The best part of keto is you get to eat all of your favorite foods and still lose weight. That includes this easy keto butter pecan ice cream.
Even though stores are filled with low carb keto ice cream brands, making keto dessert recipes at home yields much better results – especially when it comes to weight loss!
Better yet – you don’t need an ice cream machine since you can just give this mason jar recipe a quick shake and freeze. Keep reading to learn how easy it is to make this simple no churn recipe at home.
Homemade Keto Ice Cream vs Store Bought
The first question at hand – is ice cream keto?
While some eager keto dieters may jump around with their hand in the air shouting out brands like Enlightened, Rebel, and Halo Top – buyer beware when it comes to picking up a pint of keto friendly ice cream from the store.
If you’re not convinced why it’s a good idea to make keto ice cream at home, let’s start with the ingredients.
When you make a low carb ice cream recipe from scratch, you get to choose what you add. When you buy an ice cream that boasts low net carbs from the store, you’re stuck with whatever ingredients the food manufacturer believes fits into a keto diet.
The truth is, most food manufacturers take shortcuts since they care more about their bottom line than your waistline. That means you could find the following on the ingredient list:
- Sunflower Oil
- Cottonseed Oil
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Sugar Alcohol
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Natural Flavor
- Skim Milk
- Carob Gum
None of these ingredients are great if you want to lose weight on a low carb diet. While small amounts of low carb sweetener may be the exception, even sweeteners can be problematic for many keto dieters.
Plus, have you looked at the total carbs on the store bought brands? Many have up to 14 total grams of carbs per serving. Yikes!
Low Carb Homemade Ice Cream Ingredients
This artificial sweetener free ice cream recipe calls for the following ingredients:
- Heavy cream
- Butter
- 2 egg yolks
- Chopped pecans
- Maple extract
- Blackstrap molasses
- Salt
There’s a few ingredients you can substitute in the recipe list if they don’t fit into your meal plan, like blackstrap molasses and egg yolks.
I already know what you’re thinking – blackstrap molasses on keto? But hear me out.
On the surface, blackstrap molasses looks like a hard no on keto since it contains 13 grams of carbs per tablespoon. If you plan to eat an entire tablespoon, then you’re absolutely right – avoid this ingredient in keto recipes.
However, this keto mason jar ice cream recipe only calls for half of a teaspoon for the entire jar. Since my body does better with sugars found in nature vs. highly processed sugars manufactured in a lab, I stick with a small amount of blackstrap molasses.
If even a little bit of blackstrap molasses is too rich for your blood sugar, make the swap to keto-friendly sweeteners instead. You can also leave out sweeteners all together since overly sweet recipes can result in carb cravings for some keto dieters.
Also, if you need an egg free recipe, leave the egg yolks out completely. While this recipe works both ways, the egg yolks add extra creaminess to the recipe – but they’re not 100% necessary.
How to Make Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Start by chopping the pecans. Then pour the chopped pecans onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and toast in the oven at 350 degrees for 4-8 minutes.
While the pecans are toasting, add the butter into a small pan. Heat on low to slightly brown the butter. Gently swirl the butter around the pan as it browns.
Once the pecans are ready, pour them into the melted butter and top with the salt. Toss the pecans in the butter until well coated and then set aside. Allowing the toasted pecans to cool helps bring out the natural butter pecan flavoring in this recipe.
Next, bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. While you wait for the heavy cream to heat up, beat the egg yolks and sweetener together in a separate bowl.
Once the cream is ready, turn the heat to low. Slowly stream the egg yolk mixture into the cream while whisking it all together. Stir with a whisk to combine. Then add in the buttery pecans and use the whisk to combine into the cream mixture.
- Add egg yolk mixture into heavy cream.
- Then mix in the buttery pecans.
Continue to stir over low heat until the cream thickens. This should take around 5 minutes. Then remove from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, stir in the maple extract.
Once everything is combined, carefully pour into a mason jar. Close the jar and give it a good shake. Add the sealed container into the freezer until frozen, which should take 2-3 hours.
Mason Jar Keto Ice Cream Tips
- Egg yolks aren’t absolutely necessary, however they make for creamy ice cream.
