Homemade No Sugar Added Ice Cream with Shaved Chocolate

Homemade, no sugar added ice cream with shaved chocolate might be my new favorite thing.  This frozen treat is made with creamy, vanilla ice cream and bits of snappy, melty chocolate ribboned throughout the whole thing.  

If you remember Magic Shell from your childhood, this is the stuff–only our stuff is sugar-free, low carb, gluten-free and keto-friendly.  

I’m going to show you how to make this magical frozen treat with an ice cream maker, but if you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t despair, I have options for you too! 

Vanilla Ice Cream with Shaved Chocolate: The inspiration 

About a decade ago, I was obsessed with this chocolate ice cream I could get at our local grocery store.  It was the best vanilla ice cream with amazing shaved chocolate all the way through.  

Instead of chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate that freeze solidly, these bits of shaved chocolate actually melted very quickly.  If still immersed in super cold ice cream, the chocolate has a  snapping crunch, but as soon as those chocolate pieces touch your tongue, they melt into a glorious chocolate puddle. 

Fast-forward to a few days ago, and I was planning some summer desserts for the blog when I remembered this ice cream and thought, “Why can’t I make this no sugar added ice cream with shaved chocolate?” 

Spoiler alert: I can, and I did, and it was amazing! 

Which are the best sweeteners to use in this Ice cream recipe?

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I like powdered erythritol and monk fruit blend or allulose.  I find they have the least amount of cooling of all the sugar replacements, at least in my humble opinion.  Xylitol will work here also–just make sure you use powdered and not granular. 

Swerve and Stevia will work just fine in this recipe. 

You may use your favorite sweetener at a 1:1 sugar ratio–just avoid granular versions. If that’s all you have, give it a quick blast in a food processor or blender. 

 

Tips for making your shaved chocolate 

Shaved chocolate is easy to make, and you only need two ingredients: your favorite sugar-free, low-carb chocolate and coconut oil.  For this recipe, the coconut oil should be flavorless. 

You may use this recipe for a few frozen desserts.  Poured over ice cream directly, it makes a great, crunchy chocolate shell.  It’s excellent for frozen popsicles, homemade Revelo bars, or any chocolate-dipped ice cream bars.  It also works great to coat frozen fruit or even frozen fat bombs.

The shell coating is liquid at room temperature but freezes to a hard shell coating when cold.  You can make a larger batch and keep it in the cupboard for those sugar cravings or frozen snacks in the summer. 

 

Tips for getting the shaved chocolate just right in your ice cream 

When your ice cream maker has about 4 minutes left to its cycle, it’s time to mix in the shaved chocolate.  

I started to drizzle mine with a spoon but eventually went to just a small drizzle pour.  Drizzle in half of your chocolate, and wait for it to mix in before adding the other half.  Take your time; don’t pour it all in at once.  We don’t want to warm the no-sugar-added ice cream too much.  We also want to give the shaved chocolate a chance to become firm before adding more.

It’s super easy and fun!

No Ice Cream Maker? We have a solution for that too! 

If you’re willing to put the effort in, you can make this with a hand mixer and your freezer.   

What works exceptionally well is an empty, metal coffee can.  You can freeze the ice cream inside anything; metal seems to work best.  You also want to make sure that whatever container you use is big enough for your hand mixer.

To make this without an ice cream maker, pour your cream base into your container and place it inside your freezer for 30 minutes.  At the 30 minute mark, bring it out and blend it with your hand mixer, making sure you get all the frozen bits off the side of the metal bowl.

Repeat this process (every 30 minutes) until everything is frozen and creamy.  It won’t be the same as making it in an ice cream maker; we can’t get as much air built into the cream base manually, but you know what? It works in a pinch!

To blend in the shaved chocolate, drizzle it into the ice cream, and continue to blend it with the hand mixer. 

All freezers have different cooling temperatures, so you may need more or less time.  This process does indeed work, but it requires a whole lot of patience and determination. 

 

Tips for storing your ice cream with shaved chocolate

Ok, so any homemade ice cream, if it doesn’t have a tiny bit of alcohol in it, will freeze solidly.  This no sugar added ice cream is no different.  This will still freeze solidly whether you used an ice cream maker or if you made it by hand. 

I put mine in a loaf pan, spread it around, covered it with some plastic wrap, and added it to a large freezer bag.  This supposedly helps with that super hard-as-a-rock ice cream.  When you pull your ice cream out of the freezer to eat it, leave it on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften before you try to scoop it. 

Trust me on this, it really does need that time to soften. 

I mean, that is if there is any ice cream left to put in the freezer! 

Looking for more sugar-free and low carb freezer treats? I got ya covered. 

• peanut butter ice cream cake
• raspberry ripple ice cream pops
• low carb strawberry cheesecake ice cream
• low carb blueberry cheesecake ice cream
• chocolate fudgesicles
• Sugar-Free Chocolate Ice Cream