This watermelon ice cream recipe was first posted in 2014 and has since been revamped and rephotographed for relevance and quality!
It’s general consensus that the all-time-favourite summer food for most people is watermelon. Of course there’s the odd duck who doesn’t like watermelon (seriously?) but for the most part it’s a big crowd-pleaser and a must-have at any summer gathering.
On a hot summer day this perfectly sweet, hydrating, juicy, and nourishing fruit definitely hits the spot and it’s oh-so-good for you. Watermelon is packed with vitamin C, making it a natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and as the name suggests, it’s loaded with water making this fruit a natural diuretic that helps cleanse the body.
I first made this watermelon ice cream back in the summer of 2014 when I was brainstorming ideas on how to use watermelon in a recipe that was a little…unlikely. We often see watermelon in fruit platters, punch, salads, popsicles, even smoothies, but not very often do we find creamy, rich, satisfying watermelon ice cream.
So, to the “drawing board” I went… or in this case, the Vitamix!
In my trusty high-speed blender I combined rich and creamy coconut milk, added in dates for natural sweetness and a touch of fibre, vanilla, a pinch of salt to draw out the flavours and then, the main star of the show, fresh, vibrant, juicy watermelon. This created a smooth, beautifully pink, watermelon ice cream liquid that I popped in the freezer to set.
A few hours later when all was frozen nicely, I broke it into chunks then placed it back in the Vitamix which blended the watermelon mixture to create the perfect ice-cream consistency. This is the best method for creating homemade ice cream if you do not have an ice cream machine.
When I put the first spoonful of watermelon ice cream in my mouth I was SO pleasantly surprised at how well the watermelon flavour shone through. I was a bit worried it would taste too much like coconut but the two flavours worked together beautifully and there was no mistaking that the main ingredient was watermelon…and the pretty pink hue helped too!
Isn’t it so great that all you need is a blender and you can make your own ice cream with barely any effort at all?! Next I plan to try apricot ice cream, blueberry ice cream, maybe even coffee ice cream? The sky’s the limit my friends!
You can make so many varieties of this simple homemade ice cream, just use coconut milk, dates, and vanilla as the base and add in whatever you wish.
Today, it’s watermelon ice cream for the win! Be sure to pin the photo below to save this recipe for later!
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 5 pitted medjool dates or 2 tablespoons of honey
- ⅛ teaspoon scraped vanilla bean or ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1½ cups cubed watermelon
- Blend all ingredients in a blender and transfer to a brownie or cake pan.
- Place in the freezer for 3 hours or until hardened.
- Break frozen watermelon mixture into chunks and place back in the blender.
- Blend until a creamy consistency is reached.
- Place back in a container or large bowl and place in the freezer to firm up for about 30 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Christal // NITK
Curious as to how you’d make coffee ice cream???
Add in a touch of ground coffee to the ice cream base! 🙂
Love no-churn ice cream recipes! Such a fun summer flavor to try with coconut and watermelon 🙂
Thanks Brittany!
Hello – please fix your link as my website is not “Nutrition Stripped” it is “Nutritionist in the Kitch”
Hi there, my name is Sue, and I need to know with the Watermelon coconut ice cream, what kind of coconut milk I can use for it? Real coconut milk lite kind, or what? Be waiting to hear. Want to try it! Looks yummy. It’s very healthy isn’t it for people like me who are changing eating habits for the better. Trying to lose lots.
Hi Sue – a can of full fat coconut milk! 🙂
This sounds SO good. I’m a watermelon addict. I’m afraid my blender wouldn’t be able to make it though…do you think if I just blended everything without freezing it would be a yummy smoothie? Especially if the ingredients were chill?
Oh definitely!
So, any sub on the dates? No agave nectar, please. 😉
I usually have all the other ingredients this time of the year.
Hey Meme – you could definitely sub dates for the agave! 🙂
How long will this recipe keep in the freezer before going bad?
It gets very hard in the freezer after a while so you would have to let it thaw a little before serving, I would eat it within a week 🙂 Better fresh!
This recipe was unexpectedly excellent. I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure how the coconut would play out with the watermelon, but this recipe was perfect for a warm day. Thanks for posting this!
You are very welcome Michelle! 🙂
Could you eliminate the time in the freezer if you froze the coconut milk and waterlmelon chunks first before blending?
You could definitely do this but you would have a much less solid consistency, more like a frozen yogurt!
hey!
How much does 1.5 cup of cubed watermelon weight?i
I don’t know! Sorry!
hey!
I have to make it!! Like ASAP
It looks amazing!!
A lil question, is coconut milk and coconut cream are the same? It is the only thing I could find at the store..how many fat % are in the milk you used?
Hey A! Coconut cream is basically from a can of full fat coconut milk the part that separates from the coconut water!
So I’ll just use the cream itself without the water right?
Yep!
Loved your website and want to subscribe to your newsletter
Hi Anita! I’ll manually add you, there is also a Sign Up box in the right hand sidebar 🙂
Hi
Howd u get the dates to mix in. Did u cut them up, if so how fine.
They mix in the blender! They pretty much dissolve within the rest of the ingredients – I put them in the blender whole 🙂
Hi
Can you use an ice cream maker to churn combined ingredients ? Thanks
For sure! Just add the mixture to your machine 🙂
Hi! This looks like a great recipe and I absolutely CAN’T wait to try it!!! 🙂 When I’ve made ice cream in the past, I’ve always used frozen bananas as the base. How do you think it would work out in this recipe (instead of the coconut milk)? And could I also substitute the coconut milk for almond milk? I know its a watermelon AND coconut ice cream but what are you thoughts on that?
Hi Tess! I’m sure you could use frozen bananas instead of coconut milk, you would just get a bit of a banana taste in the mix! 🙂 I’m not sure almond milk would work, it might be too thin, so the ice cream would turn out rather “icy” if that makes sense!
How much watermelon did you use on this recipe? Tkts. I love your recipes!!!
Hi Jordana! It says in the recipe 🙂 1 1/2 cups cubed!
Do you leave the rind on the watermelon??????
Nope! I just use the flesh!
I’m curious if anyone has tried this without the dates (maybe using honey instead for sweetness), or are the dates needed to aid in the overall consistency of the ice cream? Thanks!
Hi Stephanie! The dates are purely for sweetness you can definitely use honey instead – a couple tablespoons should do!
i really like the recipe so i wanna Test it tomorrow:) but how much exactly is one can of coconut milk?
Hi Sophia, it’s 14oz! 🙂
Definitely trying this as a treat after my run with the bf this sunday!
Enjoy! 🙂
Hey – I kind of like the beer idea! 😉 This look refreshing and amazing. I’ve been dying for an ice cream maker, but I suppose this can hold me over until then.
Lol! Who knows, the beer could be good! Lol!
Hi PLEASE can You tell me what one could use instead of coconut milk since its hard to find it in my country? thanks!
You could try this with almond milk, rice milk, or soy milk!
My goodness this looks delish!!!!
I bought a quarter of a watermelon on my way home today (and two 12 packs of mini milks, as I am meeelting away!) so I guess I’ll be having watermelon and ice cream but in a slightly different format, I would have tried this had I had some coconut milk at hand though, it looks absolutely amazing! And I love how you can add different elements to it for even more flavour, mmm ^ ^ What other things have you tried it with so far? 🙂
Thanks for a great recipe once again Christal! I hope the weather is as nice as it is over here 😀 x
Hey Julie! I’ve done the chocolate, just vanilla, now watermelon, and strawberry!! 🙂 So delicious and so simple! Have an awesome weekend! Almost friday!