Dairy-free, refined sugar-free paleo mint chocolate chip ice cream made with coconut milk and sweetened with pure maple syrup. Plus an option for adding matcha powder for an antioxidant infusion!
Fridaaaay! Day of dessert (+ wine/beer/booze)!
Do you do what I do and attempt to go alcohol and dessert-less (minus daily dark chocolate, of course, and the occasional occasion to sip on wine) during the week and then indulged throughout the weekend?
There may be no rhyme or reason to taking said approach to sweets, but it’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.
At any rate, I do try to manage my desserts the same way I manage my real food: in the healthy-esque fashion without dairy, gluten, or cane sugar.
When I was growing up, my three siblings and I often butted heads when it came to food preferences. Can you imagine being my parents?
Preparing cohesive meals for four fiery, stubborn-as-mules ruffians without hearing complaints? Said situation existed never.
Luckily, we were all easy to please in the dessert department, and all of us agreed upon a mutual love for mint chocolate chip ice cream. So we had it in stock. Always.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream. So diplomatic.
Way I see it, the mint-chocolate varietal is a something-for-everyone treat.
Cool, sweet, creamy, refreshing, studded with chocolate…truly hits the spot on a hot summer’s day. Should we go ahead and make it dairy-free, cane sugar-free, and eggless (read: paleo and vegan)? Sure thing, my babies!
There’s a secret gem hidden inside this paleo mint chocolate chip ice cream. Spoiler alert: it’s an avocado.
You’re no stranger to the avocado-based dessert. We whipped up No-Bake Vegan Key Lime Tarts AND Vegan Key Lime Ice Cream last summer, and earlier this year, we mowed through Healthy 4-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse…all containing – zat’s right – zee avocado.
Why avocado? The fat helps bind and create a creamy texture without the need for actual cream/dairy, and the avocado flavor is so subtle, it’s it’s easy to mask with the flavor you’re going for. In this case: the mint flavor.
Preparing this ice cream (or should I say, n’ice cream?) is about the easiest thing you’ve done in weeks. Simply toss all of the ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) into a blender, blend until completely smooth, and pour into your ice cream maker.
Once the ice cream begins to thicken, you can pour in your chocolate chips (this ensures the mix in well, and don’t all sink to the bottom of the ice cream maker). Once the ice cream has finished churning, you can serve it straight from the maker for a soft serve consistency, or freeze it for a few hours if you’re going for a true ice cream consistency.
If you don’t own an ice cream maker, you can skip it and pour the ice cream base into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for 5 to 8 hours (until solid), then thaw for 5 to 8 minutes before scooping and serving. If you’re able to stir the ice cream every 1 to 2 hours, that will help the ice cream freeze evenly and turn out creamy.
To add matcha powder or not to add matcha powder? For some extra antioxidants and a smidge of green tea flavor, you can 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of matcha powder. If this will be your first go with matcha powder, I suggest keeping it on the light end to see how you like it, then go stronger. Simply add it to the blender with the rest of the ingredients should you choose to do so!
Tools I used to prepare this recipe:
- Blendtec Blender
- Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
- Ice Cream Tub OR Loaf Pan or (for storing ice cream)
Psst! If you don’t follow a dairy-free, sugar-free diet and are looking for a fully-leaded authentic mint chocolate chip ice cream, check out my recipe for Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream on ehow.com
Paleo Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 (14-oz) can full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or more to taste*
- 1 small ripe avocado peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1¼ teaspoons pure peppermint extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 to 3 teaspoons matcha powder optional
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips **
Instructions
- Place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer overnight (or follow the instructions specific to your ice cream maker prior to preparing the ice cream base).
- Add all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips to a blender. Blend until completely smooth (Note: if adding matcha powder, you'll need to blend longer in order to get the powder to incorporate). Taste the mixture for flavor and add additional pure maple syrup if desired.
