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A chocolate ice cream recipe that is rich, creamy, and perfectly sweetened. Using ingredients already in your kitchen, you can have restaurant level ice cream at home!
Some may call me a chocolate ice cream enthusiast. I have been ordering chocolate ice cream at every ice cream shop I’ve entered since I was 1 ½. This in addition to being a pastry chef makes me 100% qualified to call this ice cream the BEST chocolate ice cream! It’s smooth, creamy, and has unparalleled chocolate flavor.
Try serving the classic custard based ice cream with a classic yellow cake or cherry almond tart! If you want to level up this ice cream, try my double chocolate caramel ice cream! And if you want a break from chocolate (I know, crazy), you can try my bourbon cherry caramel ice cream.
Why This is the Best Chocolate Ice Cream
- Rich and creamy texture. While working in restaurants, I spent years perfecting the texture of my ice creams. The secret is adding extra fat with egg yolks instead of cream to add another layer of silkiness.
- Step-by-step instructions from a pastry chef. We made ice cream once a week in the restaurants, and I am here to share all my tips and tricks with you for a full-proof restaurant quality ice cream.
- Use just melted chocolate for the best texture. Using melted chocolate creates a rich chocolate ice cream with that characteristic chewy texture. Cocoa powder is best saved for flourless chocolate cake and glazed chocolate donuts!
- Perfectly balanced flavor. The ratios in this recipe are perfectly balanced, from the chocolate to the sugar and the egg yolks. They all come together to create a balance of bittersweet and sweet.
Professional Tips for Making Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
- Use quality chocolate. Not only will a higher quality, bittersweet chocolate help with the flavor, but it will also add to the texture. Lower quality chocolates can have more fillers and less cocoa butter, which can take away from the desired smooth, silky texture.
- Be sure not to under or over-churn. If you under-churn your ice cream, it won’t hold its shape and it will become icy when you freeze it. If you over-churn, it will freeze too hard and the cream can separate, which leaves a fatty coating in your mouth.
- Let your base chill completely. Churning a cold ice cream base can help prevent ice crystals from forming. Using an ice bath and actively cooling your base before placing it in your fridge will speed up the process.
- Split the sugar between the cream and the egg yolks. Dividing the sugar helps keep the milk from scorching and protects the eggs from cooking during the tempering process.
Ingredients
- Whole Milk: I use whole milk for all custards, including ice cream, because it stands up to heating better and has a richer taste. The additional fat and lower water content, makes a less-icy ice cream.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream adds fat to the custard, making it rich and creamy.
- Vanilla Extract: The vanilla extract and kosher salt enhance the chocolate flavor without adding sweetness just like in the best chocolate pound cake.
- Kosher Salt
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar adds sweetness but also helps protect the milk from burning and the eggs from scrambling during the tempering process.
- Egg Yolks: The egg yolks are here for the thickening power and to add more fat to the custard. This will add to the creamy texture of the ice cream. You can either buy just egg yolks or separate the eggs and save the egg whites for vanilla bean marshmallows or an angel food cake.
- Bittersweet Chocolate: I use bittersweet chocolate to control the sweetness of the ice cream. Be sure to use a high quality chocolate or chocolate that you enjoy since it is the main flavor!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Add a mix in or two! Let your imagination run wild here! If you want more chocolate, swirl in chocolate chips, hot fudge sauce or chopped one bowl brownies. Chopped nuts, easy strawberry jam, or candies are also fun.
- Add a swirl! Add salted caramel sauce like I did in this chocolate caramel ice cream or strawberry caramel cookie ice cream. In the restaurants we added marshmallow fluff to make all sorts of fun flavor combinations like with graham cracker pie crust crumbles for s’mores!
- Ice cream sandwiches. Make my Nutella cookies or my mini chocolate chip cookies and freeze them. Pipe or scoop this ice cream between the cookies and have the perfect dessert for summer or a random Tuesday. 🥳
How to Make Chocolate Ice Cream
Use these instructions to make creamy chocolate ice cream every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Make the custard ice cream base:
Step 1: Pre-freeze your ice cream machine canister along with the container you are going to put the ice cream in. It should hold at least a quart. A standard loaf pan works great!
Step 2: Melt your chocolate in the microwave in a heat-safe bowl and set aside. Be sure it isn’t too hot!
Step 3: In a large pot, combine milk, cream, salt, vanilla, and half the sugar. Heat the mixture on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
Step 4: While you are waiting for the cream mixture to come to a boil, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar together in a large bowl until pale yellow. Add your melted but not hot chocolate and whisk to combine. (The mixture will be thick.)
It is best to wait until the cream mixture begins steaming before you add the sugar to the egg yolks. If the sugar sits with the egg yolks for too long, it will start to denature the proteins and you’ll get hard pieces of yolk that look like scrambled eggs. If this does happen, you can strain the whole custard before cooling.
Step 5: Once the cream mixture comes to a boil slowly pour it into the eggs while whisking constantly.
Place a hand or kitchen towel under the bowl with your eggs. It will help keep the bowl stationary and give you both hands to pour and whisk at the same time.
Step 6: Return to the pot and cook until the base reaches 85°C or 180°F, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure the spatula is touching the bottom of the pot at all times. Don’t forget about the corners of the pot! Custard loves to burn there.
Cooling and Churning:
Step 7: Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl. Set the bowl in an ice bath, you can actively cool the base with your spatula. I like to cool it till about room temperature before I place it in the refrigerator (this is optional). Cover the base with plastic wrap and poke a few holes before placing it in the fridge.
