This basic recipe for green tea coconut milk ice cream only requires a few basic ingredients: coconut milk, matcha, and pure maple syrup! This healthier version of the classic dessert is easy to throw together in a few minutes!
The first time I had green tea ice cream was with my elementary school bff. Her mom took us to Chinese food. We were wearing matching plaid shorts. Our side ponytails were secured by fluffy scrunchies. When I tasted the ice cream, I thought I had found the lost city of Atlantis. Green tea ice cream is one my favorites and I am rarely able to find it at the grocery store. That’s how this whole homemade green tea ice cream thing happened.
Being the minimalist that I am, I only used three ingredients for this recipe and it turned out marvelously. I try to avoid processed sugars, lots of dairy, and am just confused by how the whole egg yolk thing works, so I made it with coconut milk and agave for a dairy-free, naturally sweetened treat.
Now for the health stuff . . .
This is a powerhouse dessert from a nutritional standpoint. Green tea powder (matcha) consists of stone-ground green tea leaves, which are high in antioxidants, boost the metabolism, lift your mood, are full of amino acids, and increase your energy. Matcha Green Tea Powder
retains all of the health benefits of green tea leaves and is also far more potent than steeping the leaves into tea.
Let’s break it down…
1 gram of matcha green tea powder contains 20 times the antioxidants of 1 gram of blueberries and is also the equivalent of drinking 10 mugs of green tea. Matcha has Vitamin A, Vitamin C, fiber, and L-theanine (which is said to help retain memory) (Matcha Source).
And then we take the coconut milk into consideration, which also boosts the metabolism, is full of Vitamins C, B, and E, and also contains antioxidants. Plus, coconut milk has a full, rich flavor, making it a perfect substitute for dairy.
Your dessert is good for you. Haaaaalleluja!
Green Tea Coconut Milk Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 14.5-ounce cans full-fat coconut milk*
- 1 tablespoon matcha green tea powder to taste see note*
- ½ cup pure maple syrup see note**
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until all the matcha chunks have dissolved (Note: If you have trouble getting the matcha to dissolve, you can heat the mixture on the stove top and whisk until combined. Be sure you refrigerate the mixture until completely cold before proceeding).
- Pour the green tea ice cream base into your ice cream maker, following your ice cream maker's instructions (my ice cream maker requires me to freeze the bowl overnight before use). Allow the ice cream to churn until very thick, about 30 to 40 minutes. Either enjoy the ice cream like soft serve straight out of the ice cream maker, or transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze 2 to 3 hours, until completely frozen.
- When ready to eat, thaw the ice cream for 10 to 15 minutes, or until softened. Serve heaping scoops and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
I love the healthy fun fact section. I just learned a whole bunch of new green tea info. Thanks! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I can’t get enough coconut milk these days, so naturally I love this!! I’m also a fan of tea (3 cups per day, normally) so this sounds like my ideal healthy dessert 🙂
oh yes! I’m a huge fan of green tea but never tried it as ice cream before (am I the last one?) lovvve it!! PS. I couldn’t comment on the last post but DANG that pizza! I’m still drooling 🙂 pps. Please make Give Em Kale tshirts 🙂
It’s so funny that you mentioned the T-shirts – I’m actually thinking of doing that! Next time you go out for sushi or chineese, try out some green tea ice cream and let me know what you think!!
This looks awesome. How much would I have to pay you to come deliver to the farm? I need this asap!
I’ll trade ya for a Tumbleweed Farm hat!! 😉
done deal!
Ok, I hate tea. It makes me gag. I know, grows. But I love coconut ice cream. Like love it! Thinking maybe this is the way to get my green tea in? I mean ice cream is always good!
Ohhhh Tieghan…I think you may be the first person I’ve ever met who doesn’t like tea…but you’re a rockin amazing cook, so I’ll let that one slide 😉 You could definitely scale back on the green tea powder or simply make a different coconut milk ice cream 😉 Either way, coconut milk ice cream is amazing – you’d love it! 🙂
Gorgeous. You have me totally craving this now! Unfortunately no one in my family ever wanted to buy a tub of it at the supermarket but now that I can make it on my own? EXCITEMENT.
I LOVE making ice cream with full-fat coconut milk! But, I have never tried my hand at making a green tea one. This looks and sounds super delicious, not to mention easy! (My Favorite) 🙂
Just gorgeous. And I love the three simple ingredients. What a beauty to behold and what a powerhouse to enjoy! Thank you for sharing!!
Oh my, green tea + coconut + ice cream….I’m in love! This looks simply delicious, Julia!
Oh, I love how easy this is! So many ice cream recipes are SO involved, so I definitely appreciate a 3-ingredient one. Matcha ice cream is one of my favorites too! We used to go to a restaurant that would serve it with matcha syrup too–double matcha!
MATCHA SYRUP???! I need this!
I absolutely love this! What great flavors. I really kind of wish I owned an ice cream maker.
