Salted Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Ice Cream
Whenever I look back at childhood photos, I always get a kick out of the number of pictures of me with a dog or cat (or bunny or goat, because we had those at different points too) at my side and chocolate all over my face. These days it’s not much different. I usually have my two dogs, Honey and Barley, at my side or on my lap…and chocolate on my face. It’s less chocolate than when I was little and looked like I dipped my face in a big bowl of it, but safe to say it was clear from an early age that I love chocolate. It’s for this reason that I highly recommend re-visiting old, sometimes embarrassing childhood photos every so often. They give great insight into what made us happy then, and those are often things that will make us happy today…like this dreamy salted dark chocolate olive oil ice cream.
I like my chocolate in all forms, and especially in ice cream. And when I think back to the best chocolate ice cream of my life, it was during our brief stint in San Francisco. The everyday felt very hard there and I was homesick for Boston, and so Aaron and I would trek all around the city on weekends trying to find moments of relief and tasting what locals considered “the best” food—bread, baked goods, and my favorite: ice cream!
True to form, we had to drive across the city, circle the neighborhood a handful of times to find parking, and then wait in line for half an hour, but even being down on the city, this chocolate ice cream felt worth it. It was so rich and decadent, with that perfect level of bitter and sweet, all sprinkled with flaky sea salt to make it sing. This shop was known both for its quirky and sophisticated flavors and toppings, and so I somewhat skeptically ordered mine with the topping people were raving about: extra virgin olive oil.
I still think about that ice cream years later, and I’ve finally perfected my own without the dairy! It’s so simple too, and really comes down to the quality of the ingredients and also the method I’m detailing below. Sure, you could lighten this up with a different base, but that’s not what I was trying to do here. I wanted something that felt over-the-top indulgent, which is why I poured a very generous glug of fruity extra virgin olive oil into the chocolatey coconut cream, in addition to using it as a topping.
This salted dark chocolate olive oil ice cream might just be my best ice cream recipe to date.
Salted Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Ice Cream
Salted Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Ice Cream
Serves: about 1 quart
Prep Time: 6 hours
Extra dark, extra decadent. This vegan chocolate olive oil ice cream is luxuriously creamy, with notes of fruity extra virgin olive oil, all sprinkled with flaky sea salt. It's the perfect level of bitter, sweet, and sophisticated.
Cuisine: Gluten Free, Vegan Servings: about 1 quart
Prep Time: 6 hours
Extra dark, extra decadent. This vegan chocolate olive oil ice cream is luxuriously creamy, with notes of fruity extra virgin olive oil, all sprinkled with flaky sea salt. It's the perfect level of bitter, sweet, and sophisticated.
Instructions
- Add the coconut milk, cacao powder, coconut sugar, coconut nectar, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt to a medium saucepan and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let boil for 1 minute and continue to stir with the whisk. Remove from the heat.
- Pour the mixture into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and vodka and allow it to cool on the counter for 45 minutes, whisking occasionally to release steam and help it cool, and then refrigerate until cold (about 1 hour).
- Once chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions (about 20 minutes) until just frozen. The texture will resemble soft-serve.
- Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container, laying parchment paper along the top to prevent ice crystals, and allow it to harden in the freezer for 3-4 hours, or until it reaches your desired consistency.
- To serve, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 3-4 minutes, then scoop and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of flaky sea salt.
Notes [1]
The small amount of vodka helps to keep the ice cream from becoming icy and rock hard once frozen. The flavor is not at all detectable in the finished ice cream.
Copyright © 2022 Amanda Maguire for Pickles & Honey
Hot damn.
! ! !
Xx 😉
for some reason, i am not much of a chocolate ice cream person however, olive oil version sounds pretty tempting,.
This sounds absolutely amazing! I would never try olive oil or salt, even though salt works so well with chocolate. I would love to try this! – but I think I would do it without the vodka ;).
I’m telling you, that little bit of vodka makes all the difference in texture and scoopability. (that’s now a word) 🙂
What can be used instead of alcohol for scoopability ?
Since there’s vodka in it can a pregnant woman eat this?
Hi Tai, There is only 1 1/2 tablespoons of vodka in the entire recipe (it helps with texture once frozen), but I would recommend that you check with your doctor. The recipe is still delicious without it too. 🙂
Do you have any recommendations for substitutes for the coconut sugar and coconut nectar? I only ask bc I want to try to make this tonight and I have all the ingredients except those two.
Hi Adriane! You can replace the coconut sugar with another vegan sugar, and you may need a bit less of it (I find coconut sugar is less sweet). If you have agave or brown rice syrup, those would work well for replacing the coconut nectar. If not, I would say replace it with more of whatever sugar you’re subbing for the coconut sugar. Just taste as you go and it should work out well. 🙂
I’ve never heard of olive oil with ice cream before, but I’m not beyond trying it if say it’s amazing! 🙂
Yes, try it! It’s super decadent!
Oooh, interesting! I`ve never had the chocolate-olive oil combo before. I`m game for most recipes if they involve ice cream and chocolate, so I might have to give this a go.
Let me know what you think of the ice cream if you try it, Sondi!
I tend to not be one for chocolate ice cream because I find the flavour flat and overly chocolatey. But THIS chocolate ice cream looks so complex and delicious my mouth is drooling. Amazing creation and so wonderful you were able to recreate an old favourite!
Wow does this look amazing! A girl after my own heart! I will have to try this.
Sounds amazing. Can you make this in a high speed blender? ?
Hi Abi, I haven’t tried this in a high speed blender. Do you mean freezing it in ice cube trays, and then blending?