You will get the thickest base and creamiest ice cream if you cool it overnight. It is not necessary you can spin the base as long as it is cool to the touch. It doesn’t hurt to check in with the manufacturer’s instructions!
Step 8: This base is going to be thick like pudding. If you let it sit overnight, you may need to scoop the base into your ice cream machine. You want to add the base with the machine already running to avoid it freezing on the sides.
Step 9: Continue churning until the volume increases about ⅓ and the ice cream pulls away from the sides and holds its shape when scooped out. It will take about 20-30 minutes.
Step 10: Pour into a pre-frozen container, and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to avoid it taking on flavors from the freezer and to avoid ice crystals from forming. Freeze for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Make sure your thermometer is reading correctly. You can test with boiling water and leave your thermometer in the water for 15 seconds. It should read 212°F or 100°C. You can also test with ice water (with lots of ice) where the temperature should read 32°F or 0°C.
What to serve with chocolate ice cream?
- How about a sundae? Layer the ice cream with cherry compote and some sour cream pound cake (maybe soaked with some kirsch liquor?). Top with slightly sweetened whipped cream, and you have yourself a black forest sundae.
- On top of a brownie or cookie bar. Whether it’s a fudgy brownie or a carmelita this chocolate ice cream will pair perfectly! Try it with some of our other bar cookie recipes.
- Let the ice cream shine! Let the ice cream be the star of the show, and top it with hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, or a quick jam. Add some texture with orange chocolate shortbread cookies, pizzelle cookies, or streusel topping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store homemade ice cream in the freezer in a sealed container or with plastic wrap on the surface for up to 2 months.
Yes, this recipe was created to be used with an ice cream maker; it is not a no-churn recipe.
Ice cream stabilizer needs to be heated to activate and will clump like cornstarch if added to hot liquid. I like to mix the stabilizer with half the sugar and then add it to the cream and milk mixture before heating. And following the same process for xanthan gum. I would use 1 teaspoon stabilizer or ½ teaspoon xanthan gum per 3 cups of liquid.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate melted & cooled, I used Ghirardelli 60%
Instructions
Make the custard ice cream base:
- Pre-freeze your ice cream machine canister along with the container you are going to put the ice cream in. It should hold at least a quart. A standard loaf pan works great!
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave in a heat-safe bowl and set aside. Be sure it isn't too hot!
- In a large pot, combine milk, cream, salt, vanilla, and half the sugar. Heat the mixture on medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
- While you are waiting for the cream mixture to come to a boil, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar together in a large bowl until pale yellow. Add your melted but not hot chocolate and whisk to combine. (The mixture will be thick.)
- Once the cream mixture comes to a boil slowly pour it into the eggs while whisking constantly.
- Return to the pot and cook until the base reaches 85°C or 180°F, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure the spatula is touching the bottom of the pot at all times. Don’t forget about the corners of the pot! Custard loves to burn there.
Cooling and Churning:
- Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl. Set the bowl in an ice bath, you can actively cool the base with your spatula. I like to cool it till about room temperature before I place it in the refrigerator (this is optional). Cover the base with plastic wrap and poke a few holes before placing it in the fridge.
- This base is going to be thick like pudding. If you let it sit overnight, you may need to scoop the base into your ice cream machine. You want to add the base with the machine already running to avoid it freezing on the sides.
- Continue churning until the volume increases about ⅓ and the ice cream pulls away from the sides and holds its shape when scooped out. It will take about 20-30 minutes.
- Pour into a pre-frozen container, and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to avoid it taking on flavors from the freezer and to avoid ice crystals from forming. Freeze for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed ice cream recipes!
I’m so happy I found a winner! I haven’t tried it yet…but I sure will before the weeks over. I have a batch of vanilla churning as we speak. I was going to make this chocolate recipe of yours but I was short on the chocolate. So…I’m going to make a special run to the store this weekend to get chocolate! I won’t be able to sleep tonight thinking about the pictures of your chocolate ice cream! According to the comments and photos, I know this is a good recipe! Thank you for sharing it! The world would be absolutely dull and boring without ice cream!
Hahha! Thanks!
I wanna try making homemade .
This is a great place to start, Lisa!
I love mint chocolate chip
It looks yummy enough =) I hope I can make it as tasty as you make it sound.
I’m sure you can! Happy baking, Ollie!
Oh my Ghiradelli! Made this for the 4th of July- was super rich and creamy and decadent. Doubled the recipe and it turned out perfect. Would be great with toasted almonds. Sofar the best homemade ice cream I’ve ever made.
Aww thanks so much for the sweet comment, Amy! It would be fabulous with toasted almonds!
Made this for 4th of July, and it was a hit!! Seriously, this is the best taste and texture I’ve had from any homemade ice cream (and possibly any purchased ice cream)! Thanks for sharing!
Your comment just made my week, Angela! Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It is absolutely my favorite still!
Made this ice cream this last weekend. Hands do the BEST homemade ice cream I have ever had. I used the 60% Ghirardelli chocolate and 2% milk (because that’s what I had on hand). Three days later the ice cream is still creamy after being frozen in the freezer. Do you have any other homemade ice cream recipes that are as good as this one?
I am so glad you liked it, Cinda! It is still my favorite chocolate ice cream. I do have several other homemade ice cream recipes on AHC: French Vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate toasted marshmallow s’mores ice cream, strawberry caramel swirl ice cream, Peanut butter ice cream (this recipe is part of a no-bake Reeses Ice Cream Pie recipe. I will be posting more soon, because it is Ice Cream Season!!!
Made this tonight and it was outrageous!!!
Yay, Laurie!!! I am so glad you loved it!! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and comment! I means a lot to me 🙂