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 (SEE NOTES below)
- 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
- I use this scale.
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.
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.
Notes
- MILK: Since this is a vegan dairy-free ice cream, the milk is important so that it turns out really creamy. This is why I use lite coconut milk. It leaves no coconut taste (like full-fat coconut milk) and is creamier than other milks with a different mouthfeel. The brand is important too, as many can be quite watery. The best brands that deliver the same results are the Thai Kitchen Lite, Sprouts Lite and the Whole Foods 365 Light. All work well.
- COCONUT-FREE OPTION: If you can't do coconut, my only other suggestion would be to try a high fat quality almond milk, which the only brand that doesn't fill with all fillers and is truly just almonds and water, is the Elmhurst brand. It's very creamy and delicious, it is sold at Sprouts and Kroger and possibly other stores. Also, the full-fat Oatly oat milk may work. I've only tested this with the coconut milk, fyi, but these are suggestions I think that may work.
I love the flavor and was really good but mine came out a little bit gritty. Can you advise me on may what I did
That is odd, there is no nuts in it to make it gritty. What kind of blender did you use? Was the chocolate completely melted?
This is SO good!!! I’m on a no dairy, no gluten, no sugar diet, and this is SOOOOO good! I ran out of coconut milk and used 3/4 cup soy, and used totally different brands of everything you recommended because I’m living in Israel. It still came out SO DARN GOOD! You can’t taste the sweet potato at all. I can’t believe this is vegan, dairy and sugar free. Thank you!!!
I’m so thrilled to hear this!!