This rich keto chocolate ice cream ice cream is for serious chocolate lovers only. Rich and creamy, it’s called Death By Chocolate Ice Cream with good reason! No wimpy chocolate flavor here, my friends.
I often write a blog post thinking about what I have to say about a particular recipe. But today we are going to flip that on its head: what does this recipe say about me? I think this one is speaking loud and clear.
This recipe is saying that I love really rich keto chocolate ice cream. This recipe says that when it comes to chocolate cravings, I don’t mess around. It also says that I am your typical woman, moody and irritable at times, and chocolate is the best way to soothe the beast.
This recipe is saying that yeah, if it’s my time to go, I wouldn’t mind drowning in a big vat of low carb dark chocolate ice cream. That’s what this recipe says about me. Now ask yourself, what does this recipe say about you?
If you love seriously chocolatey keto treats as much as I do, be sure to check out my Death By Chocolate Cheesecake too. And go ahead and check out my Fudgy Keto Brownies while you’re at it.
Updating Keto Death By Chocolate Ice Cream
I originally wrote this death by chocolate ice cream recipe back in 2015. Since that time, I’ve gotten better and better at making keto ice cream so I decided it was time to re-visit this and see if I could improve upon it.
One of the advancements in my keto ice cream making skills is the use of some BochaSweet, as I have discovered that using half Swerve and half BochaSweet produces the perfect ice cream texture. The ice cream doesn’t freeze as solidly, which means you can scoop it more easily right out of the freezer.
I also discovered that I made a bit of an error in my nutritional calculations. I should have increased the number of servings, since the churning process increases the volume of the ice cream significantly (usually by another 30 to 50%). This is an incredibly rich ice cream and I should have said it served at least 10, if not 12.
Because it makes a huge amount of ice cream, I decided to cut back on the quantities of all ingredients when I re-tested it, so this new updated version actually does serve 8 people (½ cup per serving).
How to make Keto Chocolate Ice Cream
I actually made this recipe a few times before I was satisfied with it. The first time, the custard was so thick and rich after being refrigerated that it was like keto chocolate pudding and I could hardly pour it into the ice cream maker. It was so good and chocolate-y, though, I knew I was on to something. I just had to tweak it a little to get it right.
Here are my best tips for making the best keto chocolate ice cream recipe!
Use good quality dutch process cocoa powder
Dutched cocoa powder has been treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize the acidity. It is darker than natural cocoa, and has a richer, more chocolate-y flavor. I find that it also dissolves and mixes better into liquids and cake batters.
My favorite brand is Valrhona, but it’s quite pricy. King Arthur Flour also has a nice dutch process, as does Rodelle. Hershey’s Dark is a good store-bought option as well. I don’t recommend black cocoa as it would be too dark for this recipe.
Use an instant read thermometer
I simply cannot recommend a good instant read thermometer enough. It’s ideal for making sure your meats are cooked to temperature but it’s also great for ice creams, custards, and candies. This is a custard-based ice cream, as it contains egg yolks, and being able to tell when those eggs have reached a proper temperature is ideal for both food safety and for the consistency of the ice cream itself.
Both sweeteners are important
I find myself saying this a lot lately! Trust me, I know it’s frustrating to have to purchase two ingredients to make up for what sugar would normally do, but the results are beyond compare. Using only Swerve will result in a rock hard ice cream out of the freezer. Using only BochaSweet will make it so soft, it’s more like soft serve.
The ONLY substitutions for BochaSweet are allulose or xylitol. Please do not ask if you can substitute monk fruit sweetener. Most “monk fruit sweeteners” are erythritol based, which means they are very similar to Swerve. Which also means that they will cause your ice cream to freeze very hard.
The reality is that for any keto ice cream, you can use whatever sweetener you want. But you will face issues with scoop-ability and will need to let it thaw on your counter for up to 20 minutes before serving.
