I’m quite late jumping on the salted caramel bandwagon, I admit. But this recipe was just too good not to share!
The ingredients are very simple; coconut milk, coconut sugar and a pinch of sea salt. Translated: Fat, sugar and salt.
Okay, that doesn’t make it sound very healthy but this version kind of is…
I’ve used coconut sugar (one of my favourite ingredients) which has a deliciously deep and dark caramel taste and is also one of the more healthier sweeteners with a low GI and high mineral content.
I’ve used coconut milk as the base for this ice cream but that doesn’t make this a coconut flavour ice cream, yes there may be a subtle background coconuttiness but trust me this is all about the salted caramel taste!
That leaves only one more ingredient: sea salt, which turns this sweet caramel ice cream into a bowl of immense pleasure!
The best part is, everyone can enjoy this… whether you’re on a raw, vegan or Paleo diet! S’all good…
- 700ml (3 cups) full-fat coconut milk, from 3 cans (not raw) that have been refrigerated for at least 3 hours*. OR see The Spunky Coconut's guide to making fresh, raw coconut cream
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 150g (3/4 cup) coconut sugar*
- (optional) 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (further enhances the caramel taste)
- Take the cans of coconut milk out of the fridge, open them and notice how the fat has sunk to the bottom and the skimmed has floated to the top. We want the fat part, the cream (Don't fear the fat!) So pour out the liquid and discard or keep for another recipe. And scrape out the cream to use for the ice cream, you will need 3 cups full.
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix for a minute until completely smooth.
- Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to churn the ice cream.
- When it's churned, transfer it to a shallow, freezer-safe container and leave it to firm up for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Take out the freezer 5-10 minutes before you want to serve, to let it soften slightly. Then use an ice cream scoop, soaked in hot water to create the perfect scoops! ENJOY!
*coconut sugar is also known as coconut palm sugar but please note that 'palm sugar' is not the same.
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Oh my gosh, this looks awesome. I love salted caramel!
Thanks Becky :D It’s sooooooooo addictive.
Made this for some friends the other night, absolutely delicious!! The coconut sugar gives it so much depth of flavor. There was one person who really doesn’t care for coconut flavor but loved this ice cream. Thank you for the recipe!
Oh I’m so pleased you liked it, thanks for letting me know! I know, isn’t coconut sugar amazing stuff? :D
I’m a newcomer to vegan desserts. I made this ice cream earlier, and it tastes amazing! So simple, no making of caramel! No custard, no cooling and chilling…. it’s the easiest and most delicious ice cream I’ve ever made! Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be buying your book
I made this just now and… wow. It tastes exactly like salted carmel. I love coconut palm sugar but the mix of coconut sugar and coconut milk makes this beautiful carmel taste. Thank you!!
So glad you liked it Whitney! It’s one of my favourites… I try and always have some in the freezer :-)
I don’t have an ice cream maker, but would this work just blended and poured into popsicle moulds? Should I add a little arrowroot for thickening? Any ideas?
I made this tonight for my mother who is allergic to just about everything! The flavor was so good. A few things went wrong so the texture was a bit grainy. First my coconut milk didn’t seperate :( I improvised and did a sort of ‘scoop out as much of the clumpy cream while cussing at the can’ thing. Second, I used a hand mixer instead of the blender (I know, totally a bad idea). All and all it wasn’t a complete disaster because it really did taste like salted caramel!! I will do this again and succeed! I ordered your book for my mom and we are so excited to try the other recipes.
Hi Renee! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavour and sorry to hear the rest of it didn’t quite come together… The grainy texture would definitely be from not blending it and if your coconut milk didn’t separate it might not be a full-fat variety or might contain lot’s of emulsifiers to keep it separating. Once you receive my book, you’ll see an updated version of the recipe which isn’t raw (hope that’s not a problem for you) but will be a lot easier and give you a much better result too! It’s one of my top 3 favourites in the book so I know you’ll love it. Thank you so much for ordering a copy by the way, really appreciated :-)
Can you use coconut cream instead of coconut milk? (since you are only using the fatty part of the milk)
Hi Marija, yes you can, as the fatty part of the coconut milk is essentially coconut cream but be careful not to use ‘creamed coconut’ or ‘cream of coconut’ as these are not the same. I now have an updated version of this recipe available in my book (see my sidebar for details) using all the coconut milk and some arrowroot powder instead, it’s not raw though.
Wow this looks delicious! Found your blog through a foodgawker search for coconut milk, boy this looks delicious! I love using coconut milk for recipes!
xoxo Sarah Grace, Fresh Fit N Healthy.
So cool! Will try that next weekend. But please, could you not encourafe people to throw what is left from coconut milk.. Siunds like a waist of food, isnt it?
Thanks Karina! Oh no, I never encourage food waste, which is why I mentioned they could keep the leftovers for another recipe. It goes great in a curry :-) Let me know how you get on if you try it!
It is common for Indonesian people to make ice cream using coconut milk. But I never thought of combination of coconut milk, coconut sugar and sea salt (although I always have all this ingredients in my kitchen) could tasted so delicious ! You are very smart and creative Aimee :)
Looks good, want to try this. We just made some coconut milk ice cream Saturday night when we had some friends over. One question, you mention raw coconut milk from a can, how can something canned be raw? Thanks.
