It’s super easy to make this low-carb/keto Chai Ice Cream that’s dairy-free, paleo, and vegan — that’s flavored with essential oils! Prefer not to ingest essential oils? No problem — I give dried chai spice measurements, too. This Keto Chai Ice Cream is like your favorite healthy chai latte in ice cream form!

My husband and I visited London recently as medical tourists.

We went so that I could have imaging and pelvic vein embolization performed at The Whiteley Clinic — which is leading the world in research and treatment of pelvic congestion syndrome.

But, you better believe we made the most of our time in London!

Going from our rural Northeastern Minnesota home to urban London meant access to things we rarely have… mainly, for my husband, coffee shops!

I swear, there’s a coffee shop on every corner of London!

Though Starbuck’s has a presence, the main chain coffee shop in London is Pret a Manger. I think we went there daily… 😉

Pret has much healthier and cleaner food options than Starbuck’s for sure. It offers things like organic soups and juices, avocado toast with gluten-free bread, and fruit and nut bars.

Since I’m not a coffee drinker, I was thrilled to try Pret’s turmeric latte and chai latte. Both are made with a dairy-free rice/coconut milk and were so flavorful!

Turning a Chai Latte Into Keto Ice Cream

The thing that turns me off of Starbuck’s drinks is how freaking sweet they are. Waaaaaay too sweet for me.

Pret’s drinks, however, weren’t really sweet. They just had phenomenal flavor. I felt no blood sugar spike or cravings or anything despite having either a turmeric latte or chai latte almost daily.

So, I decided that when I got home, I would try replicating the flavor of their chai latte — in ice cream form! Perfect for summer!

(I already have a yummy keto turmeric latte on the blog right here.)

I don’t eat keto or low-carb, but when I have dessert, it’s keto 99% of the time. Once I started eating keto/low-carb desserts, I found that I didn’t miss the sugar one bit!

I don’t use keto sweeteners. Does this have to be keto?

Nope! 🙂

With all of my keto dessert recipes, I give you the option of keeping it keto or using a whole sweetener of your choice.

For this Chai Ice Cream recipe to stay vegan and paleo, I recommend using coconut sugar instead of the Dietz Sweet I call for in the recipe.

You may need to use a little more — maybe 1/3 of a cup — than the Dietz Sweet since coconut sugar is less sweet. However, you may also find that you don’t need the extra sweetness because the chai flavor with creamy coconut milk is so tasty. 

I leave how much sweetener you use up to you. If you do opt for coconut sugar, though, save 10% on my favorite coconut sugar from Wildly Organic with my discount code NOURISHING.

Keto Chai Ice Cream Flavored With Essential Oils

I’ve been using essential oils in my cooking here and there for years. Mostly, I’ve used the citrus oils — like lemon essential oil in this Lemon Avocado Ice Cream and orange essential oil in my Paleo Orange Muffins.

Lately, however, I’ve been playing with my oils even more and trying recipes with oregano, basil, thyme, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and ginger.

A Keto Chai Ice Cream recipe is the perfect opportunity to experiment with using essential oils for flavor!

You use classic chai spices — cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, black pepper, cardamom — in essential oil form. And believe me, chai flavor has never been more pronounced and delicious.

You won’t find yourself looking for the flavor. You can taste every. single. one — beginning with cinnamon at first, then as the ice cream melts in your mouth, the ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom come out, and the black pepper and clove are there at the end.

You’ll want to savor every bite of this Keto Chai Ice Cream!

I don’t want to use essential oils. Or, I don’t think it’s safe to ingest oils. Can I use the spices instead?

Of course you can! In the recipe, I give measurements for the dried, ground spices if you don’t have the oils or prefer not to ingest essential oils.

However, let me reassure you that ingesting essential oils is perfectly safe… under the right conditions (which this Keto Chai Ice Cream meets):

• oil and water don’t mix; use essential oils only in recipes containing fat for proper dilution
• don’t ingest more than 4 drops of essential oils per day in raw recipes (one serving of this ice cream is about 2 drops)
• understand that essential oils affect your microbiome and take steps to keep your gut healthy (consuming bone broth, eating fermented foods, taking a quality probiotic)
• make sure the oils you’re ingesting aren’t contraindicated if you’re pregnant, nursing, or feeding an infant or toddler
• don’t use cheap, lesser quality oils — I only use Spark Naturals oils (a non-MLM company).

Trying essential oils for the first time? Use my discount code NOURISHING10 to save 10% on your Spark Naturals order + get FREE shipping on orders of $25 or more!

Also, if the oils are heated, their health benefits are basically destroyed — but you still get their amazing flavor.

