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 made this and it’s delicious and creamy, however if I leave it in the freezer it’s super rock hard and I need to thaw it for at least an hour before I can get a spoon through it.
Perhaps I did something wrong?
Do you use peanut butter balls along with peanut butter in the ice cream mix itself? It’s listed twice on the recipe.
Laura, I located small cans of coconut cream at Whole Foods. This is it: https://thrivemarket.com/native-forest-organic-coconut-cream-unsweetened?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=DynamicSearchAds&utm_content=18442332392&utm_term=&device=c&ccode=FIRST3&ccode_force=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlKHElImD1wIVBANpCh0RoACOEAAYASAAEgLl-PD_BwE
How many cans would I need? They are 5.4 FL OZ each. Are you working with one 14 ounce can?
Thank you!
Hello Roberta! Yes this recipe calls for 14 oz of coconut cream!
I have tried so many dairy free ice cream recipes, they have either been hard as a brick or crystalline. This one is amazing! Have you ever doubled the recipe? If there is one food I need being dairy free is ice cream. Now I have it! Thanks
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Hey Linda!! I’m SO glad you enjoyed it!!! Your comment reminded me I need to whip up another batch stat! 🙂 I have not made a double batch because the container of my ice cream maker couldn’t churn that much! BUT I do have two containers soooo….if you also have two you could make a double batch and churn them one right after another!
Do you think this recipe would work without the cocoa powder, as more of a straight vanilla/peanut butter flavor? We have a non-chocolate eater in the group…crazy, I know.
Hey April! I’ve never even though to make it without cocoa powder! 😉 I think it should work without it, but I can’t say 100%! I might add an extra TBS or two of peanut butter… 😉
Is this recipe supposed to taste salty? I followed the recipe perfectly, but feel the salt over powers the ice cream. Also, I can’t get the ice cream to thickin’ and freeze…
Hey Aubree! This recipe is not supposed to taste salty! Did you make any substitutions? I am sorry that this recipe didn’t turn out for you! If you use a very salty variety of peanut butter I’d recommend omitting the extra pinch of salt. Did you use sea salt? Did you use a can of coconut cream that only has one ingredient…Coconut Cream and no additives or stabilizers? If you give me more insight on how you made the recipe and the ingredients you used hopefully I can help you!
I just whipped up a batch of this– and it’s amazing!! It literally tastes like Hagen daaz. I’ve experimented with so many vegan recipes like this and ended up with grainy or chalky tasting ice cream. This is the only one I’ll be adding to my permanent rotation. Thank you!
I’m SO glad you enjoyed it Shannon! It’s my most favorite ice cream ever!!
Do you know the nutritional values of this recipe?
I can’t find coconut cream. I can order online but if I happen to need to make this RIGHT NOW, can I just scrape the cream off the top of the coconut milk in a can when it separates? Is that the same as coconut cream?
Thanks!
LOL Tricia I totally understand needing to make it RIGHT NOW! 😉 If you have full fat coconut milk you *could* substitute it in a pinch! 😉 And definitely use that cream in the can!!!!
Thank you! I tried it with the cream from the coconut milk and it was very smooth and creamy and rich! I didn’t have quite a whole can worth of the cream (between two cans) so I put in a bit of the separated water/milk part. It gave the ice cream a bit of an aftertaste that I didn’t love but the texture was amazing! I will have to give it another try with a real can of “coconut cream.” Thanks again! I appreciate the quick reply.
I made this and the taste was divine! SO delicious! I used honey as the sweetener. However, it never thickened/hardened for me. I triple-checked that I followed the recipe correctly. I have a 1.5 qt Cuisinart ice cream maker and I churned it for 1.5 hours. Never got past what can only be described as “runny.” Hmmm. It’s in the freezer now. We’ll see how it turns out. Either way, we’ll consume it somehow, it tastes too good to waste.
Sarah I’m sorry that happened! What was the outcome after putting it in the freezer! What kind of coconut cream did you use? I had another person say the same thing happened with another recipe of mine and it turns out they used a coconut cream that had stabilizers in it and added sugars which kept it from freezing. Make sure the only ingredient in your can is “coconut cream”!