Homemade coconut ice cream recipe – learn to make the creamiest dairy free coconut ice cream at home using an ice cream maker.

I am officially on cloud 9 with my latest recipe and once you get the chance to make this ice cream I promise you will be buzzing just like me.

Perhaps I’m the saddest person you know or maybe I’m such a foodie geek that it’s the little things that make a difference to my culinary life – I don’t know but whatever it is it keeps me content. Anyway so let me share the details on my homemade coconut ice cream recipe which came about by sheer accident.

I had no intentions of making ice cream, you see I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that’s been gathering dust for the longest time, it only makes a rare appearance between the months of May to August – although I am trying to use it throughout the calendar year.

How the recipe came about

While I was doing some cleaning in the kitchen and rearranging the cupboards I decided to put my ice cream maker’s freezer bowl in the freezer on a whim. In a sense I did want to make something but wasn’t sure if it would turn out as expected hence the reason why I placed the bowl in the freezer and hoped for the best.

While the water inside the ice cream maker bowl was slowly setting I took out two cans of full fat coconut milk from the pantry and thought now would be a good time to explore coconut ice cream.

I absolutely love coconut ice cream with a capital L – I live for this stuff, no kidding. Unfortunately my favourite brand of coconut ice cream didn’t like my gut so in true lactose intolerant style my body would regret it.

For so many years I spend dodging lactose because my stomach simply cannot digest the sugar from the milk. I can consume milk but only in moderation not large quantities of it which is why my website tailors towards being gluten and dairy free.

I could factor in lactose free goods but much prefer plant based milk. Now let me give you the low down on this homemade coconut ice cream recipe, first of all I would summarise it as being foolproof ice cream without the dairy – your carnivore friends wouldn’t know the difference, I dare you to give them a sample but don’t tell them it’s vegan (shhh…our secret!).

I found that in order to yield the creamiest texture, it’s best to serve it right after churning in the ice cream maker. I tested this particular ice cream using two methods, so in other words I was your personal guinea pig “(nothing new there, ha!).

Churned vs non churned coconut ice cream

The first method was churning the ice cream and serving it immediately which resulted in super creamy albeit soft ice cream and the second method was churning then transferring the ice cream into an airtight container to freeze for several hours.

The latter resulted in a less creamy texture and quite firm that need defrosting to regain texture.

Don’t get me wrong both methods result in nice ice cream, however I want to be transparent with my readers and let them know freezing the batch of ice cream will loose its creamiest.

On another note, adding some real coconut pieces to the ice cream make things up a notch. I added shredded coconut to the milk prior to churning which tasted amazing.

You don’t have to do this yourself, but I like it, really enhances the flavour. I added a small teaspoon of tapioca to ensure the milk would thicken to the best of its ability.

More ice cream recipes to try