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Check out my recipe for making Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. I’ll help you choose the best mint flavoring and chocolate chips to create the perfect mint chocolate chip ice cream using the Ninja Creami ice cream maker. With the right ingredients, you can make your very own homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream that has the right amount of minty flavor and a thick and creamy texture.
If you’ve ever tried making mint flavored treats, you know that it can be a little tricky to get the right mint flavor. Too much mint extract or flavor and it’s so overpowering that you can’t eat it. Not the right mint flavor and it tastes like toothpaste.
My Ninja Creami mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe has just the right mint flavor mixed with perfect little chocolate chips. Together they create one of the most popular ice cream flavors.
Not all mint extracts are treated equally. When making mint chocolate chip ice cream, be sure to use PEPPERMINT extract instead of spearmint or mint extract. Trust me on this, it makes a HUGE difference. Peppermint extract tastes like peppermint candies and is the flavor that we are used to getting with mint ice creams. Spearmint and mint extracts tend to taste more like toothpaste and are not very good when used when making ice cream.
If you’ve made any Ninja Creami ice cream and added chocolate chips as mix-ins, then you know that the chocolate chips get VERY hard and are difficult to chew. During my recipe creation, I quickly learned that using mini chocolate chips or chopping full sized chocolate chips before using, is a much better on your teeth. For the perfect mint chocolate chip ice cream, you want to have noticeable chunks of chocolate pieces in the ice cream, but you don’t want them to be so big that they get really hard and hurt your teeth.
You’ll notice that I added just a little bit of green food coloring to the ice cream base. This is totally optional. Many ice cream brands omit the food coloring and sell white mint chocolate chip ice cream. Either way works fine. White and green mint chocolate chip ice cream taste the same, they just look a little bit different.
Tips for making Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:
Peppermint extract has a better flavor for mint ice cream than spearmint or mint extracts. Spearmint and mint extracts tend to taste more like toothpaste than peppermint extract does. Regardless of which mint extract you use, a little goes a long way. I’ve found that all mint extracts and oils have a much stronger flavor than other flavors of extracts.
It can be either color. The only difference between the two is a little bit of green food coloring. They taste the same. Traditionally, mint chocolate chip ice cream was green. But, as a lot of manufacturers have moved away from artificial colorings like food dye, the green food coloring has been omitted from some brands of ice cream.
No, you don’t need to use cram cheese. But, you do need to use some form of thickener/stabilizer. The easiest substitute for cream cheese is guar gum. Instead of using a tablespoon or two of cream cheese, use ¼ teaspoon of guar gum instead. Guar gum is flavorless and does not alter the volume of the ingredients.
If you want to change up the mint chocolate chip ice cream, you can easily change the mix-ins that you use. Instead of mixing in mini chocolate chips, try mixing in mini mint chocolate chips, Oreo cookies, Andes mints, chocolate brownies, or mint flavored M&Ms.
If your ice cream or gelato is dry and powdery, almost like sand, don’t worry! Just pour in a little liquid, like cream or juice, and respin. You might need to respin a couple of times. If the ice cream looks more like dippin dots or little balls of ice cream, you don’t need to add liquid to it. Just respin it in the Ninja Creami.
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Ingredient substitutions for making Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:
The full ingredient list is found at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Milk– I used whole milk in this recipe. You can use a dairy substitute like almond milk, coconut milk, or oat milk, or lower fat milk if you prefer but the lower the fat content, the less creamy the result will be.
Half and Half– If you don’t have half and half, you can use a mixture of ¼ heavy cream and ¾ whole milk.
Sugar– White sugar was used. You can use a sugar substitute like Swerve Allulose or a monk fruit sweetener that is a 1:1 ratio.
Cream Cheese- I use regular cream cheese, not whipped. If you prefer not to use cream cheese, you can use ¼ teaspoon of guar gum instead or any other Ninja Creami ice cream stabilizer that you would like.
Peppermint Extract- Be sure to use peppermint extract and not spearmint or mint extract. You can use Lorann oils or a regular extract. The amount used stays the same. Do not add too much as the flavor is quite strong.
Green Food Coloring- Food coloring is optional. You can omit if you would like. Or, you can use another color to coordinate with the holiday or special occasion that you are celebrating.
Mini Chocolate Chips- Use mini chocolate chips and not full-sized chocolate chips. If you only have full-sized chips, but them into small pieces before adding them as mix-ins otherwise they will be very hard and difficult to chew.
Directions for making Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the milk, half and half, sugar, cream cheese, peppermint extract, and food coloring into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour the 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 “ICE CREAM.”
- Once the ice cream function has ended, turn the outer bowl and release it from the Ninja Creami machine.
- Dig a hole in the center of the ice cream and pour in the mini chocolate chips.
- Put the pint back into the Ninja Creami and process on the “Mix-Ins” function. Once the Ninja Creami is finished processing, remove from the machine.
- Your ice cream is ready to eat! Enjoy!
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Recipe
Ninja Creami Mint Chocolate Chip 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
- 1 Cup (236 ⅗ ml) Milk
- ⅔ Cup (161 ⅓ g) Half and Half
- ⅓ Cup (66 ⅔ g) Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (1 Tablespoon) Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
- ½ Teaspoon (½ Teaspoon) Peppermint Extract
- 4 Drops (4 Drops) Green Food Coloring (Optional)
Mix-Ins
- ¼ Cup (45 g) Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the milk, half and half, sugar, cream cheese, peppermint extract, and food coloring into a small blender and blend until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour the 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 "ICE CREAM."
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking, pour in a tablespoon or two of milk and then re-spin. If the ice cream looks more like dippin dots, (little balls of ice cream), re-spin without adding liquid.
- Dig a hole in the center of the ice cream and pour in the mini chocolate chips. Process on mix-ins.
- Your ice cream is ready to eat! 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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Donna Giblin says
So pretty new to the creami and working at a disadvantage as I have to be dairy free. I found diary free half and half in the store the other day and was excited and purchased it. It’s actually half almond milk and half oat milk. Will I be able to sub it for when half and half is called for? Thanks so much
Lauren Cardona says
You can, but the texture won’t be as thick and creamy as it would be with regular half and half.
Internetshopoholic says
Great recipe. This was my very first and it came out great!
Lauren Cardona says
Woo Hoo! I”m so glad you liked it!