This no-churn paleo and keto vanilla ice cream is ridiculously creamy and fragrant. Plus, it won’t freeze rock solid, like your usual homemade low carb ice cream!
Oh, and you can find the older version of the recipe now re-labelled as our keto frozen yogurt.
Paleo & Keto Vanilla Ice Cream 🍦
No-Churn & Suuuper Creamy! ☁
We’ve updated our popular keto vanilla ice cream to make it no-churn, extra creamy and with an added dairy-free and paleo option. It’s modeled around our keto chocolate ice cream, one of the most highly rated recipes on the site!
Plus, it won’t freeze rock solid, like your usual homemade ice cream. Staying extra creamy is the ice cream’s specialty.
And did we mention 2g net carbs per serving?! This is truly a bargain when you think that most low carb store-bought ice creams hover around 4-7g net carbs a scoop.
The Method 🔍
Making this no-churn keto chocolate ice cream is a breeze. Think melting the sweetener into (full fat!) coconut milk, infusing with vanilla, whisking in a tad of xanthan gum or arrowroot flour if paleo (which act as a stabilizers here), and incorporating the cooled mixture into whipped cream.
You see, by whipping up the heavy (or coconut) cream you’re incorporating quite a bit of air. And the addition of xanthan gum helps keep your ice cream creamy smooth.
And if you plan on making a larger batch and letting it hang in your freezer, it’s generally a good idea to incorporate a couple of tablespoons of booze into your ice cream. Remember that high alcoholic beverages do not freeze, so they will help your ice cream stay creamy smooth rather than rock-solid. Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll end up with a slushy.
The Vanilla
Using a vanilla bean (i.e. pod) and infusing the coconut milk with it is ideal in order to get that natural and complex vanilla flavor. But you can also readily make it with just vanilla extract (up to 1 1/2 tablespoons).
In terms of brands, we’re huge fans of Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar vanilla for this keto vanilla ice cream. And for pretty much every baked good, it’s seriously the best stuff.
The Sweetener 🍯
Xylitol is, without a doubt, the best sweetener for keto ice cream. It helps to retain the creamy texture (i.e. just like the alcohol, it prevents it from freezing rock solid), and allows you to skip the churning if need be in many recipes.
Having said that, this no-churn vanilla ice cream is sooo luscious, that you can get away with using erythritol with great results too.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
The Recipe Video 📽
With our no-churn methodology, you can whip up any flavor of your choosing! Just note that the ‘coconut mix’ without the cocoa will be slightly thinner.
No Churn Paleo, Low Carb & Keto Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the paleo & keto vanilla ice cream
- 1 vanilla bean (i.e. pod) or more vanilla extract
- 1 13.5-ounce can full fat coconut milk *
- 135-150 g xylitol erythritol, to taste*
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum or 3/4 teaspoon arrowroot flour if paleo&**
- 480 g heavy whipping cream or chilled coconut cream (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract up to 4 or 6 teaspoons if not using a vanilla pod
- 1 tablespoon vodka, brandy or booze of choice omit if using the larger quantity of vanilla extract****
Instructions
- See recipe video for guidance!
- Slice open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds with a sharp knife.
- Add coconut milk, sweetener, vanilla bean with scraped seeds (if using), and salt to a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until all the solids from the coconut milk have the dissolved and the mixture is smooth. If using a vanilla bean, simmer for 15 minutes to infuse the milk.
- Remove the vanilla bean and sprinkle xanthan gum little by little and blend until fully combined. If paleo and using arrowroot, dissolve it first in a tablespoon of cold water (i.e. make a slurry). You will likely have some air bubbles, but be sure to check there are no lumps. Any lumps will be resolved by mixing with an immersion blender (or in an actual blender). Sieve the mixture to a bowl, cover with a layer of cling film (saran wrap) laid directly over the vanilla mixture, and allow the mixture to cool completely. The texture will be thick and jelly-like (don't worry, your ice cream won't have this texture!).
