The Best Chocolate Ice Cream Isn’t Ice Cream: A Review of David Lebovitz’s Chocolate Sorbet Recipe

By all accounts, this recipe should not work.

Before I make ice cream (or most other frozen treats, for that matter), I first run the recipe through icecreamcalc to get an idea of how it will turn out. In my opinion, one of the worst things is an ice cream recipe that ends up being too hard to scoop. I like using icecreamcalc to make sure that the ice cream will be nice and scoopable even when it’s... well... fresh from the freezer.

When I plug David Lebovitz’s Chocolate Sorbet/Sherbet recipe into icecreamcalc under the “sorbet” setting, everything looks all wrong. The water is too low, the solids are too high, and it’s all too sweet. Theoretically, this chocolate sorbet should turn out grainy, overly sweet, and fatty.

Instead, this chocolate sorbet comes out richer and more decadent than any chocolate ice cream you’ve ever had while somehow also managing to be light and refreshing. It’s impossibly creamy and tastes like you churned a brownie. It’s also accidentally vegan as long as you use vegan dark chocolate and water instead of milk.

Chocolate ice cream has never been my favorite. I’ve had a few decent ones, but even those aren’t great. Most are somehow flavorless despite chocolate being such a deep, decadent flavor.

But then I tried this chocolate sorbet and fell in love. It’s delicious and creamy, decadent yet light, heavy yet refreshing. It tastes rich, but it doesn’t sit heavy in the stomach the way dairy does.

It’s also super, super easy to make as long as you don’t look away from the pot. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way and made a mess of the stove. Whoops. Please watch your stove top and don't make the same mistake I did.

Rarely do I make the same frozen dessert twice, as I love trying new things, but I’ve made this chocolate sorbet probably half a dozen times by now and will continue to do so because of how delicious yet dead simple it is to make.

Mix.

Heat.

Blend.

Churn.

Freeze.

That’s it.

I don’t adapt this recipe much. I’ve added a pinch of instant coffee granules to up the chocolate flavor, but I can’t bring myself to do anything else with it. Would it be delicious swirled with raspberry sorbet? Definitely. Would it pair well with fresh strawberries? Sure. But I can’t bring myself to change it in any way since it’s so delicious and pure on its own. It has an intense cocoa flavor like nothing else I’ve had.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to chocolate, but this recipe has my stamp of approval.

Don’t forget to add two tablespoons of a high-proof alcohol to keep this recipe scoopable. You won’t want to wait any longer than necessary to get a scoop of this.

Also, I’m not sure why, but this recipe turns out especially cold. Even though it’s kept at the same temperature as my other frozen desserts, this one is so cold that steam billows from it when it comes into contact with the air, and it comes close to burning your tongue from how cold it is.

David Lebovitz’s chocolate sorbet can easily be made into sherbet by replacing the water with milk, so if you can have dairy, go for it. Personally, I’ve been making it with water, and if it ain’t broke, well… you know how the saying goes.

This recipe is a solid 10/10. I will continue making it again and again. 

Find David Lebovitz's Chocolate Sherbet/Sorbet here.