Coconut Ice Cream, made the old fashioned way with toasted coconut, heavy cream, coconut cream & coconut milk, is rich, creamy, and perfectly sweet.
This recipe teaches you how to make homemade ice cream the classic way with an egg yolk based custard. The result is the most delicious coconut ice cream you’ve ever had!
COCONUT ICE CREAM
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Homemade old fashioned Coconut Ice Cream is GOOD. The photos don’t do this recipe justice.
If you look online for a coconut ice cream recipe, it’s really hard to find a real ice cream recipe. They’re all vegan or paleo. I’m all for that and have even made a vegan and paleo recipe from time to time, but I wanted ice cream. You know, the real stuff made with sugar, heavy cream, and egg yolks.
So I had to get creative.
How to make homemade coconut ice cream:
- I started this recipe off by toasting some sweetened coconut in my sauce pan. Be careful here – you want it to get evenly golden brown and not burnt.
- Then, I added half and half, heavy cream, coconut cream, and coconut milk. I wasn’t sure if I should go heavy and do all cream or light and go all milk, so I split the difference and used all four (and it was perfect).
- If you don’t like the little bits of coconut in your ice cream, you can certainly strain them out of the heated milk/cream mixture before whisking it in with the egg/sugar mixture… but if you aren’t a coconut lover, why would you be making this ice cream in the first place?
- I like to chill the hot custard mixture over an ice bath before refrigerating it. Take my advice here – Don’t put too much ice water in the bottom bowl. When the ice melts, the volume increases, and if you have too much it will spill over. Learn from my mistakes, friends.
- The final result is a super creamy, coconut-y, perfectly sweetened ice cream that your entire family will love.
There’s a secret to getting super soft and creamy homemade ice cream.
At first, my husband didn’t like this coconut ice cream. Wanna know why?
He scooped it fresh out of the freezer and dug in.
You can do that with store bought ice creams, but in my opinion, homemade ice creams need a good 10-15 minutes to sit on the counter and soften before serving. Trust me on this one. Its worth the wait.
Love making homemade ice cream? Here are some of my favorite recipes:
- Old Fashioned Strawberry Ice Cream – Next to vanilla and chocolate, this is an American classic!
- Extreme Vanilla Bean Ice Cream – Vanilla beans are expensive, but you can’t beat the flavor they create.
- Bourbon Nectarine Ice Cream – As decadent and wonderful as it sounds.
- Blood Orange Buttermilk Sherbet – Not technically ice cream, but oh-so delicious!
Kitchen tools used to make this homemade old fashioned coconut ice cream:
Ice cream maker – I have this one, however I’m in the market for a new one. If I find something better, I’ll come back and update my post!
Every cook needs a good whisk, and you can’t make a custard based ice cream without one.
Since this recipe requires heating on the stove, you’ll need a good sauce pan to cook the base.
Coconut Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup loosely packed sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup light coconut milk canned
- 14 ounce can coconut cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until light and fluffy. Set aside.
- Add the coconut to a medium sized heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir the coconut until it begins to brown, about 7 minutes, but do not allow to burn. Add the half and half, heavy cream, coconut milk, and coconut cream and bring to a simmer. You want to scald the mixture without it coming to a boil. Just before it starts to boil, turn the heat off.
- Slowly pour the hot coconut milk mixture into the yolk mixture, starting with a small amout at first, whisking constantly. Once you've added enough to warm the egg mixture, add a little more, always whisking, until everything has been combined and well mixed. Then pour the mixture back into the pan.
- Set over medium-low heat and cook, stirring slowly and continuously, until the custard thickens. You know its done if you can wipe your finger across a coated spatula and it leaves a trail. This takes about 5 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil.
- Pour the custard into a clean bowl and place over an ice bath to cool while occasionally stirring to mix the hot with the cool. Refrigerate the custard until cold, at least 1 hour.
- Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure your container has been frozen at least over night prior to starting. I have a Cuisinart and had to make the ice cream in two batches, one right after the other, and the mixing process took about 30-45 minutes per batch. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Makes about 1 quart.
Nutrition
This post was originally created in March 2015 and has been updated with more fun facts and tidbits for your reading pleasure.
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Hi!
I just googled coconut ice-cream and found your recipe. I will try it in the next few days. One question. What is half and half? I can only assume you mean fat reduced milk (?).
You recipes look fabulous. I can’t wait to try them.
Veronica, Tasmania, Australia
Hi Veronica! Half and half is what we use for cream in our coffee. It is basically in between full fat milk and heavy cream. Hope that helps! -Krissy
For all the people asking..
This is how to make half and half in Australia.
