Maple walnut ice cream is one of my all-time favourites. This homemade maple ice cream recipe is keto, sugar-free, and absolutely amazing. It’s no-churn and stays scoopable even after days in the freezer! And at less than 3g total carbs, you can afford to indulge in this creamy low carb treat.
Okay, so I am usually a chocolate girl through and through. It’s a rare day that you can tempt me with anything other than chocolate. But when it comes to ice cream, I have a few other flavors I absolutely adore, and maple walnut ice cream is one of them. Maybe it’s the Canadian in me, I don’t know. But maple flavored treats have a special place in my heart. And when you taste this no churn ice cream, it’s going to have a special place in your heart too.
I feel like I’ve spent the summer perfecting my keto ice cream game. Both churned and no-churn recipes. And I feel like I have found the secret to perfectly scoopable sugar-free ice cream. Here’s the deal:
You have to use two different sweeteners – you can’t just use erythritol. You can use some erythritol sweetener, like Swerve, but you have to also use another sweetener that helps keep the ice cream soft. Such as Bocha Sweet. I hear that xylitol can do the same as well. And allulose may have the same affect too, although I haven’t tried it.
I know some people won’t be happy to hear this because Bocha Sweet isn’t cheap. But it’s worth it, believe me. You know I am a huge fan of Swerve, which is an erythritol based sweetener. But erythritol and ice cream are not a great match, as the ice cream freezes rock hard once it’s been in the freezer longer than a few hours. Using some Bocha Sweet makes a huge difference, but you don’t actually want to use it full strength. Using only Bocha Sweet results in keto ice cream that is TOO soft and goopy – it stays like soft serve the whole time. That’s why the mix of the two sweeteners works so well.
I’ve found that using half Swerve and half Bocha Sweet results in ice cream that stays perfectly soft in the freezer.Check out this video as proof. This was after a full 24 hours in the freezer…and it stayed that way for the whole week until we finished it up.
How To Make Maple Walnut Ice Cream
For a no-churn ice cream like this, you want a thickened cream base. I basically used my sugar-free condensed milk recipe, except that I replaced the vanilla extract with maple extract. And since maple walnut ice cream typically has a darker appearance than vanilla, I used Swerve Brown for one half of the sweetener. If you can’t get Swerve Brown, you can also do regular Swerve with 1 tsp of molasses. The other half of the sweetener was Bocha Sweet.
Once the condensed milk was done, I let it cool and refrigerated it for a few hours. Then I whipped up some more cream, folded the two together, and stirred in some chopped walnuts. Don’t toast the walnuts for this ice cream, as they can get kind of bitter. You could replace the walnuts with pecans, or you could skip them altogether.
Then I simply spread the mixture in an ceramic dish and placed it in the freezer. No churn ice cream takes a long time to freeze so I left it there overnight. And the next day, it was soft and scoopable, straight out of the freezer! It’s some of the best low carb ice cream I have ever made.
Want more amazing keto ice cream? Check out my best Keto Desserts here!
Low Carb Maple Walnut Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
- 1/4 cup Swerve Brown
- 1/4 cup Bocha Sweet
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 1/4 cups of the whipping cream and the two sweeteners to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Watch carefully as you want it to simmer but not continue to boil. There should be little bubbles along the edges the whole time.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and maple extract. Sprinkle the surface with xanthan gum, whisking vigorously to combine. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
- In a large bowl, beat the remaining whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks. Fold in the chilled maple/cream until well combined. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
- Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and freeze until firm, about 5 hours.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Made this, easy and delicious ????
If I wanted to use an ice cream maker because I am addicted to and love all my kitchen appliances, would I just mix the condensed mix with the unwhipped cream and then put it in the ice cream maker or would it still be better to whip the extra cream before the ice cream maker?
Where do you buy Bocha sweet in Canada?
Thank you, Carolyn, for your scrumptious recipes! They have saved our sanity! No need to feel deprived when eating a healthy diet! I discovered your site early this year when searching for a ketogenic version of the Who Foods’ legendary Chantilly cream layer cake. I have been a loyal fan ever since. Have even bought all of your cookbooks on Kindle. You have covered everything I have needed so far — even the Derby Pie! ???? This recipe will be my project today, testing my new donut pan. Will let you know the result!
I read somewhere recently that a bit of vodka added to an ice cream recipe will prevent it going rock hard, I thought you might like this tip. Apologies if you are the original source of the tip!
I am. But if you make the ice cream with the recommended sweeteners, it will not be rock hard.
IIf I made this with non dairy condensed milk what would make a good substitute for the second addition of whipped cream? Maybe egg white merengue?
I’m honestly not sure. Coconut cream, I guess?
Hi Carolyn, thank you for posting this — it looks amazing. I have an ice cream churn and prefer to use it as much as I can. Will a no churn recipe like this work in a churn, or would it need adapting in any way? Thanks!
I would like to know that to . I just bought one and I was wondering the same thing
This was already asked and answered in previous comments.
Hi! Can I sub Allulose for bocha sweet?
