You will be amazed at how rich and creamy and chocolatey this 4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Ice cream is AND how simple it is! Tastes JUST like dairy milk chocolate ice cream. NO bananas!
VEGAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
Today I make your dreams come true. Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream that is only 4 ingredients, ridiculously creamy, chocolatey, rich and requires no ice cream maker. Did I mention it’s only 4 ingredients?! And NO. This is not banana ice cream that is all over the internet that turns into a rock hard block of ice in the freezer. That is not true ice cream folks, I’m talking rich, creamy ice cream that will fool dairy lovers and that tastes just like dairy chocolate ice cream, yet it is dairy-free. YUP. I’m all about creating delicious vegan ice cream recipes!
Update: This has been rated, by you readers, to be the absolute best vegan chocolate ice cream ever! Heck, many of you have even said it’s the best chocolate ice cream you’ve had, period, dairy or not! Yay!
We are having a major chocolate party here. Chocolate ice cream made with sweet potatoes is where it’s at, folks. Why sweet potato? Well, it gives body to the ice cream texture, yet you don’t taste it. I’ve fooled many people with it. As long as you fully blend it all up, you cannot tell. The sweet potatoes combined with the richness of the cocoa butter in the chocolate chips creates one decadent, authentic vegan chocolate ice cream.
Can you taste the sweet potato?? Not at all. In fact, my hubby who hates sweet potato had no clue (and still doesn’t!) that it was in there. It honestly just tastes like milk chocolate ice cream.
HOW DO YOU MAKE VEGAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM?
This vegan chocolate ice cream is SO easy, it’s even no churn! All you will need to make this 4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream (+salt) is:
- Chocolate chips
- sweet potato
- coconut milk
- vanilla
- Cook your sweet potato your preferred method. I chose to microwave because it is quickest. If you want to bake it, bake at 400°F with skin still on until very soft. Do not steam or boil it, as too much water will get into the potato. Let it cool a few minutes.
- Peel and mash it really well with a fork. Add 3/4 packed cup sweet potato to a blender. Add the coconut milk, vanilla and salt. Don’t blend yet.
- Melt your chocolate chips your preferred method. I used the microwave and added them to a cereal bowl and microwaved in 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until about 90% melted. Stir until completely melted and smooth. You have to be careful about overheating chocolate or it can burn. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and be sure to scrape all that chocolate goodness out of the bowl.
- Blend the ingredients on high for a minute or so until completely smooth. (full details on the recipe card below)
I use Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips because they are dairy-free and I love the ingredients. The ingredients are so simple and have the best flavor. It is just sugar, chocolate liquor and cocoa butter.
This isn’t my first time using sweet potatoes in ice cream. I’ve used it in this Chocolate Peppermint Sweet Potato Ice Cream and also this 5 ingredient Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Ice Cream.
OTHER VEGAN ICE CREAM RECIPES TO TRY:
- Vegan Mocha Ice Cream (this is my favorite ice cream ever!)
- Vegan Vanilla Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream
- Vegan Vanilla Birthday Cake Ice Cream (with a shocking ingredient!)
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Almond Ice Cream
- Vegan Java Crunch Ice Cream
- Raspberry Sorbet
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
4 Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
- 3/4 cup (170g) cooked mashed and packed orange sweet potato
- 2 cups (480g) room temp lite canned coconut milk, shaken first
- 1 1/2 cups (283g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 used 1 whole 10 oz Enjoy Life bag)
- 1/2 tablespoon (7g) vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
NOTE
- I have only tested this ice cream using the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips so if you use another brand or different chocolate, it may alter the taste/texture. Make sure you are using a semi-sweet chip that contains cocoa butter. you use the correct weight (grams) amount to ensure accurate results. The lite coconut milk is key to this ice cream as it has the right amount of fat and creaminess for excellent texture, as well as NOT leaving any coconut taste, since it is the light. Do not use full-fat, as that will make it too creamy since the chocolate chips contain so much cocoa butter.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Cook your sweet potato your preferred method. I chose to just microwave it for time purposes but you can bake it if you like. Bake it at 400 degrees with skin still on until very soft. Do not steam or boil it, as too much water will get into the potato. Let it cool a few minutes.
