Looking for a quick and easy low carb ice cream treat? Creamy, fresh and luscious, look no further than this no-churn paleo and keto mint chocolate chip ice cream-for-1!
Keto Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Extra Creamy (‘N Easy!)
This is a good one guys! A very good one. Inspired by the deliciousness and ease of my Shamrock shake, this sugar-free mint chocolate chip ice cream is an instant hit. Expect creamy, luscious and super tasty results!
You could definitely call this one a ‘nice-cream’ too btw, as it’s loaded with healthy fats and plenty of nutrients (in the form of a sneaky avocado!). No worries, you can’t taste it.
It’s also ideal for a quick ice cream (and single-serving!) craving. You simply blend all the ingredients together until creamy smooth and pop in the freezer for an hour or two. If you use fat bomb moulds, you’ll be in ice cream territory within the hour.
And yes, you can always double (tripe or quadruple) the recipe and keep it handy for a sunny day.
The Deets
In terms of the mint flavor in this guy, while you can use fresh mint leaves I honestly wouldn’t recommend it. You see, you would have to infuse the coconut milk (or heavy cream) with the mint leaves for roughly 30 mins and let it cool. And since this recipe is all about quick, easy and great results, peppermint extract is the way to go. Plus, it’ll give your ‘nice-cream’ that strong minty flavor of store-bought varieties.
And please try and skip any form of artificial colorings. Yellow no. 5 (part of the green dye) is a serious allergen that has been tied to hyperactivity in children (amongst other stuff). So go ahead and get the green hue the natural route. i.e. an avocado, which adds crazy creaminess, healthy fats and plenty of nutrients.
The Sweetener
Xylitol and allulose are, without a doubt, the best sweeteners for keto ice cream. They help to retain the creamy texture (they work pretty much like inverted sugars!), and allow you to skip the churning if need be in many recipes.
And if using allulose, just keep in mind that it’s about 70% the sweetness of sugar and xylitol (i.e. you’ll have to add 30% more).
Having said that, you can get away with using erythritol with good results too. Just note that you’ll need to thaw out your ice cream on the counter for 15-20 mins so its scoopable!
If paleo, or not restricted by sugars, coconut sugar would work great too (just expect a light caramel hue).
Keep in mind that for best texture and easiest blending, you may want to use a powdered sweetener. This is particularly important if using erythritol, as it’s a bit harder to dissolve. So get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered. Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
(No Churn!) Paleo & Keto Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 110 g full-fat coconut milk or heavy cream, whipped*
- 50 g avocado
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- pinch flakey sea salt or salt of choice
- 2-4 tablespoons powdered xylitol or sweetener of choice, to taste**
- 30-45 g chocolate chips or cacao nibs chopped, to taste
Instructions
- If your coconut milk has the solids and liquids separated, pop it in a quick water bath until everything just comes together. Be sure it's back at room temp before blending.
- Add coconut milk, avocado, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, lemon juice, salt and sweetener to a blender (immersion blenders work amazing here!) and blend until creamy smooth. Adjust sweetness and minty-ness to taste.
- Place in a sealable container (or fat bomb moulds!) and freeze until set, about 2 hours (less for the mini bombs). If freezing overnight, leave out at room temp for 10-20 mins before indulging.
- Please note that 1 batch is 1-2 servings, but feel free to double (or triple!) using the recipe card.
My very favorite ice cream has always been mint chip, so I was very excited to see this recipe, and I was surely not disappointed! I did not have any peppermint flavoring, but DO have a patch of wonderful peppermint growing in my garden. I did 4x the recipe, and heated 1 pint of heavy cream to 170 degrees, and added about 2 cups of chopped mint leaves, half a scraped vanilla bean, confectioners Swerve, and the salt, and let it all infuse while it cooled for about an hour, then strained out the solids. I also mashed the avocado with the lemon juice before blending the whole works. It was WONDERFUL! Thank you, Paola!
Is the lemon juice optional or is it to help with the avocado or something? I haven’t seen lemon added to other mint chip ice creams before.
Should help keep the avocado from turning brown.
Can you sweeten with honey?
