This keto ice cream recipe has a rich vanilla flavor and a super smooth, creamy consistency. It’s easy to make and stays soft and scoopable in the freezer. It’s the sugar-free ice cream of your dreams!
Well it’s about time I updated this recipe for keto ice cream. It’s one of my all-time favorites and it always gets rave reviews.
Don’t panic, though. I didn’t change the recipe itself, since it’s absolute perfection as it is (she says humbly). I’ve been making this delicious low carb vanilla ice cream recipe the exact same way for over 10 years now. And I make a batch every few weeks so that I have it on hand when I want it. It’s absolutely sublime with some Keto Caramel Sauce drizzled over it.
But I truly want everyone to get the best out of my recipes. With that in mind, I have updated the helpful information and added tips in this article. Because you deserve to have the creamiest, dreamiest sugar free vanilla ice cream in your freezer too!
Why you will love this recipe
Prepare to be AMAZED! This is no ordinary keto ice cream recipe. Oh no, my friends, not at all.
This ice cream has magical properties and should not be underestimated. Sure, it looks like regular vanilla ice cream and tastes like regular vanilla ice cream. It even behaves like regular vanilla ice cream.
And that, my dear readers, is exactly the point. It has the truly astonishing property of staying soft and scoopable, even after several days in the freezer. And it’s entirely egg-free and has no added sugars, which makes it all the more astonishing.
If you’ve ever made your own sugar-free ice cream at home, you know that this is no small feat!
Why it works
The magic of this stay-soft keto ice cream comes down to a few little tricks.
The first is using my keto condensed milk as the ice cream base, which contains a mix of both allulose and erythritol. These sweeteners have a symbiotic relationship, with each one making up for what the other lacks. If you’ve ever made ice cream with just erythritol, you know how rock hard it gets in the freezer. I’ve tried doing just allulose but then it never firms up at all and stays like soft serve. Together, they are perfect.
The condensed milk also contains a little bit of xanthan gum. Xanthan is often in commercial ice creams because it inhibits recrystallization, so the ice cream doesn’t get icy.
This sugar free ice cream recipe also contains a touch of alcohol. This raises the freezing point of liquids so it also reduces iciness. It is not enough to affect even a child (yes, I do feed my kids this ice cream), as it amounts to about half a teaspoon per serving. That said, the choice to include it is up to you.
Reader Reviews
“Best ice cream EVER. Have made it numerous times and it turns out perfect and delicious. Thanks, Carolyn!” — Anna
“I have tried several vanilla ice cream recipes and haven’t been pleased. This one is delicious. The salted caramel recipe was also delicious. I can’t wait to try all the other flavors that she has created.” — Becky
“Once again, you’ve hit the mark. I used your adaptation to make your Browned Butter ice cream and the result was exactly as you said. Thanks for continuing to work on Keto everything.” — NK
Ingredients needed
- Sugar Free Condensed Milk: You will need to make my recipe for sugar free condensed milk prior to making this ice cream.
- Heavy cream: If you want to lighten the ice cream a little, you can replace half of the cream with nut milk or other low carb milk.
- Additional sweetener: Using a powdered sweetener avoids any grittiness in the ice cream.
- Vodka: This is optional, but it does help reduce iciness from occurring. Don’t worry, it only amounts to about ½ teaspoon per serving
- Pantry staples: Vanilla extract and salt.
Step-by-step directions
1. Prepare the condensed milk: Make the sugar-free condensed milk according to the directions and let cool to room temperature.
2. Add the remaining ingredients: Whisk in the heavy cream, powdered sweetener, vodka, vanilla extract, and salt.
3. Taste test: Taste the mixture and adjust sweetener to taste. You can use additional Bocha Sweet or allulose here but because it’s granular, you will need to whisk for a while to dissolve it properly.
4. Refrigerate and churn: Chill the mixture at least one hour and up to overnight, then pour into the canister of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
5. Freeze: Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Tips for Success
I highly recommend churning this in a proper ice cream maker like this Cuisinart model. I had one for years and it always worked well for me (I now have a larger compressor-style model). Don’t forget to freeze the canister for at least 12 hours before you churn!
