This recipe for raw chocolate ice cream is much healthier than even the best gourmet brands at the store. Legal for gut healing diets too!
Raw chocolate ice cream is an occasional treat in our home for special occasions or holidays.
When I take the time to make a quart, I make sure that it is as wholesome and nutritious as possible.
The best way to do this is to use unpasteurized grassfed cream from a local farm.
If you do not have this gourmet product available, you can separate cream from raw milk instead. It is simple to do using a turkey baster!
In a pinch, you can use pasteurized cream (this brand is acceptable), but the beneficial enzyme and probiotic rawness of this recipe will be reduced to the egg yolk portion only.
It is advisable to avoid using ultrapasteurized (UHT) cream. This product is processed at such high temperatures that it is completely denatured. This is the type of cream favored by commercial brands.
No wonder you can’t stop eating commercial ice cream…it isn’t filling when made with ultraprocessed cream. The satiation mechanism in the brain is slow to respond to denatured food.
Besides the overeating problem, eating ultraprocessed foods like UHT cream triggers incomplete digestion. This creates the perfect breeding ground for pathogens in the gut to thrive.
Preparation Tips
The best brand of chocolate ice cream that I’ve seen that is widely available is Haagen Dazs. The only ingredients are cream, skim milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, and cocoa powder.
You can really dial up the “healthy” on chocolate ice cream if you make it yourself, however!
Bonus: You will find that homemade chocolate ice cream is much more filling and you eat much less!
Using grassfed cream alone with no backside bulging skim milk is the first big substitution.
Using a whole sweetener instead of refined cane sugar is another big improvement.
Finally, using raw egg yolks versus the pasteurized eggs from the factory completes the transformation.
Note that this recipe uses all cream with no milk. This is necessary to comply with the full GAPS diet.
If you are not on GAPS and would like the ice cream to be a bit less rich, feel free to substitute up to half of the cream with full-fat raw milk.
Suggested Sweeteners
I developed this recipe for my husband who is on the regular (least restrictive) GAPS diet (after several years on GAPS Intro).
He absolutely LOVES IT.
The only sweeteners allowed on this protocol are honey and fruit due to their simple molecular structure which is easy to digest.
Thus, date syrup would be the best sweetener for this recipe for anyone who has compromised digestion. You could use raw honey, but it does not mix as well.
If you are not on GAPS, I would suggest maple syrup as another excellent option.
No exaggeration … this ice cream tastes better than Haagen Dasz chocolate ice cream when fruit-sweetened just with the date syrup. It is so much healthier too!
I encourage you to try the recipe below as is with no substitutions the first time and see what you think.
Cocoa, Cacao or Carob?
I recommend cocoa powder over cacao for this recipe.
The reason is that cocoa powder is fermented and then roasted and therefore lower in antinutrients such as phytic acid.
I don’t mean to suggest that cocoa powder is low in phytic acid. However, roasted cocoa powder is certainly lower in this potent antinutrient than raw cacao.
As such, this treat is reserved for the “on occasion” menu plan!
If you are sensitive to cocoa, feel free to use carob powder instead.
Note that carob is more bitter than cocoa, so you might need to increase the sweetener a bit to compensate.
Roasted cocoa powder (not cacao) is permitted on the full GAPS diet (not Intro) once symptoms have resolved.
Raw Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
How to make homemade RAW chocolate ice cream using only wholesome ingredients that is far healthier than even the organic or premium brands at the store.
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks preferably pastured
- 3 cups raw cream
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder *not cacao
- 1/2 cup date syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
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Wash eggs in warm soapy water and pat dry with a clean towel.
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Crack and separate eggs into whites and yolks.
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Beat egg yolks briefly in a large, glass bowl. Tip: Refrigerate the separated egg whites in a small glass container with a lid to make healthy protein cookies later.
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Mix in the syrup with the yolks and then beat in the cocoa powder until just smooth.
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Blend the cream gently with the yolk mixture and then stir in the vanilla. Pour the blended ingredients into your ice cream maker. Follow your model's directions for how long the ice cream is churned.
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When the ice cream is frozen and ready (about 25 minutes for my ice cream machine), pour into a shallow, glass baking dish (for easier scoopability).
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Serve immediately if soft serve style ice cream is preferred. For harder ice cream, cover the dish with a lid and keep in the freezer for at least 4 hours to fully set.
