Paleo Ice Cream, how we love it! Creamy and smooth, richly flavored or with subtle notes, with fruit or cocoa, flecked with dark chocolate or streaked with syrup. Fresh from the ice cream machine or chilled in popsicle moulds for later. Whatever your preference, Paleo ice cream is too decadent not to explore. It’s not difficult to make – all you need are three or four ingredients – but there is one big secret that you need to know.
Problems, and the Secret to Making Perfect Paleo Ice Cream
This is our second summer of exploring dairy free Paleo ice cream made with coconut milk. The Ice Cream Machine is, without doubt, one of the best kitchen appliances we’ve ever bought. We’ve made some beauties, but it’s been the less-than-satisfying batches which have sent us reeling around Google to find out what went wrong. The problems we’ve come across are:
- The ice cream doesn’t set, but remains liquid like a granita, or
- It forms a thick wall of ice on the sides and bottom of the cannister, forcing the blade to jump, or
- Both of these, at the same time.
At first, we thought it was either the water content or the viscosity of our mix. We use Aroy D cans of coconut milk and they’re not terribly consistent. Some have a lot of water, with just a little cream resting on the top, whilst others have so much cream that it sets like butter in the fridge. Some kinds of fruit, like strawberries, add a lot of water to the mix, whilst cocoa adds a lot of starch. Sometimes our base was so thick we’d sort of have to push it into the ice cream machine, and other times it would readily flow. But after a while we realised that neither the viscosity nor the water content was the problem. Rather, it was an issue of emulsion. On those occasions of less than satisfying homemade icecream it seems we hadn’t accounted for
- the ingredients that help the emulsification process, and/or
- the time in the blender necessary for the emulsification to occur
What’s an Emulsion?
An emulsion occurs when two substances which don’t naturally dissolve into each other, such as fat and water, are blended together through the intervention of an action and/or an agent. The classic example in the kitchen is that of a vinaigrette salad dressing. Oil (fat) and vinegar (water) don’t naturally combine. If you put these two ingredients into a jar, the oil floats to the top. But if you pop the lid on the jar and give it a good long shake, the liquids will break down into evenly distributed droplets. The vigorous movement has emulsified them – but only temporarily. If you leave the dressing undisturbed, the droplets will eventually separate back out into their original forms: oil and vinegar.
The separation occurs because there’s no added emulsifying agent to keep the separated droplets in suspension. An emulsifying agent is like a glue which coats the walls of the molecules and makes them stick to each other. If the yolk of an egg is added to the oil and vinegar then it’s a whole different story because the lecithin found in the egg yolk makes the oil and vinegar stick together. Mayonnaise is a great example of an emulsion. So is butter. And ice cream. All of these foods are essentially fat and water which have been blended together such that they’ve become one homogenous substance.
Common emulsifying agents in cooking are egg yolks, xanthum gum, agar agar and lecithin.
If you read the labels on your grocery items, you’ll find lecithin – usually soy lecithin – is everywhere. Yes, even in chocolate. The stabilising action of the emulsifiers give the products a long shelf life, so it’s a common ingredient in all manufacutured foods.
Egg Is the Perfect Ice Cream Emulsifier
A quick research around ice cream recipes reveals that many use egg as the emulsifyer. They start with an egg custard, then cool the custard in an ice bath before pouring it into the ice cream machine. You can see the process in this Caramel Ice Cream Recipe from Bon Appetit. It uses dairy milk and cream, but I’ve made egg custard using coconut milk, so I’m sure you could do the same for Paleo Ice Cream.
Thing is, we don’t want to explore the egg custard method because we’re too lazy and impatient. When we want gelato, we want it now. We want the whole process to be easy and fast, and we also want our gelato to be AIP. There are good reasons for avoiding the other common emulsifiers such as xanthum gum and agar agar – so what can we use instead?
Emulsifying Agents for Paleo Ice Cream
We’ve discovered that the two ingredients which create a perfectly emulsified, creamy, smooth, luscious, homogenised coconut milk icecream are exactly those same two ingredients which add natural sweetness:
- banana, and
- honey
With homemade Paleo ice cream, you’re not looking for long shelf life. You’re probably going to eat the whole lot in one or two sittings. What you need is something that is sticky enough to hold the fat and water molecules together long enough for them to be churned and chilled in the ice cream machine. Banana and honey provide the stickiness.
The only times our gelato hasn’t worked is when we’ve omitted these two ingredients, and when, at the same time, we haven’t let the blender run long enough to really break down the fat and water droplets into tiny particles.
The beauty of using banana and honey is that you get the sweetness at the same time as the emulsification, which means your ingredient list is minimal. Bear in mind that the level of sweetness is reduced when chilled. We’ve found that the perfect balance for our taste buds is 1 banana + 3 tablespoons of honey.
Won’t All My Ice Cream Taste of Banana?
