This Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream is made with 6 good-for-you ingredients and takes 5 minutes of hands-on prep time! It’s ultra rich and creamy, and no one would ever guess that it’s dairy-free!
This recipe was originally published on July 2, 2016! The photos have been updated and a step-by-step video has been added just above the recipe card, but the recipe remains unchanged!
This recipe goes out to all my lactose-intolerant soul-sisters (and misters). Those of us who truly can’t eat dairy without serious consequences. Those of us who wish we could go swimming in a sea of ice cream or sail away on a boat made of cheese. Those of us whose tastebuds scream for the cream but our tummies beg us to stay away. This Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream is the answer to all your dairy-less life problems.
I have tried my hand at many dairy-free ice cream recipes with next to no luck. They all turn out icy or rock-hard and definitely lack in the creaminess department. Not this Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream…oh no
I struck pure gold here, and I credit the success to the use of coconut cream! Using coconut cream instead of other non-dairy milk makes this dairy-free ice cream just as creamy (or dare I say creamier) than it’s dairy-full counterparts.
Let’s start with the fact that there are only six, good-for-you ingredients that make up this Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream! It is free of dairy, gluten, soy, and refined sugar!
Plus it can be made vegan by substituting maple syrup for the honey! You can even make this paleo if you use creamy almond butter instead of peanut butter! There are so many healthy options with this amazingly creamy dessert recipe!
How to make Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Let’s continue with the fact that this recipe is insanely easy!
1. Make the Peanut Butter Balls
The first thing you need to do is make the frozen peanut butter balls! Everybody knows that the absolute best chocolate peanut butter ice cream has giant chunks of peanut butter mixed in.
There have been (many) times that I actually added extra peanut butter balls to store-bought ice cream because there simply wasn’t enough! So pretty please don’t skimp on peanut butter in this recipe!
There’s nothing fancy about making the chunks…just dollop globs of your favorite peanut butter onto a tray lined with waxed paper and toss them in the freezer for at least one hour (preferably a little longer) until they’re completely frozen.
2. Use a Vitamix
Next, add all of the ingredients for the ice cream base into the container of your Vitamix and blend until smooth! Then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and let it churn! It’s very important that (unlike many other recipes) you do not chill your ice cream base (meaning the chocolate mixture in the Vitamix)! It must go directly from the Vitamix into the ice cream maker.
The bowl of your ice cream maker must be frozen in order to churn the ice cream!
3. Turn the machine on before pouring!
Important tip: When using an ice cream maker it is crucial that you turn the machine on before you pour the mixture into it! Pouring ice cream into an already moving container ensures that it will not freeze to the bottom or sides, which could hinder the churning process by preventing the machine from rotating.
When your Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream forms a ball and no longer has a liquid consistency, it is done! At this point it could become so thick that the ice cream maker stops rotating, which is another indicator that it’s ready!
4. Put it all together!
Now you’re left with a heap of frozen chocolatey, peanut buttery goodness and your frozen balls of peanut butter! The peanut butter “globs” will thaw very rapidly, especially if you choose to use an all-natural variety. This just means that you need to mix in the chunks as quickly as possible when you remove them from the freezer!
5. Add the peanut butter balls.
You can either mix the peanut butter balls in by hand, or add them to your ice cream maker before the base forms a ball too solid to add mix-ins . Since I am usually doing 1.5 million other things while my ice cream is churning, I choose to mix them in by hand because I miss my window of opportunity! 🙂
6. Freeze
You will have to toss this Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream in the freezer for at least 1 hour for it to fully harden. But trust me…it is so worth the wait.
Something very important to know about me is that I believe Chocolate Peanut Butter is the only flavor of ice cream worth eating. All other flavors are dead to me. If I walk into an ice cream shop and they do not have chocolate peanut butter…or a chocolatey ice cream with the option to add a peanut butter topping, or they have a chunk-less chocolate peanut butter flavor, I usually just don’t order anything.
I know, I sound like a brat…or I could just be a woman who knows exactly what she wants and will settle for nothing less. Yep. let’s go with that.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream: Substitutions & Ingredients
This ice cream is absolutely the best when made exactly as written! There are NO substitutions for coconut cream, you will sacrifice creaminess and texture if you try a different dairy-free liquid.
- Peanut Butter: If you are allergic to peanuts you can use any nut or seed butter! Or go crazy and use chocolate flavored peanut butter or nutella, the possibilities are endless! Although my favorite is simple, creamy peanut butter!
- Honey: Maple syrup can be used in place of honey! That is the only other liquid sweetener I have tried! However if you try others {agave, brown rice syrup, etc} let me know how it goes in the comments below!
