The best homemade chocolate ice cream is sweet, creamy, and full of chocolate goodness. This is hands down the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had, and you would never know it is naturally sweetened with only dates! Follow my tips below to make this delicious recipe.
I had to tinker around with the idea of ice cream sweetened only with dates before it became the creamy, delicious, seriously as good as ice cream with sugar, recipe that it is today.
The first time I tried it, I threw dates straight out of the pantry into the blender with the other ingredients.
It’s not hard to imagine what happened there. We had mildly sweet ice cream with bits and pieces of dates throughout.
The next time I tried it, I had planned to soak the dates in milk overnight in the refrigerator to make them a little mushier.
Well, overnight tuned into three or four days, because I just didn’t get to it the next day.
When I opened the jar I had mushy dates in a sweet creamy syrup, the very thing to sweeten an ice cream I felt good about giving my kids!
I blended it up with up with the other ingredients and it turned into the most delicious and creamy chocolate ice cream that you would never know is sweetened with just dates.
This recipe is perfect for the summer months or if you are like our family… anytime of the year is the ideal time for ice cream.
Tips For Making Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream:
- Soak the dates at least overnight before making this recipe. This will ensure delicious and soft dates that blend well.
- This recipe uses raw eggs. Always make sure you get your eggs from a reputable source. We only use farm fresh organic pastured eggs. If those are unavailable in your area, you can purchase pasteurized eggs.
- This can be made dairy free by using coconut milk and swapping out the butter for coconut oil.
- Add in shaved chocolate to make this double chocolate chip ice cream. Yum!
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Tools you will need:
Ingredients:
8 oz package of pitted dates and coconut milk or water for soaking dates (SIDE NOTE: I always use the coconut milk from Trader Joe’s because it is the only one I know of that uses only coconut and water, and no weird ingredients.) or I have more recently found mushier dates on Amazon that can be thrown straight into the blender without pre-soaking.
2 cans of organic coconut milk (I use Trader Joe’s. See above. ) or you could use a 1 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream
1 stick of grassfed butter (or 1/2 cup coconut oil if making the dairy free option)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 egg yolks
How To Make Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream Sweetened only with Dates:
- Place coconut milk and dates into a container. Place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours or up to three days to soften the dates. Skip this step if you bought the mushier dates on Amazon.
- Place all ingredients in the blender and put it on high speed for about a minute. When you think you are done blending, go a little longer. It will turn out creamier this way.
- Pour it in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes or in the freezer overnight. If you do not have an ice cream maker I would highly recommend purchasing one, though. They are awesome. I use this one by Cuisinart.
- Serve it up and enjoy!
How long does it take for ice cream to be set?
It will take the ice cream to set in about 25-30 minutes in the ice cream maker. You can eat it right away or place it in a container with a lid and place it in the freezer to harden more.
If you place it in the freezer, I would recommend letting it thaw on the counter for 5-10 minutes before dishing it up.
How long does homemade ice cream last?
This recipe will last about 3-4 weeks stored properly in the freezer. If it lasts that long.
My Favorite Ice Cream Toppings
This ice cream is absolutely delicious all by itself, but you can also add a few toppings to give this ice cream a little crunch.
Some really good sweet toppings are:
- Dried fruit: raisins, or any other sugar free dried fruit
- Homemade superfood chocolate chunks
- Grain free granola
- Nuts: Add some salty crunchiness with chopped almonds, walnuts, or peanuts.
- Homemade whipped cream
- Coconut chips
Find More Healthy Desserts Straight From Our Farmhouse Kitchen:
- Vanilla Yogurt With Honey Toasted Pecans And Blueberries
- Sweet And Crispy Homemade Toasted Coconut Chips
- Homemade Larabars
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Paleo Bites
- Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
- Date Sweetened Ice Cream
Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe:
If you try this recipe and love it, I would appreciate if you could come back, commented on the post, and give it 5 stars! Thanks.
Chocolate Ice Cream Sweetened only with Dates
Learn how to make the best homemade chocolate ice cream sweetened with only dates! This homemade date sweetened ice cream is as creamy and delicious as unhealthy, sugar laden, store bought ice cream. Step into the farmhouse to see how we make it.
Ingredients
- 8 oz dates, pitted
- 2 cans coconut milk, organic
- 1 stick grassfed butter, or 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla, extract
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 3 egg yolks
Instructions
- Place the coconut milk and dates into a container and soak in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours or up to three days. Skip this step if you bought the mushier dates on Amazon.
- Place all ingredients in the blender and put it on high speed for about a minute. When you think you are done blending, go a little longer. It will turn out creamier this way.
- Put it in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes or in the freezer overnight, if you do not have an ice cream maker.
- Serve it up and enjoy!
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This post was updated in December 2019.
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wilhelmina says
This is an incredible ice cream recipe! It is just the thing for a special treat!
Ally says
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Morgan says
Hi! We’ve been on a real date kick yesterday and I was too excited when I found this recipe. (And all of your stuff, TBH. Started watching your home-birth video and now I’m already working my way through your recipes and every other video you have LOL.)
However, I’m pregnant and have a toddler, so the thought of eating raw eggs kinda freaks me out a good bit. Do you have a substitution we could try?
Makenna says
If you are worried about it and happen to have a sous vide machine you can pasteurize raw eggs that way. 🤷♀️
Jill says
You should write somewhere in the recipe that the coconut oil or butter needs to be melted. I finally watched the video and realized I should have melted the fat but it would be nice if that was written in the recipe somewhere. Not sure if that is why my ice cream turned out grainy or if it was because I used coconut cream instead of coconut milk because that is what I had on hand.
Lisa says
Sorry about that! Thanks for pointing that out.