One of my favorite things about eating a low carb or keto diet is ice cream! I have made tons and tons of different ice cream recipes both sugar free or not and I finally have created what I think is the best keto ice cream hands down. This recipe is for vanilla, but you could easily add other mix-in or extracts like peppermint to change things up!
Feel free to experiment and share your creations on social media or in the comments! You can always share by taggin me on Instagram @heathersrealfood
The Best Keto Ice Cream- Really?!?
What makes this ice cream better than the others I have made?
- Flavor– rich, not too sweet and so creamy.
- Texture – not icy or crystallized at all.
- Not Hard as a Rock– doesn’t take forever to soften up the next day. I have tips for that as well at the end of the post, and what to do with really hard keto/low carb ice cream you might have sitting in the freezer. I take my ice cream really seriously!
First, I do use an ice cream maker. I have this Cuisinart ice cream maker, which works OKAY. I’ve had three ice cream makers in my life and my favorite was a hand crank one I had as a kid. I wish I still had that one, but sadly it went to a garage sale over 15 years ago. This model churns the ice cream just fine. What I don’t like is that is leaves unchurned ice cream around the sides and bottom, and I had the same issue with the one before as well.
No matter what I do there is a thin layer of frozen solid cream around the insert which drives me insane. I hate wasting food and the cream I buy for ice cream is expensive! I’m currently working on letting this issue go and just enjoying my ice cream 😉
Can You Double the Low Carb Ice Cream Recipe?
This recipe should work just fine with any ice cream maker you have. I purposely make small batches of ice cream because it generally just does not keep well. Homemade ice cream freezes so hard. This recipe in particular seemed better than others I have made in the past. If you can eat this up pretty quickly you can double the recipe. Just make sure you don’t fill your ice cream maker past about 2/3rds full.
An ice cream maker churns and adds air to the liquid as it freezes. So as the ice cream is made the volume increases. If you overfill the ice cream maker you will have an annoying mess on your hands. Been there, never doing it again. Frozen cream half churned all over my ice cream maker is a pain in the you know what to clean up!
How to Store Homemade Keto Ice Cream
Freeze in Scoops. After churning the ice cream I line a small sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and put the semi soft scoops right on the paper and into the freezer. After a few hours I transfer to a zip top bag or a airtight container of choice.
When you want ice cream you just add the scoops to your bowl. No waiting for the pint container to half defrost before scooping. This is HUGE. When you leave the whole container out on the counter to defrost and scoop and re-freeze the half that re-freezers can get icy and even harder to scoop the next time.
Another win for scooping ahead, is that the scoops are ready to eat right away. I froze this recipe as scoops like I usually do. When I went to eat a 3 scoop sundae that I had in the freezer for 3 days, it was ready to eat in a few minutes. Like soft, easy to spoon into and everything. Really, it’s the only way to fly with homemade ice cream!
See how smooth and creamy the ice cream is? This is after it had been frozen for 3 days!
How to Use Leftover Keto Ice Cream
I have a few go to uses for leftover ice cream. Sometimes you have some older, forgotten, really hard bits of ice cream lurking in the back of the freezer. Or maybe that’s just me who tested 6 kinds on ice cream for the Keto Clarity Cookbook. But if you happen to need a few ideas for leftover ice cream try these:
- Keto Ice Cream Float! If you freeze your ice cream in scoops like me, this is such a simple keto snack or dessert! My favorite is vanilla ice cream and Black Cherry Zevia or the Lemon Creme Ice Cream from the Keto Clarity Cookbook and Orange Zevia. The foamy top is just like a regular float, one of those foods were you don’t even miss the sugar!
- Cookies and Cream Milkshake- this is my absolute favorite recipe for a keto milkshake from Gnom Gnom another amazing keto recipe creator! The recipe takes about 15 minutes and how you make the “cookies” part is genius, and quick! Highly recommended!
- Ice Cream Sandwich- grab two of your favorite keto cookies, I like Nui and Fatsnax and slap a scoop between the two and dig in! Super fun dessert especially in the summer around the bonfire at night! (Use code REALFOOD20 to save 20% on Nui Cookies)
Best Keto Ice Cream - Vanilla
The absolute best keto ice cream recipe. This low carb vanilla ice cream can serve as a jumping off point for other flavors such as peppermint, chocolate chip and many more with simple add in or using flavor extracts!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup heavy cream, divided
- 2 egg yokes
- 1 tablespoon powdered or granulated erythritol
- 5 drops unflavored liquid stevia
- pinch xantham gum
- pinch salt
- 1/4- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla- use 1/2 teaspoon if you want a more vanilla flavor
Instructions
- In a small saucepan warm about half of the heavy cream until just simmering.
- In a small bowl or cup whip the other half of the cream until soft peaks form. I used my handheld milk frother for this since it's such a small amount.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the egg yokes, erythritol, stevia, xanthan gum, salt and vanilla.
- Slowly add the warm cream just a little at a time while whisking. You must add the cream slowly and stir to prevent it from scrambling the eggs. Once you have slowly added about half you can safely add the rest at once.
- Finally add the whipped up cream and mix gently.
- Cover the bowl and set in the fridge to cool. Best if cooled overnight. The cooler the mixture the better the final result, it will be creamier.
- Prepare your ice cream maker, usually this means your insert has been frozen at least 24 hours. Set it in the base with the paddle and put the cover on top.
- Turn on the maker so it starts to spin, and slowly pour in the ice cream mixture.
- Let churn 15-20 minutes. Churn time depends on the temperature of your kitchen, mixture and insert so it can vary. The ice cream is done when it's thick, and a little more firm than soft serve.
- As mentioned in the post, I turn off the machine and scoop right away onto a cookie sheet for freezing in scoops.
Notes
This recipe has only been tested with an ice cream maker the one I used is linked below.
In any ice cream situation keeping the mix as cool as possible before the churning process is important.
Never overfill your ice cream maker- refer to the instructions in your maker for this. Its a messy and wasteful mistake, trust me 🙂
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
5Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227 Total Fat: 23g Saturated Fat: 14g Trans Fat: 1g Unsaturated Fat: 7g Cholesterol: 141mg Sodium: 48mg Carbohydrates: 5g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 2g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 3g
Love Keto Desserts?
Try my coconut macaroons! They are easy to make, very low in carbs and high in fat. I enjoy them regularly!
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