I’ll show you how to make a deep, dark, chocolate ice cream recipe that’s super thick and creamy and has added protein, all using your Ninja Creami ice cream machine. This is an ice cream that you can really taste the chocolate in! The dark cocoa flavors goes so well with the crunch of the chocolate chips. The texture is amazing too!
This recipe comes in at 334 calories, 28 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar, 18 grams of fat, 60 carbs, 30 net carbs (total carbs-allulose) for the ENTIRE pint. See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all nutrition facts.
I’ve never been a huge fan of store-bought chocolate ice cream because it never has enough chocolate flavor for me. I like a deep, dark chocolate ice cream and that’s really hard to find. You know the kind I’m talking about! Chocolate ice cream that’s so rich and chocolatey that you just can’t get enough of it! Well, thanks to dark cocoa powder, I’ve come up with a creamy chocolate ice cream that tastes super chocolatey!
For this recipe, I did not use any heavy cream, cream cheese, or pudding mix. Instead, I’ve used unsweetened almond milk, sugar substitute, dark cocoa powder, guar gum, and protein powder. And, guess what! The texture is amazingly thick and creamy…not icy at all! It’s hard to believe that these low fat/low sugar ingredients all came together to create such great texture and flavor!
You’ll notice that I chopped the chocolate chips before adding them as mix-ins. I almost always do this now. For some reason, ice cream made using the Ninja Creami ice cream maker tends to be colder than store-bought ice cream. That means that the mix-ins stay colder too. Ice cold chocolate chips are VERY hard to chew. So, I started chopping them up before adding them to the ice cream and it made a world of difference. If you want even smaller pieces of chocolate throughout, you can squirt in a little bit of magic shell during the mix-ins process. You’ll end up with tiny flakes of chocolate all throughout the ice cream.
If you like chocolate ice cream, be sure to check out my Ninja Creami chocolate lovers Ice cream and my Ninja Creami chocolate protein ice cream! I’ve also created a Ninja Creami chocolate pudding ice cream recipe that uses instant pudding mix as one of it’s main ingredients.
I made this recipe with low sugar/low fat ingredients specifically to see how the texture would turn out. Usually, the higher the fat/sugar a recipe is, the creamier the ice cream is. Similarly, the lower fat/sugar a recipe is, the icier the ice cream is. But, I can confirm, that is not the case with this recipe! If you use higher fat/sugar ingredients, the texture will be even creamier!
Even though I used very low sugar/fat ingredients, the final result is a super creamy, not icy, homemade ice cream! Why? Well, for one thing, I used guar gum which definitely helps with the texture (thickness and creaminess) of the ice cream. If you aren’t using guar gum in your ice cream, buy a bag and try it out. It’s fairly inexpensive at about $10 for a bag that will last you pretty much forever. Also, a lot of protein powders have stabilizers/thickeners added to them already, which helps create a thick and creamy texture.
Tips for making Ninja Creami Double Dark Chocolate Chip Protein Ice Cream:
I almost always use dark cocoa powder instead of regular cocoa powder because I really like the deep chocolate flavor that the dark cocoa powder provides. Cocoa powder is not the same thing as hot cocoa powder and they usually cannot be substituted for each other.
If you aren’t trying to add extra protein to your diet, then you don’t need to add the protein powder that is in the recipe. You can completely omit it from the recipe. The volume of the recipe will decrease so you may want to add a little extra of each of the other ingredients to fill the Ninja Creami container. Since protein powder has added gums and other ingredients, the texture might not be as creamy if you omit the protein powder.
Chopped chocolate bars, Magic Shell chocolate, cookies, candies, nuts, or brownies can be used instead of chocolate chips for this recipe.
It is completely normal for Ninja Creami protein ice cream to be dry and crumbly, (looks like sand), after the first spin. This happens when your freezer is too cold or when there is a very low fat/sugar content to the recipe. Don’t panic. Just pour in about a tablespoon of liquid like milk or cream and then use the re-spin cycle. You might have to complete this process more than once. But, re-spinning with liquid should solve the problem.
I use the lite ice cream button for all of my Ninja Creami protein recipes. Lite ice cream takes works well when the recipe is very low in fat/sugar. Since most of my protein recipes are low in fat/sugar, that process works the best. But, if you’re making a high fat/sugar recipe with protein added, then I would probably use the ice cream function instead of lite ice cream.
Looking for more Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream Recipes?
