Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Posted May 06, 2018, Updated Jul 01, 2024
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This dairy-free chocolate peanut butter ice cream is easy to make with 6 nutritious ingredients! It’s rich and creamy, and no one would ever guess that it’s dairy-free!
This recipe goes out to all my lactose-intolerant friends who love ice cream. This dairy-free chocolate peanut butter ice cream is one of my all-time favorite treats. It’s rich and chocolatey with peanut butter chunks in every bite!
So many dairy-free ice cream recipe turn out icy or rock-hard and definitely lack in the creaminess department. But that’s not the case with this recipe.
Using coconut cream instead of other non-dairy milk makes this dairy-free ice cream smooth and creamy and rich.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream: Substitutions & Ingredients
- Peanut Butter: If you are allergic to peanuts you can use any nut or seed butter.
- Honey: Maple syrup can be used in place of honey for a vegan version.
- Coconut cream. Full-fat coconut milk works just as well as coconut cream. I don’t recommend any other substitutions.
How to Make Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Let’s discuss how to make this recipe, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Make the Peanut Butter Chunks
The first thing you need to do is make the frozen peanut butter chunks! Everybody knows that the absolute best chocolate peanut butter ice cream has lots of 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, which is why I prefer homemade ice cream.
I prefer to use pure peanut butter (not add any sugar to it). Simply portion out the desired amount of your favorite peanut butter onto a tray lined with waxed paper. Then freeze it for one hour.
Make the Ice Cream
Once the peanut butter is frozen, add all of the ingredients for the ice cream 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 important that (unlike many other recipes) you do not chill the chocolate peanut butter ice cream mixture! 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!
Turn on Ice cream maker
Turn the ice cream maker 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!
Assemble
Once the ice cream is churned, mix in the peanut butter balls and freeze again.
The peanut butter balls will thaw very rapidly, especially if you use an all-natural variety. This means that you need to mix in the chunks as quickly as possible when you remove them from the freezer.
Either mix the peanut butter balls in by hand, or add them to the ice cream maker before the base forms a ball too solid to add mix-ins .
Freeze/Store
Once the ice cream is finished, freeze it for at least 1 hour before serving. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serve
You may need to remove it from the freezer for 5 minutes to soften enough to scoop and serve. Serve it with your favorite toppings or plain!
Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe FAQs
When stored in an airtight container in the freezer it lasts for up to 2 months.
Yes, but you will either need to churn it in two batches or use a larger ice cream maker.
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Dairy-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Chunks
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
- 14 ounces coconut cream
- ¼ cup honey (or maple syrup)
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
Make the Peanut Butter Chunks
- Cover an 8×8” baking pan with wax paper. Drop 1 teaspoon spoonfuls of peanut butter onto the waxed paper.
- Put the baking pan in the freezer until the peanut butter is hardened.
Make the Ice Cream
- Add all ice cream ingredients in the order listed to the container of a blender.
- Blend for 30-60 seconds or until the mixtures is smooth.
- Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the mixture into the machine while it is spinning. (**See note below if you do not have an ice cream maker)
- Churn the ice cream 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 the ice cream to an airtight, freezer-friendly container and freeze for at least 2 hours, or until completely frozen.
Video
Notes
- Peanut Butter: If you are allergic to peanuts you can use any nut or seed butter.
- Honey: Maple syrup can be used in place of honey for a vegan version.
- Coconut cream. Full-fat coconut milk works just as well as coconut cream. I don’t recommend any other substitutions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am going to try and make this SO HARD! May be a little tricky as I live in Korea, but I need this in my life.
Oh my god this looks AMAZING! My mouth is watering and it’s still 9am LOL. I love how you froze the peanut butter bites to add in yum yum yum.
Great blog, babe!
xo Anna Elizabeth
http://www.annaelizabethevents.com
It’s NEVER (ever) too early for ice cream!!!! 🙂
First, this looks and sounds amazing. However,I need some clarification please. First you state “It’s very important that (unlike many other recipes) you do not chill your ice cream base. It must go directly from your Vitamix into the ice cream maker.” Then the recipe instructions say “Put mixture in the fridge to cool for at LEAST 1 hour, preferably 3 (while peanut butter balls freeze). Which is the best to do? Chill first or not? Thank you.
