Paleo Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is made from 3 healthy ingredients and can be served soft serve or traditional. This Paleo treat is healthy and delicious the entire family can enjoy.
I’ll be the first to admit, I have a really close relationship with real dairy. I love the variety of cheeses I can buy at Costco (I usually throw 3-4 different bricks in my cart every time I go there).
I especially appreciate that dairy in raw and fermented forms are actually beneficial for your health, provided you are not intolerant to them. That’s why I regularly make yogurt and we purchase pastured butter quarterly in 40-pound blocks (which conveniently lasts us 3 months).
But despite this, I realize coconut in its own right is a health food and therefore, have been slowly transitioning to consuming more of the coconut goodness. I’ll be honest, it’s been a tough transition. My family isn’t a big fan of all things coconut. I can’t get away with using coconut oil when sauteeing vegetables. And I certainly can’t make coconut ice cream and call it just like”store-bought ice cream.”
But you know what….
Much to my surprise, this is one of the few recipes that my kids prefer I use coconut milk instead of the dairy heavy cream. They keep asking for it and when made with only 3 ingredients, 3 healthy ingredients – I’m always happy to oblige.
3 Ingredient Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (Paleo)
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream sounds so much fancier than plain Vanilla Ice Cream, no? Don’t skimp on the vanilla, those specks of vanilla and the smell is sweetly divine. Simply split open a vanilla bean and scrape off the beans with a butter knife directly into the ice cream mixing bowl.
I make my own vanilla extract and when I do, I keep the beans in the bottles until the extract runs out. I use those softened beans for the ice cream.
No vanilla beans? No worries, just add 2 tablespoons of the extract. By adding the alcohol base extract, your ice cream won’t be rock solid when completely frozen so you can compensate for the lack of vanilla bean specks that way.
Soft Serve or Traditional?
You can enjoy this paleo ice cream soft serve style by right after churning it. If you’re opting for more solid ice cream, transfer the mixed frozen treat into a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours. Either way, it’s a winner! And a healthy one at that!
Helpful Items for Making This Paleo Vanilla Ice Cream
- Coconut Milk + Cream – This is the brand without guar gum (which most coconut milks contain) but I use the Trader Joe’s store brand with great success. TJ’s carries both clean coconut milk and coconut cream. I have not tried this recipe with homemade coconut milk.
- Vanilla Beans or high quality Vanilla Extract
- Maple Syrup – I get the best deal at Costco but I’ve used this one in the past as well.
- Ice Cream Maker – This one is my favorite and really the only one I use.
- Freezer safe containers to store your delicious frozen treat.
Enjoy this Paleo Vanilla Ice Cream on top of Paleo Baked Pecan Apples. Or drizzle this Homemade Chocolate Syrup (Paleo, GAPS) over the ice cream.
Of course, if you’re like me – you can spoon it straight out of the ice cream maker bowl.
Paleo Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz can full fat coconut milk (room temperature) *
- 1 13.5 oz can full fat coconut cream (room temperature) *
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon scraped vanilla bean seeds OR
- 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the ice cream maker bowl in the freezer 12 hours before or according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Combine coconut milk, cream and maple syrup in a blender until smooth and frothy (about 2-3 minutes). Pour the mixture in the previously-frozen ice cream bowl and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Add vanilla extract or scrape vanilla seeds from the beans with a butter knife and add directly into the ice cream bowl as its churning.
- After approximately 35 minutes, you can enjoy this soft serve consistency or transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze for 4 hours to get more solid ice cream. Ice cream will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided for your convenience by an online calculator. It should not be considered as a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our complete Nutritional Information Disclaimer.
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I definitely need this in my life. Haha.
I am officially inviting myself over to have some of this ice cream. I’ll bring the organic strawberries. 😉 This looks so good Anya! Love how easy this is and all of those lovely, healthy ingredients too. Yum!
Totally! We need a date on the calendar! <3
Wow. Wow. Wow. Who knew you could make a three ingredients paleo ice cream! Love it!
I had to get used to coconut milk ice cream last summer when i went completely off dairy – it did take me a while but using real vanilla bean helped with taste tremendously! This looks so lovely and creamy!
Vanilla is good at covering coconutty flavor.
Gorgeous!!! You had me at three ingredients! This is a must try. I do love vanilla bean cream.
3 ingredients always wins!! Thanks Irena.
I learned that adding like 2 tbs of cashews to coconut milk ice cream can take away a lot of that coconut taste too, so for those that are still tasting the coconut they might want to try that. That being said, your version looks so creamy and delicious!! I need to put my ice cream bowl back in the freezer so I can make some.
I have not heard of that trick. Thanks for sharing that Michele.
Oh my goodness. I have some avocado brownies that would go AMAZING under some of this ice cream 😉
Yes they would! That sounds amazing!