Ingredients to make Ninja Creami Double Dark Chocolate Chip Protein Ice Cream:
Ingredient substitutions for making Ninja Creami Double Dark Chocolate Chip Protein Ice Cream:
The full ingredient list is found at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Unsweetened Almond Milk- You can use any type of dairy or dairy-free product that you would like. However, since the recipe calls for sweetener and flavorings, I would recommend choosing a milk/non-dairy milk that is unflavored and unsweetened. You can use almond milk, cashew milk, whole milk, skim milk, coconut milk, unsweetened oat milk, or any other milk of choice.
Sugar Substitute- I have found that Swerve, granulated allulose blend works great and does not have a fake sugar aftertaste. If you prefer, you can use a different sugar or sugar substitute like monk fruit sweetener or liquid Stevia. Adjust the amount based on which sugar substitute you use. The Swerve that is used in this recipe is a 1:1 ratio for regular white sugar.
Protein Powder- Use your favorite brand of unflavored protein powder. If you don’t have unflavored protein powder, you can use chocolate protein powder instead. If you use chocolate protein powder, taste the mixture before adding the dark cocoa powder as you will likely need less cocoa powder than the recipe calls for.
Guar Gum- Guar gum has no flavor and helps create a great texture. While I have not tried it in ice cream, many have found success with Xanthan gum instead of guar gum.
Dark Cocoa Powder- I prefer to use dark cocoa powder instead of regular cocoa powder. But you can use either one. You can even use black cocoa powder. Use less if you are using black cocoa powder and more if you are using regular cocoa powder.
Chocolate Chips- I chose to use zero sugar chocolate chips to help keep the sugar content down. But, you can use any chocolate chips that you want. If you use the full-sized chips, be sure to chop them before adding so they are easier to chew. If you use mini chips, you don’t need to chop them.
Directions for making Ninja Creami Double Dark Chocolate Chip Protein Ice Cream:
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the unsweetened almond milk, protein powder, cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour this mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Process the Ice Cream
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on “LITE ICE CREAM.”
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking, pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. If the ice cram looks like little balls of ice cream (like dippin dots), respin without adding liquid. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Dig a well down the center of the ice cream and pour in chopped chocolate chips. Process on mix-ins.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
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Recipe
Double Dark Chocolate Chip Protein Ice Cream
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Equipment
Add Food Grade Vegetable Glycerin To Make Leftover Ice Cream Scoopable Right Out of the Freezer
Per 16 ounce pint: *Add 1 Teaspoon to full fat/full sugar bases *Add 1.5 teaspoon to high protein bases *Add 2 teaspoons to low sugar/low fat lite bases. Freeze and process per the recipe. Take the leftovers out of the freezer and scoop without having to reprocess. ***This is a guideline and adjustments may be needed based on your recipe.
Original, Breeze, Swirl, and Deluxe Ingredient Measurements
Use the multiplier below to adjust quantities based on the machine that you own. ***If you have the Original, Breeze, or Swirl machine, which use 16 ounce containers, choose the 1X option. ***If you have the Deluxe or XL machine, which use 24 ounce containers, choose the 1.5X option.
Ingredients
Ice Cream Base
- 12 Fluid Ounces (354 ⅞ ml) Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 1 Scoop (1 Scoop) Unflavored Protein Powder
- 2½ Tablespoons (2 ½ Tablespoons) Dark Cocoa Powder
- 2½ Tablespoons (2 ½ Tablespoons) Swerve Sugar Substitute (Granulated-Allulose Blend)
- ¼ Teaspoon (¼ Teaspoon) Guar Gum
Mix-Ins
- 2 Tablespoons (2 Tablespoons) Zero-Sugar Chocolate Chips (Chopped)
Optional
- 1-2 Tablespoons (1 Tablespoons) Unsweetened Almond Milk
Instructions
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the unsweetened almond milk, protein powder, cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour this mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Process the Ice Cream
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on "LITE ICE CREAM."
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking, pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. If the ice cream looks like little balls of ice cream (like dippin dots), respin with no added liquid. You may have to repeat this process a couple of times.
- Dig a well down the center of the ice cream and pour in chopped chocolate chips. Process on mix-ins.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. Optional ingredients are not included in the nutrition information.
Recipes that use allulose:
Allulose is a low calorie sweetener that your body doesn't fully digest, so it provides only 0.4 calories per gram instead of 4. That's why the calorie total doesn't match what you'd expect from the carb count. Calories from allulose are calculated based on metabolized carbohydrates. Allulose contributes fewer calories than standard carbohydrates.
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