Mix 1/2 cup whole milk + 1/2 cup light cream.
Mix 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream.
Mix 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
I’ve been looking for a good coconut ice cream recipe.. can’t wait to try this!
Oh I should mention, it’s 3 different ways to make “half and half”, depending on what you have at home.
Had to bring a “coconut themed dessert” for work. Delicious and (relatively) easy. Five stars!
Thank you for coming back to let me know! -Krissy
In your ingredients you list by itself ‘one cups half and half ‘ but you don’t say what exactly…please explain
Should have said one cup, not cups. Half and half is something you can buy in the store (we put it in coffee). Thicker than milk, not as thick as heavy cream. Krissy
Hello,
Could you please tell me if I need a ice maker or ice “cream” maker for this recipe? are they one in the same or is there a difference?
Thank you!
Ice cream maker is definitely different than an ice cube maker.
I’m making this right now! I’m going to add caramel and nuts afternoon goes in the ice cream maker…im so excited!
In Australia & the UK I think we just refer to it as pouring/cooking cream. The stuff you can’t whip no matter how hard you try.
Way too sweet. Cloyingly. Way more fat than any ice cream needs to be a success. So much fat that the texture and mouthfeel were both off.
I’ve made lots of ice cream with coconut being a favorite-thought I’d try this one. I fear most of it will go down the kitchen drain!
Sorry you feel that way. We love this recipe.
I agree with you’re completely! This recipe sounded awesome and I really wanted it to work (as would anyone investing time and ingredients into making something), but the recipe just falls short. I wrote a review as well but it wasn’t approved or published.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you guys (and I’m not sure I saw your review come through, Aline). Hopefully you enjoy some of the other recipes on my site!
Awesome recipe just made it, so yummy 🙂 subbed half and half with full fat milk, and made my own swetened coconut from regular shredded conconut, still delicious. Stayed really good consistensy too while eating, didn’t melt to a puddle 🙂
Added some rough chopped toasted almonds and mini dark chocolate chips!!! OMG it was almond joy heaven!!! Made this for my daughter’s birthday and it was a hit. Making it again for sister’s gathering this week! Nice twist if you like almond joy!
P.S. – I did substitute a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk for the coconut cream, decreased fhd sugar to 1/2 cup and added a little coconut extract.
Ann
DO I HAVE TO USE AN ICE CREAM MAKER? WHAT ABOUT TRAYS?
You don’t have to. That’s just how I do it.
The only coconut ice cream I’ve ever tasted is the paleo/dairy-free kind (blech!), so I was intrigued about what a custard based ice cream would taste like. I bought a box of Samoa Girl Scout cookies and kept it in my freezer to use for this recipe. Amazingly, hubby didn’t eat the cookies beforehand (what willpower!). OMG, it was everything I thought it would be. The only thing I changed was to strain out the coconut before putting the custard in the ice bath because I thought the shredded coconut would have a weird texture in the ice cream; I added a teaspoon of vanilla (because why not?), the crushed cookies and a few chocolate chips. It was awesome on a hot summer day. Thanks so much for the recipe! Hubby is a huge fan too! Next time I make it, I’ll use this recipe with mango puree. Should be awesome!
OMG I just made it today, it is so delicious. I will be making some more for my friends. By the way, I’ve added a teaspoon of salt to balance out the sweetness. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Omg Delich
This sounds awesome, I have a 6 quart freezer, you said it makes approx 1 quart. It sounds extreme to go x6 on some of the ingredients, Like the eggs and sugar etc. how would you mix for this? Thanks!
Hi Darren, You have a 6 qt freezer or a 6 qt ice cream maker? I’m a small batch ice cream kinda girl, but if you have the means to make a bigger batch, I would just multiply and go!
I buy the Thrifty brand pineapple coconut ice cream.
I think it is heavenly.
I recently started making our own ice cream since we got a ice cream maker.
This recipe sounds like a good creamy one.
I’m looking forward to making it this week and will give a reply afterwards.
Thank you for sha4ing your recipe,
Can’t wait to try this! I wanted a recipe that uses heavy cream and coconut milk, so I’m going to give it a try! Definitely planning to add chopped pecans at the end…will come back with how it goes!
Also, you mentioned being in the market for a new ice cream maker. I have the 4-qt nostalgia electric wooden bucket ice cream maker and I LOVE it. Don’t have to worry about the bucket being cold enough because it’s the kind where you add ice to the outside. A little messier than the freezer bucket kind (which I did used to have but it broke…). Plus I think 4 qt in one go is perfect. Wish I had the time to make smaller batches more often, but this is perfect for us 🙂