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.
Hi Brandi
What brand of coconut milk did you use? I use Natural Valur, because its can has a BPA lining, and it has no guar gum, or any other additives. I also wondered if this can be made into Vanilla ice cream?
Thank you!!!!
Hi Mary Lynn! I use Thai Kitchen, it’s my favorite brand, but honestly you can use any brand you want, it is the lower fat version, so a really thick version is not what you are going for here, so any brand isn’t a big issue here. This recipe relys heavily on all the chocolate chips to reach that creamy ice cream texture, because it contains cocoa butter, so this particular recipe can’t be made vanilla. However, I do have a vanilla cheesecake ice cream recipe already on the blog that is super popular with readers. I’m guessing you could just leave out the lemon juice if you want and it will just be vanilla then. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, then you will need to follow the same freezing method as listed above. It may not be as 100% creamy, but should still work. Just let it thaw a few minutes before eating. Let me know if you try it, here is the link. It would also only be 4 ingredients (minus the lemon juice). I do like the lemon juice in it though because it masks any coconut/cashew flavor, so that’s something to think about. I am working on other ice cream flavors as well 🙂 https://staging.thevegan8.com/vanilla-cheesecake-ice-cream-with-caramel-sauce/
Hi, my daughter has a severe milk protein allergy and I started looking around the web for non dairy recipes that we could make for the whole family so she does not feel like she is missing out on anything. I love so many of your recipes. My question is this, I have not been able to find dairy free chocolate chips. We live in a very small town so our shopping options are limited. so I was wondering if cocoa powder would work in this or not?
Hi Tammy! Cocoa powder unfortunately will not work. Chocolate chips contain the perfect amount of sweetness and more importantly, cocoa butter, which is the fat that helps make the ice cream so creamy (in addition to the sweet potato), so you definitely need chocolate chips. Does your store not carry Enjoy Life? If you are unable to find dairy-free chocolate chips anywhere, then the next option would be to order them. I have a link to the ones I used for the recipe above in the recipe. I use Enjoy Life for pretty much all my recipes, so they are definitely worth the purchase! I hope that helps, please let me know after you make it! I would love to hear how your daughter likes the ice cream. Thank you!
I have NO IDEA HOW I missed this post, but I am soooo glad you linked back to it. I legit am going to make this like asap, I’ve been loving banana ice cream lately…but sometimes I just want a legit “milk” based ice cream. The store bought versions mess with my tummy sometimes so THIS IS LIFE right now. Also, I need that ice cream container. HOW CUTE.
DO IT! I’m telling you girl, you will love it! I think this has become my most popular recipe now ever…I’m blown away. Every single person has raved about it, so I’d love to hear your thoughts as well! xo
I made this and I loved it, as did my (non-vegan) boyfriend. I used a different brand of chocolate chips with no issues. The boyfriend thinks it should more accurately be called a frozen mousse. Whatever, it was delish. We put sliced organic strawberries on it and drank a glass of cabernet sauvignon with it. The next time we used black cherries (and the strawberries!). It’s great with those fruits. It did freeze rock-hard because of the low fat content, which is the only thing that prevented me from finishing off the whole batch (scooping it out was a bit of work). There will be more batches I’m sure. Thank you for a fantastic recipe.
Yay! I’m so glad to hear you and your NON-vegan boyfriend loved it so much!! Serving it with wine and fruit sounds like a fantastic idea! Hey he can call it frozen mousse if he likes, haha! 😉 It’s definitely ice cream texture though and depending on how cold you keep your freezer, it may get harder than others. That is why I mention to let it thaw a few minutes prior to scooping. Since it doesn’t contain any fillers/starches or gums, it will firm up a bit more than commercial. Commercial ice creams contain a lot of nasty gums and fillers. But once you slightly thaw it, somehow it is even creamier than commercial, which is crazy! Mine only took 5 mins tops to soften and that was after freezing an entire night. I also use a container I mention in the post and that keeps it much softer. Different containers will affect how hard it can freeze too. Hope that helps!
Thanks again for the wonderful feedback and I’m thrilled you both loved it!
I have some canned sweet potatoes any chance they would work?
I haven’t tried it, but I think so! If they are super watery, maybe just pat them dry a little beforehand. Let me know how it turns out, thank you!
The 4 ingredient chocolate ice cream with sweet potato as a base is AWESOME!
> I have not had a chocolaty ice cream dessert for years and years, and here it is, wonderful!
