How to Make No-Churn Ice Cream
Learn how to make no-churn ice cream with this easy recipe. You can make homemade ice cream without needing a special ice cream maker appliance!
Hey there my friend! Hope you were able to keep cool over the weekend!
It sure has been a great summer so far, am I right? We’ve lucked out with the weather being mostly sunny and not too terribly hot so far. And on those days when the mercury does rise a bit higher, there’s always ice cream to cool you off!
I have a lot of homemade ice cream recipes on this site, and up until recently they were all the old-fashioned, slow churned kind. You just can’t beat it for richness and full flavor. But last year, I posted this Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Ice Cream Cake (of the no-churn variety), and everybody went nuts for it. Including me, lol! I was sure I would not like no-churn ice cream, but boy did I turn out to be wrong.
Turns out, no-churn ice cream can be darn good if you go about it the right way. So today, I’m going to share everything I’ve learned about how to make your best-ever no-churn ice cream!
If you’re not familiar with the ice cream making process, there’s basically two ways to go about it: the old-fashioned way (which starts with an egg custard that’s cooked, cooled, and then churned in an ice cream maker) and the no-churn way (which is a pretty nifty shortcut).
The old-fashioned way has the most incredible richness. It’s so creamy and decadent. In my opinion, store-bought can’t even come close to the incredible flavor you get with homemade, slow-churned ice cream. There’s a bit of extra effort involved, but I don’t think you’ll ever regret giving that extra care and love. It pays off in flavor for sure!
My favorite recipes are this Simply Perfect Vanilla Ice Cream, and this chocolate ice cream recipe.
The only down side with these kinds of recipes is that you really have to plan ahead. The canister of the ice cream maker needs to freeze overnight, and the custard needs time to chill before you can churn it. So you’re really looking at a 2 to 3 day long process (mostly downtime, but still).
With no-churn ice cream, you can whip up a batch the moment the craving strikes. And it’s only a small handful of ingredients, depending on the flavor you want to create.
For this tutorial, I am sticking with vanilla, for simplicity’s sake. But you could jazz it up however you like. Add in some chunks of fresh fruit or fruit puree. Or some of your favorite candy, brownies, or cookies. Fold in some melted, cooled chocolate. Try adding pretzels, or swirl it with jam, marshmallow sauce, or chocolate syrup! The possibilities are endless.
As you can see in the video below, it’s as easy as whipping some cream, folding in a little sweetened condensed milk, and whatever flavorings your heart desires. It’s pretty basic.
And because it’s not quite as rich and decadent as a slow-churned ice cream recipe, you want to make up for that with your add-ins. Since this vanilla variety is so simple, I recommend really amping it up by using the best vanilla extract you can get your hands on (and plenty of it!), as well as a real vanilla bean. (If you can’t find vanilla beans in your local supermarket, it’s really easy to order them online.) All of this will just take the vanilla-ness of it all straight off the charts! You’ll never even believe you’re eating a shortcut ice cream recipe.
And please don’t forget the salt! Fat carries flavor and so does salt, so don’t leave it out! You won’t believe the difference just a little pinch of kosher salt can make in all of your desserts. It will really take your no-churn ice cream from good to great!
More great ice cream recipes on my “Ice Creams, Mousses, Custards & Puddings” Pinterest board!
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How to Make No-Churn Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups (476 g) heavy whipping cream
- 14 ounces (396.89 g) sweetened condensed milk, (1 can)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (optional, may be replaced with other flavorings/add-ins)
Instructions
- Place the heavy cream in a large mixing bowl and whip on medium speed until it holds stiff peaks (about 4 minutes).
- Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and vanilla bean seeds (or other flavorings/add-ins).
- Fold together until well combined.
- Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan, and freeze for 2 hours (or preferably, overnight).
This is the only recipe I use to make homemade ice cream! It’s ridiculously simple, and produces a delicious result! Seriously, I don’t want to fiddle with egg yolks, heat, corn syrup or other stabilizers, so this recipe offers simple yet amazing ice cream. My husband loooooves the ice cream I make, so I see no need to use any other recipe. In fact, I made some yesterday with chocolate chip cookies mixed in. I have also used this recipe to also make matcha ice cream (which we can’t find in stores anywhere but we love).