- Add heavy whipping cream or cold coconut cream to a large chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Mix in vanilla extract and the cooled vanilla mixture.
- (Optional): add in your booze of choice (omit if using the larger quantity of vanilla extract). The mixture should be thick but still slightly pourable. And, if for any reason your mixture is too thick, thin it out little by little with more coconut milk. See recipe video for texture reference.
- Transfer ice cream to a sealable container and place in the freezer until frozen (4-6 hours to overnight). And note that you can still use your ice cream machine if you wish (roughly 15 minutes to churn).
- If freezing overnight: take out your ice cream 10-20 minutes prior to serving (depending on your room temp!) and scoop away.
Notes
Nutrition
This looks delish! Can you define coconut creme (need to be dairy free) as opposed to the full fat coconut milk?
Made this yesterday. Whole family loved it until everyone started cramping, bloating, and diarrhea alllllllll night long. You gave the warning about Xylitol with dogs but not about digestive problems in people. Worst recipe ever.
Oh no! Well, there’s no warning because this is DEF not a common reaction (unless you were to eat the whole batch in one go by yourself… but you would get stomach cramps from any ice cream then). What brand of xylitol did you use? Check that it/s not corn derived? The warning for the dogs is here because it’s poisonous to them (similar to chocolate), but that doesn’t mean it’s harmful to humans.
My guess is your cream or another ingredient was bad. It makes no sense that it would be from the xylitol. This came out fantastic and delicious for me!
Certain xylitol brands (particularly those that are corn-derived) can cause tummy stress on some peeps (but usually in VERY large quantities). Happy you loved it Cory! 🙂
The recipe didn’t cause that. The xylitol did. No need to jump on Paola for it. Out wouldn’t matter what recipe you made- if you can’t tolerate xylitol, then you can’t tolerate xylitol. Get mad at it, not an innocent recipe or the person who wrote it and shared it with the world out of the kindness of her heart!
Having said all that, I’m going to try this for my birthday! Thank you for a GREAT recipe, Paola- it looks awesome!
I’ve never used xylitol before but notice its glycemic index is higher than erythritol or stevia.. is it still net 0 carbs like other sugar alcohols?
It’s still only 7 GI, so in moderation it won’t raise your blood sugar much if at all (obviously cannot generalize for everyone). I substract it entirely as erythritol, but I also don’t think this gives license to overindulge if that makes sense 😉
How would using a stevia/erythrytol blend (pyure) or monkfruit (Lankatano) affect the recipe? Thanks, can’t wait to try it.
Erythritol can make your ice cream freeze rock solid (you can see it in the comments a bunch of peeps reporting back on this!). Xylitol or allulose (as I’ve recently discovered) are the way to go 😉 xo
Paola,
I don’t know if this affected it, but I am trying to stay away from xylitol as I do have dogs, and recently tried erythritol in a different dessert which gave me extreme stomach upset. So I’ve opted to stick to monk fruit extracts explicitly. I tried your chocolate recipe and flavor wise, it turned out beautifully, but even with the booze in there I had trouble with freezing, I had to wait at least 45 minutes for scoopability to be acheived, is this due to the monk fruit? Thanks, Nik
Hi Nik! Probably, as it’s the xylitol that acts like an inverted sugar of sorts to keep it scoopable permanently (xanthan gum and booze help too, but they don’t seal the deal). Have you tried allulose? It’s another sugar alcohol similar to xylitol, but its my understanding its not deadly to dogs (confirm this with a vet pls) xo!
I’m so impressed. I made this yesterday exactly as you did (with brandy as my alcohol of choice), and not only is it the best low-carb, diabetic-friendly ice cream I’ve ever had, it may just be the BEST vanilla ice cream I’ve had, bar none. Not to mention the most successful no-churn ice cream in terms of texture. My husband, who’s not diabetic and can eat whatever he wants, was blown away. I’m making another batch for a barbecue with friends this weekend (this one will be completely gone by then), and will try your chocolate recipe next week. Thank you so much, Paola!
