have lately been venturing into techniques and ingredients that are riskier. For what purpose? A) Allergy-friendly recipes, B) recipes that fill a unique dietary niche (such as THM Fuel Pull and Deep S recipes), and C) just for fun. I like to push the accepted norms to inspire myself and others to shoot higher – not in a rebellious way, but as a means of bringing more glory to God. But that was all for free as a personal side note. You came here for Dairy-Free Light Chocolate Ice Cream. Let me tell you about it.
Stating the obvious, this ice cream is dairy-free. It also happens to be a Deep S recipe for Trim Healthy Mamas, which means that it focuses on foundation fats like egg yolks and coconut oil and doesn’t include carb sources or fat sources that don’t burn as efficiently (like dairy).
For a picture index of my Deep S recipes, click here! For an index of my dairy-free recipes, click here.
In the printable recipe below, you’ll see that this ice cream calls for 9 egg yolks. That’s not a misprint. We had 9 egg yolks sitting in the fridge because my mom made some desserts that called for egg whites, so I decided to commandeer them and turn them into ice cream. “Why not try for a dairy-free ice cream?” I thought. I didn’t really expect it to work this well, but I was in the mood for ice cream and figured that I could at least learn something from the experiment. Turns out that it actually exceeded my expectations.
So what if you don’t just have 9 egg yolks sitting around? Well, I don’t suggest using whole eggs in place of these yolks. That will make the taste and texture of the ice cream a lot more eggy. Lucky for you, there are lots of recipes out there that use egg whites. You can click here for an index of my egg white recipes, or you could click here for a list of low-carb egg white recipes from A Sweet Life.
This ice cream doesn’t stick to the ice cream machine and has a delicious taste and texture right after freezing. If you want it to firm up a little, pop it in the freezer for a few hours before digging in. After a few hours of freezing, this ice cream actually reminds me of chocolate Carb Smart, which reminds me of a Wendy’s Frosty. Yum! The ice cream is still almost scoopable even after freezing overnight; 10-15 minutes of thaw time on the counter brings leftovers to a perfectly eatable texture.
This ice cream is more of a milk chocolate, not dark chocolate, but you can increase the cocoa powder if you prefer. I wanted to keep it on the lighter chocolate side because I know some people complain about all the dark chocolate desserts in Trim Healthy Mama land. 😉 I happen to love dark chocolate…case in point: 100% unsweetened baker’s chocolate tastes sweet to me. Maybe that explains a few things for those of you who think I undersweeten my recipes…haha.
This ice cream is great on its own, but if you want some accompaniments, try these Deep S brownies and some Deep S peanut butter topping!
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
You may also enjoy:
- Starting THM
- my recipe index
- my recipes grouped by fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- all my Deep S recipes
- all my dairy-free recipes
- 3 c. unsweetened almond milk
- 9 egg yolks
- ¼ c. + 1 T. xylitol
- ¼ c. cocoa powder
- 3 T. refined coconut oil (not melted)
- 1 tsp. plain gelatin (any brand)
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 1/16 tsp. (2 doonks) THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- ½ tsp. glucomannan
- Blend all the ingredients together in a high-powered blender until smooth and emulsified. Let the mixture rest a bit, then blend again until it gets a little lighter in color. Churn in an automatic 1½-qt. ice cream churn according to manufacturer's directions. If you like, you can freeze the ice cream for a few hours for a firmer texture before serving.
- Once frozen overnight, this ice cream will get firmer but won't freeze rock hard. Let it sit out on the counter for 10-15 minutes to let it soften up a bit.
- If you don't need this ice cream to be Deep S, I recommend adding a tablespoon or two of vegetable glycerin (with the rest of the ingredients in the blender) for a softer, creamier texture.
Using xylitol in this ice cream helps it not freeze as hard. If you don't want to use xylitol, you could try erythritol instead. However, I personally prefer the taste of xylitol.
Don't have an ice cream maker? You could try freezing the blended mixture as ice cubes, then blending the cubes to a soft-serve consistency in a high-powered blender. (Letting the cubes soften a bit first would be a good idea.)
Suggested products:
- Vitamix Blender (5300 Certified Refurbished) – Amazon
- Cuisinart 1 1/2 qt. Automatic Ice Cream Churn
- Xylitol (Amazon)
- Xylitol (iHerb)
- Erythritol (Amazon)
- Erythritol (iHerb)
- Knox plain bulk gelatin (this is what I use)
- Great Lakes Beef Gelatin
- Great Lakes Beef Gelatin (iHerb)
- THM Just Gelatin
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Glucomannan (Amazon)
- Vegetable Glycerin
I love this! Thank you for creating such a great DF ice cream recipe. For those asking about using other sweeteners, I used 1/4c Gentle Sweet with the doonks of Stevia and it was perfect for us who love sweet things. 🙂
I’m new to THM, about a month on plan. So I have two questions. All I have is gentle sweet and pyure so what would be the best way to sweeten this? Also, is it the eggs that make this a deep S? I understand the concept of S versus deep S but I don’t always understand how to classify specific recipes. Thanks for all of your great recipes! Your desserts have helped me stay off of sugar for a month, which is huge for this chocolate girl!