Yes, that should work.
I used Allulose. I’m not sure if you are aware but anything with xylitol is not good for anyone on keto or for anyone that is diabetic. It acts just like sugar and Spike’s blood sugar like crazy. I Know what they claim but it’s not true. So your favorite go to for baking… You might want to switch to Allulose. It’s available on Amazon. And it has zero after taste and no crystalization. You’ll love it as an alternative. I love all of your recipes!! Keep up the great work!
Hi Amy… as a diabetic who tests her blood sugar, I have to say: every diabetic is different. It spikes me a little but I know other who say it does not. Also, I did not use xylitol here. I used BochaSweet. Not sure where you got the idea I used xylitol.
And also… allulose in high concentration makes me very sick – it’s a common side effect for many people. Again, everyone is different, so we need to keep that in mind when “advising” folks what to use.
I just made this – only used 1/4 cup Sukrin gold and that was sweet enough for me. I also added 2 scoops of inulin (unsure where I got the info from for using that in ice cream!)!) However I just put it in my ice cream maker, so unsure what the results will be compared to no churn? Must say the custard was delicious and I added vanilla essence as no maple.
I am sure it will be fine. Next time, if you want to adapt no churn to your ice cream maker, just leave the cream part unwhipped. The ice cream maker does the whipping for you.
Hey Carolyn, I discovered your website about a month ago and have been using recipes like crazy. You are an amazing creator! I have made many of your ice creams and they were all perfect. I just made the maple walnut and it’s actually too creamy. Did I mix the cream too much with the hand mixer ? Or? Any ideas what could’ve happened?
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “too creamy” but if the texture is different from what you’re used to, I think that’s just the nature of no-churn ice cream.
It’s so thick, like paste. It’s not a normal texture for homemade ice cream. I may just have done something wrong and will try another time. All your other ice creams I have made turned out beautifully. Thanks so much.
This is so good! I followed recipe to the tee…amazing. I want to do a strawberry cheesecake one next!
is it possible to adapt this to a churn style?
Sure, just don’t whip the second batch of cream and simply whisk it in as a liquid, then churn. Then stir in the walnuts after churning.
I make this ice cream all the time. It’s my go to. I have used the xylitol instead of bochasweet because of the cost. I did adapt the recipe to a keto peppermint ice cream (with sugar free peppermints and all), but I used only xylitol. That amount of xylitol really upsets my stomach, so that I can only eat a few spoonfuls as a serving. Have you had anyone say that Bochasweet does the same? I’ll fork out the big bucks for it to try it out.
It’s very hard to say, since I usually use Bocha Sweet only mixed with Swerve in most recipes. On Amazon, I have seen reviews that BS upsets some stomachs, but other people say that they have no issue with it. It’s a very individual thing, I think.
Wow, wow, wow.
This is delicious!! I made the base then finished in an ice cream maker. The ice cream stayed scoopable in the freezer.
I sometimes hesitate to try keto recipes because of the cost of the ingredients, but every recipe I’ve made from you has been fantastic!!
Thank you for your hard work!
I’m so glad, Lenita! It’s one of our favourites too.
I made this with converted amounts (because I live in the netherlands) but it turned out waaaay too sweet for me and my family. I used half erythritol 1:1 and half xilitol, each sweetner 0,25 cup converted to grams as if it was sugar. I used close to 600ml of cream in total. I guess the conversion didn’t go so well! Although the ice cream was very scoopable after 7 hours in a very cold freezer, it was so sweet we didn’t want more than one scoop. This morning I unfreezed and added another 300ml whipped cream to it: perfect taste! I hope this also turns out well scoopable tonight!
Not sure what went wrong either, but 1/2 cup of erythritol/xylitol is very low on the sweetened scale (this is about as sweet as 1/2 cup sugar and most ice cream of this quantity would take 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar!).
Any chance your erythritol or xylitol were also sweetened with something else?
The erythritol is also sweetened with stevia to get to the sweetness of sugar per weight, but that could not be it, I think. My guess is that my conversion to grams went wrong. But I want to tell you, after sweetening by taste this icecream is a total winner with my family! Every month or so we come together at my mothers and stepfathers house for dinner. They make their famous juicy marinated chicken and I bring with me low carb dessert. For the first time, after one bite, my daughter (4) looked at me with some surprise, gave me thumbs up and said she really liked it. My stepfather, who is on a strict CICO diet (I know, I know) took seconds! My brother, who prouds himself by always being able to tell if something has sweetners or sugar (he is a sugarburner), asked incredulously if there really was NO sugar in there, took seconds, thirds and even fourths, repeatedly saying “yummy” and eventually calling a bite an “explosion of taste”. Ok, maybe that was a bit overstated but he meant it. He took the leftovers home. The flavours I made were banane/vanilla (half a ripe banana in about 2 cups of icecream) and coffee/chocolate/vanilla (one spoon of each unsweetened powder in about 2 cups of icecream). Together with the caramelly flavour of the condensed cream it is soooo good! So, thank you for this recipe! Also from my family!