> I used my Vitamix, worked so fast and very creamy. Just in a Vitamix you have to put the coconut milk first, then the sweet potato.
> Thank you! The world is a better place because of you!
You are so kind Cindy, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback and kind words! I’m so glad you loved this ice cream! Good point on the Vitamix, I used my regular blender for this which is wider so it didn’t matter but with my Vitamix, the bottom is thinner, so that makes sense.
So glad you loved this, thanks again!
I always get aggravated when people rave over a recipe before they’ve tried it, but here it is, midnight and I, not having even bought the sweet potato yet, have to post: what a freaking GREAT idea! I’m trying so hard to eat real food, real healthy but real delicious, and this sounds amazing. Can’t wait to get up in the a.m. and run to the store to get that damned sweet potato!
Also, have to tell you how charming you are, responding to everyone with such positive and enthusiastic replies. What a lovely girl you are!
Haha sounds so awesome Anna! I can’t wait to hear what you think of it! Thank you so much for such a kind compliment, I can’t tell you honestly how much it made me smile…that was so very sweet of you to say that 🙂
I wish I could post this in a HUGE font! I got to the store. Baked that tater. Made the ice cream. Poured it into my popsicle molds.
OH. MY. GOD.
THIS is what the word awesome was made to describe. No weird sweet potato undertones — just the chocolatiest, most delicious ice cream base ever. Honestly, I’ll never buy store bought again.
I did add a couple of ounces of soy milk (my can of coconut milk was light by two ounces) and a splash of Kahlua (it keeps it from forming crystals as it freezes).
Now I’m standing by my freezer, waiting for the magic to happen.
Thanks so much for such an inspired recipe. You’ve made a very, very good day even better!
Awww Anna I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. I’m thrilled you loved it as much as we all do and so glad you had a tiny amount of soy milk to use since you were a wee bit short on the coconut milk, that definitely wouldn’t affect it. Thanks again for coming back and letting me know! 🙂
I tried this last night and it is delicious! Thanks so much 🙂 How can I adapt this to make different flavours? X
Wonderful Laura, I’m so happy you loved this, thank you for the feedback! This recipe isn’t really adaptable because the chocolate chips are a crucial ingredient that make it creamy because of the cocoa butter, but don’t worry, I’m working on other flavors, so stay tuned!!
This is AMAZING!!!!! We loved it! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
I’m thrilled, thank you so much for the feedback Kim!!
Hi Brandi,
Just wondering if it is necessary to use light coconut milk?
Thanks
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn! I have only tried this with coconut milk. Coconut milk has some fat in it, which is necessary to help it be creamy. You are welcome to try a cashew milk or soy milk instead, but I’m unsure of how it will freeze up. I wouldn’t recommend the thinner, less fat milks like almond, rice or oat. Definitely don’t use all fat coconut milk because then it will be TOO creamy. Let me know how it turns out, thank you!
Do you think I could use homemade coconut milk for this? I make mine with unsweetened shredded coconut, because the canned one is extremely expensive where I live!
Yes, I think that would work just fine! I use the low-fat here in this recipe, so a homemade one should be just fine, as long as it’s not the overly creamy fat kind. Let me know how it turns out!
My daughter is allergic to dairy, wheat, soy, and banana so there are very few deserts and even fewer GOOD deserts that we get to have. This one was allergy friendly AND good!!! Thank you for taking the time to make it and blog it for us!!! Loved seeing her chocolatey face after enjoying this ice cream 🙂 🙂
Aww I’m so happy to hear this Jaime! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback and I’m so happy your daughter loved it as well!!
Finally trying it! I have been gone all summer and havent had a chance to make it. Im finding out I have issues with dairy and I’m so excited to try this. Off to go make it! I’ll update soon 🙂
Oh, I can’t wait to hear, thank you Kyler!
OH MY GAWD! you are da bomb!! When I saw this recipe come through, my first thought was, what? sweet potato?? But I knew I had to try it because of the success with your other recipes. I finally made it today and it is in the freezer as we speak. My taste testing before it went into the freezer, um let’s say I could have kept tasting it. With only 4 ingredients, how can you not make it?? THANK YOU for helping me feed my family with all your amazing recipes.
Thank you so much Tami for the amazing feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much!! I really appreciate you making my recipes and you taking the time to provide feedback.