Oh em geeeee – vanilla ice cream is my FAVE. This looks SO GOOD.
You can never have too much ice cream! Love how simple this is!
I just love vanilla bean ice cream! My favorite ice cream flavor. Lovely photos.
I love vanilla ice cream and this version is so simple to make. Love it !
I have tried vanilla ice cream that turned out horrible and so icy. Yours looks creamy and perfect- I’ll have to try it! 🙂
Just in time for the hot weather! I am already seeing summer days enjoying this in the sun!
So simple but so delicious–love recipes like this with a short ingredient list!
Wow, this looks like genius with only three ingredients (love three ingredient recipes of all types!) and good to hear that even folks who aren’t total coconut converts are fans of this coconut-y goodness.
Vanilla is my favorite flavor of ice cream, and it’s never better than during berry season!
You had me at “3 Ingredients.” This looks delish… and so easy!
Very easy and delicious indeed! Thanks Katja.
This looks so amazing and refreshing! I’m going to have to make some soon.
I love a good healthy ice cream. This recipe will come in handy this summer.
Thank you Carrie. Hope you enjoy!
can you switch the sugar (maple syrup) to a low carb alternative?
I’m sure you can, Gina but I don’t have much experience with low carb sweeteners. Perhaps start off with 2 tablespoons of erythritol and go from there. Enjoy!
The coconut cream and milk seized up and got hard when it got cold. 🙁
Kristen,
Can you elaborate please? At what point did the milk seize – before adding it to the ice cream maker?
I did not find success with this recipe from a textural standpoint. The cream and milk wouldn’t blend no matter how hard I tried. I was left with a white waxy frozen coconut cream on top and a tan icy layer on the bottom. The flavor was good and despite my difficulty, my daughter loved it!
Hi RJL,
Thanks for your comment. Sounds like the fat in the milk and cream separated and rose to the top. It should blend well with the sweetener if the cream and milk were at room temperature. I’m sorry you did not have success. Happy your daughter loved the flavor though. 🙂
I am new to this healthy eating and making healthy foods. Would anyone happen to have a break down of the nutrition information for one serving? I am counting my calories as well as eating healthier and want to be able to log this. Thank you in advance!!!
Looks delish! How much ice cream does this yield?
Thanks Jennifer. This yields a quart and a half. 🙂
thank you! 🙂
Mmm this looks absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe Anya. ❤️
You’re welcome. Enjoy!
This looks fantastic! What is an ice cream bowl though? Is it an ice cream maker contraption or just a bowl?
Just a regular bowl, Kim. 🙂
Wow this recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try! Do you happen to have the nutritional information breakdown per serving! Specifically: Saturated fat, Calories, sugars and protein. That would be great! Thank you
Chanelle
Hi Chanelle,
I don’t have the nutritional information on any of my recipes. Perhaps that is something I will consider in the future but right now I encourage people to focus on balance and enjoying sweets in moderation. 🙂
Ok thank you so much!
I made this two weekends in a row and it is delicious! I never even liked ice cream before! As others said, “you had me at three ingredients”. I tried several ice cream recipes last summer after my husband went Paleo and they didn’t turn out well. So glad to find your recipe this year.
Wonderful to hear, Connie!!
So great to hear this Connie!!
How much ice cream does this recipe make?
It makes approximately 1 quart.
Ah I was so excited to use my ice cream maker (kitchenaid stand mixer attachment) for the first time, and this mixture never thickened! I used the TJ coconut milk + cream and blended it with 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup. I did use the 3 Tbsp extract because I didn’t have vanilla bean, but I’ll use the real thing next time. I let it churn for probably 40+ minutes checking it every 10 minutes or so for consistency. I ended up pouring the mixture into containers and putting them in the freezer so hopefully that’s almost as good until I can try again!
Hi Brittany,
I’m sorry 🙁 Was your milk & cream room temperature? That’s an important piece.
can I use the Aroy-D coconut cream as the cream part of this recipe?
Yes! That should work.
This simple recipe is DELICIOUS! There’s no getting around the coconutty taste–you’re using coconut milk so it’s not going to taste like heavy cream. That said, both the good vanilla and maple syrup help you “get over” the mild coconut taste and enjoy the REALLY, REALLY CREAMY aspect of this ice cream! I ate some out of the maker and put some in the freezer. I think I’ll chop up strawberries to put on top after it’s been in the freezer for a while. This is great! Thank you!
So glad you loved it Beverly! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
It looked & sounded so good, until I got to the maple syrup. We are off dairy, sugar, and flour. Have you ever tried it with honey? Instead of the maple syrup?
Would love to hear back from you
I’ve not tried with honey but if the consistency is the same as maple syrup (not crystallized), it should work. I would use a tad bit less though since honey is generally sweeter than maple syrup. Enjoy!