So awesome to hear Kate! And hope you enjoy the chocolate one too! 😉 xo!
Can you make a matcha green tea ice cream?
Thanks!
Ngan
This was amazing! I was wondering if I wanted to start experimenting say with passion fruit concentrate (it’s the only way I can find it here 😭) could I substitute the coconut milk quantity for the fruit juice? Or any suggestions how to do other yummy flavours? Thanks darling your recipes are amazing!
I would just add it in at the end before folding in the whipped cream 😉 xo!
So make the vanilla the same as the recipe and add the pulp to the final mix? Thanks darling xxx
This is by far the best vanilla ice cream I’ve made so far and I’ve tried a LOT of them. I liked everything about it…the taste, the texture (adding a tablespoon of vodka and really does keep it from freezing rock hard) and it is now the only recipe I will use. FYI, I used my Cuisinart ice cream maker.
I put mine in an ice cream maker for 15 mins and it got all lumpy. Is that normal?
I made the recipe as it was written (except without the vanilla bean and alcohol) and it’s delicious! Tastes so much like the real thing and so creamy. I made it with a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract but a vanilla bean must make it out of this world. I can’t wait to make the chocolate version. I’m waiting to get some good quality cocoa. Thank you so much for these recipes!
Hi,
I’m wondering if I can use another sweetener like Monkfruit instead of the Xylitol or Erythritol ?? So you think I would get the same creamy soft product ?
thanks
This turned out AMAZING!
Some things I did:
I ran out of Vanilla Extract (had 2.5 tsp total) so I added 2 tsp to the custard part and then 2 tsp of Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup (I use it in coffee) into the whipped cream part and it was REALLY lovely. I also used an immersion blender in the sauce part on the custard so it was absolutely creamy and perfect. I did not use a sieve at all and there were no lumps or bumps. I added 2 TBSP of natural peanut butter (the lowest carb I can find) to the custard on the stove top before blending. It was just the perfect amount for a light and airy PB flavor.
I did use the arrowroot because it was so much cheaper than the xanthan gum at my local store. I think the Vanilla SF Torani actually cut some of the bitterness I experience from the Xylitol I bought (NOW foods). I also used Goya Coconut Milk (it didn’t say full fat on the label, but it wasn’t the “light” version, so I tried it. The whole can was 100 cals I think.)
This really was easy and I’m cooking/baking dumb. I decided to do the custard part one evening and the whipped cream part the next morning to make sure everything was cold. My hubby (anti-diet, man food crazy, snobby carboholic) liked this so much he said “why don’t you freeze half and just put the other half in bowls like fancy mousse”. SOLD, Ladies and Gents, SOLD.
I forgot to give it 5 stars! oops!
Hello. Thanks so much for the recipe! It looks really good. I was wondering if you could avoid buying xanthan gum if your coconut milk already has guar gum, another binding agent, added in?
I get you Kalki, but in all honesty best results are obtained with either xanthan or arrowroot xo!
i am thrilled! Though I didn’t make your ice cream recipe (I followed a frozen custard recipe that I have), I did take your advice and used xylitol after reading your blog post for keto vanilla ice cream. Time after time, when I used Swerve, the frozen custard was rock hard even after adding alcohol and even vegetable glycerine, so I just stopped making it. This time it was absolutely perfect (and I put NO vodka or glycerine in it!). And no crystals either! Thanks so much for your tip. The summer will be much happier with scoopable ice cream!
If I were going to add Lilly’s chocolate chips, approximately how much do you think would be appropriate? Thanks in advance!
In all honesty I would just eye ball it to taste (1/2-1 cup?). Xo!
Question! Your nutrition ballpark says 2g/carb/serving, but when I do the math I’m getting way more carbs (about 14-15g/serving based on 10 servings) all coming from the 150g of Xylithol. Am I miscalculating something? Using 100% pure Now Fods Xylithol.
Thanks, can’t wait to try this!
I’m guessing that’s the net carbs amount. I know sugar alcohols like xylitol aren’t normally included in net carb counts because they have little to no effect on blood sugar, just like fibre is usually subtracted to get the true net count.
yup!