This recipe blew my mind! It’s so simple, and truly tastes exactly like dairy chocolate ice cream!! I didn’t have any light coconut milk on hand, so I just went with the full fat that I had and it worked fine, but I’ll definitely be trying it again with the light coconut milk. I don’t have an ice cream machine, so I blended the mixture in my vitamix, then poured it into a glass mixing bowl and mixed it every 30 mins with a hand mixer for about 5 cycles. This worked really well! I had been deprived of homemade ice cream thus far because I thought the ice cream machine was essential!!
All of your recipes I have tried have been wonderful and they are so creative! I consider you a whole foods vegan genius! (: Your site has become my go-to any time I want to make something! There are many vegan blogs I enjoy looking at from time to time, but only yours in 100% in line with my nutritional goals, no modifications necessary! Thank you so much!!
Wow April, I am so happy to read this feedback! I just got your other 2 feedbacks on the cream cheese and toffee cake and I have to tell you, you made my day with your wonderful comments! Your words are so thoughtful and thank you for taking the time to write them out to me. You are so incredibly kind and I am beyond thrilled that you are enjoying my recipes so much. Thank you!!
I LOVE this ice cream recipe, but mine did get extremely hard in the freezer. Any tips? Does the container make a difference?
Hi Rhonda! So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I’ve noted that if you let it completely freeze, you will need to let it thaw maybe 15 mins before eating. 🙂 However, I use the ice cream container I’ve linked above that is specifically insulated and it actually keeps mine much softer than just a regular container. This doesn’t contain any fake ingredients, gums or oils like commercial ice creams, so it will freeze a bit different but becomes super creamy after you let it thaw a few minutes. You didn’t sub any ingredients did you? Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you for your response. I did substitute Organic Raw Cacoa Powder for the chocolate chips. Do you think that would made a big difference? Also, I used a glass bowl. I need to get one of the ice cream containers.
Oh my gosh, yes! The chocolate chips have a ton more fat in them than cocoa powder which helps tremendously with it’s creaminess. You won’t get near the same texture result with cocoa powder, the flavor will of course be a lot less sweet too. If you try it again as the recipe, I promise you’ll notice a big difference! ?
I made this last week with the kids and OMG Brandi! It’s amazing! My son HATES sweet potatoes, and my husband is an ice cream snob, and they both loved it also! I love how easy it is, good for you ingredients, and fudge-creamy like in consistency! The chocolate flavor is right on and I can’t even taste the sweet potatoes! This will definitely be a staple ice cream in our freezer. Thanks Brandi!
Yay! So very happy to read this feedback Anjali! So happy that everybody loved it so much! My hubby hates sweet potatoes too and he had NO clue! I personally love sweet potatoes, but I sure as heck don’t want to taste them in ice cream, so that was crucial for me as well. Thanks so much for letting me know how it all turned out!
Hi Brandi!!
Thank u so much for ur awesome recipes!!! Love love them.. Hubby and i are not even vegetarians, leave alone vegan. But we are slowly making the transitions. Albeit it is very hard as we find it really hard to feel full without meat, cheese or excess carbs! But we are getting there.. Baby steps :p
So besides that, i have a very very crucial and of utmost importance to ask u!!! WHERE DID YOU GET THE ICE CREAM CONE CUPS?! Pleaseeeeee tell me!! <3
Much love,
Elly
Hi Elly, I’m so sorry I somehow missed this comment! So happy to hear you are loving the recipes, thank you! I actually got those ice cream cones at a store called Anthropologie, but I just checked online and it says they are no longer available. I bought them many months ago 🙁 Maybe amazon will have them or they will be in stock again next year!
Ok, I found some on Amazon, they are slightly different, as they don’t have the colored trims, but they look really similar. Here is the link! http://amzn.to/1WdigA8
Has anyone tried using cacao? if so how many tablespoons?
Hi Jenise, cacao will not work. The recipe is based off of using chocolate chips which has a lot of cocoa butter in it, which is the fat needed to help make the ice cream smooth and creamy, and of course is the sweetener as well. One reader tried to use cacao and it was a block of ice. It will not have the results without them.
Tovolo now has smaller versions of ice cream containers available.
They will be great to for portion control.
http://www.amazon.com/Tovolo-Mini-Sweet-Treats-Tubs/dp/B00JRXQ6CC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456580813&sr=8-3&keywords=tovolo+ice+cream+containers
Thank you for the great recipe – I am making it for my Aunt who had to switch to a non-dairy diet.