That’s so great to hear! Thank you so much for the positive feedback!
Can I replace the heavy hopping cream with normal whipping cream?
I believe they are one and the same. Good luck!
Excellent instructions! This is my favorite recipe for no-churn ice cream. I made it for the first time and it is very easy and delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe. 🍨
My pleasure Mayra! I’m so happy you like the recipe. Thanks for the 5-star review!
Hi, I’ve made this before just vanilla with a little lemon zest and lemon juice and cardamom. I did put my bowl in the fridge since I have such a hot kitchen. I never got stiff peaks, ut it di whip fairly well and came out great. I just did this again, but did. ot chill my bowl. I lookex and did not see that you said to do that, soooo, it disn’t whip at all. I went ahead and added my flavorings and put it in the freezer. I will pull it out hourly and mix it and hope it turns out. Do you think it was because I did not chill the bowl? It’s funny, I do find different brands of milk seem to whip or foam better than others? What do you think?
Cathy
Hey there Cathy! Are you using milk or heavy whipping cream?
Hi Allie,
I’m using heavy cream. I know it works better if everything is cold. Cream was cold, but not my bowl and it didn’t change at all after at least 4 minutes yesterday. I stirred every hour or so through the evening and it tastes wonderful! I was just surprised that nothing at all whipped up? The kitchen was also very hot, so that probably was it.
I hear what you’re saying. Cream definitely whips up better when it’s cold, and it’s even better if the bowl and whisk are cold too. That said, I’ve never had it NOT work if I didn’t chill everything first. But maybe because your kitchen was so hot, it really inhibited everything.
I made this ice cream to use in an ice cream cake, and it was AMAZING. I did two flavors, cookies ‘n’ cream and chocolate chip cookie. For the chocolate chip cookie, I folded both chocolate chip cookie crumbs and chunks into the vanilla mixture, and for the cookies ‘n’ cream I did the same but with Oreos. Both were delicious, but the cookies
‘n’ cream was my favorite; it had SUCH good Oreo flavor, and with all the chunks and stuff…mmm! Delicious! Also, I omitted the vanilla bean in both, as (1), I didn’t have it on hand, and (2), I didn’t think it necessary because I was incorporating other flavors. As for how they functioned in the ice cream cake, it worked out relatively well–this ice cream does soften and melt faster than store-bought (which I assume is due to preservatives anyway), so I wasn’t able to let the cake sit out for twenty minutes or so to allow the brownie and cake layers to soften a little, as the ice cream begun to melt. So it was pretty darn tough to cut into! But it tasted amazing altogether, and looked pretty good too; I think next time, I’ll make it in a sheet pan. Not as majestic as a layer cake, but certainly as tasty, and much easier to serve. And overall, this no-churn ice cream is amazing! Tastes creamy and good, and I love the bit of condensed milk flavor. I used the full 14-ounces and it wasn’t too sweet for my tastes, even with all the cookies, but I guess that relies on personal preference. Overall, great recipe, so thanks, Allie, for providing it!
My pleasure Erin! I’m so glad it worked well for you. Thanks for sharing!
A couple questions for you–first, I’m going to be using this as the base for two differently flavors in an ice cream cake for my birthday on Saturday; the cake is going to be an 8″ (round), and I’m planning on two pretty thick layers of ice cream between the cake layers, so should I double/1.5x this recipe, or just use it as is? I want to make sure I have enough; any leftovers will be demolished easily enough 🙂 Second, I’m going to flavor this with add-ins–half with chocolate chip cookie crumbs and chunks, and the other half with Oreo cookie crumbs and chunks. For the chocolate chip cookie flavor, do you think I could cut back on the condensed milk (maybe around 1/4-1/3 of it) and replace it with a little brown sugar to boost the chocolate-chip-cookie flavor? Will that make the ice cream grainy/stop it from setting properly? If so, I think it’ll be totally fine without the brown sugar too, so either way… 🙂 And lastly, do you think I should make the ice cream the day before (tomorrow, Friday) and freeze it overnight, then soften it a little and use it in the cake and refreeze altogether, or just make it on Saturday and layer it right afterwards, then freeze? I want it to freeze up in time for us to enjoy it after dinner, so what do you think would work out better timing wise? Thanks in advance, and sorry for bombarding you with all these questions!