Hi Mike, very good question. I’m not on a raw diet myself so I confess this wasn’t something I considered. However, I have found this tutorial from The Spunky Coconut on how to make fresh, raw coconut cream: http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2013/03/how-to-make-coconut-cream-tutorial.html Hope that helps, and I’ll edit the post to cover this!
This ice cream looks positively divine. I can’t even think of any other way to describe it. I have a list of vegan ice creams that I want to make, and this nudged it’s way to the top!
Thanks Kristen! Let me know how yours turns out :-)
I’m absoluetlyyyyyy LOOOVINGGGG this ice cream! Coconut milk…I’m a fan… Coconut sugar… I’m a fan… this salted caramel ice cream? I’m DEFINITELY A FAN! :) LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!
Haha thank you Samina! I’m a fan too :P
Looks gorgeous but where do you get coconut sugar from? I’ve never even heard of it before :s
Thanks Rosie :-) Coconut sugar is a pretty popular health food at the moment. You’ll find it in any health food store (holland and barrett do some, but it’s a little expensive!)
I love easy recipes with hardly any ingredients. this is perfect for me. I just bought my first bag of coconut sugar at the store. I am making a carrot cake this weekend and haven’t baked with it yet. glad I have found this so I can use it up. might be a nice side with the cake since I am going for maple flavors.
Mmm, that cake sounds good. I think the maple flavour with compliment the coconut sugar, as they’re both quite dark, trecaley in flavour. Do let me know if you try it, I’d love to know what you think of it :-)
Yes please! I need to make this before it gets too cold-all my favourite flavours in one.
It’s never too cold for ice cream ;-) Let me know if you try it!
Love salted caramel and in a vegan ice cream it is even better. A must try
Mmm, it’s just too good! Let me know if you try it :-)
I love salted caramel. And I LOVE my ice cream maker! Anyone who hasn’t got one needs to get out there now and treat themselves! There really is NO substitute….. Can’t believe how simple this recipe is. No cooking? Fab!!!!
I agree! I couldn’t be without mine :-)
oh dear, did I mention “ice cream sandwich”, I mean “ice cream machine.”
hahah you crazy girl, this is the longest comment I’ve had :D and I love it. My anti-spam plugin must hate long comments though, I’ve changed the settings now! There used to be a delicious vegan ice cream they sold over here but then suspiciously they disappeared off the face of the earth, it was coconut milk based with various tropical flavours and it was SOO good. But since they disappeared, I’ve had to make my own! My ice cream maker is really rubbish to be honest, it does the job though and was cheap so I got what I paid for. You should definitely treat yourself to one! And I hope you get to try the salted caramel ice cream if and when you do :-)
I had to comment again due to the word limit, hehe! So here is the last paragraph…I’ve never made coconut milk ice cream before, but I’ve made ice cream with the blackest bananas in a food processor with raw almond red maca butter. I’ve never posted it (haha, they are gonna melt anyway!) But I’ve tried coconut milk ice cream by SoDelicious Dairy-Free (so goooood) and my favorite one is the Cookie Dough! Now I want some Cookie Dough & Salted Caramel coconut ice cream :)
Wow Aimee, I am loving your vegan recipes, you’re amazing! Salted caramel is one of my favorite “ingredient” on any desserts – brownies, ice cream, cakes, cheesecakes, and loads more. I heard about the legal battle between Nigella and her husband on DailyMail (it sounds horrible) but I really like her quote! I wish I have an ice cream sandwich, it has been sitting on my kitchen wish list for about a year now…which one did you have? I’m bookmarking this recipe…these ingredients are so simple and easy to use and make…thank you Aimee! :)
Oh my gosh! This looks delicious! And such simple ingredients. Simple is best! :)
Thank you Chris! Definitely, it’s such a bonus when the number of ingredients are kept to a minimum :-)
I desperately need a ice cream machine to make this amazing ice cream! Salted caramel, give me a bowl! MMM.
You definitely need an ice cream machine in your life, Pamela. And the fact that it’s Autumn is no excuse! (I bought mine around this time of year) It’s a really cheap “crappy” one too, but it does the job :-)
Looks utterly delicious. I adore salted caramel and I love that you use coconut sugar. I’m making ice cream today too, must be something in the air.
Thanks :-) T’was a day for ice cream, clearly!
Wow this is awesome. I’m thinking about doing a vegan month soon so this would be perfect!
Ooh good luck with that! Will we be seeing lot’s of delicious vegan recipes on your blog then?
It looks amazing, and I love that you use coconut sugar. It is one of my favourites as well, just too bad it has to be so much more expensive… I will try this for sure!
I know, it can be crazy expensive… it’s worth it sometimes though. Like in this recipe :-)
If it tastes like salted caramel I’m in! Gosh, this looks amazing! I’d never tell it’s a healthier version, actually!
Need. This. NOW.
Thanks Consuelo! I hope you get to try some ;-)
Oh. my. gawd. I keep seeing such fantastic vegan ice cream recipes everywhere I think I might need an ice cream maker. This sounds so delicious and I love the simple ingredients.
yummmm
You won’t regret getting an ice cream maker!