Oh, that is so wonderful to know, thank you for sharing!
Chocolate ice cream is by far one of my absolutely favorite desserts ever and I’m also a big fan of sweet potatoes so of course this recipe was a must try….
Result: I’m amazedd once again! Oh boy was this delicious!!! 4 people enjoyed this one afternoon and couldn’t stop for first portion haha, it was all gone so no need to worry about the crystallization woops 😀 The texture was really good and the taste wasn’t overly sweet but creamy and just perfect! One family requested that I make this again in the summer and I’ll do so really happily 😉
Wonderful Milla! Thank you so much for the awesome feedback! I’m so happy this was such a hit with everybody! Yay!
We really loved this ice cream. It tastes just like regular chocolate ice cream from the store..no, actually better. We loved it and it will become a regular this summer. I added some walnut pieces and chocolate chips. Heaven.
I’m so happy you all loved this ice cream Estee, thank you so much for the feedback!!
This is so delicious!! Thank you for an easy, fantastic vegan & nut free ice cream! I made this for the first time this week and am so enjoying it – it will become a regular in my freezer 🙂
Yay! So happy to hear you loved it Amanda, thank you so much for the feedback!
This recipe was very easy to follow and the taste was very delicious! Way better than store bought vegan ice cream. Thanks! I plan on making this again… and again….
Thank you so much for this FANTASTIC recipe. I only had full fat coconut milk on hand so I used 1 cup full fat coconut milk and 1 cup full fat oat milk and the result was amazing!!!! The texture was so creamy with basically just a quick stir every 30 min. Store bought vegan ice creams are very expensive and often full of additives. Being able to make this delicious ice cream with ingredients I always have on hand is a win for me!
I must say…. THANK YOU!!! This is the best non-dairy ice cream I have ever eaten!! It out shines any commercial ice cream I have had! Hubby and son even liked it! Please keep up with these great creations!
Yay yay! So very happy to hear that Arlene, what incredible feedback! So thrilled it was such a hit! Thank you for leaving feedback, I really love hearing it!
OH MY. I had no idea sweet potatoes could taste soooooooo good! And that is not to imply that you can taste the sweet potatoes in this recipe, because you can’t. At all. It is just wonderful chocolatey goodness. Thick, rich, wonderful. We love this stuff at our house.
Did I mention I had NO IDEA sweet potatoes could taste so good?
Haha! Sooo happy to hear you loved it so much Jamie!! It’s amazing they are undetectable, huh?! Thank you so much for the feedback!
Hi! Can’t wait to try this.. I tend to prefer full fat coconut milk and I’m wondering if you think that would somehow alter this in a negative way?? Other than it being much higher in fat 😉 but I’m not so worried about that… Maybe even doing half full fat and half light? Did you choose the lite solely so it would be lower in overall fat? Thank you!
Hi Janelle, I chose the lite because the lite has no coconut taste and I cannot stand the taste of coconut in my ice cream. There is a ton of fat in this from the cocoa butter in the chocolate chips, so I didn’t choose the lite milk for low-fat purposes. It is very rich and creamy, so if you want to do some high fat coconut milk, I would definitely suggest just doing half full and half lite, or otherwise it may actually get TOO creamy and taste too strong of coconut. Let me know when you try it 🙂
Sounds amazing. And if all of your other recipes that I have tried are anything to go by, it will be to die for. Quick question re your microwaving … I assume you use a small amount of water in the bottom of the container (as I do) to cook the sweet potato in the microwave, but am guessing this doesn’t create anywhere near the level of moisture from steaming/boiling and why you don’t recommend that. Can’t wait to try this …
Hi Louisa! Thank you so much. Actually, I just wrap the whole potato with skin on inside plastic wrap, it keeps it super moist that way and easyto peel the skin off afterwards. 🙂
Are you using yams or sweet potatoes?
I’ve tried both, either will work.