I would use the Gentle Sweet to replace both the xylitol and stevia. You’ll need to do this to taste since Gentle Sweet is a different sweetness concentration than both of the sweeteners I use, but this conversion chart can help you estimate: https://media.trimhealthymama.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/07222306/THM.Sweetener-Conversion-Chart.pdf
Always start with less sweetener than you think you’ll need, then taste and add more. 🙂
The egg yolks and coconut oil are the fat sources in this Deep S recipe, but often what makes things Deep S is more what they *don’t* contain than what they do contain. 😉 (Dairy products other than butter, nuts…although carton almond milk is fine, seeds, tomatoes, onions, green peas…and other veggies that are OK in a regular S setting but still a little higher in carbs, cheese, cream cheese, etc.)
Thanks many times over, Briana, for this recipe!!! I use it to make vanilla ice cream as well as the chocolate. For the vanilla, I use only 6 yolks, 2 tsp of vanilla ext, and no cocoa powder. I also got the vegetable glycerine and use 3 TBS. That works the best at not freezing solid for storing for me. The Chocolate with 1 tsp of Carmel and 1tsp of chocolate extracts are also a very yummy combo!!!
Thanks again!!!
Lorraine
Thanks so much for sharing your tweaks, Lorraine! Love the vanilla idea!
HI Briana,
Thank you for this recipe! I am dairy free, so appreciate it very, very much! This is my second time making it, and I made it chocolate/peppermint. It will be done in just a few minutes. Congratulations on your up-coming marriage! I am very happy for you! Well, the ice cream is done and turned out very yummy!!! Thank you for all your hard work and the recipes you bring us through your blog and cookbook!
God Bless,
Lorraine
I’m so glad you enjoy the ice cream, Lorraine! And thank you for your kind congratulations. 🙂
Can you think of any reason that this wouldn’t have set up? I used the Cuisinart model, followed the recipe to a T, added about 1 & 1/2 tbsp vegetable glycerin you recommend at the end; ran twice as long as your FP vanilla soft serve…nothing. Still have chocolate milk? I set it outside to freeze some & will try again later? The ice cream bowl had been in the freezer for weeks, though, so cold shouldn’t have been the issue? Really hoping to make this tonight as I got my wisdom teeth out this morning & I’m supposed to have dairy free soft food all day today.
I’m sorry Nikki – I have no idea why it wouldn’t set up! It sounds like you did everything right. I’m very sorry it didn’t work out for you!
Thanks so much for getting back to me! If I cannot get it to set can I cook it on the stove as a custard?
You can definitely try that! I don’t know how thick it will get, but I’m sure it will thicken more after you refrigerate it due to the glucomannan and gelatin.
Oh.my.word! This stuff (with my adjustments) was incredible! I’ve been wanting to make this recipe ever since you posted it and just never took the time and energy to do it. Today I got my children a treat of ice cream at a local campground and my daughter chose a cappuccino version. I snuck one teeny taste and it was wonderful! I determined right then to come home and try your recipe. So, I added about twice the sweetener (yes, I like my stuff sweet!) and 1-1/2 tsp instant coffee! Then I melted about 3 Tblsp skinny chocolate and stirred that through the finished ice cream before eating out. It was just incredible! I also loved how it didn’t sick to my ice cream maker like the other recipes I have used. This stuff will be our all-time favorite! (My husband said “this isn’t healthy, is it?”) Since I have health issues that require me to be dairy-free, I’m looking forward to more experimentation with your recipe.
Hey, that’s so good to hear, Janelle! I love your tweaks. I have some ideas for variations on this myself….
I was wondering if I could substitute some cream for some of the almond milk for a creamier ice cream (realize this takes it out of deep s, but am considering making it for a rather picky eater – my dad! 🙂 ). If so, do I just need to make sure the almond milk/cream mixture equals 3 cups? TIA
Yup – right on!
So it seems that I’m that creepy person who makes your recipes the day they come out. Made this yesterday because my mom bought like 7 dozen eggs (long story) and holy smokes, Deep S or not, this is amazing. It tastes like a fudge pop!!! Even my THM-hating brother said it reminded him of the Chocolate CarbSmart ice cream. So good. This is definitely going to be a regular for me!!
Whoa…high praise. I am honored and humbled. *bows* 😉
Deep S ?
Yes, this recipe is approved in a THM Deep S setting. 🙂
Hi Briana,
We’ve been making recipes from your website, then a friend loaned us your cookbook. My husband loves to make ice cream with your recipes, and we tried quite a few recipes from the book in that week. Well, we just had to get Necessary Food for ourselves. We got it this month for my husband’s birthday . . . which is in July.
We cook from it almost every day. This morning it was the Brownie Batter shake. It tasted like store-bought melted chocolate ice cream!
We love your recipes. It makes it so much easier for us to do THM, since they’re our version of normal (unlike plenty of the recipes in the THM books).
Blessings!
Thank you so much for the sweet comment, Maria! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes.
A Blessed good morning, Briana..from Townville, Pennsylvania! Making this today! The Butter Pecan is the best, per my husband….but I am a Chocolate Girl!….Loving our new ice cream maker, you gave us the link for,. Angels all About. With love and appreciation..Julianne
Thank you for all your deep s recipes! I try do 1-2 days of deep s every week and your recipes keep it from being boring. Keep up the good work!