Why travel to Italy when you can make mint chocolate Italian gelato at home? This iconic flavor is loaded with heaps of chocolate.
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After traveling around Italy and attending Italian culinary school, I learned the in's and out's to making gelato. Making gelato at home has a few steps and tweaks compared to making gelato in a restaurant.
But don't worry, I'll walk you through all of the important ingredients, techniques, and tools.
If you enjoy making this mint chocolate chip gelato, be sure to check out more of my gelato recipes or even how to create a gelato recipe from scratch if you want to understand more of the science behind this classic Italian dessert.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- The special ingredients you'll need to make authentic Italian gelato at home.
- How to mix chocolate into the gelato to create the classic mint chocolate chip flavor.
- My favorite machine for making gelato.
Don't forget to grab my favorite Italian gelato recipes, plus my best tips for making gelato at home.
Ingredients You Need
There are a few specialty ingredients you'll need to make mint chocolate chip gelato. But don't worry, everything can be found on Amazon (I've linked them below in the recipe card).
- Dextrose: This is a type of sugar that helps to reduce both the perceived sweetness and the freezing point of the gelato.
- Guar gum and locust bean gum: These are both types of stabilizers, and they're used to thicken the gelato. These are imperative if you're making gelato at home since an at-home machine will whip too much air into the gelato without the addition of these stabilizers.
- 2% milk: The milk helps with the texture and taste of the gelato. Since milk has a high water content, it's also the reason the gelato base can freeze.
- Granulated sugar: This is the second type of sugar used in gelato. The ratio of sugar helps to determine how quickly the gelato will melt as well as lowers the freezing temperature of the gelato base.
- Skim (nonfat) milk powder: The powdered milk is important to help thicken the gelato and provide the correct texture.
- Heavy cream: You may see this ingredient labeled as heavy whipping cream at the grocery store. The cream provides a great taste and mouthfeel.
- Pure mint extract: Make sure to use mint extract (not peppermint extract).
- Green food coloring: Although I'd typically suggest staying away from artificial dyes when making gelato, there's something about the iconic green color of mint chocolate gelato that is so enticing. This ingredient is completely optional!
- Chocolate: I prefer semi-sweet chocolate for this recipe, but you could also use dark chocolate. Typically a chocolate bar will melt and incorporate into the gelato better than chocolate morsels.
How To Make This Recipe
You can think of this recipe as a mint stracciatella (it uses the same technique as my regular stracciatella recipe). Let me show you step-by-step how it's made.
1. Whisk dextrose, guar gum, and locust bean gum in a small mixing bowl.
2. Next, cook the milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (something that has a thick bottom so the milk doesn't easily burn) over medium heat until it reaches 105°F (40°C) on an instant-read thermometer.
3. Once it reaches temperature, whisk in granulated sugar and nonfat milk powder.
4. Once dissolved, whisk in the dextrose mixture.
5. Continue cooking the gelato base over medium heat, stirring often to ensure it doesn’t burn until it reaches 195°F (90°C) on an instant-read thermometer.
6. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in heavy cream. Place a fine mesh strainer over the empty bowl on top of an ice bath and strain the gelato base. This will catch any large clumps that could mess up the gelato texture. Chill the gelato base until it has stopped steaming. Then, cover the base with plastic wrap and rest it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Remove the gelato base from the refrigerator. Optionally add green food coloring, and whisk to incorporate. Pour the gelato base into an ice cream maker and process for about 20 - 25 minutes, or according to the manufacturer's directions.
8. During the last few minutes of churning, slowly pour the melted chocolate into the gelato. The gelato will be on the soft side once it's done churning. Transfer the churned gelato into a chilled storage container. Place the gelato into the freezer to "cure" or harden up for a few hours.
Expert Tips
- Adding green food dye to the gelato base is completely optional. If you prefer to avoid dyes, feel free to skip this step.
- Make sure to drizzle in the chocolate before the gelato has fully churned, usually during the last few minutes of the churning process. If the gelato gets too frozen/thick, it will be hard for the chocolate to incorporate.
- Don't forget to place the ice cream machine bowl in the freezer 24 hours before churning if you don't have a built-in freezer compressor.
- Want to serve gelato like they do in Italy? Use a gelato spatula then swipe the gelato and smash it down on the side of the container to remove the air before serving.
Recipe FAQs
Store gelato in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. It's best to keep the gelato in a freezer that's not often opened and closed. Every time the temperature of the gelato increases and then refreezes, there's more of a chance for the gelato to become icy/grainy. If you notice the gelato is icy or grainy, it has gone past its prime.
Yes, if you prefer dark chocolate, you can use it instead of semi-sweet chocolate. Just be sure to buy high-quality chocolate that tastes delicious.
I use this Whynter machine and love the results it gives me. The Lello machine is pricier but also delivers amazing gelato.
Yes, the stabilizers are very important for achieving the dense, smooth texture in the gelato.
More Gelato Recipes
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Mint Chocolate Chip Italian Gelato
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon dextrose
- ¼ teaspoon guar gum
- ⅛ teaspoon locust bean gum
- 2 cups 2% milk
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons skim milk powder
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon pure mint extract
- 2 drops green food coloring (optional)
- 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate
Instructions
- Fill a large bowl with ice to use later as an ice bath. Place an empty bowl on top of the ice. Set aside. Place a storage container in the freezer to chill.
- Whisk dextrose, guar gum, and locust bean gum in a small mixing bowl.
- Cook milk in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat, until it reaches 105°F (40°C) on an instant read thermometer. Once it reaches temperature, whisk in granulated sugar and skim milk powder. Once dissolved, whisk in dextrose mixture.
- Continue cooking the gelato base over medium heat, stirring often to ensure it doesn’t burn, until it reaches 195°F (90°C) on an instant read thermometer.
- Remove saucepan from heat. Whisk in heavy cream and mint extract.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over the empty bowl on top of the ice bath. Strain gelato base.
- Chill gelato base until it has stopped steaming. Press plastic wrap against the surface of the gelato (to prevent a skin from forming on top) then cover with plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Remove the gelato base from the refrigerator, optionally add green food coloring, and whisk to reincorporate. Pour the gelato base into an ice cream maker and process for about 20 - 25 minutes, or according to the manufacturer's directions. The gelato will be on the soft side. While the gelato is churning, add chocolate to a heat safe glass bowl. Heat in the microwave on 50 percent power (medium) for 30 seconds. Stir chocolate and heat for an additional 30 seconds. Repeat as needed until the chocolate is fully melted. During the last few minutes of the churning process, while the gelato is still on the soft side, slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate.
- Transfer churned gelato into chilled storage container. Place gelato into the freezer to "cure" or harden up for a few hours. To serve, swipe the frozen gelato with a flat paddle. Smash the gelato on the side of the storage container to push out some of the air. Transfer to a serving bowl.
- Store gelato in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
Sammy
This is so delicious! I just made it for my family and everyone ate it in one weekend!