Pardon me, I have not read any of the comments because there are so many. But saying this recipe is “oil-free” is misleading. Coconut milk is pretty much pure fat, even light coconut milk. It has coconut oil in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_milk
Gina, when a recipe is listed as “oil-free”, that is referring to oil not being added as one of the ingredients in the listed recipe. This recipe, does not have oil as an added ingredient. I use canned lite coconut milk, the only ingredients are coconut and water. In other words, it is a from the full coconut, which is not the same thing as coconut oil, which is strictly the liquid fat extracted FROM the coconut. The nutrition profile is different as coconut milk still has the nutrients from the full coconut, whereas coconut oil has nothing but 100% fat. I do not add coconut oil to any of my recipes. Coconut oil for just 1 tbsp is 14 g fat, that is MUCH higher fat percentage than using coconut milk. Many foods have oil IN them, of course, naturally as part of the whole food….flaxseed has natural flax oil in it, olives have olive oil in them, lemons has lemon oil in them, etc. yet when those are added to recipes, they are whole foods and is entirely different than adding straight flax oil or olive oil as a listed ingredient. This is what I, and many others, refer to when a recipe is listed as “oil-free”. I hope that helps to better understand what that is referring to!
We buy a store brand icecream/ popsicle that is made with apple, kiwi, and sweet potato. It is the creamiest! They have other flavours, but all are made with sweet potato.
For those wondering, I’m sure they’d be fine with other brand chocoated chips. I think it’s the sweet potato that makes them creamy.
Hi Margaret! The sweet potato gives body to the ice cream but it’s actually the fat from the chocolate chips (the cocoa butter in it) that is responsible for the majority of the creaminess, it won’t work with out them 🙂
Brandi! This is exactly like chocolate ice cream. I had a non-vegan friend try it and she was AMAZED!!!
Wow Lindsay, that is fantastic!! Yay! Thank you so much for the feedback!!
I’ve made this twice in the last week. It is so easy to make and so chocolately delicious. Thanks for another awesome recipe!!!!!
Yay, So very happy to hear that Lindsey, thank you so much for leaving feedback!! 🙂
I am so excited to try this. I’ve been trying to make vegan ice cream sans nuts since they are so expensive.
Do you think white yams would work for a vanilla ice cream? I’ve tried coconut based vanilla ice creams but I hate the taste of coconut so as much as I try to mask the flavour I can always detect it.
Any thoughts?
Hi Elda! Sure, I think that should work out fine. I’ve never tried them before, but I don’t see why not! I absolutely hate the taste of coconut milk too, which is why I only used the “lite” here, it leaves absolutely no coconut taste, unlike the full fat kind, but you can always use cashew milk too if you like. The fat is important though for creaminess, you wouldn’t want to use almond or rice, for example.
We made this ice cream in our dad / son summer chemistry experiment activites (along with soap bombs and mozzarella cheese). We followed the instructions precisely and used the microwave to cook the sweet potato. The results were outstanding and delicious. This is a really good recipe. I had five people share the results and everyone liked the ice cream. Good job on figuring out the proportions. So in the true spirit of chemistry experiments, we decided to modify the recipe. However, we did not follow an incremental scientific method (my son is in 6th grade), rather we change several things at one time. The results were not good, but we had fun. I wanted to double the recipe, but then the food processor spilled over. Gads. Then I failed to cook the sweet potato to a completely mushy consistency. The results were a gritty ice cream. I think the best is to roast the sweet potato to get some internal carmelization, but cook it until very very done. Next we wanted to use even less sugar than is contained in semi-sweet chocolates. We wanted to use cocoa powder, coconut oil and stevia in a measured replacement. I think we did this well as the flavor was good. So we had gritty nice tasting ice cream. We will revert back to the original recipe and just do a chocolate substitution. Thanks for the recipe.
Wonderful! I’m so happy to hear you loved this ice cream so much and sounds like your experiment of changing the recipe didn’t work out so well, so I’m glad you followed it correctly the next time, so you could see how yummy it was, haha! Thank you so much for the feedback!
It was EXCELLENT !!! I am IMPRESSED !
So so happy to hear that Dora, thank you so much for the feedback!
Hello Brandi,
Although you published your recipe quite a while back, it looks like people still comment on it. So I figured if I sent a little thank you note, you would probably get it.
I am a French guy who is experimenting with vegetarian and vegan recipes. Not sure exactly how I found your recipe in the first place but the picture certainly caught my attention… and the simplicity of it all, plus the unexpected use of sweet potato, made me want to try it.
Since then, I have prepared four different batches and it’s always a stunning success. Even people who don’t like ice cream (I know, I know) and people who aren’t particularly fond of chocolate kept praising my incredible culinary talents. Of course, I sent them a link to your recipe… as well as my “frenchized” version of it, since we use different measuring units and our chocolat tends to be pretty different from US chocolate.
Anyway, thanks a lot for this great idea! I look forward to trying other recipes from your blog in the future.
