Easy Chocolate Ice Cream
With loads of rich chocolate flavor, this Easy Chocolate Ice Cream is smooth, creamy, and pretty much perfect. It’s so good, y’all, and the best part is that it’s easy to make!
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I loooove homemade ice cream, and given my choice, I’ll pick chocolate ice cream over any other – especially THIS easy Chocolate Ice Cream! It’s got twice the chocolate in it for a deep, rich, chocolatey flavor, and it’s so smooth and creamy! In a bowl or in a cone, there’s nothing quite like a serving of this ice cream!
There are 2 secrets to making the best chocolate ice cream: the first is to use the best quality ingredients. Use the best chocolate you can get, the freshest dairy, and farm-fresh eggs.
The second tip to making amazing custard-based ice cream is to use a good ice cream maker. I used to use the kind that you had to freeze the insert overnight, and that was a hassle. I never had room in the freezer for the bulky insert and it meant waiting nearly 24 hours before I could get my hands on the frozen ice cream. Now I use an all-in-one ice cream maker. All I need to do is pour in the chilled ice cream base, and the machine does the rest! It’s genius!
Ingredients
- Heavy cream – As fresh as you can get!
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – Get a good brand – quality cocoa powder makes all the difference in this chocolate ice cream recipe.
- Semi-sweet chocolate – Use a good quality chocolate bar and chop it up. You can also use chocolate chips.
- Whole milk
- White sugar
- Egg yolks – Give them a good beating.
- Vanilla extract – Use pure vanilla extract instead of artificial in this recipe.
- Salt – A pinch of salt accentuates the flavors
How To Make Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
Making homemade ice cream is easy! Here’s how to do it:
- Combine the milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer while stirring constantly.
- Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl and slowly whisk in about half a cup of the hot milk mixture to temper the eggs.
- Whisk the egg and milk mixture back into the remaining hot milk mixture and heat it over low heat until thickened but not boiled.
- Remove the ice cream base from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted.
- Refrigerate the chocolate ice cream base until cold.
- Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla, then add it to your ice cream maker as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Use a heavy-bottomed pot when making the ice cream base to reduce the chances of it burning.
- Ice cream base can burn in the bottom of your pot – to prevent this, constantly stir and keep the temperature on the low side.
- Tempering the eggs is important – if you just add them to the hot cream, you’ll cook the eggs and end up with a lumpy base.
- To speed up the chilling of the chocolate ice cream base, let it cool a bit, then pour it into a zipper-top plastic bag and set the bag into a bowl of ice water.
Storage
You’ve gone to the trouble of making homemade Chocolate Ice Cream, so make sure you store it properly! Package it in an airtight container and put it in the coldest part of your freezer. It’ll keep for a month or so. I like using these freezer-safe ice cream containers – they help prevent crystalization in the ice cream, and they keep funky freezer odors out of your frozen treat.
Easy Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 Cups heavy cream divided
- 2 Heaping tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 Oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped dark chocolate bars are good in this too!
- 1 Cup whole milk
- 3/4 Cup white sugar
- 1/4 Tsp salt
- 3 Large egg yolks beaten
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
- Place egg yolks in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in about half a cup of hot milk mixture, then return to the sauce pan. Heat and stir until thickened, but do not boil.
- Remove from the heat and stir in chopped chocolate until melted. Pour into a chilled bowl and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until cold, about two hours.
- Stir in heavy cream and the vanilla. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers directions.
