Smooth and creamy dairy free ice cream made from coconut milk, sugar, and just a touch of powdered gelatin. That's the secret ingredient that makes it perfectโeven though it's no churn.
I love to make homemade ice cream, and mostly without the ice cream machine that I own but never really use. But until this recipe, it was all dairy-full.
Since I know some of you are dairy free, I put my nose to the grindstone and finally, at great long last, I present: Gluten Free Dairy Free Ice Cream with no machine! Plusโno mixing it every 30 minutes or something (how is that fun?). And it's still smooth & creamy & scoop-able.
Even though you only see two ingredients shown here, it says “3 ingredients” right there in the photo. There are, indeed, 3 essential ingredients.
There are 2 more optional ingredients in the recipe below, but they are truly optional. Oh, and yes, it does taste faintly of coconut. It's made almost entirely of coconut milk, made this way and that way, silly!
I tried this recipe 5 times and failed and failed and failed, sadly, every single time. And until you freeze the ice cream, you can't really be sure that it's a fail. That made this a rather time-consuming project of mine.
Of course, I could have just used the ice cream machine, but that is just.no.fun. As soon as I mixed up the final goods that you see here, even before it was frozen, I knew. Like you know success when you've already failed miserably 5 separate times over the course of 3 months. I knew.
But as soon as I mixed up the final goods that you see here, even before it was frozen, I knew. Like you know success when you've already failed miserably 5 separate times over the course of 3 months. I knew.
This may have indeed become my true love favorite gluten free ice cream. So whether you can have dairy or not, this smooth and creamy homemade ice cream are going to become a family favorite. Oh, and please do add the gelatin. If you omit it, the ice cream really doesn't scoop and it is icy as can be. You can replace the gelatin with some
You can replace the gelatin with some gluten free potato vodka, but it just won't be as creamy. And of course, then it becomes an adults-only treat. (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
No Churn Dairy Free Ice Cream
Equipment
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment
Ingredients
- 3 (42 fl oz) cans coconut milk (14 fluid ounces each) 2 of the 3 refrigerated for at least 24 hours (See Recipe Notes)
- ยพ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) unflavored powdered gelatin (See Recipe Notes)
- 3 ounces dairy-free chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-bottom saucepan, place the entire contents of the 1 room-temperature can of coconut milk and the sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent it from splattering, until it is reduced at least by half and begins to thicken (about 10 minutes).
- This is now your dairy free sweetened condensed coconut milk. Remove from the heat and set it aside to allow to cool completely.
- Remove the remaining two cans of coconut milk carefully from the refrigerator, without shaking them at all. The solid should have separated from the liquid while it was chilling, and you donโt want to reintegrate them.
- Remove the lids from the cans, scoop out only the solid white coconut (discarding or reserving for another use all the liquid), and place it in a large bowl.
- With a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), whip the coconut on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy and nearly doubled in volume.
- The coconut cream must be chilled for it to whip. Place the whipped coconut cream in the refrigerator.
- Place the gelatin in a small bowl, and mix well with 2 tablespoons of the sweetened condensed coconut milk from the first step.
- Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes while the gelatin dissolves.
- Microwave the mixture on 70% power for 15 seconds to liquify the gelatin, and then add the mixture to the rest of the cooled sweetened condensed coconut milk.
- Remove the coconut whipped cream from the refrigerator and add the sweetened condensed coconut milk mixture and optional vanilla to it.
- Whip once more until light and creamy, and well-combined (about one minute more).
- Fold in the optional chocolate chips, and scrape the mixture into a 2 quart freezer-safe container.
- Cover tightly and freeze until firm (about 6 hours). Serve cold. If it is difficult to scoop, allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before scooping and serving with a warm ice cream scoop.
Notes
No Churn Dairy Free Ice Cream
Equipment
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment
Ingredients
- 3 (42 fl oz) cans coconut milk (14 fluid ounces each) 2 of the 3 refrigerated for at least 24 hours (See Recipe Notes)
- ยพ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) unflavored powdered gelatin (See Recipe Notes)
- 3 ounces dairy-free chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-bottom saucepan, place the entire contents of the 1 room-temperature can of coconut milk and the sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to prevent it from splattering, until it is reduced at least by half and begins to thicken (about 10 minutes).
- This is now your dairy free sweetened condensed coconut milk. Remove from the heat and set it aside to allow to cool completely.
- Remove the remaining two cans of coconut milk carefully from the refrigerator, without shaking them at all. The solid should have separated from the liquid while it was chilling, and you donโt want to reintegrate them.
- Remove the lids from the cans, scoop out only the solid white coconut (discarding or reserving for another use all the liquid), and place it in a large bowl.
- With a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), whip the coconut on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy and nearly doubled in volume.
- The coconut cream must be chilled for it to whip. Place the whipped coconut cream in the refrigerator.
- Place the gelatin in a small bowl, and mix well with 2 tablespoons of the sweetened condensed coconut milk from the first step.
- Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes while the gelatin dissolves.
- Microwave the mixture on 70% power for 15 seconds to liquify the gelatin, and then add the mixture to the rest of the cooled sweetened condensed coconut milk.
- Remove the coconut whipped cream from the refrigerator and add the sweetened condensed coconut milk mixture and optional vanilla to it.
- Whip once more until light and creamy, and well-combined (about one minute more).
- Fold in the optional chocolate chips, and scrape the mixture into a 2 quart freezer-safe container.
- Cover tightly and freeze until firm (about 6 hours). Serve cold. If it is difficult to scoop, allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before scooping and serving with a warm ice cream scoop.
Notes
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Iโm Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that arenโt good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, โgood, for gluten freeโ just isnโt good enough! Come visit my bio!
Dawn Heald says
Is it possible to make using blocks of creamed coconut? It’s just some coconut products tend to be pricey here in the UK supermarkets. After a stomach operation and various intolerances and medical problems and losing all my teeth, my perfect diet is gluten, wheat free, dairy free, egg free, low sugar. So I’m spending a lot of time researching websites like yours and trying to come up with recipes. I’m 35 with kids so I’m also looking for something we can all enjoy without baking separately as even just making with normal flour sets my nose running and too long in kitchen cooking hurts. Your recipes are really inspiring, thank you.
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid I don’t know what creamed coconut is, Dawn. It sounds like it might be the same as the coconut cream in the recipe?
Sj says
I’ve made this twice following the directions exactly (although the second time I just folded the whipped cream & condensed “milk”). It seems to curdle at the end when I mix the coconut condensed milk with the coconut cream. Any ideas?
Pat says
Can I just use a can of coconut cream instead of separating the milk and cream? If so, how much cream equals that which would have separated from the whole fat milk?
HKS says
Ii would love to make a dairy free ice cream, but I cannot eat coconut or coconut products, any ideas?
Abbigail says
This is absolutely amazing!!!! I made a banana split version of this by folding in bananas, cherries, and chocolate syrup. Thank you so much for inventing and sharing this recipe. Now it feels like the world has opened up.