Aww thanks so much Guillaume for such a wonderful, sweet comment! I’m so happy to hear everybody has loved this ice cream so much! Thank you for your kind words so much!
I like ice cream ok but it’s not something I buy on a regular basis or have a constant craving for… and when I do, I’m pretty particular because I remember what Ben & Jerry’s tasted like and have found most vegan subs to be lacking in richness.
I have to say this recipe is just perfect. Not too sweet and I couldn’t detect the coconut milk or the sweet potato. Really ingenious; I think I’ve used that word over and over for your creations, Brandi!
What I would like to figure out how to do is to put a thick strip of caramel through the middle of it, a la Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra Core ice cream. 😀 Then I know my life is complete.
Thank you, Brandi!
Wow, thank you so much for the amazing feedback Caroline!! Thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate them and am so glad to hear you are enjoying my recipes so much!
Oh, and I’m working on a caramel ice cream, BUT you can totally make my 3 ingredient caramel and swirl that throughout the ice cream and it will be divine! Just use almond butter for a more neutral taste if you don’t want peanut butter.
https://staging.thevegan8.com/2015/04/02/3-ingredient-peanut-butter-caramel/
Brandi, I have to say that I really liked this ice cream. I’ve tried the ones with banana, but neither my hubby nor I enjoyed them. You see, my hubby is having problems with milk and I’m looking for desserts without it, he loves them. Your recipe is fabulous, but because here in Brazil is difficult to find coconut milk without addictives, I used the low fat regular one and it left an after taste in the ice cream. I’ll definitly do this recipe again, after all it is incredible, but the next time I’ll use homemade coconut milk and I’m certain that I’ll not only like it, but will LOVE it. For sure I’ll try some of your other recipes too. Please keep up the wonderful work with your recipes ?
So happy to hear it was such a hit Cacau! thank you so much for the kind words and feedback!
Too much vanilla ??? otherwise great recipe
Hi Leia! So glad you liked it! Hmm, that’s odd, you shouldn’t taste vanilla, just a rich chocolatey flavor. I’ve never heard that from other readers before and I, myself, do not taste vanilla and I make this often. It isn’t really that much and it helps prevent icy-ness. Maybe you have a really strong one? Anyways, glad you liked it!
Maybe it’s just my vanilla then lol. It was really strong in mine. It’s less noticeable the more you eat tho ?
Haha, too funny! 🙂
What a find! Made it yesterday for the first time.
I modified the recipe a little because I wanted to use unsweetened raw cacao nibs so that I would have control over what sweetener is used.
I ended up grinding the raw cacao nibs in a coffee grinder then mixing with 3 T coconut oil to make a paste.
Then used 12 drops of liquid stevia for sweetener.
Since I miscalculated and only cooked 1/2 cup of sweet potato, I had to recalculate the other ingredients.
Cut back the 1 Tbsp of vanilla just a smidgeon and it was just right.
I use a GoSun oven quite a bit for quick small cooking jobs. The one I have is the Sport a vacuum tube solar cooker.
The Sun Oven is used for cooking in a pot because it is an oven, but it does not heat up as quickly as the GoSun. Plus, I can use it on a partially sunny day, where the Sun Oven really works best in full sun.
Anyway, thanks for these recipes!!! Going to try the cheesecake and cinnamon ice cream recipes next.
Wow, you totally changed the recipe, haha! Glad you liked what you created! I have never heard of a sun oven, sounds fun!
Well, not entirely! Just raw cacao nibs vs chocolate chips.
Good suggestion to put it in small containers so thawing won’t be such an issue.
Wish I had done that!
Hi, what is the choc sauce dribbled over the top?!! Thanks so much!
Hi Catherine! It’s listed under Step 6 🙂
How many servings do you reccomend this be split into?
This was really simple and fast to make. I didn’t have lite Coconut milk. The regular coconut milk made a nice enough ice cream that I didn’t have to stir. I used a silicone ice cube tray and was prepared to put the frozen cubes through my dessert bullet, but it was nice and creamy as the cubes. Would like to have some ideas on how to make a vanilla version…no chocolate. I will be experimenting. Perhaps using a white sweet potato? Not as healthy, but could be worse.
So glad you loved it Fran! Using just a white potato won’t work because it needs fat in order to make it creamy, which the chocolate chips do. I’m working on a white chocolate version though! So, stay tuned! Sorry I missed this comment before!