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While the vanilla extract helps maintain good scoopability right out of the freezer, leaving the ice cream container on the counter for a few minutes before serving makes the process even easier.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
If using carob instead of cocoa, substitute the vanilla extract with chocolate extract.
Thanks Sarah!I have only been using alkalized cocoa but fermented cacao seems to be really popular and I have never used.The closest I have used has been a lightly heated cocoa powder you used to recommend was Kakosi organic cacao powder that was lightly heated.
This organic cocoa powder looks excellent and is a new brand to me I haven’t seen before. https://radiantlifecatalog.com/organic-cocoa-powder/?a=58537
Made with heirloom cooca beans which would be naturally lower in antinutrients.
Looks awesome!Let us see a review if you end up purchasing!
Hi Sarah! I have a question. The company Wildly Organic sells fermented cacao powder. Do you know if this would be acceptable next to regular alkalized cocoa powder? Thoughts.
I don’t know if fermented raw cacao has antinutrients reduced as much as roasted cocoa. Your call.
Hi Sarah,
Over the past couple years we’ve heard a lot about heavy metals in cocoa powder. Do you have a cocoa powder that you’ve vetted to be best in this regard?
Thank you!
Hi Sarah!I was thinking if you have been following within the last year the lead levels on chocolate more than anti nutrient worries I think. Navitas cacao powder has come to be the lowest of the cocoa powders in lead at 70% compared to other chocolates. Navitas cacao powder is also not truly raw.They do lightly roast.But yes concerns about dark chocolate lead content has been a scary issue.Milk chocolate has been lowest in lead and it always roasted so very good.
So coco powder is better to use than cacao I like putting cacao in my coffee once in awhile so is it better to use cocoa powder instead if I do use it for coffee
It is always better to use roasted cocoa rather than raw cacao. However, be sure to use only occasionally like traditional peoples practiced.
Going to try this! Wild how raw cacao is touted as a health food, too.
I agree that it is head scratching that raw cacao is touted as a health food! Just another (of many) health psyops.
Why not raw cacao powder why is it bad for you to use?
As discussed in the recipe above, raw cacao is extremely high in anti-nutrients, higher than roasted cocoa powder.
Raw cacao consumed regularly is a threat to gut health. The antioxidants in raw cacao do not offset this high level of antinutrients.
Looks really good Sarah!I do not usually eat chocolate ice cream based on the fact that it is high in anti-nutrients but when I do make ice cream I just used a non homogenized pasture raised cream and do vanilla.I mainly avoid chocolate ice cream because of what you have taught in the past.
That method sounds wonderful! Yes, cocoa or anything chocolate is a very occasional indulgence and certainly not something to have regularly. From my research, traditional societies where cocoa was used (Olmecs of southern Mexico from 1500 BC was possibly the earliest) consumed it infrequently as a ceremonial beverage.
I personally have chocolate maybe two or three times a year at most.
Hi Sarah, thanks for the scrumptious sounding recipe. A while back you said that if we add a bit of vodka or some grain alcohol, the ice cream will be scoopable even when frozen hard. I assume the vanilla extract helps with this because of the alcohol content, but if I were to add vodka, how much would I add to your recipe, and at what stage? Thanks for your help.
You would add 2 tbsp of vodka with the other ingredients just before pouring into the ice cream maker to churn.
Vodka is not GAPS legal, so I used vanilla extract instead which works great. I would try the recipe as is first … I don’t really think you’ll even need the vodka.
Sarah: I was wondering if you are still recommending the same cocoa powder from Equal Exchange.I have no idea if that has been updated or if you have kept the same recommendations.Thanks a bunch!
Any organic roasted cocoa powder is fine. I do not recommend using organic raw cacao powder.
I noticed the cocoa is processed with alkali…I have always skipped this kind just to be safe but really don’t know what it is. Assuming it’s safe?? Thanks for any input!
It’s just another name for Dutch process cocoa which reduces acidity and improves the taste (and reduces antinutrients). Dutch process cocoa also dissolves more easily in liquids.
The alkali process washes the cocoa beans in an alkaline solution of potassium carbonate (safe).
As mentioned in the post, the antinutrients in cocoa are still quite high, so anything with cocoa should be a very occasional treat. Raw cacao is best avoided all the time.