The vodka is optional
But it does help a lot. Alcohol inhibits large ice crystals from forming, which helps keep your keto ice cream recipes softer and creamier. And 1 ½ tablespoons spread among 8 servings amounts to about ½ teaspoon per serving, which is not enough alcohol to affect anyone.
Thin out the custard before churning
The chocolate custard base is very thick once it’s chilled. Thinning it out with some almond milk will allow it to churn much more easily. Most home ice cream makers would not be able to handle that super thick consistency!
The richest, most chocolatey keto chocolate ice cream!
I have tried any number of keto chocolate ice creams on the market and they all suffer from the same problem… not enough chocolate flavor! I think many companies are so concerned with the final carb count, they reduce the chocolate so much it’s practically not even there.
I myself have made a few low carb chocolate ice cream recipes that simply aren’t chocolatey enough for me.
That’s why this recipe calls for both cocoa powder and unsweetened chocolate. It packs some serious chocolate flavor into this amazing sugar-free ice cream. Death by chocolate is the way to go!
Keto Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- ¾ cups unsweetened almond milk, divided use hemp milk for nut-free
- ⅓ cup dark cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ⅓ cup Bocha Sweet can sub allulose or xylitol
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoon vodka optional, helps reduce iciness
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Set a bowl over an ice bath.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, ½ cup of the almond milk, cocoa powder and sweeteners. Whisk together until well combined and stir until mixture reaches 160F on an instant read thermometer.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking continuously to temper the yolks. Slowly add the tempered yolks back into the saucepan, whisking continuously. Cook and stir until mixture reaches 165F on an instant read thermometer and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit 5 minutes and then whisk until smooth.
- Pour mixture into bowl set over ice bath and let cool 10 minutes. Then wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- Before churning, whisk in the remaining ¼ cup of almond milk milk, the vodka, if using, the vanilla extract, and the salt (the mixture will be VERY thick until these ingredients are whisked in).
- Pour the mixture into the canister of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's directions.
- Once churned, transfer to an airtight container and freeze another few hours until firm.
Sharon says
Oh my gosh! When this was done cooking, it tasted like my mom’s chocolate pudding pie! I just had tears well up instantly! I miss her so much! It was hard not to eat it straight from the pan! I have a new Ninja Creami and I used this recipe for my Creami! I used the lite setting since it didn’t have real sugar. THE BEST EVER TASTING CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM EVER! I’M GOING TO TRIPLE IT NEXT TIME SO I CAN SHARE WITH ALL MY FAMILY MEMBERS! I have to check out your other ice cream recipes! Thanks!
Susan Yakus says
Hi Carolyn. this looks really good, but could you try a Strawberry Ice Cream also? Thanks!
Carolyn says
I already have one. Please use the search box on my blog, it helps you find all of my recipes.
martine says
Made this tonight. It was lovely at every stage. It made an excellent custard and I had to hold myself back from eating it with a spoon. It was very smooth and intensely chocolaty. I followed the ingredients to the letter, apart from adding just a bit more cream to finish the carton. I didn’t quite cool it the full 3 hours, figured I would compensate by churning longer in my Cuisinart ice cream maker (the one with the compressor). But my husband was complaining about the noise, so I ended up only letting it churn for 40 minutes. (both the cooling time and churning time were as per manufacturer instructions, so I figured it was fine). The consistency was more like gelato than ice cream. I licked the paddle and what was left in the bowl and it tasted great! I wonder if I had let it process longer, and/or had waited the 3 hours the consistency would be more like ice cream?
Carolyn says
Yes, because it’s such a thick base, it really needs to cool properly and to churn for a bit longer. I have the compressor model too, and I churn it for almost a full hour.
martine says
Thanks for your reply. I’ll be less impatient next time and start earlier. I had a small scoop this morning just to taste and it’s still very much like Gelato, so it’s lovely already as it is.
Thank so you much for sharing this with the low-carb community. You are amazing and definitively my favourite low-carb ressource.
Judy says
Could I just leave out the chocolate and make this vanilla ice cream?
