Who loves Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey Ice cream? Our Keto-Friendly Chunky Monkey Ice Cream copy-cat recipe tastes just like the real thing, but with fewer carbs. The lower carb count allows those on a keto, low-carb, gluten-free, grain-free, diabetic, Atkins, or Banting diet to enjoy our recipe.
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The Recipe
This Keto-Friendly Chunky Monkey Ice Cream is a low-carb dream come true! Imagine creamy goodness loaded with banana flavor, chunks of chocolate and crunchy walnuts.
The Inspiration
This recipe was, of course, inspired by the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor, Chunky Monkey. I haven’t eaten the real thing for a very long time, but my craving for that flavor combination has held on like a monkey holds onto a branch.
I based this recipe on my recipe for Low-Carb Candied Pecan Pumpkin Ice-Cream. After developing lots of ice-cream recipes, I have learned a few things about keeping homemade ice-cream soft, so I did make a few changes to improve the texture even more.
Keeping Homemade Ice-Cream Soft
I often get questions about how to keep homemade ice-cream softer. The hardening of homemade ice-cream as it sits in the freezer overnight isn’t only a problem with low-carb recipes, but with homemade ice-cream in general. There are two big reasons for this problem:
- Home ice-cream makers turn the ice-cream slower than commercial makers. Because of this, less air is whipped into the ice cream, making homemade ice-creams less fluffy and therefore harder after freezing.
- Commercial ice-cream manufacturers tend to use additives that help keep their ice-creams soft at low temperatures.
I found some great ideas in this article about how to keep ice-cream softer–some of which I have incorporated in this recipe. Some things I did to help make this ice-cream softer are:
- I changed the sweetener I normally use. For this recipe, I used a sweetener with the same sweetness level as sugar, rather than one that is twice as sweet as sugar. This allowed me to use a larger quantity of an ingredient that doesn’t freeze hard.
- A fiber syrup in the recipe adds additional softness to the final product.
- Gelatin helps stabilize the ice-cream.
- A large quantity of cream to keep the fat level higher and therefore, keeps the ice-cream softer.
A Few More Tips and Tricks
While these changes in the recipe will help keep the ice-cream from freezing brick-hard, you may find these tips helpful as well:
- Turn the ice-cream in the ice-cream freezer until it is as frozen as possible. Any liquid left will freeze hard.
- Store the ice-cream in the door of the your freezer. The door compartment is the warmest area of the freezer.
- Allow the ice-cream to set at room-temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving.
- If desired, add a tablespoon of vodka to the recipe before churning. This will decrease the freezing point of the mixture to help it stay softer in the freezer.
- Freezing the ice-cream in individual containers takes away the problem of scooping out the ice-cream and offers portion control.
Final Thoughts
Developing this recipe was a way of holding onto summer for me. I’m trying to switch into fall mode for foods now, so I hope you’ll join me again soon as I transition into pumpkin spice and comfort foods. Enjoy!
-Annissa
Who loves Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream? Our Keto-Friendly Chunky Monkey Ice Cream copy-cat recipe tastes just like the real thing, but with fewer carbs. The lower carb count allows those on a keto, low-carb, gluten-free, grain-free, diabetic, Atkins, or Banting diet to enjoy our recipe.
Keto-Friendly Chunky Monkey Ice Cream
Who loves Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream? Our Keto-Friendly Chunky Monkey Ice Cream copy-cat recipe tastes just like the real thing, but with fewer carbs. The lower carb count allows those on a keto, low-carb, gluten-free, grain-free, diabetic, Atkins, or Banting diet to enjoy our recipe
- 3/4 cup erythritol/monk fruit sweetener ((sweetness level must be the same as sugar))
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup unsweetened original-flavor almond milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup Vitafiber IMO syrup
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon banana flavoring
- 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
- 1.5 ounces stevia sweetened dark chocolate (chopped)
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In a large saucepan, whisk together the erythritol/monk fruit sweetener and the gelatin.
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Whisk in almond milk and eggs. Heat mixture over low heat, whisking frequently, until it just starts to simmer. At the first sign of a simmer, remove from heat and place pan in an ice bath to chill.
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When mixture has reached room temperature or below, whisk in Vitafiber syrup, heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and banana flavoring.
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Pour mixture into an ice-cream freezer and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
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When mixture has entirely turned into ice-cream, add the walnuts and chocolate pieces and allow the machine to stir them in.
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Transfer mixture into a freezer-safe container or several serving-size containers. Cover and place in the freezer.
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This ice-cream is best served 2-3 hours after making. If it gets to hard to serve, allow it to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Serving Size: 4 ounces
Net carbs per serving (g): 3
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