- Set up your ice cream maker and pour the ice cream base into the bowl. Turn your ice cream maker on and allow it to churn until very thick, about 30 minutes. Keeping the ice cream maker on, add the chocolate chips and continue to churn until ice cream maker begins to bog down, about another 10 minutes.
- Serve ice cream immediately for soft serve consistency, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours. Thaw for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping and serving.
Instructions for No Ice Cream Maker:
- Prepare the ice cream base by blending all of the ingredients together (except for the chocolate chips). Pour the ice cream base into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for 3 hours, stirring every hour if possible. Stir in the chocolate chips then freeze another 3 to 4 hours, until solid. When ready to serve, thaw the ice cream 5 to 8 minutes before scooping.
Would it be ok without the avocado? That is high Histamine and I’m trying to stay away from that. Also I have peppermint essential oil(food grade). Maybe I will add 1-2 drops?
Hi Gypsy! You can omit the avocado 🙂 I’ve never cooked with peppermint essential oil so I would say doing a quick google might be worth it. If it’s sage to use, I would start with 1 drop, taste the mixture and add more from there. Hope you enjoy!
Got plain paelo vanilla ice cream recipe?
Hi Rose! I don’t have one posted on this site, but the closest thing I have to it is a Keto Vanilla Ice Cream recipe: https://www.theroastedroot.net/vanilla-keto-ice-cream/ you can follow that recipe using full-fat canned coconut milk (or your choice of non-dairy milk) and use pure maple syrup instead of the sugar-free sweetener. Hope that helps! xo
Thank you for this recipe! I love mint chip and made your recipe pretty exact, using the coconut milk you linked (without guar gum) and used a cuisinart ice cream maker… the flavor was fantastic, however it did not come out creamy as yours pictured. It was pretty icy after freezing & thawing, not sure what I could have done differently, …maybe it was the absence of guar gum? Do you have any recommendations? Thank you!!
Guar gum is a thickener. Was there a reason you left it out? I know that some people have digestive issues with it. Regarding the icy consistency, here are several causes I have read about and experienced. 1) Churning for too long – my understanding of the Cuisinart is that the longer you let it churn, the more ice it scrapes off the sides and into your ice cream, which then leads to a really ice result. I have never let mine churn for 30 minutes, as the author here instructs. 2) Also, you need to very quickly transfer it into a very cold container. Melting starts as soon as you turn off the machine, and then the re-freezing causes ice to form. I do freeze the scraper thing before using and also the container I’m going to transfer it too – but neither one for 24 hours like I do the bowl. 3) Most homemade ice cream is going to turn icy when kept more than a day. And the amount and type of sweetener can affect the iciness too. Overall, my understanding is that perfect ice cream comes from the perfect ratio of fat and sweetener, which can be very tricky when avoiding dairy and sugar. I’ve had various results with all different flavors of dairy free ice cream in my Cuisinart. I’ve never tried using avocado and can’t wait to try this recipe! The best result has been pumpkin ice cream. It is super creamy every time and does not turn hard and icy when kept for days. Hope some of these ideas are helpful to you.
I am sure it’s so refreshing coz it has mint leaves <3
Made some tonight, and this is better than I was expecting! Next time, I will cut the peppermint extract back to 1 teaspoon, but this will certainly be made again. Thanks!
I’m so glad you made and enjoyed the ice cream! Ah yes, I should have mentioned I like my mint ice cream extra minty and will note that those who want the peppermint to be more subtle to just use 1 tsp. Thanks so much for the feedback!
THIS. OMG it’s looks so perfectly creamy. I would have never guessed there’s avocado in there but that is just freaking genius. I want to take a bath in it.
chocolate chip mint is my fav flavor too, esp when it comes to ice cream. i havent made ice cream this season nearly enough – this is going on my list right now.
I really need to get on trying to make ice cream with coconut milk! Looks so good!
This ice cream looks delicious! And with a matcha option? Um, yes please! That stuff screams summer- too good 🙂