The ratio of sweeteners is very important. Too much erythritol and it is less scoopable. Too much allulose and it becomes so soft, it takes days to firm up properly. It also melts very quickly when out of the freezer.
If you can’t access allulose, try using xylitol. Just remember that it is toxic to dogs so keep it away from your pets.
No ice cream maker?
Don’t want to purchase yet another piece of kitchen equipment? You can still make this recipe. While churned recipes have better texture, I also have plenty of experience with no churn keto ice cream. It’s a relatively simple adaptation.
To make this keto ice cream without an ice cream maker:
- Make the condensed milk as directed. Let cool to room temp and then whisk in the vodka and salt.
- Whip the heavy cream with the powdered sweetener and vanilla extract until it holds stiff peaks.
- Pour in the condensed milk and fold these two together until no streaks remain.
- Transfer to a container and freeze at least 6 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
This keto vanilla ice cream recipe has 2.4g of carbs and 0g of fiber per serving. That comes to 2.4g net carbs per serving.
Once your ice cream has set, store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Unfortunately, I have not had much luck making this with ingredients like coconut milk or coconut cream. It always freezes harder and has a more icy texture. So I do not have a good dairy-free equivalent.
More delicious low carb ice cream recipes!
- Keto Strawberry Ice Cream
- No Churn Coffee Ice Cream
- Keto Chocolate Ice Cream
- Maple Walnut Ice Cream
- Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream
Keto Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Sugar-Free Condensed Milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream (can replace half of the cream with nut milk, coconut milk, etc.)
- 3 tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 ½ tablespoon vodka (optional, helps reduce iciness)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Make the sweetened condensed milk according to the directions and let cool to room temperature.
- Whisk in the heavy cream, powdered sweetener, vodka, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Taste the mixture and adjust sweetener to taste. **You can use additional allulose here but because it's granular, you will need to whisk for a while to dissolve it properly.
- Chill the mixture at least one hour and up to overnight, then pour into the canister of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's directions.
- Once it reaches soft-serve consistency, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Becky says
I’ve made a lot of ice cream, but my husband says this one is the best! He’s not even keto! This last time I bought keto dough bites from Enlightened and added those. Divine!!
Lisa says
Just tried this for the first time-I’ve made your sweetened condensed milk before, but this time I noticed it seemed to reduce a bit differently. Maybe I simmered it longer?
Either way, I foolishly reduced the vodka down to one tablespoon and should’ve just listened because it’s a rock! A rich, creamy, ridiculously delicious rock that went perfectly on top of a warm, gooey keto brownie. I’ll be revisiting again and won’t deviate from the vodka amount next time!
Rayna says
We love your recipes and cookbooks Carolyn! I’m a bit confused on this one though. Your post discusses the importance of Bocha sweet and xanthan gum, but neither of these are listed in the recipe ingredients list or mentioned in the recipe instructions. Please help clarify. I’d love to make this!
Carolyn says
You need to click through, the BochaSweet is in the condensed milk!
Dianne says
Love this recipe. I made the pumpkin ice cream. I was wondering why it is made different from this one. No vodka or condensed milk. It was a bit hard . Thanks
Carolyn says
Because I have made many different ice cream recipes at different times.
Lauren says
Hi Carolyn,
I continually make and love this recipe. Made the condensed milk today o make ice cream tomorrow. But I blew it, because my son asked for strawberry ice cream and I assumed it was the same base! Can I meld the no churn strawberry into this one somehow? Thanks, Lauren
Carolyn says
I can’t see why not!
Steph says
Holy crap this is good. I followed almost to the letter except a little less sweet, added a vanilla bean and Laphroaig scotch whiskey which is essentially a campfire in your mouth…. It came out so creamy and addicting. Not helpful for Keto with so many calories but way less carbs than traditional ice cream.
Sofia says
I used the above recipe to make Keto Magnums. I just ladled the ice-cream into ice-cream moulds and covered with 90% melted chocolate. Delicious!
