Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream

This keto butter pecan ice cream has the creamy flavor of butterscotch and caramel along with buttery toasted pecans. It’s a rich, creamy and delicious sugar free dessert that is perfect for a hot summer day. No ice cream maker necessary as it’s a not churn recipe too!

You might also like these keto pumpkin spice pecans.

I am a major dessert lover and oh I have been craving ice cream all summer. Recently I had a caramel milkshake at Burgatory that had pretzels in it. I immediately started thinking of how I could make a low carb version with the same flavors and came up with this keto butter pecan ice cream.

The pecans have that salty buttery flavor and crunch but it doesn’t quite have that pretzel taste. I’m still working on it. Nevertheless this was so tasty that both my father in law and son gave it a big thumbs up and that is high praise!

This is a no churn, custard based, homemade ice cream recipe. So you basically make a sugar free custard on the stove and then freeze it in a container until it hardens into creamy ice cream. It’s rich, sweet and delicious. Perfect for this sweet cravings on a low carb diet.

Recipe ingredients I used.

The simple ingredients I used in this sugar free ice cream recipe were egg yolks, sweetener, almond milk, heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, butterscotch extract, Torani sugar free salted caramel syrup, salt, pecans and butter.

• Egg Yolks
Because this is a custard based yogurt you will be using egg yolks in this recipe.

• Lakanto Sweetener
While I used Lakanto sweetener, you can use any low carb sweetener you want. There are so many keto sweeteners available these days but this is the brand that I used. It’s mixture of monk fruit extract and erythritol.

• Almond Milk
used unsweetened almond milk because it’s a low carb milk and to balance out some of the heavy cream. You could also use other plant based milk like coconut milk, etc. just check the carbs.

• Heavy Whipping Cream
This is important to get that creamy mouth feel.

• Vanilla and Butterscotch Extract
The butterscotch extract is rather important to this recipe. You can also substitute caramel extract. Walmart usually has a large selection of flavors if you have trouble finding this.

• Torani Sugar Free Caramel Syrup
This too is available at Walmart usually. If you don’t have it and don’t want to buy it, you can eliminate it and add bit more sweetener.

Notes about making keto no churn ice cream.

I chose to make a custard ice cream base which involved egg yolks and heating of the cream and milk. Because of this I could not whip the cream to add air which would make it have a softer consistency and easier to scoop. To scoop it I had to let it sit out for about a half hour to soften.

On the up side this is really rich and had a creamy texture but on the down size it was a bit hard to scoop. Here’s where using an ice cream machine would make it softer.

Also when making keto ice cream the the two items that have carbs are the milk and sugar. I used Lakanto sweetener and I can honestly say this  ice cream doesn’t not have a weird sweetener taste at all.

Same with the Torani’s sugar free salted caramel syrup. It has great flavor but because of it being a liquid I couldn’t use too much for fear that it would have more of an icy texture. That’s why I say above you can eliminate this and add more sweetener if it needs it.

How to make keto butter pecan ice cream.

1. Get out a medium skillet and add butter, pecans and salt. Toast the nuts until they are fragrant, but being careful not to burn them. Set aside and let them cool completely.
2. Get out a medium saucepan and heat to medium heat. Whisk together the almond milk, heavy cream and sweetener. Let the mixture get hot but don’t let it boil. When the sweetener has dissolved take it off the heat.
3. In the meantime beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Take a cup of the warm liquid and whisk quickly into the eggs. 
4. Return this egg mixture back to the sauce pan and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take around 5 – 10 minutes.
5. Strain the heavy cream mixture into a big bowl and let the ice cream mixture come to room temperature.  If you want to mix in the pecan pieces do so now, or wait until it’s finished and add on top. I preferred them on top as they were more crunchy.
6. Mix in extracts and sugar free syrup. Pour into a shallow container (for easy scooping) and freeze for 2-3 hours.
7. Let ice cream sit out a bit to soften before eating. Store leftovers in a airtight container in the freezer. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

NOTE: If you have the time, you can mix it up every half hour until it’s frozen, about 2-3 hours. This should make it a bit softer. If you want some more techniques check out this post by David Lebowitz.

To make this in an ice cream machine.

If you have a churning electric ice cream machine you can prepare the ice cream mixture into the frozen machine container and just churn according to your machine’s directions.

About the nuts in this recipe.

I mentioned above I was going for a pretzel taste. I think the buttered pecans were so similar to pretzels in my strawberry pretzel-less dessert and was sure it work here.

However when I mixed them in, they lost some of the crunchiness. So if you want that butter pecan type of ice cream mix it in before you freeze it. However if you want more of a salty pretzel experience top your ice cream with them just before eating.

If ice cream is one of your favorite foods and you are on a keto diet you have to give this recipe a try. It is really good I’m telling you. It’s a little more work than the Ninja Creami machine but since most people don’t have one of those, this is doable.

The nutritional information for ½ cup of keto butter pecan ice cream without nuts is: 345 cals / 35.9g fat / 3.2g carbs / 0.1g fiber / 3.3g protein = 3.1g net carbs*

The nutritional information for 2 tablespoons of buttered roasted pecans is: 118 cals / 11.9g fat / 2g carbs / 1g fiber / 1.5g protein = 1g net carbs

Note* I used butterscotch extract, monk fruit and sugar free caramel syrup, all of which had no calories or net carbs so I did not include them in my calculation. Please do your own calculations if you are concerned about precise nutrition.

You might like these very easy, low carb freezer treats too: strawberry cheesecake bites, chocolate cheesecake bites or frozen peanut butter bites.

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Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream Recipe

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

This keto butter pecan ice cream has the creamy flavor of caramel and butterscotch along with buttery toasted pecans. It's rich and delicious and perfect for a hot summer day. No ice cream maker necessary to make this sugar free ice cream dessert.

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Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup almond milk
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• ¾ cup Lakanto sweetener
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ tablespoon butterscotch extract
• ¼ cup Torani sugar free salted caramel syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecan pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Get out a medium sized skillet and heat to medium heat. Add butter to the pan. Once it melts add the pecans and salt. Cook nuts until toasted and then set aside to cool.
2. Heat up a medium saucepan to medium heat. Whisk together almond milk, cream and sweetener until the sweetener dissolves then turn down to low heat You want the mixture to be warm but not boiling.
3. In the meantime beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Take a cup of the warm liquid and whisk quickly into the eggs. 
4. Return this egg mixture back to the saucepan and turn the heat to medium low. Cook until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take around 5 - 10 minutes.
5. Strain liquid into a big bowl and let come to room temperature. 
6. If you want to mix in the nuts do so now, or wait until it's finished and add on top. I preferred them on top as they were more crunchy.
7. Mix in extracts and sugar free syrup. Pour into a shallow plastic container and freeze for 2-3 hours.
8. Let ice cream sit out a bit to soften before scooping.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 345Unsaturated Fat: 0g