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
- 3 Ingredient Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
- Healthier Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- Dreamy Almond Chocolate Nice Cream
- Boozy Cherry Garcia Ice Cream
Coconut Cherry Ice Cream
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
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.
I made this as per the recipe and loved it. We don’t eat coconut oil so most store bought vegan ice creams don’t work for us. I used coconut milk (because it was in the pantry) and added a little vanilla. Absolutely the best frozen vegan dessert so far.
Hi Kristin, what type or brand(s) of ice cream makers do you recommend?
I use a Cuisinart (this one) and like it. But it is the only I’m familiar with so I can’t comment on the other brands. It works great though!
Delicious!!! Made this maybe 5 days ago and it’s gone! Instead of maple syrup I just added 3.5 pitted dates to my blender when adding the cherries and I think maybe 7-10 drops of vanilla stevia and it turned out fantastic! Also, I was using frozen cherries so I did go ahead and roast all of them, at 400F. Each time I ate it I found myself thinking…could I do this with strawberries? Peaches? Roasted apples, dusted with cinnamon? ?. Definitely get canned coconut CREAM (if you can find it) rather than milk. So, so yummy!
Thanks for sharing!
Such a great idea to add dates!
I’ve never come across a 19oz can of coconut milk/cream. Mine are all just under 15oz, will that work, or do I need to add part of another can to get it to equal 19oz?
This looks amazing, btw!
I’ve made this recipe successfully with a 15 ounce can. You’ll end up with a little bit less but the end result is very similar. 🙂
I made this on the weekend for some friends who were visiting. It hit the spot!
That’s so great to hear! Thank you for coming back to comment!
The flavor of this ice cream is wonderful. The addition of dark chocolate is perfect. But I think this is much better having roasted (and I mean roasting at 400 degrees – not baking at 300), all of the cherries. The first time I made this it was too icy and not creamy. The second time I roasted all of the cherries, and added a couple of teaspoons of grassfed beef gelatin which made it creamier. I’m going to keep tweaking this – because it’s a wonderful tasting and refreshing indulgence!
As noted in the post, the ice cream is a little icy when made with half fresh cherries, but we like the flavor best this way. Happy to hear you found a way of making this that works for you.
Would the no churn method work well with frozen cherries?(not roasted fresh cherries) thanks
I think it would work well!
Hello Kristen,
I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe though i do have a question. Do you make the icecream first? this is all new to me.
You’ll want to roast the cherries first, then blend the coconut cream with some cherries, then make that into ice cream, and finally, add some roasted cherries and chocolate in at the end. 🙂
This ice cream is THE BEST! I roasted all of the cherries and it wasn’t icy one bit. Love the coconut flavor, too.
I’m so happy you like the recipe! Hooray!!
Hi Kristen, I am planning on making this ice cream. If I use coconut milk, do I add the entire can or just the cream on top of the liquid in the can?
Mary
You’ll want to use the entire can. If you have a few cans (and don’t mind opening more than one) you can use the cream on top to make it higher in fat.:)