Austin says
Carolyn, in your “TIPS FOR PERFECT HOMEMADE KETO ICE CREAM” you said
The sweeteners: This is the most critical component of making homemade keto ice cream that stays soft and scoopable. It’s non-negotiable, folks. You need a mix of two sweeteners or it won’t work. The first should be powdered Swerve, and the second should be Bocha Sweet (allulose and xylitol should also work here).
However, in the ingredient section listed only one “3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener” . so should i use 1.5 each and both are powdered?
Carolyn says
Hi Austin… you need to click through to the sweetened condensed milk, which is a critical part of the recipe.
Melissa Z says
This is my second time to make ice cream, the first was the peach recipe. I made the sweetened condensed milk and was very impressed w the results! Since the peach ice cream was so rich, I used 1/2 cream and 1/2 half n half for the ice cream and it still came out REALLY rich. However something odd happened. I have the cuisinart compressor 1-1/2 qt ice cream maker. It’s a little loud but then it sounded like it was dragging for the last 15 minutes. My ice cream came out in a ball, the inside of the bowl had to be scraped with a spoon (it was like frozen butter). The outside edges of the ball add “flaky” spots. Other than the half n half substitute, I did add about 1T of cinnamon on a whim after I put the ice cream in to churn. What caused the flaky ice cream? It tastes great and has a creamy texture. The flaky stuff melted and tastes like the ice cream. I love your recipes!
Carolyn says
So I don’t know about the flaky bits but it sounds like you churned it too long. You need to watch it in the ice cream maker and once it’s soft serve consistency, that’s when you move it to a container. Mine balls up too and once I see that it’s no longer moving but just clinging to the churning paddle, I turn it off and scoop it out.
Carolyn says
Oh and I have the exact same model of ice cream maker…
Melissa Z says
That’s good to know, the ice cream maker automatically sets for an hour and I let it go so it cycles through everything, What do you do about the cooling period when you turn yours off early? I had some of the ice cream today and it’s the consistency of a thick cookie dough and seems a little dry. It was hard to scoop and stuck to my spoon (like cookie dough). Did I get the liquid to moisture ratio off by throwing in the cinnamon? Or is this what over churning looks like?
Carolyn says
Yes, then it’s DEFINITELY over-churned. Mine is set for 60 as well but I end up taking it out at about the 40 minute mark. I don’t think the cinnamon did anything here but just like a baked recipe, you need to watch for “doneness”.
When I turn mine off early, I just start scooping straight into the container.
Elizabeth says
In the body of the blog above the recipe, you mention xanthan gum as being important ; however, I do not see it mentioned in the recipe itself. How much would you use? And how would you add it to the base?
Carolyn says
It’s in the sweetened condensed milk recipe…
Sharron says
Never made an ice cream in my life but here in the UK it still very hard to find anything keto so off l went to buy an ice cream maker and had a go . So admittedly my first attempt is not as scoopable as you said it should be after being in the freezer for few hours but it is sooo sooo delicious that l don’t really care . Thanks again for all your wonderful and easy to follow recepies ( l am not very good at baking ????)
Carolyn says
What sweeteners did you end up using? If you don’t use BochaSweet or allulose (or xylitol) for part of it, it won’t be soft and scoop-able coming out of the freezer. But very glad you found something to satisfy the IC craving!
Sarah says
Fantastic ice cream recipe!!!!
We are definitely enjoying delicious Keto ice cream. Thank you so much for figuring it all out for us.
Kosher Ketosis says
Could you use rum in place of vodka to achieve the same effect but more of a hot buttered rum ice cream?
Carolyn says
Sure!
Jud says
How would we alter the recipe to change it to a custard base?
Carolyn says
Find a different recipe 🙂 Honestly, I have tons of vanilla custard ice creams on this blog (with fun flavors and additions) so I recommend searching “ice cream” here. This is not one that lends itself to that method.
vanessa says
I am going to try this recipe today but I want to add in a keto cookie butter that I made. I wanted to get your opinion on how I should adjust the sweetener but not affect the texture. My plan is to make the condensed milk recipe as you have written it. Given that the cookie butter recipe has both swerve and brown sugar swerve in it, I was going to leave out the additional 3 tablespoons of swerve in the ice cream mixture. Also I plan on melting the cookie butter before mixing it into the ice cream mixture as it gets hard in the fridge. Then dollop another half cup of the cookie butter in between layers of ice cream after it comes out the mixer to create a swirl. Thoughts?