- Once your potato is cooked and cooled a bit, peel the skin off and completely mash it really well with a fork. You don't want any chunks or skins. Pack it in the measuring cup (3/4 cup) really well and level off. Add it to a blender. Add the coconut milk, vanilla and salt. Don't blend yet.
- Melt your chocolate chips your preferred method. I used the microwave and added them to a cereal bowl and microwaved in 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until about 90% melted. Then I stirred it until completely melted and smooth. You have to be careful about overheating chocolate or it will burn and be useless. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and be sure to scrape all that chocolate goodness out of the bowl.
- Blend the ingredients on high for a minute or so until completely smooth. You don't want any bits remaining from the potato. Taste and if you want it sweeter, add sugar, I did not. I found it to be perfectly chocolatey.
- Now, if you have an ice cream maker, then by all means use it, it will help make it creamier. But I tested 3 batches withOUT an ice cream maker and they were all delicious. You simply need to follow this method. Add your blended ice cream base to an ice cream storage container and place in the freezer. Set your timer for 30 minutes and stir the ice cream around really well, as the edges will start to firm up first. Add back to the freezer and do this every 30 minutes until it is solid or at your desired consistency. About 2 hours should do it, depending on your freezer temp. After that, if you let it freeze overnight, you may need to let it sit out at room temperature for about 15 minutes or so to soften a bit before eating. Again, this will depend on how cold you keep your freezer. I can control my temp so mine only needed a few minutes at room temp before eating. You can also pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds too if you like.
- If you want an extra chocolate syrup dose, just melt some extra chocolate chips and drizzle on top and it will freeze immediately like a magic shell. YUM. Now, after you eat this ice cream, come back and leave me feedback telling me how much it rocked your world like it did ours!
- Tip on freezing: Each time you let ice cream sit out and thaw, you encourage ice crystals to form. So, you can freeze the ice cream base in individual servings and just take out your serving each time you want some ice cream. Or, when removing the ice cream to thaw, the condensation that forms underneath the lid, make sure to wipe that each time so it doesn't refreeze and drop ice crystals into your ice cream.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition per 1/2 cup: 244 calories, 14.8g fat, 3.5g protein, 28g carbs, 3.1g fiber, 18g sugar, 81mg sodium
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Forgot to rate this. Deserves more than 5 stars. Pure genius!!
Delicious and super easy. Made this for my newly vegan husband’s birthday. We all loved it!
Wonderful to hear that!
Holy cow, Brandi! You’ve outdone yourself! I snuck so many tastes as I transferred this from my blender to the freezer container and could have eaten it all like that! It’s so creamy and delicious and chocolatey! It’s better than any fancy ice cream I’ve overpaid for in the past. I’m so in love with this recipe and can’t wait to make it for friends and family! Thank you thank you thank you for this!
Is it ok to use chocolate truffles instead of chocolate chips?
Truffles? Like the homemade kind that mixed chocolate, milk and other ingredients that are soft and creamy? If so, no, that won’t work because the texture and taste is different. It needs to be chocolate chips, semi-sweet. Chocolate chips can be found anywhere in grocery stores and online.
Hi Brandi! Thanks for this recipe, I would like to try it! I live in Italy and in this period it is difficult for me to find American sweet potatoes in the shops. How can I replace this ingredient? Thank you very much!
Hi Maria, that is tough since that is a key ingredient to the ice cream, can you find any type of sweet potato or a gold potato?
Yes, Brandi. I can find yellow and red potatoes. Are both equally good? Should I change the proportion of the ingredients then? Thanks a lot!
Use the yellow potatoes, it won’t have the exact same texture as the sweet potato, but should still be good! Use the same amount.
Thanks a lot! You’re so kind!