Still, if you’re unsure about using essential oils in this Keto Chai Ice Cream, I have given measurements for the dried, ground spices. 🙂 No problemo. 

Best Ice Cream Maker?

I love, love, love my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!

(No, this post isn’t sponsored by Cuisinart. I just genuinely adore it.)

It’s quiet, makes ice cream and sorbet really quickly, and requires adding no salt or ice.

I never made homemade ice cream (even though I had an old machine) before I got my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Now, it’s a cinch to make, and I don’t mind at all.

I think the best part is that you don’t have to layer salt and ice — because I always found that just when I wanted to make some homemade ice cream, lo and behold, I would never have ice cream salt.

So, use whatever ice cream machine you already have, if you have one. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions when you make this Keto Chai Ice Cream.

But if you don’t have an ice cream machine already… HIGHLY recommend this one!

How to Make Keto Chai Ice Cream That’s Dairy-Free, Paleo, & Vegan

You’re going to need:

• 2 cans of full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup sweetener of choice — for keto, use Dietz Sweet or Lakanto; for non-keto use coconut sugar
• 4 organic black tea bags
• vanilla extract
• cinnamon bark, nutmeg, cardamom seed, ginger, black pepper, and clove essential oils (or ground spices if you prefer)
• liquid vanilla stevia
• salt

First, open up one can of coconut milk and add it to a saucepan along with your sweetener of choice. Bring it almost to a simmer. You want it to be steaming pretty good, but not bubbling. Whisk to make sure the sweetener is dissolved.

Turn off the heat and add the tea bags. Steep 10 minutes.

While it’s steeping, crack open the other can of coconut milk and add it to your blender, along with the essential oils (or dried, ground spices), vanilla extract, vanilla stevia, and salt.

When coconut milk/tea mixture is done steeping, squeeze the tea bags so you get every bit of that black tea goodness out of them. Then, add that mixture to the blender as well.

Blend for about 30 seconds. Finally, pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I LOVE my ice cream maker because it’s quick, requires no salt, and is quiet!

Once it’s ready, you can eat it right away or you can transfer it to a container to freeze until it’s more solid.

NOTE: This ice cream will freeze solid after several hours. If you’re not eating it right away, you’ll want to take it out of the freezer 45-60 minutes before serving if it’s rock-solid. (Hey, that’s vegan ice cream for ya!) 😉

Ok, here’s the full recipe!

5 from 1 vote

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Keto Chai Ice Cream (dairy-free, paleo, vegan)

It's super easy to make this low-carb/keto Chai Ice Cream that's dairy-free, paleo, and vegan -- that's flavored with essential oils! Prefer not to ingest essential oils? No problem -- I give dried chai spice measurements, too. This Keto Chai Ice Cream is like your favorite healthy chai latte in ice cream form!

CourseDessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2cansfull fat coconut milk
• 1/4cupDietz Sweetor Lakanto White
• 4organic black tea bags
• 2teaspoonsvanilla extract
• 6dropscinnamon bark essential oil(or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon)
• 3dropsnutmeg essential oil(or 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
• 2dropscardamom seed essential oil(or 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom)
• 2dropsginger essential oil(or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
• 1dropblack pepper essential oil(or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper)
• 1dropclove bud essential oil(or 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)
• 3dropsliquid vanilla stevia
• 1/2teaspoonsalt

Instructions

1. Pour one can of coconut milk into a saucepan and add sweetener. Heat until steaming.

2. Remove from heat and steep the 4 black tea bags for 10 minutes. Squeeze the tea bags when removing them from the coconut milk.

3. To a blender, add the coconut/tea mixture, plus the remaining can of coconut milk and all other ingredients, including essential oils. If using ground spices instead of essential oils, add them to the blender as well.

4. Blend until smooth.

5. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and make according to the manufacturer's instructions.

6. Transfer to the freezer to harden up or serve immediately.

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More Keto Cold & Frozen Desserts You’ll Love…

• Avocado Lemon Ice Cream with MCT Oil (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free)
• Keto Swedish Cream (egg-free, nourishing, 6 ingredients)
• Strawberry Lemon Bars (dairy-free, nut-free)
• Arnold Palmer Iced Tea Popsicles (3 ingredients, stevia-sweetened, dairy-free)
• 3-Ingredient Healthy Peach Slushie
• Instant Pot Strawberry Rhubarb Custard (stevia-sweetened, paleo, keto)
• Keto Probiotic Berry Cheesecake Popsicles
• Old-Fashioned Keto Root Beer Float
• 3-Ingredient Keto Raspberry Lemon Popsicles

Do you love chai? Will you use essential oils or ground spices for your Keto Chai Ice Cream?