Can you please tell me which brand of matcha you buy? I’ve had a few brands in my amazon cart for a while, and I can’t commit! Help! 🙂
Weeeeeell, mine came from G’s mom, who got it from teazone.com but when I go to the site, I can’t find the product 🙁 I checked amazon and all the matcha that comes up seems like it would work just great…let me know what you end up getting, cause I need to re-order soon!
@Julia, there is a company here in Vermont, Stone Leaf Teahouse, that sells fabulous matcha through the mail.
https://www.stoneleaftea.com/product/org-matcha-grade-2/
OMG I neeeeeed! Love how simple this is. I want to stare at the pictures all day.
This sounds incredible, and so easy to make! Can you replace almond milk for the coconut milk, or no?
Hello! I was wondering the same thing. Did it work for you?
I’ve never made the recipe using almond milk, but my assumption is you would need to add tempered egg yolks to the recipe in order for it to work with almond milk. Coconut milk is naturally thick and full of fat, which means it acts similarly to heavy cream. You can certainly make ice cream using almond milk, but you would need to mimic the same fatty consistency or else it will turn out like ice crystals ( < - again, this is an assumption). Let me know if you try it using almond milk and thanks for your interest!
This sounds so delicious! Weird question…do you think this would keep me up at night if I ate it after dinner? I usually have trouble sleeping if I drink caffeine (iced tea, soda, etc.) after 4pm, but this seems like such a small amount I’m hopeful I can have it during my usual “ice cream time”. 🙂
Hi Samantha, great question, and I have the same issue. I didn’t have problems sleeping after eating the ice cream (and I ate it for a few days in a row after dinner), but if you’re super sensitive to caffeine, I would say maybe scale back on the matcha a little bit. There’s not a whole lot in the recipe, so I don’t think it’d be a problem, but I certainly wouldn’t want you to lose any sleep!! Thanks for your interest and let me know if you end up making the ice cream 😀
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Hey, this looks fantastic. But I’m wondering if you could substitute honey for the agave? There’s a local honey farm in my area that I like to support.
Would that seriously change the sweetness? And if I adjusted for sweetness, (more or less of the honey compared to agave) would it change the texture of the ice cream drastically?
Hi Taylor, I bet you could substitute agave for the honey no problem! I would assume you could do a 1:1 ratio, but since I have never tried making ice cream with agave, I would do it based on taste. I hope it works out and let me know if you try it!
whoa, thank you so much for posting this! It is going to help me when I research green tea at the store! Very Mind Blowing!
You got it!
Hi, I love green tea icecream, and I love this healthier dairy-free version. I am also a nutritionist, and I wanted to point out a few things regarding the health aspects you mention above. Namely, when you heat something to the boiling point you denature (effectively kill) the heat-sensitive vitamins in it, particularly vitamin C and a couple of the Bs (pantothenic acid, thiamine, and folate). Green tea contains a few of the B vitamins: thiamine(b1), pantothenic acid (B5), niacin(b3), and riboflavin(b2). The antioxidants are the vitamins you mentioned: A, C, and E – A and E are both fat-soluble so are not effected by heat. It may also be worth noting that the tannins in green tea block the absorption of iron. So those concerned with iron intake (if you have anemia), should avoid green tea.
I made this ice cream once and am now on my second batch. It’s very delicious, although for me it comes out more like a sorbet, not super creamy like real ice cream. Also, I have raw honey from my hives and with this batch am using all raw honey. I will post again to let you know how the taste comes out, although I suspect delicious also. I only had about 1/4 c of agave left and for the first batch utilized it along with a 1/4 c of raw honey and it was fine. Since it uses coconut milk it of course tastes like coconut also. Anyway, thanks Julia for a wonderful recipe. I had wondered what a using a vanilla bean in the heated mixture might taste like. Might give that a whirl next time.
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I love this recipes!! I also love matcha. I double the matcha and use fresh local honey. I had trouble the first time with dissolving the match so the second time I tried it I didn’t boil the coconut milk but heated it and blended it in my magic bullet. Turned out perfect! Cut the prep time down to about 4 minutes- Wow!!
Hi. I have a question. Does the recipe call for the whole can of coconut full fat milk or do I separate the watery part and use only the the thick cream part of the coconut milk. Other sites mention separating the watery part from the thickened part, but yours doesn’t. I really really want to try this recipe. The best I can do for now until I hear from you is just throw Matcha into my Chapman’s sugar free ice cream which tastes great but that I know is not as healthy as the coconut milk version that you make. And the idea of using maple syrup as well sounds awesome tasting to me.
Hi Christiane! Use the whole can of coconut milk 🙂
Done and done! What ice cream maker do you recommend? Also, do you use only organic matcha? I read this blog post https://blog.piquetea.com/matcha-green-tea/ about the harmful toxins in culinary grade matcha and was shocked!
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