Lactose-Free Chocolate Ice Cream
A deep, dark chocolate ice cream built on coconut milk, using both cocoa powder for flavour and melted chocolate for body. Check the bar: most 70% chocolate is dairy-free, but not all of it.
About this dish
Chocolate ice cream was being sold in Naples before vanilla was, and it has always been the flavour least dependent on cream — cocoa butter does much of the work that dairy fat does elsewhere. That is why chocolate is the easiest flavour to make convincingly without milk, and why it is worth starting here if you are sceptical about dairy-free ice cream.
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Lactose-free
Ingredients
- 800mlFull-fat coconut milk
- 150gDark chocolate (70%)
- 40gUnsweetened cocoa powder
- 140gCaster sugar
- 1tspVanilla extract
- 1tspFine sea salt
Instructions
Whisk the cocoa powder and sugar into half the coconut milk in a saucepan and bring to a bare simmer, whisking constantly for 5 minutes. Add the salt.
6 minTip: Cocoa powder needs heat and agitation to hydrate, or it stays as gritty specks. The mixture should thicken slightly and lose its raw, dusty smell.
Take the pan off the heat, add the chopped dark chocolate and leave it for a minute before stirring smooth.
5 minTip: Read the label first: most 70% bars are dairy-free, but milk solids appear in some, and this is the one ingredient that could quietly break the lactose-free claim.
Stir in the remaining coconut milk and the vanilla, then chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight until thoroughly cold.
4 minTip: The mixture must be properly cold before churning. A base that goes in warm freezes coarse and stays icy no matter what you do afterwards.
Churn in an ice-cream maker until thick, or freeze in a shallow tray and beat hard with a fork every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours.
240 minTip: Beating breaks the crystals as they form — the same job the machine does continuously. The first hour matters most.
Grate the remaining chocolate over, fold once and freeze for a final hour. Let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes before scooping.
10 minTip: Chocolate folded in at the end stays as flecks that snap against the spoon. Ten minutes out of the freezer turns a solid block back into ice cream.