A keto chocolate ice cream recipe with a silky-smooth and creamy texture! This low carb ice cream will satisfy your chocolate and ice cream cravings all in one. The post includes instructions with and without an ice cream maker.
This smooth and creamy sugar free chocolate ice cream is the answer to my combined love for chocolate and frozen treats. It has oodles of deep chocolate flavor!
It's summer as I'm writing this, but I'd like to stress that this ice cream recipe is suitable all year round. I can definitely see myself enjoying a scoop after a meal in the depths of February!
I already have a vanilla flavoured sugar free ice cream and this Keto Strawberry Ice Cream on my website. The trio of classic ice cream flavors is finally complete.
Let me talk you through the recipe and then we'll chat about the ingredients, substitutions and how to make this ice cream without an ice cream maker.
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Instructions
STEP 1
Place your ice cream machine’s canister in the freezer overnight. If it’s not fully frozen the ice cream will not thicken to soft serve.
The next day, get your ingredients ready! I'm using:
- heavy cream. Or use full fat coconut milk from a can for a dairy-free version
- cacao powder or cocoa powder
- unsweetened almond milk
- egg yolks
- gelatin (the secret ingredient!)
- MCT oil (optional, but recommended)
- allulose (or powdered erythritol)
- vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
STEP 2
Mix cacao and cream. Place the cocoa powder and ⅓ of the cream into a medium saucepan. Stir with a balloon whisk. It will get thick. Add the rest of the heavy cream and almond milk immediately to thin. Bring to a simmer, stirring continually with the whisk until combined. Remove from the heat.
STEP 3
Whisk the egg yolks and sweetener. In a large mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and blend using an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Sprinkle in the allulose and continue blending until combined.
STEP 4
Combine. Slowly add the cream mixture to the eggs a little at a time. Whisking using a balloon whisk till combined.
Place the gelatin in a small bowl with water and allow to bloom.
Add the whole mix back to the pan. Add the bloomed gelatin mix and heat on low until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
STEP 5
Cool mix, churn ice cream, freeze. Pour the mix into a mixing bowl, add the vanilla and MCT oil and let cool to room temperature. Cover in cling film with a small air gap at the sides (this stops a skin forming).
Place in the fridge to cool for 1 - 2 hours, or overnight. If you leave overnight and it goes thick, just give it a really good stir with a spatula and it will become pourable again. I left mine overnight.
STEP 6
When chilled, pour the chocolate mix into the ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturers instructions. Don’t worry if it’s not a set soft serve as it will set in the freezer.
STEP 7
Transfer to a container and freeze for 2 hours or until scoopable.
If you leave it in the freezer overnight, just allow it to soften to room temperature for about 30 minutes and then scoop.
Tips For No Churn Low Carb Ice Cream
Here are my tips for a no churn keto chocolate ice cream:
- Put the mixture into a freezable container. Take it out of the freezer every 30-60 minutes and stir to break up any ice crystals that form during freezing.
- Use allulose over any other sweetener.
- Don't miss out on the MCT oil (not to be confused with regular coconut oil!). MCT oil stays liquid even when frozen and it helps keep the ice cream smooth.
- Adding a tablespoon of rum or vodka or ¼ teaspoon of xanthan gum can also make low carb ice cream creamier.
Mix-Ins
- Top with melted chocolate. Use a sugar-free chocolate such as Lily’s or a dark chocolate with a minimum of 85% cocoa solids (I like 90% Lindt).
- Stir through a handful of sugar free chocolate chips before freezing.
- Mix in chunks of keto brownies.
- Swirl through keto caramel sauce!
- Stir in ¼ cup of peanut butter.
Best Sugar Substitutes
I used to make all my ice cream recipes with powdered erythritol. But now that allulose is available here (google "buy allulose UK") it has become my absolute favourite for homemade ice cream. It's great for all sugar free desserts where you're aiming for a smooth consistency. Just check out this keto caramel slice!
Whilst erythritol sets hard when frozen, allulose behaves more like table sugar. You'll get a lovely creamy ice cream because it does not recrystallise.
Of course, if you cannot get hold of allulose, powdered erythritol, xylitol or Swerve will still work. Just make sure to take the ice cream out of the freezer for 30-60 minutes before eating so it can soften.
Why Use Gelatin?
Gelatin is a common ingredient in ice cream and this is the first time I have tried it in one of my own recipes.
Gelatin is an emulsifier and stabiliser. This means it helps achieve a soft ice cream texture by preventing the formation of larger ice crystals.
Apart from that, gelatin will give you a nice protein boost, improves nail, skin and hair growth and is great for gut health.
Recipe FAQs
This recipe is designed to be used with an ice cream machine. I've made my fair share of no churn keto ice cream recipes and I can tell you that you'll get a far creamier result if you use an ice cream maker.
