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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 perfect—even though it's no churn.
Table of Contents
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! Plus—no 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)
- ¾ 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 don’t 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Have a few GFDF kids here doing the happy dance! Thank you!
Okay I’m stuck. I have been trying to get coconut milk to separate for a week now–I tried a few weeks ago thinking your semi-freddo might be great with coconut whipped cream–but after 24 hours the coconut milk hadn’t separated. So when I saw your FB feed about this upcoming recipe last weekend, I put cans of coconut milk in the fridge in anticipation. But it’s been four days and the can hasn’t separated? Does putting it in the freezer work? How can I get it to separate?
Hi, Sam! So frustrating, right? It’s probably the brand of coconut milk that you are buying (assuming it is, in fact, full fat canned coconut milk). That’s why I mentioned the brands that I like in the recipe (Whole Foods 365 brand and Thai Kitchen brand), since they always separate (or they always have, for me). Don’t put it in the freezer! Just try another brand.
xoxo Nicole
I find Native Forest almost always works. Frankly, it even separates at room temperature a lot of times!
I love you. Thank you!
Love you, too, Cori! ;)
xoxo Nicole
P.S. You’re welcome.
Nicole, Oh my God I was just telling a friend on Friday whose honey is lactose intolerant that I wanted to figure out how to make my own coconut milk ice cream because I absolutely love it, and here’s your post only a few days later! Are you clairvoyant? You truly are a gift to us!
Love you, too, Cori! ;)
xoxo Nicole
P.S. You’re welcome.
Just wanted to let you know we’ve tried the vanilla ice cream (very good, a tad sweet) and today I made the chocolate, with the following modifications:
I didn’t want to have to store 4 oz of leftover condensed milk, so I used the whole can.
I bought unsweetened chocolate rather than semisweet, since I planned to use the entire can of milk, and when I got home I realized one box is 4 oz, not 5, but it worked well. I think it turned out even better than the vanilla–less sweet because of the chocolate and cocoa!
Next I’m going to try to figure out how to make a coffee version; I adore coffee ice cream!
Any chance I could use Agar Agar instead of gelatin?I love that it is dairy free but can I make it fully vegan?
I don’t have much experience with agar agar, Anna. Feel free to experiment!
Wow! The world needs you. I need you! Thank you.
Aw, shucks, Autumn. Thank you for the kind words! And you’re very welcome. I need you right back. :)
xoxo Nicole
Amen to this! I love how truly tested your recipes are, Nicole. There’s never any chance you’re going to post it unless it’s perfect, and I think all the additional notes in the recipe (why you use the gelatin, of course it’s going to taste a bit like coconut, etc) are tremendously helpful. I’ve tried the no-churn ice cream trend a few times but have been less than pleased with the results (and am like you, never want to pull out my danged ice cream maker) so I’m excited to give this version a try. Maybe the coconut milk (and gelatin) will do the trick.
looks great, no problem with the gelatin here,,,, but do you think it would work with stevia instead of sugar? got a diabetic in the family….
Or does the sugar do something specific like thickening that the stevia would not accomplish?
Hi nini, I’m afraid it would be very ice without the sugar. Sugar does not freeze, so it helps keep the ice cream from becoming icy. I don’t think that Stevia will do the same, although I confess I don’t know for sure. Sorry!
xoxo Nicole
Holy buckets…you are amazing!! I can’t wait to try this recipe out!
Thanks, Cass!
Oh yes, this recipe definitely makes me like you! ;) I was pining after all of those ice creams you made. I find DF ice creams (like anything) can be hit or miss. Some have so much gum in them that they taste like – wait for it – gum. And some DF ice creams I’ve made WITH a machine tasted good as “soft serve”, but got rock hard and icy in the freezer. Thanks for this recipe!
Oh, and might suggest you do not discard the coconut water! (Hello, shoestring!) It’s still got some good nutrition going for it. You could freeze it into ice cubes and put it in a smoothie, or use it in a recipe that wasn’t picky about its liquid. Personally, it goes in my smoothie!
Oh I don’t actually discard the coconut water. I use it rice, in smoothies, in all sorts of things. Just trying to keep the directions simple, Donia. :) And I really think you’re going to love this DF ice cream!
xoxo Nicole
I should have known better than to think you would discard it. ;)
We are not dairy free either but sometimes, you just like some alternatives, ya know? Thank you for being so overly accommodating for all of your blog readers! That is why we love you!!!!
Thanks, Jennifer! I do know what you mean about alternatives. If nothing else, it’s a nice challenge for me! ;)
xoxo Nicole