Carolyn says
No, chocolate adds to the consistency of this ice cream. When working with chocolate, you have to change everything else to accommodate the fiber in it.
I do have a VERY good vanilla ice cream: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/perfect-low-carb-vanilla-ice-cream/
Judy says
Do you have a recipe for vanilla ice cream that has eggs? More of a custard type, similar to the chocolate?
Kathie says
Do you use confectioners Swerve and Bochasweet or granulated?
Carolyn says
Honestly doesn’t matter in this recipe.
Mary Armstrong says
I have made this ice cream twice. I’m not sure why but the finished product seems to have little gritty specks in it. I used the recipe to a T. First time I used swerve regular and the bocha sweet and then I used the powdered swerve and bocha. Could it be the dutch chocolate? I whisked vigorously after letting the unsweetened chocolate melt as directed. Your vanilla recipe is the best! Any recommendations?
Carolyn says
It’s got to be the chocolate if you’re seeing specks. It may actually be the unsweetened chocolate. What brand are you using?
Mary Armstrong says
I used Baker’s. What would you recommend?
Carolyn says
Almost ANYTHING besides Bakers since it’s not very high quality and tends to seize. I think that’s what happened here. Try ghirardelli or Guittard.
Mary Armstrong says
Thank you. I actually have the ghirardelli so I will do a batch with this!! No more bakers in my ice cream 😜
Blanca Spence says
Can you sub the heavy cream with canned coconut to make it dairy free?
Carolyn says
You can try but it will freeze harder. It’s very hard to get scoopable coconut milk ice cream.
Michelle says
So I made this in the am and am know putting it in my ice ceam maker. The mixture tastes great bust has little ”lumps” that didn’t seem to be there before I put it in the fridge. Any idea what I my have done wrong?
Thank you for your help.
Carolyn says
Not sure what happened but maybe it curdled a bit without you realizing it. Or your chocolate didn’t quite melt properly? The important thing is that it turns out okay in ice cream!
Tess says
Hi Carolyn, Love Love the ice cream recipes. Thank you. If I include a tablespoon of food grade glycerin to the recipe would that help to soften the ice cream a little?
Carolyn says
Not really, it’s the sweeteners that make the difference.
Ce says
Excellent creaminess with combining both Allulose and Erythritol-monkfruit. I think I will melt the chopped chocolate in the microwave before adding to the custard. Still little bits of chocolate floating around, still delicious.
Ce says
After a night in the freezer the ice cream hardened up like all the others I made in my ice cream maker. What to do Carolyn? I thought the Allulose and Erythritol combo was the missing method from my previous attempts. More yolks, higher amount of Allulose, what’s the answer since it’s hot in the PNW and it’s ice cream season.
Carolyn says
It may be that your freezer temp is too low. But yes you can always up the amount of allulose and reduce the erythritol.
Annie Rossbach says
Hi Carolyn – I made this recipe the other day & got distracted while cooking the custard base. The next thing I know it’s almost at a full rolling boil. I had a feeling this was the beginning of the end but sallied forth anyway. I let the custard cool down to 170 degrees before moving on with the recipe. Would that alone cause the ice cream to come out hard as a rock after freezing ? Thank you 🙂
Susan says
I finally made this for the first time, using exactly the ingredients listed with no variations. It came out great but a little gritty, I think my swerve didn’t have enough time to dissolve as the mixture came up to 160 degrees very, very quickly at medium heat! Next time I will lower the temp and give it a little bit more time to dissolve fully. I have some Tovolo 6 oz mini tubs and used those to store it, which worked out perfectly to control portions. I’ll definitely make this again, and maybe add a few mix-ins at the end stage.
Amy Cronin says
I followed the recipe exactly, and after two hours in my ice cream maker, it never froze up at all. We poured it into a bowl and put it in the deep freeze. After sitting in there all night, it finally froze up a bit. It is still really soft, though. Any ideas what might have happened? It tastes great!
Carolyn says
What sweetener did you use?
