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This mint chocolate chip ice cream is lusciously creamy and refreshingly minty: and it’s vegan too! Here’s how to make delicious vegan ice cream at home.
Looking for something to beat the heat? Here in Indiana, temperatures are soaring. We whipped up a bit of ice cream the other night and it hit the spot! Unlike a typical ice cream, this version is made with coconut milk. This means it’s vegan and it’s quick and easy to make since it doesn’t require heating a custard over the stove. It’s also naturally sweetened with some agave syrup (though adding chocolate does cancel out a bit of the natural sweetness!). Keep reading for our vegan ice cream recipe: mint chocolate chip flavored, which is my childhood favorite!
Why vegan ice cream?
Neither Alex nor I eat strictly vegan / plant-based. So you might be wondering, why vegan ice cream? But since there are so many traditional ice cream recipes out there, we enjoy the challenge of experimenting with creating delicious dairy free ice cream. Also, it tends to sit better with my stomach than the dairy version. And to us, vegan ice cream is just as good as the real thing! We’ve got a few other vegan ice cream flavors: Jamocha almond fudge, salted chocolate pistachio, and straight up dark chocolate, but we decided we needed another one. And this one’s my childhood favorite: mint chocolate chip! For years, this was the only flavor that I would order.
How to make vegan ice cream
The secret to this mint chip vegan ice cream is…full fat coconut milk! And in this case, the mint chocolate flavor covers it so it’s not too coconut-y, just rich and refreshing. Cornstarch also helps to give the vegan ice cream more of a body. And simmering the mixture until it is thick and using liquid sweetener like agave or maple syrup also helps for a creamy texture. And the flavor? As I noted, though it’s made of coconut, this version is not too coconut-y. The mint helps to balance it out. And you’re left with a really, really good mint chocolate chip vegan ice cream!
What’s the best ice cream maker?
What’s the best ice cream maker? Alex and I use this 2 quart ice cream maker and love it: it’s a great holiday or birthday present to ask for if you don’t want to splurge for it. Churning the ice cream takes about 15 minutes. After it’s done you can eat your ice cream right away for a soft serve texture. Or, follow the instructions in the recipe below to freeze it to a hard ice cream texture: it takes about 4 hours to freeze up!
Have you tried making ice cream at home? Let us know in the comments below!
Looking for more vegan desserts?
Outside of this mint chocolate chip vegan ice cream recipe, here are a few more of our favorites:
- Decadent Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Bliss Bites
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Blackberry Vegan Cheesecake Bites
- Granola Instant Pot Apple Crisp
- Chocolate Cherry Dessert Bites
- Chocolate Tahini Vegan No Bake Cookies
- Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- Fudgy Vegan Brownie Recipe
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
- Pecan Butter Millionaire Bars
- Healthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls
- Maple Macadamia Vegan Blondies
- Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Popsicles
- Jamocha Almond Fudge Dairy Free Ice Cream
- Bananas Foster with a Perfect Flambé
- Chocolate Peppermint Cups
- Banana Berry Vegan Ice Cream
This vegan ice cream recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Mint Chocolate Chip Vegan Ice Cream
This mint chocolate chip ice cream is lusciously creamy and refreshingly minty: and it’s vegan too! Here’s how to make delicious vegan ice cream at home.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 quart 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Frozen
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 15-ounce cans full-fat coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup agave syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2 ounces vegan dark chocolate
Instructions
- Freeze the ice cream maker base overnight.
- In a small bowl, mix ½ cup coconut milk with 2 tablespoons cornstarch and set aside.
- Add the remainder of the coconut milk to a medium pan. Warm the coconut milk over medium low heat for a minute or two, whisking to incorporate the solids. Then add the agave syrup. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Heat until it mixture is thickened, 6 to 8 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and peppermint extract.
- Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a 1-gallon Ziplock bag. If churning immediately, place the bag in an ice bath for 30 minutes until cool; if churning the next day, refrigerate 4 hours or overnight (either way, the mixture should be as cold as possible before churning).
- Churn the ice cream in the ice cream maker until it thickens to the consistency of soft serve. Meanwhile, chop the mint chocolate. Add to the ice cream maker in the last 2 minutes or so.
- Eat immediately for a soft serve consistency, or for a hard ice cream texture, freeze using the following instructions: press a piece of parchment or wax paper into a sealable container, then scrape the ice cream into the container using a spatula, making sure to scrape in the bits frozen to the edges of the ice cream maker base. Freeze for 4 hours for a hard ice cream texture.
Hello! Could I sub powdered Swerve for agave, and also a non starch for cornstarch? Thanks!
Hi! Sorry, we haven’t tried it with this subs so I’m not sure! Let us know if you try it.
I have looked and looked and there isn’t a mint chocolate bar or chips or candy including Lindt brand that is dairy-free. They all have milk of some sort in them. Read the ingredients! You can’t say this is dairy-free.
Hi!
You could definitely use regular chocolate since the ice cream is flavored. You could also purchase a vegan mint chocolate bar like this: https://amzn.to/2tMgcdg
Hope that helps!
So excited to try this. What’s mint chocolate? Is there a brand of mint chocolate bar? Thanks.
You could use any chocolate — I think we used a Lindt mint chocolate bar. Hope you enjoy!
I made this and it was awesome! It was so hard to find a recipe without peppermint candies (and artificial pink color), so thank you so much.
Finally! A use for all that mint I grew and all that coconut milk I have stockpiled (smile)
oh thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :) I’ve been looking for a good recipe for coconut milk ice cream to try. Regular dairy ice cream makes me sick most of the time, so I’ve been eating a lot of coconut milk ice cream this summer. But, since i love homemade things better than store bought, I was hoping to try my hand at a homemade version of coconut milk ice cream. Cannot wait to try this recipe out! Especially since mint and chocolate are involved :)
Mmmm, delicious! Mint chocolate chip is still one of my favorites :) And I love that this one doesn’t have that funky green color!
Mint chocolate chip is my absolute favorite!
This is a must-try! Sounds so easy to make, oh dear wish me luck!
Looks scrumptious! That’s my favorite ice cream flavor. Actually chocolate and mint anything is my favorite!
Wonderful recipe…we’re looking for ways to cut out the sugar and dairy so this would make a great substitute for when we want something sweet but don’t want to blow it nutritionally.
rather than coconut milk as base, you can use cashew milk which is very creamy and neutral flavour mixed with coconut oil.. rather than food coloring and if you need the green color, you can use spirulina powder
Coconut milk, you say? Hmm–very interestingI I especially like the “you don’t actually have to make a custard” aspect. (And no green food coloring?? I’m shocked, shocked! :) )
Love this! Mint chip has always been my favorite flavour!