This Ninja Creami Chocolate Soft Serve recipe uses simple ingredients, including low fat chocolate milk to keep the recipe super easy. You'll love this easy chocolate ice-cream that has a softer texture like your favorite soft serve!
The Ninja Creami appliance lets you make ice-creams, sorbets, and soft serve with unconventional ingredients! With a traditional ice cream maker you add the ice cream base for a frozen canister that churns the ice cream while mixing. But with a Ninja Creami, you freeze the entire base and then it chops and blends it up (similar to a blender, but gives a much creamier texture).
Jump to:
⭐️Why I Love It:
- Easy Ingredients - You only need chocolate milk, pudding mix, and some half and half to add flavor and improved texture.
- Tastes Like Soft Serve - This tastes just like chocolate soft serve, but can be made with low fat chocolate milk!
- Lighter Chocolate Ice-Cream options - Instead of using heavy cream like typical ice-cream, this Ninja Creami Chocolate Soft Serve recipe uses mainly low fat milk. Also check out this Ninja Creami Frozen Yogurt recipe made with Greek Yogurt.
🥘Ingredients
- Chocolate Milk - I like to use low fat chocolate milk, but you can use your favorite!
- Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix - You can use regular or sugar-free. There are two reasons for adding a little bit of this. The first is to serve as a stabilizer that gives the ice cream a thicker, creamier texture. The second is to add more chocolate flavor.
- Half and Half - I add just two tablespoons of half and half to add a little more fat (helps with texture and flavor) and use a little bit more for the re-spin.
- Sprinkles - Optional, but fun to mix in!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📖Variations
- Other Flavors - You can use other flavors of instant pudding mix to add other spins. Or this recipes also works using regular milk and vanilla pudding mix for a Ninja Creami vanilla soft serve recipe or try this Ninja Creami Wendy's Chocolate Frosty copycat recipe.
- Mix-Ins - I love mixing in sprinkles, but other great options are cookie dough chunks, Oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookies, or mini chocolate chips. This chocolate base makes a great variation of this Ninja Creami Copycat Oreo Blizzard.
🔪Step by step instructions
Making chocolate soft serve ice cream in your Ninja Creami is easy! Just mix the ingredients together, freeze, and blend!
Photo 1 - Mix the chocolate milk, half and half, and instant pudding mix in the pint container. I like to use a milk frother to do this, but you can also mix well with a fork or small whisk.
Photo 2 - Place the pint in the freezer and freeze for 24 hours so it is fully solid. Make sure you place it on a level surface in your freezer.
Photo 3 - Insert into the outer bowl, add the lid, and lock into position. Blend on 'Lite Ice-Cream'. It will likely be crumbly after the first spin.
Photo 4 - Make a little well in the center, add a little more half and half for a softer texture, and re-spin on the same lite ice cream setting. After the second spin it should be creamy and ready to enjoy!
🍽Leftovers and Storage
If you can't eat the entire pint of soft serve in one sitting, you have two options for storing:
- Save for Re-Blending: Use a spoon to smooth out and level the top in the Ninja Creami pint container and put back in the freezer. Freezing with the level top will let you re-spin it in the Ninja Creami when you want to eat it again. This method will give you that same creamy texture. Note that if you add a mix-in (like sprinkles), they'll get chopped up when you re-spin.
- Store and Thaw Slightly Before Enjoying: If you want to free up your Ninja Creami pint container, you can transfer the leftover ice-cream to another container and freeze. For this method, you won't be able to re-spin it but I find that letting it thaw on the container for a bit or zapping it in the microwave for just 5-10 seconds softens it and the texture is almost as good as the freshly spun ice cream.
💭Recipe Tips
- Powdery after the First Spin is Normal - It's normal and expected for the mixture to be crumbly after the first spin. The second spin (especially when you add a little more liquid) is when the magic happens!
- The Machine is Loud -If this is your first time using your Ninja Creami, be aware that it is loud when it is spinning. I find the noise level to be similar to a blender. Might not be the best option during nap time or in the middle of the night, if you have shared walls with neighbors.
- Freeze without the lid - I've found that freezing the pint without the lid helps prevent the large peak from forming in the middle. If yours does have a peak, it's okay. You'll just want to shave off some of it with a metal spoon so the top is more level.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
Once your base is frozen (takes up to 24 hours), the actual spinning and blending into ice-cream takes less than 5 minutes (including the re-spin and mix-ins).
The instructions say to freeze your base for 24 hours before blending because it insures that it is frozen completely solid. The exact freeze time will vary based on your freezer - your base likely can be frozen completely solid in less time. The Ninja Creami will not work properly if it isn't completely frozen.
It is normal for the ice-cream to be powdery or crumbly after just one spin because the base is frozen so solid. After one more spin, the ice-cream should be creamy and ready to enjoy.
The Ninja Creami does a great job making soft serve ice cream. The texture is smooth and creamy.
🍨Related Ninja Creami Recipes
Like this recipe? Sign up for my e-mail list so you get a weekly e-mail with new recipes from the week as well as occasional ‘bonus’ content not found on the blog! AND receive a copy of my FREE MINI EBOOK! E-mail list sign up!
Those ads on the page? A portion of all ad revenue is being donated to Warrior Dog Rescue. A MN-based dog rescue that I foster and volunteer with.
PrintRecipe
Ninja Creami Chocolate Soft Serve (with Chocolate Milk)
This Ninja Creami Chocolate Soft Serve recipe uses simple ingredients, including chocolate milk to keep the recipe super easy. You'll love this easy chocolate ice-cream that has a softer texture like your favorite soft serve!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 hours 10 minutes
- Total Time: 24 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 pint
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Ninja Creami
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups chocolate milk
- 1 tablespoon half and half, plus additional for re-spin
- 1 tablespoon chocolate instant pudding mix
Instructions
- Mix Base in Pint Container - Mix the chocolate milk, half and half, and instant pudding mix in the pint container. I like to use a milk frother to do this, but you can also mix well with a fork or small whisk.
- Freeze - Place the pint in the freezer and freeze for 24 hours so it is fully solid. Make sure you place it on a level surface in your freezer. I like to freeze without a lid as I find it reduces the peak that can form in the middle
- Prep for Blending - Remove the frozen pint from the freezer. If you have a 'peak' in the center, it's best to scrape most of it away with a spoon.
- Blend - Insert into the outer bowl, add the lid, and lock into position. Blend on 'Lite Ice-Cream'
- Add Liquid and Re-Spin - Make a little well in the center, add an extra tablespoon of half and half (if you want a softer texture), and re-spin on the same lite ice cream setting.
- Optional Mix-Ins - If adding sprinkles, or other mix-in. Use a spoon to make a well in the center and add the sprinkles. Then blend on the 'mix-ins' setting.
Notes
Leftovers? You can either use a spoon to smooth out and level the top in the Ninja Creami pint container and put back in the freezer. Then you can spin again when ready to eat. Or you can transfer the leftover soft serve to another container and freeze. Then thaw on the container for a bit or zap it in the microwave for just 5-10 seconds to soften it and eat again.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ pint
- Calories: 161
- Sugar: 24 g
- Sodium: 255 mg
- Fat: 3.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.4 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 7.1 g
- Cholesterol: 14.6 mg
Katie says
I added the extra half and half during the respin and it really helped give it that creamy, soft serve texture. So good!