Gayle!!!! Thank you SO SO Much!!! I wrote a rough copy of the recipe and tried chilling it first but it became very thick in the fridge and did not churn well in the machine at all…looks like I used the wrong draft! Yikes! I fixed it though so no more confusion! Thank you times a million! I can’t believe I missed that!
Those peanut butter chunks.
I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED <3
LOL Kristy!!!! Since you and I have the same dinner brain (first eggs then salads loaded with all the same ingredients) how about you cook dinner and I’ll make dessert and we can make it a date?! 😉
This looks soooo good. I wish I had a very large bowl of this right now … and I have to say, this is probably my all-time favorite ice cream flavor. Living in Spain, where there is an overall aversion to all things peanut butter (I have no idea what they’re thinking!!) I have started becoming obsessed with trying to create what I can’t find here at home. What are my prospects of making this ice cream without an ice cream maker??
Hey AJ!!! What?! I am obsessed with Spain (it is my dream to visit one day!) but hearing that there is a general peanut butter aversion is seriously alarming! 😉 If you do not have an ice cream maker you can still make this…after you make the ice cream put it in the freezer, then stir every 15-20 minutes or so until it’s hardened. It will be more dense and you’ll probably have to let it sit on the counter for a little longer before scooping to soften…but it’ll still taste amazing! ????
Totally worth manually churning … and if you ever visit Spain, pack peanut butter or hit me up and I’ll share my hoard with ya!
LOL! Praise the Lord for Amazon Prime and Vitacost (or your favorite online health food store) for the ability to hoard peanut butter even in the most hostile environments! 😉
OH WOW… I am totally just so thankful that you posted this, because we have a sister in Christ who is staying with us at our house, and she is dairy free. I have a can of coconut cream too. This is going to be wonderful!
Emily!! Coconut cream is a dairy-free eater’s DREAM! It is so rich and delicious, especially as an ice cream base! I hope you have an amazing weekend with your sweet sister in Christ! And that it involves lots of chocolate and peanut butter! 🙂
Wow, this looks absolutely DELICIOUS. Seriously, my mouth is watering. I love that it’s so healthy, and yet it literally looks just like ice cream. Sadly, I don’t have an ice cream maker. This recipe is making me really want to buy one though.
Thanks so much for sharing! <3
Hey Savannah!! Thank you so much! It’s hard not to salivate at the sight of chocolate peanut butter anything…let alone creamy ice cream! 🙂 If you don’t have an ice cream maker (which I HIGHLY recommend! I bought my first one on clearance at target for $7 and it did the job well enough!) you can make it, put it in the freezer, then stir it every 20 minutes or so until it’s hardened. It will be more dense and you’ll probably have to let it sit on the counter for a little longer before scooping to soften…but it’ll still taste amazing! 🙂
Thank you, you’re an amazing blogger. You ever thought of making and selling or working for Ben and Jerry’s as a tester? Their ice cream could use a queen like you! Chocolate PB is the only to eat. If you get to Austin TX, go to SWEET RITUAL on Airport Blvd. I drive 40 mins one way to get 2 scoops.
Hey Margaret! Oh man being in ice cream tester is only like a DREAM job! 😉 LOL! I would have plenty of opinions too! We have family that lives in Texas so I will have to keep that place in mind!
HOLY YUM! I would eat this with a spoon, or the scoop lol!
LOL can’t say that I don’t eat at *least* half the batch in one sitting sometimes…. 😉
I would never been able to tell hat this is dairy free. It looks so delicious. Great recipe.
Thank you Rini! It is my favorite homemade ice cream recipe! 🙂
Oh yum! What an awesome recipe! It looks so creamy and delicious and I love that you didn’t skimp on the PB!
Life is way too short to skimp on the peanut butter! 🙂