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HEALTHIER CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM RECIPE
An oldie but goodie, you can’t go wrong with almost everybody’s favorite – chocolate ice cream! We are giving you several different options for chocolate – depending on how healthy you want to go and what you have in your cupboards! We try to use healthier chocolate syrup, or the sugar free kind for diabetics. To be super duper healthy, try raw cacao and adding a sweetener of choice. You can even make this a vegan chocolate ice cream by using full fat coconut milk! Only difference between our healthy chocolate ice cream recipe vs your regular chocolate ice cream, is a nice (can’t even taste it!) addition of spinach! Note: This recipe makes a soft serve ice cream! If you want a hard chocolate ice cream like the photo, use the instructions for a “regular blender”. Check out our Blendtec and Vitamix helpful Ice Cream Tips. If you have a regular blender, not to worry – go ahead and make this without the ice, blend until smooth and then add it to your ice cream maker or freeze it for a couple hours for a hard version (pictured). Load up the bowl and give it to the kiddos, they won’t even know they’re having a dessert that you greatly approve of. Shhh! It will be our secret.
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Swimsuit by: Victoria’s Secret Swimwear
Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 6 ounces half and half OR full fat coconut milk from can chilled in fridge overnight, the cream part only
- 2 tablespoons raw cacao* OR 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix OR 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
- 1 cup spinach optional
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cup ice
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into the blender in the order listed and secure lid.
- For Blendtec: Press the ICE CREAM button.
- For Vitamix: VARIABLE, speed #1. Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to VARIABLE, speed #10, then to HIGH. In about 30-60 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form. Stop machine. Do not over mix or melting will occur.
- For a REGULAR BLENDER: Omit the ice and blend the rest of the ingredients.
- To firm to an ice cream consistency, place mixture in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
- All done! Enjoy!! Now take a photo, rate it, and share your accomplishments to enter our weekly photo contest! 🙂 Tag @BlenderBabes & #BlenderBabes
Notes
HEALTH BENEFITS & FUN FACTS ABOUT SPINACH
Spinach originated in ancient Persia and then was transported to China and down through Europe. Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II so loved spinach that she always made sure she had cooks who could prepare it especially for her. The term “a la Florentine,” which refers to any dish prepared on a bed of spinach, is attributed to her.
Spinach is a powerhouse of nutrition rich in many vitamins and nutrients. Experts have identified at least thirteen different compounds in spinach that provide antioxidant and/or anti-cancer benefits. Spinach rich in calcium and magnesium, helps prevent osteoporosis. It is also an excellent source of iron, which is critical for women in menopause and for people who have anemia or chronic fatigue syndrome. Spinach contains vitamin E, which helps slow mental decline and memory loss.
First time making this recipe and it is a WINNER!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Lyn! 🙂 Please rate it when you have the chance. Happy Blending! ~ Tarashaun
I’m not sure I understand “the cream part only” from directions. So I’ve got a can of coconut cream, what exactly do I need to do to it before chilling overnight? Thanks Blender Babes.
Hey Paul! You don’t need to do anything. Once it’s chilled in the fridge the cream and coconut water will separate so once you open the can you can scoop out the cream part pretty easily. 🙂 Let me know how it goes!
OK, so I used coconut cream, so it all froze, the cacao, vanilla, ice, and a little maple syrup. The taste was pretty good, but the main problem was the blender–it would only blend for a second or two, and then I had to keep repositioning the ingredients. I did this about 25 times, mostly pushing the ice down, and eventually got it all blended. Perhaps crushed ice would work better than cubes, but this is typical for recipes with virtually no liquid. I may try this again, but substitute perhaps half the coconut cream with Greek yogurt, and use at least half crushed ice. Let me know if you have tips to get the blender to work!
Hey Paul! If it tasted good I think it deserves a better star rating! 😉 With Blendtec you really need a Twister Jar to do thick blends unfortunately, otherwise yes you have to stop the machine and move ingredients around. Yes crushed ice is definitely better! Here are more ice cream tips. ~Tarashaun
Did exactly the recipe and it kept plugging up my blendtec. Pretty sure this recipe has too much ice in it. I had to add more and more milk as stirring alone wouldn’t get it working. Basically it’s a really watery (melted) ice cream that is not smooth and will likely get more crystally when I freeze it. Very disappointed.
Hey AvB, sorry to hear that! This was one of my first ice cream recipes! I used to make it all the time when demonstrating a Blendtec on roadshows. Ice Cream is tricky when you’re using ice. I recommend two things – freezing chocolate milk (or milk substitute) and using that as your ice (try using less ice next time) OR you can omit the ice and freeze in a tray in the freezer stirring every 30 minutes. We’ve got a bunch more healthy blender ice cream recipes – here’s a round up of some of 21 Vegan Ice Cream Recipes that include my favorites! 🙂
Half and half (I use cream or almond milk), raw cacoa, ice, vanilla, spinach. To me, that sounds healthy.
Hi Natalie and WELCOME to Blender Babes! It should be a soft-serve consistency – spoonable but without ice chunks. It sounds like maybe it needed some more ice and blend time, but we can’t be certain! One way to make this would be to blend the ingredients minus the ice, and then freeze it, stirring once or twice. Also, check out our ice cream tips for more on how to make the perfect ice cream – it usually takes a few tries to figure it out, but is super versatile and easy once you do! It’ll be different in every blender – which one are you using? Happy Blending!! 🙂
Just made this recipe, using the cocoa powder and honey, and the flavor is really good. However, the texture is not like ice cream at all. It's more like a creamy slushy because of the ice. Those pictures above are really misleading! We'll enjoy what we made but probably won't make this again.
Hi Natalie and WELCOME to Blender Babes! It should be a soft-serve consistency – spoonable but without ice chunks. It sounds like maybe it needed some more ice and blend time, but we can’t be certain! One way to make this would be to blend all the ingredients without the ice, then freeze it and stir a couple of times. Also, check out our ice cream tips for more on how to make the perfect ice cream – it usually takes a few tries to figure it out, but is super versatile and easy once you do! It’ll be different in every blender – which one are you using? Happy Blending!! 🙂
I used trader joes fat free half n half and their midnight moo fat free chocolate syrup and this recipe was perfect in my Blendtec! Thank you BlenderBabes!!!
You’re WELCOME! That sounds DELICIOUS!
Unless the hot chocolate mix and chocolate syrup are homemade, this recipe is actually REALLY not healthy, at all. Have you read the ingredients list on those? You can find store-bought ice cream with less ingredients. Healthy is such a loose term…
Thanks for the comment Dafni and welcome to Blender Babes! We try to use mixes and syrups from natural food stores if possible, yes. 🙂 I’d say this ice cream is “healthIER” than a lot of store-bought ice creams, but yes I agree with you it can be a loose term. We should write an article about what “HEALTHY” means to us. Thanks so much again for the feedback, we appreciate it! xoxo ~Blender Babes
Half and half (I use cream or almond milk) spinach, vanilla, raw cocoa and ice. To me, that sounds healthy.
Nice Colleen! 🙂