Coconut Cherry Ice Cream

Coconut Cherry Ice Cream is dotted with fresh cherries and chunks of dark chocolate and can be made with or without an ice cream maker. And you'd NEVER guess it's made with healthy ingredients!

Coconut Cherry Ice Cream is what happens when your awesome dad brings you a giant bag of cherries fresh from the Okanagan. ⇐ that's where I grew up and it's known for its amazing orchards.

With only two days before we had to leave town to go to my sister's wedding, we had to make short work of the huge bag of cherries. We started our day with a fresh cherry smoothie then snacked on them all day long. By late afternoon, when our house felt like the inside of an oven, I knew that cherry ice cream had to happen.

Reasons to love Coconut Cherry Ice Cream:

• Big chunks of sweet, ripe, fresh cherries. Summertime magic fruit.
• More fresh cherries blended right into the ice cream. There's big-time cherry flavor going on here.
• Extra rich coconut cream for a creamy dairy-free ice cream.
• Chocolate chunks just about everywhere.
• It's made with all healthy ingredients. You could totally eat this for breakfast and tell yourself you're eating a frozen cherry smoothie cause you basically are.

How to prevent your coconut cherry ice cream from being icy

Fresh fruit is full of water. And water (as you know) turns to ice in the freezer. You don't want to use the same frozen fruit you use for smoothies in your ice cream.

To make sure you're not eating chunks of frozen solid cherries, you need to roast them. This removes much of the water so you're not going to break your teeth trying to eat them.

So why does the recipe call for some roasted and some fresh cherries ….

I love the flavor of the fresh cherries when they're blended into the coconut cream. While it does make the ice cream a little bit icy, I don't think it's a bad thing. To me, it tastes like a mashup of ice cream and sorbet.

If you want to make an extra creamy cherry ice cream recipe you can roast all of the cherries and use a little over half of them to blend into the coconut cream.

I've been on a major ice cream kick these past several weeks. You might remember the Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream (which is a take on my Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream) and the Lime Coconut Ice Cream. Then there was a Lemon Coconut Ice Cream that I made and (I'm sorry!) never shared with you. I promise I will one day soon. And now there's this Coconut Cherry Ice Cream.

If you're craving ice cream, come over to my place. Chances are you'll see me with a bowl in hand and I'm always happy to share.

Grab a spoon, my friends. Let's dig into this cherry ice cream and enjoy all the good summer things.

Popular vegan ice cream recipes

• Lime Coconut Ice Cream
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• Boozy Cherry Garcia Ice Cream

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Coconut Cherry Ice Cream Recipe

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

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Coconut Cherry Ice Cream is dotted with fresh cherries and chunks of dark chocolate and can be made with or without an ice cream maker. And you'd NEVER guess it's made with healthy ingredients!

3 cups

Ingredients

• ▢ 5 cups fresh pitted cherries (divided)
• ▢ 19 ounce can coconut cream (see notes)
• ▢ ¼ cup maple syrup (optional)
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate

Instructions 

• Set your oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Chop 2 cups of the cherries and place them on the tray and put the tray in the oven. Roast the cherries for 20 minutes. When they come out of the oven, transfer them to a plate and put them in your fridge to cool.
• While the cherries are roasting, combine the coconut cream and the remaining 3 cups of cherries in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Add the maple syrup, if you're using it.
  19 ounce can coconut cream, ¼ cup maple syrup

Use an ice cream maker:

• Pour the ice cream into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. When it is nearly done, slowly add the roasted (and cooled) cherries and the chocolate chunks and let them mix into the ice cream.
  ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate
• Either eat as soft serve or transfer the ice cream to a freezer-proof container and freeze for 1 hour.

No churn method:

• Pour the ice cream into a low sided freezer-proof bowl and freeze for 45 minutes. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and mix it around. Add the roasted (and cooled) cherries and dark chocolate and mix them through. Place the ice cream back into your freezer.
  ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate
• Let it freeze for another hour then take it out and scrape it with a spoon to mix the ice cream. If it is not solid, place it back in your freezer for one more hour.

Notes

Note: prep time does not include the time to freeze the ice cream.

Use the highest fat coconut milk you can find. I like to use coconut cream, but a can of regular coconut milk will work, too. Try to use coconut cream or milk with no added ingredients for the best results.

For extra creamy cherry ice cream, you can roast all of the cherries and blend a little over half of them into the coconut cream.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ½ cup, Calories: 367kcal (18%), Carbohydrates: 37g (12%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 26g (40%), Saturated Fat: 22g (138%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 15mg (1%), Potassium: 522mg (15%), Fiber: 5g (21%), Sugar: 29g (32%), Vitamin A: 74IU (1%), Vitamin C: 11mg (13%), Calcium: 44mg (4%), Iron: 2mg (11%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.