OH. MY. WORD. I just made a triple batch of this recipe using a whole can of coconut milk and two small avocados. I couldn’t wait for it to freeze so I churned it in my ice cream maker…..UNBELIEVABLY CREAMY!!! And soooooo goooood! This may be my favorite ice cream recipe. I did add a dash of glycerine to keep it from freezing too hard, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you so much!
When do you add the chocolate chips or nibs?? The recipe doesn’t specify.
Do u need to whip the coconut milk first before blending or only heavy cream if using that instead??
It’s taste just like the real thing!
I was hesitant to try this, since things I’ve made in the past with avocado weren’t very good. But, with a craving for ice cream, I gave it a try and I’m glad I did. It is absolutely delicious. It’s my new favorite dessert 🙂
The only problem is that is froze so hard. So, I stirred in 1/2 tsp of vodka (which has zero carbs). It keeps it a bit softer, more like regular ice cream. Now it doesn’t freeze so hard and I can have a bite on the run without having to wait for it to thaw!!
Hi, this looks great. Do you know if adding some carob powder, for a chocolate-like taste, and omitting the cacao nibs could work? And if so, how much carob would you add? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Sam! I doubt it as you’ll be affecting the taste and texture of the whole ice cream… xo!
Wow wow wow! Just made this masterpiece and am blown away! Peppermint choc chip is my favourite all time ice cream! Also own a gourmet catering company so flavours are key for me! I Asked my partner to taste without telling him about the coconut milk or what it was….. Immediate answer was peppermint choc chip ice cream! I do need to admit that we can’t get avocados here so I made the vanilla version and used peppermint essence and brandy for the booze side (couldn’t taste the brandy). Could not taste the coconut either, which I’m not a fan of. Used cacao nibs for the chips and added green food colouring. Love this! Thanks so much xxx
I accidentally added the entire can of coconut milk to this recipe 🤦🏼♀️ im hopeful it will come out fine
Hi Paola, do you think inulin will be ok in this?
Thank you!
Are there different instructions for the whipped cream version? Will this develop icicles? Should we add alcohol?
Can I use coconut creme instead of coconut milk?( I accidentally purchased the wrong thing)
Yup! It’ll just be a bit thicker, or you can always dissolve a little bit of the coconut cream in some water to get coconut milk! xo
Thanks Paola. I just realised that the first batch of Keto mint chocolate chip was made with xylitol. I ran out so used powdered erythritol. Like you I don’t drink, but I do cake decorating and painting so have a bit of vodka for that purpose, but will get some more xylitol.( can only find silly little packets here)
Many thanks for your help.🍨
Hi Paola, I have made the chocolate, the mint chocolate chip, and the vanilla icecream…soooo yummy. I added some lavender to the vanilla and the combination was great. A subtle hint of lavender was just right.
Just having to get the icecream to the right constituency for rolling and serving..Idid put 6tsp of vanilla in but it still froze real hard. Having a heat wave here in Uk so doesn’t take to long to soften it. I read that adding alcohol will put you out of Ketosis, so not worth it to keep the icecream softer. Any other bright ideas?
Thanks
Hi Ethne! Have you tried xylitol? It works like an inverted sugar (melted into the milk) and keeps the ice cream scoopable for weeks! Otherwise regarding the booze (obviously I’m no doctor and this isn’t my area of expertise), but I’ve read plenty that alcohol doesn’t kick you out of ketosis, rather it take some peeps deeper. I don’t drink though, I only use it for cooking purposes and I haven’t noticed any difference in my ketone readings. Xo!
Are the nutrition counts for entire recipe or only 1 scoop of the ice cream? Recipe says for 1 person(2 scoops)
Nutrition counts say 1 scoop. Just want to be sure before I give in. Thanks
1 scoop (i figured going through all the motions for 1/2 cup=1scoop was too much) xo
Question: Do you measure the coconut cream/heavy cream before or after it is whipped?
Before Linda xo!
