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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.
I tried this over the weekend, I was not able to get the coconut cream to whip as yours did. I used Thai Kitchen brand, whole fat. After being in the refrigerator a few days, the solids came out of the can in a chunk. I used a hand mixer, any thoughts?
Did you use only the solid coconut cream, Jeanne, as directed in the recipe? If you included the liquid, that’s certainly the issue. If the solid separated and you used just that, the only reason I can think that it wouldn’t whip would be if you allowed it to become warm before whipping it. I have made whipped coconut cream with both a hand mixer and a stand mixer. Both work fine.
Thank you for the tips, next time I’ll try popping it back in the refrigerator after separating. It may have gotten to warm. I enjoy your blog and have had great success with your recipes! :)
regarding separating the coconut milk – can you carefully pour off the coconut water or use a baster to suction it out? or is the coconut cream very thick? always try to figure this out so i am floundering with the recipe. thanks – looks fantastic!
Hi, Karen, the solid separates completely from the liquid, so you can essentially just lift or scoop out the solid. The liquid can be discarded or used for another use, like making a smoothie.
I have 8 different brands I can get, but there are about 5 different amounts of fat (even if you make the serving sizes all the same). I like getting high fat coconut milk, but what was the amount of fat per size of serving that you used? I imagine too low or too high would really affect the recipe.
Thanks!
I would focus on the brands I refer to in the recipe, Heather. Good luck!
Both my son and I are allergic to nuts so coconut milk is not an option for us. Unfortunately many gluten free receipes use some form of coconut As a replacement. Any ideas?
Coconut is neither a peanut or a tree nut, Wanda. If you still can’t have a coconut because of a separate allergy, I’m afraid you simply can’t make this recipe. It only has 3 ingredients, and relies heavily upon coconut cream.
Lol thank you Nicole. This is a new diagnosis for the both of us. I will be OK for the ice cream but my son will not as he has a separate coconut allergy. We both have epi pens so I can’t be too careful. I appreciate your help and enjoy your recipes very much!!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe as the warm weather is approaching ☺ but what can I do with the gelatin if I don’t have a microwave?
I was wondering the same, Shelly.
You can simply melt it over very low heat in a small saucepan, Shelley.
Have you ever tried with coconut sugar instead of cane sugar?
I also need a non-refined sugar option. Have you tried the coconut sugar version yet?
Nicole, We haven recently gone dairy-free at my house and I am very, very excited about this recipe. My spouse came home from Trader Joe’s with 9 oz. cans of “coconut cream” (“Ayam” brand; ingredients: 100% coconut kernel extract). I’m hoping that perhaps there’s just less in the way of liquid in these, and so will be able to use them, but that leaves me with the same question as Veronica, below, to wit: do you happen to know how many ounces of the cream you end up using?
See that? You go the extra mile and create this astounding recipe, and then you get asked for more, more, more help!
Gratefully reading you all these years, and still baking 4 loaves of that yummy Tom’s bread per week because I don’t feel like bothering with separating eggs all the time,
Catherine
Nicole is Tom’s bread a recipe of yours? I couldn’t find it under breads on this site.
What is Tom’s bread?
Amazing! I should have mentioned in on your other 3-Ingredient Ice Cream Recipe that I converted that recipe by using the Coconut Milks! Came out perfect, just didn’t use the Gelatin and use 2 cans for the Sweetened Condensed Milks and 1 for Heavy Whipping Cream. Going to try your version for sure now!
I found cans of coconut cream at Walmart. How many ounces of cream do you get from each can of coconut milk?
By the way, your recipes have given me the confidence to bake again. For about two years after my husband found out he had celiac disease most of my recipes failed. I have been baking with your recipes for over six months now and am even modifying some of the recipes I grew up with to make them gluten and dairy free. Thank you for your cookbooks and blog.
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!