That’s it! Since the list of ingredients is super short, so is the list of possible substitutions! 🙂
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Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
Frozen balls of PB
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
Ice cream:
- 1 (14 oz) can coconut cream
- ¼ cup honey Vegan: use maple syrup
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
To make PB Balls:
- Cover an 8x8” baking pan with wax paper. Drop 1 tsp spoonfuls of PB on the waxed paper. Put in the freezer to harden.
To make Ice cream:
- Add all ice cream ingredients in the order listed to the container of a Vitamix (or other high-powered blender).
- Blend for 30-60 seconds or until the mixtures is smooth and homogenous.
- Turn the ice cream maker on and pour the mixture into the machine while it is spinning. (**See note below if you do not have an ice cream maker)
- Let the ice cream churn for 20-25 minutes until it becomes a firm ball or the ice cream maker stops rotating.
- Add the peanut butter chunks at the end of churning. You can add them to the ice cream maker just before the mixture becomes too hard, or you can mix them in by hand.
- Transfer to an airtight, freezer-friendly container and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour, or until completely frozen.
- Makes about 1 pint of creamy DELICIOUSNESS!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream is one of my top 10 favorite dessert recipes ever. I am so excited that I get to share it with the world! I hope that it will be just as life-changing for you as it was for me. Want to take this to a whole new level? Serve it on top of dairy free brownies (recipes here, here, and here) or on top of cookies (like these, these or these)!
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Terry Gardner
I’m just wondering is there anything else we can use besides that coconut stuff I am not a big fan of coconut
Abigail Wenderson
Woah, just loving the recipe. Looking forward to make this for tommorow’s dessert.
Mary
Heey, could i remove the peanut butter?
Laura
I have a different dairy-free chocolate ice cream I’d recommend instead! https://joyfoodsunshine.com/paleo-sea-salt-chocolate-ice-cream/
Dani
So delicious! I increased the cocoa powder by 50% because I wanted a more intense chocolatey flavor. It was creamy and rich!
michelle
Can you use natural unsweetened peanut butter for this recipe?
Laura
Yes absolutely. I do this often.
Cara
I just made this recipe using unsweetened almond milk instead of coconut cream. It turned out amazing. I’m so happy with it. Thanks for sharing!!
Lisa Ray
I love the tray you froze your peanut butter balls on and the same metal print on the metal container you put your ice cream in. Where did you get those from?
About to try this recipe in my new Cuisinart! Can’t wait!
Laura
They are vintage Ovenex pans. I bought them on etsy or found them at a local antique store.
Marie
Made it, loved it! Hubby said he could have eaten the whole container. I added a little brown sugar to the peanut butter before freezing, but it didn’t dissolve so we bit into sugar granules. It didn’t bother us, but I think I’ll try mixing the peanut butter with simple syrup or honey before freezing it next time. I’m not that into chocolate or peanut butter and this really is delicious, will be making again soon, thank you!
Margaret
So amazing! I made with the vegan family I babysit and it was amazing!
Laura
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Margaret!
Angela
I don’t have a vitamix….can I just use a regular blender or food processor?
Laura
Yes!
Tiffany
I’m with you on the chocolate/pb combo, but my favorite is peanutbutter ice cream with hot fudge. Can’t wait to try this ice cream though.
Kathy
I have just placed my first batch in the freezer for the suggested 1 hour wait! I had to go with what I had on hand, given sheltering in place pandemic restrictions so I used coconut milk instead of coconut cream….I taste I had while cleaning the ice cream maker was fabulous!!!! I know this will be my favorite ice cream from here on out! Blessings to you and your beautiful family!
Darcie
I can’t say enough good things about this recipe! I became lactose intolerant about a year ago and have been buying dairy free alternatives from the store, but they just don’t taste the same and chocolate and peanut butter is my favorite too! I was nervous as I don’t like coconut and have been learning to like it. It came out so good and not one hint of coconut taste! My dad can’t stand coconut and when he tried it was shocked! We both couldn’t get over how much peanut butter taste comes through! Thank you so much! This will be my go to recipe from now on!!
Laura
Thank you Darcie! It’s one of my favorites too! 🙂
Jackie
Do you taste the coconut flavor from the cream??
Laura
I never do! But my husband, who I swear is a super-taster for coconut, says he can.
Rebecca
I am obsessed with your ice cream recipes!! I have had some disasters with other recipes, but yours come out SO good!! I cannot believe how creamy and chocolatey this one is. Amazing! Chocolate and peanut butter are my favorite combos, and I am like you-if I go to a shop and they don’t have what my taste buds want then I’d rather leave and not get anything than settle. haha! I would LOVE any more ice cream recipes that you create esp as the hot months are approaching.
Side note-my ice cream maker is the kind that I cannot pour the base in while it is churning. After about 20 minutes of churning the base was very soupy still, and I was getting nervous. I gave it 10-15 more minutes and in that time period it starting forming up nicely!