Carolyn says
Since it has no eggs, you can taste and adjust as you go, but I can’t say for sure how this will work out without testing it myself.
Crystal says
How much sweetened condensed milk do you use? Also if its not sugar free sweetened condensed milk is it still keto?
Mary Van Peursem says
I made this for the first time yesterday. I can’t believe I get to have real ice cream without weird funky sweeteners. This is so good!!! My adult son teasingly accused me of lying about it being sugar-free. Ice cream is one thing I’ve missed desperately since going keto a few years ago. I just bought an electric ice cream maker, and now it’s going to get a workout! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Carolyn.
Marcelle says
Now that summer is finally here I have been DYING for Key Lime Pie ice cream but Halo Top stopped selling it in stores around me so I have to try to make a true keto version – without the benefit of an ice cream maker. Your vanilla ice cream looks like the PERFECT place to start. If I add some lime juice and lime zest and crumble up a few of your graham crackers into it that might just do the trick! If you have any suggestions on this I would LOVE to hear them! Fingers crossed…I’ll keep you posted!
Carolyn says
I do think this will work but to really get lime flavor, you want some lime zest. You’d have to add a LOT of lime juice to really get good flavor and that could make it a bit icy. I suggest maybe 1/3 cup lime juice and two tbsp lime zest.
Kathy says
Hi I just needed to come back and comment on this recipe.
I bought a new ice cream maker-cuisinart with the bowl you freeze, because I wanted to make better sugar free ice cream than what is in the stores.
This recipe is a bit time consuming but the flavor and consistency is amazing. I didn’t change a thing and only needed 1/4 tsp of the xanthigum.
This is really rich for us now (we are in our 70’s) though. Can I use one tablespoon of butter instead of two? didn’t know if scientifically it needs the two. Also after making the first part-reducing down the cream, when adding in the rest of the ingredients-can I change that to whole milk, or almond milk to cut down on the cream. we are not keto but I am making us up many of keto desserts as I have celiac and husband has diabetes and heart disease. wanted to know if this ice cream would still be creamy with these changes?
Also I didn’t get much ice cream in the end-I was thinking churning it would have added in allot more volume? I churned it for 30 minutes and it was like a thick soft serve. if this doesn’t expand I will do a double batch next time. It did freeze well
thank you so much for all your time and work developing these recipes.
Carolyn says
Hi Kathy… leave the butter in, but replace some of the added cream at the end with whole milk. It may be a bit icier but it will still work.
Kathy says
thank you so much
Kathy says
I just needed to come back for a follow up. I am on my third ice cream batch-we love this ice cream. I doubled the recipe because it fits in my ice cream maker better-it’s the 2 qt cuisanart, there is about a half a cup that doesn’t fit-I just use that in my coffee.
The changes I made after my above question.
To the second part of the recipe since I am doubling I need 3 more cups of cream-so what is left in my quart of cream from making the first part of the recipe is around 3/4 cup so I add half and half to make a cup, then one cup half and half, and one cup whole milk.
I do use the vodka, and total I use 3/4 tsp of xantham gum. 1/2 tsp first let sit 10 minutes and then add 1/4 tsp. this churns up so well-and is not noticably icey at all we love. it thank you so much again for creating this recipe. I also got a better churn of the ice cream if I make this up early evening-sits in the frig overnite, and in the morning I churn it-really chilled that way.
A new question I didn’t spot an answer in comments-while churning towards the end can I add fresh blueberries, or chopped up fresh strawberries and will it stay creamy if I do that thanks Kathy
Carolyn says
Hi Kathy, as regards your last question, it’s easier to fold them into the churned ice cream as you transfer it to a container. Otherwise they get mushed up and squished by the paddle during churning.
Angela says
I absolutely love this ice cream! My questions are, can it be doubled and cananything be added to it – like Lily’s chocolate chips or nuts without altering the softness?
Carolyn says
Any additions are fine, they won’t affect the ice cream. Well, fruit will because it has a high water content, but nuts and chocolate chips would be fine.