Hi Allie,
I’ve been making bread dough what seems like all my life. I’m designated roll maker for l holidays and parties. But I have a recurring problem…when cutting loaves of bread either right out of the oven or when cold the bread “falls”…it smooshes. The rolls are great but the larger loaves fall and I dont get it. Can it be my ingrediants? Here’s what I do. All by hand. I heat the water to hot enough to melt my bacon grease. I always use bacon grease as my fat. Then I throw in some sugar and salt and stir that all around squishing the cold bacon grease (I keep a container in my frig. all the time) and disolving the sugar and salt (sometimes honey). By the time that is done the water is cooled enough to put in the yeast. The yeast goes in with a little stir. I dont really bloom it for long – I just make sure its changing then I go in with the flour. And mix by hand to knead. Knead for a while…till smooth as a babys bottom. Raise, punch, raise, form then 1 more raise then into the oven till golden brown and hollow sounding when thumped on the bottom. Pretty much like that all times, for years. It’s been passed down generations but I dont recall my mom or grandmothers deflating when cut. O! Also, we dont measure anything. Its all done by feel and experience. Mom and Gram are both gone so I cant run it past them…although I do remember my mom saying she was proud of my bread, I guess I only made rolls when she was around. :0)
So do you have any suggestions? I’d love to know.
Thank you, Melissa
Gee I really couldn’t say… without measurements it’s kinda hard for me to know. But I have several great bread recipes on this site you could follow?
This is a great idea, thank you for sharing it, I had seen your recipe but never tried it because I don’t have the machine, now I know how to make it, thank you again
My pleasure Mateo! Hope you enjoy!
Hey Allie, you shared a great recipe. And it also looks yummy.thanks for sharing this article. Your suggestion will help me to do that correctly. Keep sharing like this.. 🙂
Will do Lisa! I’m so happy you enjoyed.
Hi Allie! Do you have to necessarily use these ingredients to get these awesome results? Also do you have to use a loaf pan? Thank you for your time!
Hey Sasha! I’m not sure what you mean about the ingredients- could you clarify? You do not have to use a loaf pan; that’s just what I like to use because it makes the ice cream easy to scoop. You can use any kind of container with a 5-cup capacity.
So doable! I’m going to make this tonight!
I find this ratio reeeeally sweet and even the children couldnt eat it. Can i half the condensed milk? will it still set? or mayne substitute it with something less sweet?
You can definitely cut back on the condensed milk Sophie! It will actually set up harder if you do. So, a little less soft but still really creamy and good. Thanks for reading!
I used to do this method all the time before I got my ice cream machine! The video is perfect <3
This is a great recipe! I made it for my birthday party on Saturday night, started it on Friday afternoon, and it has a terrific flavor, with an additional tsp of vanilla. One thing I’d suggest adding to the recipe: soak the vanilla bean in very hot water for between 20-30 minutes. Trust me, it makes emptying it out SOOO much easier.
I made this yesterday, well, sort of. In preparation for beginning an elimination diet, I had a can of sweetened condensed milk that I needed to get out of my cupboard. Since I made goat milk ice cream for my husband, I had to give this incredibly easy ice cream a try for my daughter and I especially since I had never heard of making it this way. I combined your recipe with the Peach, Lavender and Blackberry Ice Cream recipe from http://www.azgrabaplate.com. I did use my ice cream maker and have never had an ice cream come together so quickly. If we find dairy not to be an issue, I will return to this again! Pinning it
So glad to hear that it worked well for you! And I love how you got so creative with the flavor. Thanks so much for the great feedback and for pinning. Good luck with the elimination diet!
Hi Allie,
I made my first batch of no-churn ice cream a couple weeks ago-oh my goodness. Mind blowing. I have an ice cream maker but usually don’t have room in the freezer for the canister so I haven’t been making ice cream much. This easy and DELICIOUS way has changed all that. Thanks so much for the tip on the salt-I didn’t add that to my batch but I sure will in the next one. Now the question…what flavor to make? Soooo many decisions. 🙂
Carol
Haha I know! The possibilities are limitless. I totally get you on not having room in the freezer- that’s always a problem for me too!