Hi Brandi, I’m Maria again. Just this morning I managed to find American sweet potatoes! I did not believe my eyes! Now I would like to make your ice-cream, only that I don’t have a microwave. 😣 How can I cook potatoes? Thanks
Hi Maria, please see step 1 in the directions, it’s listed right there.
Good morning Brandi! Last night I tried to steam the potato. It was the only solution available to me and then I continued as per recipe. Today I’ll taste it but I think it came really tasty!😍 I followed the freezer method because I don’t have an ice cream maker. I wanted to ask you for advice: for how many days can I consume this ice cream? Because it contains unboiled coconut milk and I don’t know if it’s possible to keep the product for many days. If it’s possible, I’ll make a large supply of ice cream so I keep it ready for use! 😁Thanks so much!
It’s totally safe in the freezer. But homemade ice cream is usually only good the first week, as I find it starts to get too icy the longer it sits
Hi Brandi! Thanks again! Then I will made it from time to time. This afternoon I had my break with some of your ice cream! Really delicious! 🤩 The only thing is that I had to take the ice cream container out of the freezer for more than half an hour before eating it because it was a single hard block. Is it normal to have to put it out all this time before?
No, that’s not normal. 10 mins maybe but not 30. Several factors, one, you steamed them potato which adds extra water, which makes ice cream more icy. Second, what kind of coconut milk did you use? Lastly, depending on how cold you keep your freezer, it can vary how long you need to take it out beforehand.
Hi, do you think this would work with oat milk? It has about 3.0g of fat per 100ml, so less than lite coconut milk. Thanks so much!
Hi Amy, it will be a lot icier, lite coconut milk is best. So, you may need to let it thaw quite a bit at room temperature.
What an awesome sounding recipe! Because of all of my food allergies, it’s been a challenge finding some ice cream recipes that work for me! This one has potential, if I am able to make a a substitution: I’m allergic to coconut, so instead of that, can I use the same amount of Rice Milk instead? Also, when microwaving the sweet potato- how long do I microwave it for and do I wrap in a damp paper towel?!
Thanks for any help!
Hi Mayen, the lite coconut milk is very important because of how creamy it is because of the fat in it. Rice milk is very watery and you would end up with very icy ice cream, so I would not recommend that at all. Is there another fat creamy milk you can use? Otherwise, maybe try adding 1/4 cup raw cashews and blending that up with the rice milk. That is all I can think of, but don’t know how it would change the recipe.
Thank you for getting back to me, I’m also allergic to cashews. The only other alternative I could think of to add to the rice milk along with the rest of the recipe is Avocado. That could provide some of the fat lacking in the rice milk. What do you think? I just made another vegan recipe of ice cream and used my rice milk with some avocado and it turned out well. Hoping the same for this recipe!
Hello! Just wanted to follow up and see if you got my last question regarding adding avocado with the rice milk? I’ve added a small avocado smashed into another ice cream recipe along with the rice milk and it worked out well. Do you think it could work in this recipe? Maybe adding a little canola oil as well? Thanks for any input! Mayen
I really can’t say if that would work without having tested it. I can only vouch for the above written recipe. Rice milk is so very watery, so even with added avocado, I don’t see how it would help. Why not try oat milk or another milk that is creamier? There are so many milks on the market these days and rice milk is probably the most watery. The coconut milk is very very creamy and makes a huge difference. Can you do sunflower seeds? Try adding those instead of the cashews with the rice milk, as sunflower seeds do make things creamy. Hopefully you have a vitamix to get it super smooth? You could always try the oil, but I have never done that, so again, it could work, I just don’t know!
yes wrap the potato in a damp papertowel for 4-5 minutes. Honestly I can’t give an exact time, as that will depend on the size of potato you are microwaving. It should be squishy soft, remove the skin and then measure/weigh.
This one surprised me. I did not expect that making ice cream from a sweet potato would be so good.
Kudos on this original idea.
I used two bars of dark chocolate instead of the chocolate chips. With a high speed blender I only softened the chocolate. Q