Sorry to say Paolo but I really didn’t find this edible. I do love your recipes but for me this tasted too artificial and despite of looking great with an excellent consistency I had to throw it out. I followed your recipe to the letter but the peppermint taste was overpowering despite using the lesser amount. I’ve used peppermint extract before and found the same taste so maybe it’s not the best of brands but fair to say it likely won’t make it edible. I doubled up the acavado and coconut milk and remixed it all together but it didn’t improve the taste. Sorry Paolo. Sounds like it’s just me who didn’t like it but I just couldn’t eat it. Keep up your great work, your recipes are legendary xx
This week I made the mint chocolate chip ice cream….so delicious…and also the chocolate ice cream, absolute winners and so easy to make. By popular demand have just made mint ice cream again for work colleagues!
Great to find a nice recipe without an ice cream maker.
Please note your metric recipe for tin of coconut milk should be 400 mls, not 13.5 oz, but here in UK we use metric so appreciate you doing both😀
Just tried to leave a comment and it said it was a duplicate…never been here before
Hi Ethne! I have another comment from you on the vanilla froyo, maybe that’s why? Thanks for the heads up though!
Ahh not me, see later comment..never been here before…but I like what I see!! Thanks.
Is there any way to omit the avocado? I haven’t been able to find any for months now. But I really love Mint chocolate chip ice cream…
Hi Jeanette! I would suggest you check out the no-churn vanilla ice cream instead and add the mint extract and chocolate chips there! Unless you add coloring it won’t be green, but still taste the same 🙂
This was really good I was worried about the avocado, so I still only used half an avocado even though I doubled the recipe. I didn’t notice it in there at all though, so I might try adding a little more next time. I also used I think 3 drops of Young Living peppermint essential oil instead of peppermint extract, and I made it in my ice cream maker. I’ll definitely be making this again!
I can’t even believe how good this is! This is the first recipe I’ve made from this website, and I’m always so leery of what recipes can be like from paleo websites, so I’m careful what I spend my time, energy and money on when it comes to recipes. But Oh My Gosh, this stuff is amazing. I am going to try many more recipes from gnom gnom! I quadrupled this because I had 2 avocados and I’m so GLAD I did that. I have dessert for the next six nights ! I’m just tried some and it’s not quite frozen yet but my mouth is totally watering for more! Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I made mine with whipped heavy cream, and it was seriously SO GOOD! I couldn’t tell the difference between this recipe and traditional ice cream. I didn’t double my ingredients, but I would highly recommend doubling so you have even more on hand. This definitely hit the spot on a sunny day 🙂
Hi there, this sounds great, and I can’t wait to try it. Just a question tho about when to add the chocolate chips… didn’t see that in the directions and am thinking it would be stirred in by hand after using the immersion blender, and before putting into the freezer. Can you confirm? Thanks!
Is it possible to use peppermint flavored stevia drops for the peppermint flavor and part of the sweetener? I do have confectioners Swerve
Hi Mindy! I’m not sure as I’ve never tried that product. But I have tried the vanilla ones, and I’m not sure you’ll get enough minty-ness coming through?
Can you clarify something for me? I see you reccomend powdered sweetner, and xylitol as #1. When I click on the affiliate, xylitol, link in the recipe, it explains that that particular one is more granular…???
Check out the section on sweeteners, you can just regrind it into powder in your blender 😉 xo!
OMG! I just made this. I made 4 times the amount because I had a pint of cream that was nearing expiration. I used only 5 tablespoons of swerve (since I don’t like it too sweet) and added Lily’s Chocolate Chips. This stuff is the bomb! I just put it in the freezer but had to lick the immersion blender and the bowl. I can’t wait to try it frozen. I am so happy right now. Ice cream has been one of the things I miss, and I think Halo tastes like crap. This changes everything! THANK YOU!
LOL Terri that’s awesome to hear! So happy it was bowl-lickingly good ;)! xo!
Made this just now in my ice cream maker(so I didn’t have to wait 2 hrs) love it and its kid and husband approved as well. Made 4x the recipe and used a half a bar of lily’s it’s very very creamy and just chocolate chip-py enough for me. The only thing I forgot to do was add the lemon juice but it’s great!
Sarah that’s so wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for reporting back in detail, always super helpful 🙂
Hi there….just a quick question…..are we supposed to whip the cream and.or coconut milk before blending it with the other ingredients?
Hi Patty! I would just whip the heavy cream. I didn’t notice any difference when made with coconut xo!