We don’t find that the banana is overpowering. With a strong flavour, such as liquorice or cocoa, it’s not noticeable and with a delicate flavour, like strawberry or peach, the banana might be there as an undercurrent but it’s not overpowering. The gelato in the photos was made with the addition of a 1/4 teaspoon bourbon vanilla, and it was gorgeous – the vanilla shone through, not the banana. If your tastebuds are so refined as to be bothered by an undertone of banana, then I’d suggest embracing the concept of Banana Vanilla Ice Cream, and possibly streaking it with chocolate splinters by trickling teaspoonfuls of melted dark chocolate into the machine when the ice cream is close to setting. Yum. Ultimately, what’s important is that our treats are delicious and consist of real, uncomplicated, healthy food.
So What’s the Perfect Paleo Ice Cream Recipe?
The base of any gelato we make now is this:
- 1 can Aroy D Coconut Milk (chilled overnight)
- 1 Banana (frozen is best)
- 3 tablespoons of Honey
Put these three ingredients in the blender, add optional flavorings of choice, and blend on high for a good long while. Then pour it into your chilled ice cream machine and let it do the work. Once it has taken on that wonderful, creamy texture and you can see that it’s stopped churning, serve it immedietely. (Sometimes the paddle might do a little jump to let you know it’s ready.) Place the remaining ice cream into popsicle moulds so you have ready-made treats for later.
We’ve used this base for making Chocolate, Banana, Choc-Banana, Strawberry, Peach, Stracciatella, Coffee, Mint, and Licorice Ice Cream, all with excellent results.
Looking forward to hearing what flavors you come up with!
On the Side
Soy Lecithin: Harmful or Harmless: all you need to know, by Chris Kresser
Emulsifying Technique: the molecular science of emulsification in cooking.
Is it Paleo? Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum and Lecithin, Oh My!: the Paleo low down on emulsifiers by Sarah Ballantyne.
This recipe has been shared on the AIP Recipe Roundtable and Allergy Free Wednesday, Gluten Free Fridays, Real Food Fridays, Free From Fridays and Foodie Friends Friday.
I hope you find this post useful! Tag me on Instagram if you follow the base recipe here @paleomantic, and let me know how you go in the comments.
Thanks for hanging out here – don’t forget to sign up for the News and grab your Free Printables at the same time.
Big thanks for all your Shares on Social and for your Pins – every share helps spread the message about our Paleo Diet and Lifestyle.
And thanks for purchasing through the Affiliate Links here, whereby you, of course, never pay more, and the small commissions help keep the blog sustainable, and keeps the information freely circulating for all.
Best Wishes, Good Health and Happiness.
- 1 can chilled coconut milk
- 1 banana
- 3 tablespoons honey
- water for thinning if necessary
- Make sure your ice cream machine has chilled in the freezer for 48 hours.
- Place all ingredients into a blender and process on high for at least 1½ minutes. Add a little water if the mixture is too thick for pouring, and then process thoroughly again.
- Pour into the ice cream machine and churn until set, about 20 minutes.
- Serve immedietely. Place any remaining ice cream into popsicle moulds and freeze immedietely.
- Enjoy!
- Note: Use this as your base recipe, and simply add other flavourings to the blender as desired eg ¼ cup cocoa or carob, 300 grams strawberries.
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B0006ONQOC][amazon template=iframe image&asin=B003KYSLMW][amazon template=iframe image&asin=B01DUAVDG6][amazon template=iframe image&asin=B003KYSLMW][amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00004S9D3]
hello,Angie
I guess I need an ice-cream machine for this recipe, which I don’t have. Any other way to make it?
Hi Jackie, Yes, there is a way of making it without an ice cream machine, though I’ve never tried it. I’ll quote Carluccio directly – I’ve had his book for years and I still open it most days for one reason or another. The idea is to continually break up the ice crystals so that they don’t set hard into chunks, but rather add volume and air to the mix.
Antonio Carluccio, in his recipe for ‘Gelato allo Zafferano’ from ‘Complete Italian Food’: “If you do not have an ice-cream maker, pour the mixture into a shallow bowl and place in the freezer for about 1 hour, until it is beginning to solidify around the edges. Whisk it well with a fork, then return to the freezer. Repeat this process 3 times and then freeze until firm.”
That seems to be the way. Another one of my favorite cooks, Tessa Kiros, gives the same directions in ‘Falling Cloudberries’. So it must work! Let me know if you give it a go! Best, A
Hi Angie,
We make homemade ice-cream almost every week. We use the Cuisinart ice -freezer and love it. I the unsweetened pure coconut milk but also add some of my homemade yogurt. I sometimes use raw honey and other times use organic maple syrup and coconut nectar. I then put different fruits in depending on what flavor we want. I can’t use banana because I am very allergic to it.
I love your recipe and nothing taste better than homemade ice-cream that you know is not filled with toxic additives and chemicals. I found your information very interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted!