My coconut milk wouldn’t solidify despite the can being put in the fridge awhile. So I put everything in my blender and made sure it was mixed well then transferred to my cuisinart ice cream maker. I ended up doubling the recipe and adding a little cocoa. I had monkfruit sweetner on hand,and used 2/3 of it. It was a little sweet for my taste…which is what led me to double the recipe and add what cocoa I had on hand.It is about at soft serve stage and it tastes like frosty from Wendy’s!Will definitely do this again!Thank you!
Hello! I was wondering if i can use guar gum instead of xanthan gum,since i can’t find it anywhere! Would really appreciate it if someone knew!
It’s a FAQ but no one has yet to report back… it should work to some extent but you’ll need to use a little more
This is the ABSOLUTE BEST VANILLA ICE CREAM I have made since converting to Keto 2 years ago! I have an ice cream machine so I skip the whipping and churn it but that is the only thing I do different. You are a genius for coming up with it. Thank you! I love the froyo as well and that I make with homemade raw milk Greek yogurt. So good!
Oh wow Christine this is super awesome to hear!! Thank you for your comment 😘
Thanks Paola for another fabulous recipe! I did use Xylitol but am going to try it with Swerve or erythritol next time because with a dog around that loves to eat anything that falls on the floor, lick the dishes in the dw etc I was very nervous using it, Basically kicked him out of the house until it was all made and cleaned up and rhen out of the room when we ate it and cleaned up after.
After all that , I do want to tell you that this was fabulous. A little sweet for my keto tastebuds these days( my non keto dinner guests didnt think so) but oherwise creamy, vanilla‘y. I sacrificed a Tahitian Vanilla bean and also used some homemade vanilla extract. The cooled coconut milk mixture was not that jelly‘ish so I whisked in a little more Xantham gum.
Serrved it with a Danish „Rødgrôd“ sauce made with redcurrants from my garden, strawberries and cooked with a little Swerve and a sprinkle of Xantham gum. It was so good. Haven‘t had icecream except for a small sample of Chocolate Halotop in over a year. This is better.
I am looking forward to making the chocolate version. So happy I don‘t have to invest and find counterspace for yet a other appliance!
This is so yummy… I made keto magic shell & added a few salty toasted pecans & it totally satisfied our sweet craving!! Can’t wait to try it with the real vanilla bean, and experiment with adding instant coffee and maybe cinnamon! Love everything I have made from your blog so far… Thank you for sharing your recipes ❤️🍨
Oooh yes! Magic shell and toasted almonds is my favorite topping (or candied pecans yum!). So happy you’re enjoying the recipes Catherine! 🙂 xo!
Hi! I just took it out (after waiting an entire night) and I let it sit out for about 30 minutes. They flavor was amazing but the texture wasn’t at all like the pictures tell. I mean it got better but it looks sort of “crystaly” do you know what could’ve gone wrong?
Hi Arild! Did you use swerve (erythritol) by any chance? In some cases it seems to crystalize oddly (unlike xylitol, which works similar to an inverted sugar to keep in scoop able all the way through). I hope this helped 🙁
Mine also ended having an icy texture. I used xilotol. I thought it might have something to do with the coconut milk not having a high enough fat content. I think I’m gonna try coconut cream next time. Or maybe I didn’t let the mixture cool enough before mixing with the whipped heavy cream.
What do you think?
Hi Ryan! Yeah but in your case it sounds like it was a couple other things- I’m not sure what coconut milk you used but it does need to be full fat or you’re just adding ice not cream. But most important, you absolutely need to chill the mixture before mixing it in the whip cream (the whipped cream also collapses with warmth…) xo!
Have u ever used almond milk instead of coconut milk? My son has some sensitivities to coconut right now. He loves ice cream and missing it so much hoping this will meet his craving!