This is the perfect idea for comfort food. That chocolate looks so inviting.
Thank you! The chocolate is definitely inviting. 🙂
I made this today, but used citrus rum instead of vodka. It was AMAZING! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. 🙂
So if I wanted to make this non-vegan? Would I just swap the milk, sugar and nectar? We just don’t keep that stuff in the house but I wanna make this!
Hi Brianna! You can use another granulated sugar in place of the coconut sugar, and replace the coconut nectar with additional granulated sugar. The canned full-fat coconut milk is key though, so I’d recommend picking that up the next time you go grocery shopping. 🙂
Hi Amanda – just found your blog tonight while searching for recipes using my newly acquired cacao butter. Pretty sure I’ll be making the ginger turmeric chocolates 🙂 That then led me to this amazing ice cream recipe. I can see I’m going to be spending quite a bit of time here! I love your story and wish you much happiness on the rest of this exciting life.
I have a question about the amount of coconut milk I need to use in this ice cream recipe. Here in Australia we have two can sizes – a small can of 270ml and a larger can which is about 410ml. Can you please let me know? Thank you, Judy.
Hi Judy! Thanks for your very sweet comment. I highly recommend the ginger turmeric chocolates; they’re one of my favorites for sure.
The cans of coconut milk I used for the ice cream are 400ml (13.5 fl. ounces), so you’ll want to go with the larger cans.
Thanks so much Amanda.
Made this today and it is AMAZING! My only regret is making a half-recipe. 🙁 Wish I made more. I subbed rum since its what I had and it worked very well. 🙂
YUM! Good call on using rum–I bet that’s awesome!
Just found your site courtesy of Fillipo Olive Oil!!! If you have an email site, please include me. Will have to try the chocolate ice cream! Thanks Anthony.
I have been searching for a site like this for a while, I guess I just wasn’t hitting the mark as to what I wanted until today. This ice cream recipe sounds so delicious, I’m going to give a try tonight. I hope it turns out as good as yours, I’ve been craving ice cream for a long time, but because of a stomach condition I picked in Iraq 2005-2006 I can’t partake of regular ice cream without paying for it in pain and other unpleasantries that I won’t mention here. Thank you so much!
I hope you love the ice cream, Wayne!
Well I didn’t have any vodka on hand so I just used same amount of Pear Brandy…the ice cream was phenomenal! Then a week later I made a different vegan coconut milk based ice cream recipe without the alcohol and my husband said, “I liked the first one better cause it was creamier!”. Thanks for this fabulous tip and an amazing ice cream recipe!
That’s so wonderful to hear, Dottie! I bet the pear brandy made an excellent substitution. 🙂
So you don’t actually churn this, correct? When it mentions to put into the ice cream maker, it assumed it is unchilled? I normally keep the freezer bowl for the ice cream maker in the freezer so wanted to make sure! Thanks for the recipe! I am using blood orange olive oil!
Hi Kira! You’ll want to allow the ice cream mixture to cool on the counter for 45 minutes after you make it and whisk it occasionally to release steam and help it cool, and then you should refrigerate it until it’s cold (about 1 hour). Once it’s chilled in the fridge, you can pour the mixture into your ice cream maker’s freezer bowl (which should be frozen in advance) and let the ice cream maker do its thing for about 20 minutes or until it’s a thick soft-serve consistency. I hope that helps to clarify!
P.S. Blood orange olive oil sounds seriously amazing!! <3
This is what I’ve been looking for, Amanda. Thank you for the answer to a creamier vegan ice cream with no ice crystals. Can’t wait to try this.
I hope you love the ice cream, Lisa!
This recipe looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. One quick question…what do you mean by “fruity” extra virgin olive oil? Thank you!
Hi Jeannine! Fruity refers to the flavor of the olive oil. Usually they will say this on the label, but if you can’t find one, Spanish olive oils tend to be great for a more fruity flavor.
Well I must have done something wrong because the consistency turned out all wrong. It is bumpy. I did change quite a few things in the recipe. I used regular white sugar, corn syrup instead of coconut nectar, and cocoa instead of cacao. My guess is that the olive oil is clumping up and not evenly distributed to the mixture. What do you think is wrong? p.s. It still tastes delicious, but it’s ugly.
I had the same issue! I subbed with turbinado sugar and agave and let the mixture sit in the fridge 17 hrs bc my ice cream based needed to be frozen.
Amanda & Aaron, Hi Just wanted to say when I copy recipes from sites I also put the site url with it and it is just for my
own personal use
RBrennan
Thank you. 🙂 Always feel free to save our recipes for your personal use.
Olive oil and dark chocolate seem like a combination a mad scientist would make up, but that’s what being a great chef is all about. The wilder the combination, the better the payoff (if it works). Let me tell you, my grandfather loved to cook, and he got even better after taking some classes. My grandmother laughed when he signed himself up for cooking lessons, but he was really amazing at it. He didn’t have many hobbies and being retired was not his thing. So, he decided he would learn a new skill by taking some classes. Our family loved watching him grow and tasting his delicious food!
Is there a substitute for the vodka? For those of us who won’t drink alcohol. Because this sounds amazing.
Hi Stacey, The small amount of vodka helps to keep the ice cream from becoming icy and rock hard once frozen. The flavor is not at all detectable in the finished ice cream, but you can feel free to leave it out as well.
Can you do this as no churn ice cream?
I haven’t tried making this as no churn ice cream, but definitely let me know how that turns out if you give it a try! 🙂