- Do not attempt to replace heavy cream with almond milk or coconut milk since this will make the ice cream more like frozen water rather than a creamy texture.
- If you need to replace heavy cream for a dairy-free version, you can use a high fat coconut milk and coconut cream.
- Another option is to use raw heavy cream since this is easier to digest for many people with a minor dairy intolerance.
- If the ice cream is solid, allow it to sit on the counter for a few minutes prior to scooping. A hand heated ice cream scoop also comes in handy.
- If you prefer whole pecans in your ice cream, you’ll need to shake the ice cream a few times as it freezes to ensure the pecans spread evenly in the ice cream mixture.
The Low Carb Ice Cream Recipe Wrap Up
The next time someone asks, can you eat ice cream on keto – raise your hand to tell them about homemade keto ice cream with heavy cream since that’s really the best answer. Butter pecan keto ice cream is a delicious way to increase grams of fat, while kicking added sugar and other junk ingredients to the curb.
If you’re on the hunt for other sugar free desserts without artificial sweeteners, be sure to check out this easy low carb fudge recipe.
You also can’t go wrong with adding coconut oil fat bombs to your daily diet since that’s another sweet way to get better results on keto.
Don’t forget to save this keto ice cream recipe to Pinterest. Please share on social media too.
Keep scrolling for the recipe card and nutritional information.
Make Keto Easy
While homemade keto desserts are a great way to ramp up results, why not learn all of the tricks I used to lose 100 pounds with a low carb lifestyle I love?
Hundreds of other women also finally lost weight after enrolling in the Keto Quick Start Course – even when other keto plans failed.
More Sweetener Free Keto Desserts:
Peanut Butter Fat Bombs
Pecan Pie Bars
Walnut Fudge Bombs
PrintKeto Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Skip store bought low carb ice cream and test out this easy keto butter pecan ice cream recipe instead. Made with simple ingredients that will help your progress on a keto diet. Learn tips to make dairy free, swap out sweeteners, and more!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours in freezer
- Total Time: 3 hours, 15 mins
- Yield: Recipe Serves 6 1x
- Category: Keto Dessert Recipes
- Method: Stove Top and Freezer
- Cuisine: Keto / Low Carb
- Diet: Diabetic
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 2 egg yolks (optional)
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Chop pecans with coarse setting on nut chopper.
- Then toast the pecans in a parchment paper lined baking pan at 350 degrees until fragrant. This should take 4-8 minutes.
- Add butter into a small pan. Heat over medium to slightly brown butter to bring out the flavor.
- Remove from heat and add the pecans and salt into the butter mixture. Toss until well coated and set aside.
- Add the heavy cream into a saucepan. Allow it to come to a simmer over medium heat.
- While you wait for the cream to heat up, whisk the egg yolks together with the blackstrap molasses in a separate bowl.
- Once the cream is ready, slowly stream the egg mixture into the cream. Whisk together as you slowly pour in the egg yolk mixture into the cream.
- Then stir in the butter and pecans.
- Heat on low until the mixture thickens, or approximately 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk on occasion.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Then stir in the maple extract and combine well.
- Carefully pour into a mason jar and cover. Give a good shake. Then freeze until frozen, or approximately 3 hours.
Notes
- If you prefer an egg-free recipe, leave out the egg yolks. Keep in mind, the recipe will be more icy and less creamy.
- You can swap out heavy cream for a mixture of coconut cream and coconut milk if you prefer a dairy-free recipe. I typically substitute a raw heavy cream since most people aren’t as sensitive to this form of cream.
- Swap the molasses for your favorite keto-friendly sweetener if that’s your preference.
- Allow the mason jar to sit on the counter for a few minutes if the ice cream is solid.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Recipe Serves 6
- Calories: 201.8
- Sugar: 1.6
- Sodium: 41.9
- Fat: 21.4
- Saturated Fat: 11.8
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: .6
- Carbohydrates: 2.1
- Fiber: .4
- Protein: 1.6
- Cholesterol: 55
Keywords: Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream, Keto Ice Cream Recipe, How to Make Keto Ice Cream
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