Just put some cinnamon ice cream in the freezer and I can hardly wait! Licked the spoon and OMG so good. I simmered a cinnamon stick instead of a vanilla bean then added 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder . I am so glad I found your site, you are a genius in the kitchen. Thank you for sharing with us.
Could I use guar gum instead of xanthan ?
Yes, but probably want a little more. Maybe check for conversion charts as it’s not an ingredient I work with xo
This recipe is great! I’m a classically trained chef but keto recipes are not my forte, so these are greatly appreciated! I used Swerve when making this and 4 teaspoons of vanilla. I froze overnight and it’s solid as a rock, 15 minutes doesn’t even begin to thaw it! I’ll definitely make it again, perhaps with xylitol and the extra addition of alcohol. Or I’ll just eat it all at once! Lol
Jenn I’m sorry to have missed your comment earlier! if you make it with xylitol you won’t have to add more booze, it works kind of like an inverted sugar it’s super awesome. Erythritol behaves weird at times and can form some crystals here and there.
Hi, Would Swerve work as the sweetener in this ice cream? I don’t have either xylitol or erythritol on hand and my husband would just love this. Are there any other additions or subs that I could use to make it work? I would appreciate your thoughts.
Hi Judy! Yup, Swerve is erythritol! 😉 xo!
Made this yesterday …..it’s nearly gone today! It is delicious. However, we couldn’t wait for it to thaw. (it took nearly 2 hours, as it was rock-hard) We were spooning it out as it thawed ……OK, we double-dip. We’re family. It has just a slight coconut flavor, but we like it like that! So. Good. I used a Tbsp. of booze, as I was short on vanilla, but next time, I’ll use 2, maybe 3 Tbsps. booze or a lot more vanilla to keep it softer.
Now, I’m anxious to make it in other flavors. How would you suggest making it in coffee flavor? Thank you, thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
I just made this, it has good taste, but the constancy was not what I would expect…. it contains ice particles (like water frozen in ice-cream, pretty much like Popsicle). I wonder if I made a mistake and there is way to make it more creamy/ less frozen particles? please advice.
Hi Vic, this could be because either your coconut milk wasn’t full fat (they also vary a lot from brand to brand). Or your whipped cream wasn’t whipped well enough. Hopefully this helps! xo
Thank you Poala. I think as soon as cream is water free, no matter consistency, it will not freeze or create any ice. I have checked the coconut milk does not say low fat, but I guess i have to try a different brand next time.
I have one more question, did you ever try to add egg yolk to this formula?
Keep in mind that heavy cream does have some water content (its about 38% butterfat, not 100%). So you do want to make sure you whip it well. And no on the egg yolk here, this one isn’t meant to be a traditional ice cream (more like a quick no-churn workaround!). Hope this helped xo!
Paola, last question the nutritional fact is per serving, but I cannot find how much is serving. Is it one scoop?
Yes one scoop!
The metric system makes me angry. Other than that, thanks for the great recipe!
Please just click on US Cups below the ingredients Sean! Readers that don’t read make me angry, other than that thanks for the comment 😜 (obviously kidding, ask away!) xo!
I’m sorry…may have “ posted” the comment more than once inadvertently as was experiencing erratic wifi at home.
Hi…love the possibilities with this recipe. I love that it is eggless. Would like your advice on the same… if I add berries cooked to a jammy consistency as a variation how much fruit would you recommmend for this basic recipe? Would adding uncooked crushed fruit require more thickener?Also what are your thoughts on using gelatine to set the ice cream and reduce crystallisation and hardness upon freezing? Thanks.
Hi Sonia! No gelatine, the xanthan gum takes care of the crystallization. How many berries in all honesty depends on your macros, anywhere from 1-2 cups. Just cook the pureed (sieved if you want smooth) fruit with the coconut milk and then add the xanthan gum at the end. You can then add crushed fruit bits right at the end, after you’ve mixed in the whipped cream etc. xo!
I’ve made this twice. The first time I added more vanilla extract and the second time I actually used the vanilla bean. I loooooove the vanilla bean version! Such a great ice cream and it will be my go to recipe this summer!