Hi Marla, From looking on Amazon, I think the Cusinart is pretty much the same as the De Longhi model which we use here in Italy. It’s one where you have to put the ice cream bowl into the freezer for at least 24 hours so that it chills to the right temperature. Oh, what a glorious invention! Allergic to banana! That’s not common… someone left a comment on a thread saying they use avocado, which I imagine would have the same emulsifying effect. Have you tried it? I’m going to follow your example and try maple syrup instead of the honey. I have FODMAP issues, so a little honey every now and again is okay, but it can send the gut microbes off into party mode. Maple syrup (though more expensive for us here) is a safer option. Thanks for hosting Real Food Friday! A
Perfect, healthy dessert!
As well as delicious, easy to make, and with variations that are limited only by one’s imagination!
This looks Amazing ! I need to try it 🙂
Oh, you must try! We seriously find these simple tricks make all the difference! Best, A
Great tips! I’m definitely going to be trying them out. 😉 Thank you so much for sharing them with us at Allergy Free Thursdays!
Hi Raia, Hope the tips take your ice cream to the next level! Thanks for hosting the link up, it’s great to share! A
A very infoemative post and great tips for the perfect ice cream. Thanks for linking with #freefromfridays
Hi Emma, It’s a pleasure to link up – thanks for hosting! A
Great tips! I’m sharing this post tonight on Allergy-Free Thursdays. Can’t wait to see what you share this week!
Thanks so much for sharing, Elle! Unfortunately I didn’t get around to posting or sharing or doing anything this last week – I was up in the hills, using my phone as modem, and I used up all my time. So dumb! But maybe I needed a little time away from technology. Off to the coast for a week now, but I should be back into the swing of things again at the end of month. Thanks for hosting Allergy Free Thursdays – see you there soon!
How would you make a chocolate mint? I’m new to Paleo and still learning. Thank you.
Hi Michelle, Thanks for dropping by! I made a fantastic mint ice cream a while ago. The day before, I brought a can of coconut milk to the boil with 3 tablespoons of honey (our sweetness standard), and steeped a big bunch of fresh mint in it for a few minutes. When it was cool I put it in the fridge, mint leaves still in the milk. The following day, we had the ingenious idea of just leaving in the mint. We just threw it all into the blender and let it go, then put it into the icecream machine. It was gorgeous! I imagine you could simplify the whole process by just blending together the fresh mint with the coconut cream, without that extra step of boiling and steeping, but I haven’t tried it yet.
To add chocolate streaks, like an Italian straciatella (my favorite!), I melt 85% Lindt dark chocolate in a bowl resting over a saucepan with a little simmering water. I use just 2 squares (20 grams). When the ice cream is nearly done – when it has consistency, but is still soft – I trickle in the chocolate with a teaspoon. Yum!
If you wanted a chocolate ice cream with mint undertones, try adding 1/3 cup cocoa to the base recipe, and a handful of mint leaves. 1/3 cup cocoa gives a good chocolately flavour. I haven’t tried it with mint, but I reckon it would work.
Good luck, and let me know how you go!
you can also make this with a food processor. I use frozen banana, put it in the food prcoessor, let it make a lumpy paste, then add chilled coconut milk. serve immediatley, or if you make it a little runny, put the food processor dish in the freezer, then let it chill for 30 minutes and then whirl up again. I make my little girl banana pops all the time, full fat coconut milk and a little sweet banana, she loves them Another option for pops is just replace the banana with meyer lemon- i used the whole lemon bar seeds, but you can peel the skin off like an orange if you choose, just lots of goodness in the skin. Make the same way as the banana ice cream, and then pour into pop makers, freeze and enjoy. If your lemon is not the sweeter meyer variety add a little honey for tast.
Hi Diane, What a brilliant tip – I wouldn’t have thought of putting the food processor bowl into the freezer, but of course! Less washing up – gotta love that! Thanks so much! A
What size of canned coconut milk?
Hi Sherri, We use the 400ml cans of Aroy-D. Enjoy your ice cream! A
Have you ever tried using this as liquid creamer for coffee/tea? Maybe sans the banana?
I actually found this page looking for an AIP compliant emulsifier because I’m sick and tired of the oil slick on the top of my delicious hot beverage… Or more accurately because I’m a mom and I basically never finish a hot beverage when it’s still hot, and a mouthful of coconut oil chunks is NOT YUMMY. Other than the separation issue, a can of coconut milk plus a smidgen of vanilla and a spoonful of coconut sugar makes pretty decent creamer.
Ciao Jessica! Goodness, it would never have occured to me to try and use this as a coffee creamer, probably because the “latte” in my caffèlatte was one of the first things to go when I first became Paleo. It was hard at first, but now I just love black coffee and tea – can’t drink them any other way. I’ve tried on occasion, but all I taste is milk and I don’t like it. But I’m just thinking – I’m sure if you hunted around you could find a Collagen based “coffee creamer”. I found one in Australia recently, made by Locako. I bought Raw Cacao flavour, just because it was useful to add to coconut milk and yogurt while we were travelling. I’m sure you could find something similar, in other flavours. Good luck – curious to know how you get on! A