The ones that require pre-freezing of the mixing canister are really reasonable. If you don’t mind spending a little more, invest in a machine with a compressor – it makes restaurant-quality gelato on demand.
One scoop of keto chocolate ice cream is only 3.7g net carbs.
Many brands use sweeteners such as maltitol which raise your blood sugar levels. Others contain artificial ingredients which makes them taste fake and give a slimy texture.
I have yet to find a low carb ice cream in the stores that I truly enjoy. It boils down to this: if you want to eat a keto friendly ice cream recipe containing real, simple ingredients, just make it yourself.
Storage
Store just like you would regular ice cream - in the freezer, for up to 3 months. Be sure to cover the container well.
Allow to stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before scooping. Alternatively, carefully microwave at 10 second intervals until it reaches your desired consistency.
More Keto Chocolate Recipes
- Sugar Free Chocolate Birthday Cake1 Hours
- Soul-Satisfying Keto Chocolate Cookies17 Minutes
- Keto Chocolate Cheesecake4 Hours 20 Minutes
- Chocolate Chaffle14 Minutes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Chocolate Ice Cream
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
- 3 cups / 720 ml heavy cream ** see notes
- ½ cup / 50g cacao powder
- ⅓ cup / 80 ml almond milk unsweetened
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon MCT oil
- 1.5 teaspoon powdered gelatin
- ⅔ cup / 120g allulose *** see notes, or powdered erythritol
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract sugar free
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place your ice cream canister from your ice cream maker in the freezer overnight.
- Place the cacao powder and 1 cup of cream into a medium saucepan. Stir with a balloon whisk to combine. Add the rest of the heavy cream and almond milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring continually with the whisk until fully combined then remove from the heat.
- In a mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and whisk using an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Sprinkle in the allulose (or powdered erythritol, if using) and continue whisking until combined.
- Slowly add the cream mix to the eggs a little at a time. Whisking using a balloon whisk till combined.
- Place the gelatin in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of water and allow to bloom for about 5 minutes.
- Add the whole mix back to the pan. Add the bloomed gelatin mix and heat on low (about 4 - 5 minutes) until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Pour the mix into a mixing bowl, add the vanilla and MCT oil and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to cool covered in cling film with a small air gap at the sides (this stops a skin forming).
- Place in the fridge to cool for 1 - 2 hours, or overnight. If you leave overnight and it goes thick, just give it a really good stir with a spatula and it will become pourable again. I left mine overnight.
- When chilled, pour the chocolate mix into the ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturers instructions, 20 minutes - 1 hour. Mine took about 45 minutes. Don’t worry if it’s not a set soft serve as it will set in the freezer. Transfer to a container and freeze for 2 hours or until scoop-able. If you leave in the freezer overnight, just allow it to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes and then scoop.
Christa M Hockensmith
What is MCT oil? Don't have a clue.
Katrin Nürnberger
It is a type of coconut oil that does not solidify. This helps to keep the ice cream softer.
Kimberly Redding
Oh my GOODNESS!! It’s just like frozen custard!! This is definitely going to be a keeper!!
Would love to see more variations of this!
Lee
This is great. Do you think it could be made into vanilla by not adding the cocoa?
Katrin Nürnberger
Yes, probably. I also have a recipe for sugar free vanilla ice cream.
Lee
I wanted to use a recipe with gelatin. Just wanted to let you know I tried this recipe without cocoa and it worked out just fine. I added one more egg yolk but left the vanilla the same.
Katrin Nürnberger
That's so good to know! Thank you for sharing.
Anu
Oooooffffff... I'm gobsmacked! This is so ridiculously smooth and lush and decadent, I want to cry a little, and dance, and then cry and dance! :)) What a delicious treat, way better than any non-keto ice cream I've ever had!
So I made the recipe mostly as written, bar a couple of small changes. I skipped the MCT oil because I didn't have any, but added 1 tablespoon of rum instead, and perhaps that helped with keeping the ice cream scoopable. I also only had beef gelatin (not sure what powdered gelatin means?) so I used that instead. I also added 25 g of instant decaffeinated coffee for a mocha version, and that transformed this into something ridiculously divine, However, this meant that I needed to increase the sweetener significantly (I used 220 g allulose!).
One comment regarding consistency - After leaving the pre-churned mix in the fridge overnight, it seemed to set super firm (almost like a firm, set pudding) so I had to nuke it in the microwave a few times the next day to get it to be pourable enough to add to my ice cream maker. No matter, though, everything turned out great in the end. So I'm not sure if my scoops are too large, but this won't last 12 portions for us, espeically when I tend to top mine with a smidge of smoked salt. This is SOOOO good, thank you!!!