Vanilla Bean Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Creamy coconut milk ice cream is richly loaded with vanilla bean flavor and just happens to be dairy free and fully vegan. It’s insanely easy to make, too!

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I’ve made this very simple coconut ice cream numerous times and it is worlds better than most commercially available dairy-free ice cream.

This ice cream is fantastic on its own, but as is the case with most ice cream, with fresh strawberries or homemade chocolate syrup it is even better.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream Recipe

To make this ice cream, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Coconut milk
• Sugar
• Kosher Salt
• Vanilla Beans, Vanilla Extract, or Vanilla Paste

It’s important to note that this recipe requires full fat coconut milk. You cannot get the same results from lite, or low, or reduced-fat coconut milk. I use Thai Kitchen’s unsweetened coconut milk.

In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, salt. Slit the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.

Add the vanilla to the pan. Bring almost to a boil and barely simmer for a few minutes, just until the sugar is dissolved.

Do not skip the heating step. You will end up with clumpy ice cream. Let cool and then chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. When finished churning, serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and place in the freezer until ready to eat.

Coconut Ice Cream

If you’re a fan of coconut milk ice creams, you’re going to love all of these! Creamy raspberry coconut ice cream is filled with fresh berries. It is so easy to make, and so much fun to eat, you’re going to be making it all summer long.

All the fun flavors of a Pina Colada in a bowl of ice cream? Yes, please! Fresh pineapple + toasted coconut = an abundance of flavor in each scoop of pina colada ice cream. 

Rich and creamy coconut milk ice cream packed full of buttery toffee and dark chocolate pieces, this was a truly amazing spur-of-the-moment recipe. Impulsively thrown together with some toffee that I saw sitting on the counter.

{originally published 6/12/12 – recipe notes and photos updated 11/22/24}