Ice cream is a kid (and adult!) favorite dessert, but store bought ones often contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, or other ingredients that we avoid.
This recipe is a healthy and incredibly delicious alternative to store bought ice cream and it is simple to make at home. We use this ice cream maker (which makes ice cream in 20 minutes without ice or salt) but if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can also use this tin can method (PDF) which is a fun activity for the kids!
Homemade ice cream is very high in brain healthy fats and nutrients. For those who are dairy sensitive, the butter can be omitted and coconut milk used, making this a delicious coconut-pecan recipe. Another variation is to add some shredded coconut and coconut oil in place of the butter for a coconut ice cream.
I’ll be posting more of our favorite ice cream recipes soon, but here’s the one my kids currently love…
Butter Pecan Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk or two cups fresh raw milk
- ½ cup butter softened to room temperature
- 2-3 TBSP vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 raw egg yolks from trusted source pastured hens optional, but really improves texture
- ¼ cup each maple syrup and honey
- ½ to 1 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Place all ingredients except pecans in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Stir in pecans.
- Pour into ice cream maker or small tin can for that method.
- Turn on ice cream maker and follow user instructions or roll/shake the can for 20+ minutes until done...
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Next on our list to make: Mint Chip, Raspberry Chip, Mocha and others…. what is your favorite?
Confessions of a Natural Mom
Can you make this in a Vitamix?
Yes and then either the ice cream maker or tin can method…
This ice cream sounds yummy! My husband loves butter pecan, will have to make it for him. Thanks so much for sharing!
Aloha!
Yummm, great flavor combination idea!! My husband made some “get some” ice cream (Bulletproof Exec recipe, https://www.bulletproof.com/recipes/low-carb/get-some-ice-cream/ with coffee that was super good and we made some chocolate flavor last night. I’ve never tried it with coconut milk, always just butter and coconut oil, but I love the coconut flavor. I want to try some version with bacon sometime, like Salt and Straw in Portland does!!
Thanks for the dairy free (with butter sub) recipe. Just got an ice cream maker and I don’t really tolerate milk products well. Do you happen to know if almond milk can be used to make ice cream? I always have plenty of that on hand. Thanks!
IT can, but the texture won’t work well unless you add the eggs and coconut oil for enough thickness…
Is the coconut oil the butter substitute? If so, how much?
I love this! My hubby and just made it via the tin can method and it is awesome. The only problem I had was the butter wouldn’t emulsify so maybe I should have blended it with the egg yolk before adding the other ingredients? The next flavor I am going to try is raspberry.
Thanks for all your awesome recipes and ideas!
Can this be made with ghee made from grass-fed butter instead of pure butter? I cannot tolerate dairy.
I made it with earth balance butter! I also used Almond Milk as I am dairy intolerant. However, I made a couple changes. I added two tablespoons of cornstarch and whisked it in a heatproof bowl and mixed it for 6 minutes until the butter was melted and cornstarch dissolved. (Also did this- simmered over boiling water- due to the eggs.)
I put in Fridge for 4 hours and mixed in icecream maker for 25 minutes. Came out excellent. Thanks for the recipe. The honey and syrup is better than granulated sugar!
This sounds so yummy!! I would love a recipe for mocha and mint chocolate chip. Well strawberry sounds good too 🙂 Any recipes for healthy ice cream sound great!
Is there really no sugar? Is coconut milk sweet enough on its own?
There is no sweetener listed in the recipe? I’m guessing it was left out on accident….
There is honey.
Honey and syrup–at least 1/2 cup of sweetener
I was just thinking about searching your site for ice cream and low and behold it’s featured on your home page. will be trying this today!