Amy Cronin says
Erythritol and Bocha Sweet. I also added 12 drops of super concentrated Sucralose to increase the sweetness but that has never done anything weird to anything I’ve added it to before.
MARCELLE says
I finally broke down and bought a small ice cream maker even though I had held off in the past due to lack of space. After making this recipe I am SURE glad I did buy the machine! But you must hear the situation comedy that ensued when I attempted this recipe.
I read through it carefully before starting, and then decided maybe I should look for a slightly simpler recipe for my first foray into churned keto ice cream. In the meantime, I told my husband to go ahead and toss out all the ice cubes in the trays that I would have used for the ice bath. They were old and the trays were half empty from evaporation. So, he tossed them down the disposal.
After not finding anything I really liked in other keto recipes I went right back to yours. But now I had no ice for the ice bath. I was spinning around in the kitchen going “What did I do? What did I do?” Then it hit me. I’m sure you could see the light bulb above my head. Lemon peels! Yep, lemon peels. I keep ziptop bags full of cut up lemon rinds in the freezer to clean and freshen my garbage disposal. I would use them as the ice bath!
So, I started prepping for the ice cream. Got all the ingredients measured and ready to go. Had the wet ingredients in the saucepan on the stove top when I reached for my instant read thermometer. I hit the button and…. NOTHING! I stared at it for a second and then screamed “this can’t be happening!” So now I have the cooktop heating up and I can’t even find my candy thermometer. I’m rummaging through junk drawers trying to find replacement button batteries. I finally find one! YAY! Figure out how to o get the thermometer open, get the battery out and replace it. Hit the power button…
NOTHING!
At this point I was ready to pour the whole saucepan down the drain. But NO! I was determined to make this ice cream if it was the last thing I did! I dug around the drawers some more and found another pack of button batteries. EUREKA! This time it worked!
So, I get through the cooking part. And then I get through the ice bath part – utilizing those two bagsful of frozen lemon rinds. I had earlier broken up a few leftover Peppermint Bark Chocolate cookies I made from one of your other recipes (I was trying to see if I could come up with a keto version of a favorite Ben & Jerry’s (definitely not keto) flavor.
Well, I had never done mix-ins before so didn’t find out until too late that they should be put in separately after the ice cream has been churning for a while. Instead, I whisked them into the chilled mix. But the problem is that the ice cream machine I bought has a pretty narrow “throat” to pour the mixture into and before you know it, I had a chocolate river running down the front of my machine and all over the countertop.
By now I was nearly a raving lunatic but STILL I was determined that this ice cream was NOT going to get the best of me! I cleaned up, switched to a narrow spout cup to pour the mixture in and finally got it into the machine.
Now I had to wait patiently while it churned and then pour it into a freezer container. Of course, I tasted in between…and I was FLOORED by the taste! This could NOT be keto ice cream! OOOHHHHH….. MYYYY…. GAWD!!!! This stuff is freaking amazing!!!! I could not wait until it was completely frozen to have my first scoop. It was starting to freeze around the edges of the container, so I scooped from there. Yes…Death by Chocolate is right! If I had died right after that first spoonful I would have gone straight to Heaven!
Thank you thank you thank you! You have been a favorite of mine since I first went keto about 4 years ago (you even have your own category in my Yummly account), but I think today you became my Keto Ice Cream Queen! All hail the Queen!
Carolyn says
Wow! Now that’s dedication to your ice cream 😉
Alison says
I love this recipe! Do you have an instant read thermometer that you would recommend?
Carolyn says
I have a great one my husband bought me but I don’t know where from. I think it’s a Thermapen. I can’t find a good link to it on Amazon so not sure where to purchase it.
Alison says
Thanks! I’ll take a look.
Maria says
I love chocolate ice cream and I would love to make this recipe, but I don’t have an ice cream maker, do you have a chocolate ice cream recipe that doesn’t require to be churned? Thanks in advance.
Carolyn says
I have a number of no churn recipes you could try to modify. Just type “no churn” into my search box.