Learn how to make no churn vanilla ice cream today. It's made with just three ingredients and you don't need an ice cream maker! This recipe is fully customizable with a variety of flavor combinations.
Want to make your own ice cream from home? It's easier than you think. This ice cream is rich, creamy, and can be customized to make just about any flavor imaginable.
You only need three ingredients to get started - sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and vanilla. A hand mixer makes quick work of this recipe and your ice cream will be in the freezer in minutes!
Serve no churn vanilla ice cream for any occasion. It's the perfect addition your next Thanksgiving pecan pie or apple pandowdy.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Sweetened condensed milk - The base of your ice cream. Sweetened condensed milk adds sweetness and creaminess. Homemade or store bought sweetened condensed milk will work in this recipe.
- Heavy cream - Necessary to make no churn ice cream. Heavy cream, or heavy whipping cream, is whipped and folded with the other ice cream ingredients to make a fluffy, aerated base.
- Vanilla extract - Adds vanilla flavor to the ice cream. Vanilla extract can be substituted with an equal amount of vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean. Vanilla can also be substituted with your favorite baking extract, like lemon, mint, or maple.
Tips and tricks
Making whipped cream - Use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment and mix your heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks are achieved. Once your cream begins to hold its shape in the bowl, turn the mixer off and lift the whisk out. If the tip of the whipped cream holds it shape without drooping, your whipped cream is ready.
Fold gently - Use gentle folding strokes when adding streusel to avoid deflating your light and airy ice cream base.
Add flavors to the sweetened condensed milk base - If you'd like to add other flavors to your ice cream base, like extracts, spices, jam, or cocoa powder, add it to the milk base. This ensures that the flavor is incorporated completely into the base without deflating the whipped cream.
Add mix-ins last - After your ice cream base has been prepared, add solid mix-ins last. This includes items like crumbled cookies, candy, and sprinkles. This ensures your pieces don't fall apart from excess mixing.
Mix-in ideas
I recommend adding anywhere from ½ cup to 1 cup of mix-ins to your ice cream.
- Baking chips - Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips.
- Chopped chocolate - I prefer chopped chocolate in my mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe.
- Nuts - Pecans, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios. Try candied pecans like in butter pecan ice cream.
- Sprinkles - Sprinkles go a long way, so I'd start with 1-2 tablespoons.
- Cookie pieces - Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oreo cookies, or brownies. I added these sugar cookies into my Christmas cookie ice cream.
- Candy - Reese's peanut butter cups, Snickers, Kit Kat, Heath, M&M's. A great way to use up extra Halloween candy.
- Cake pieces - Crumble a piece of cake into your ice cream - frosting and all!
- Cookie dough - I recommend making a homemade, safe to eat version like this Edible Cookie Dough.
- Nut and seed butters - Peanut butter, almond butter, sun butter. I made peanut butter ribbon layers in my Peanut butter ice cream recipe.
- Hot fudge or caramel - Try adding a ribbon of hot fudge (at room temperature) in the middle of your ice cream.
- Jam, preserves, pie filling - Mix into your ice cream completely or add in layers for a ribbon effect. I used cherry pie filling in my cherry cheesecake ice cream.
- Crunchy mix-ins - Waffle cone pieces, graham crackers, pretzels, potato chips, granola, toasted coconut, and cereal (like golden grahams, corn flakes, cocoa puffs).
- Shell topping - Makes a great crunchy chocolate layer. Try my dark chocolate peanut butter shell or peppermint magic shell as a ribbon layer.
Storage
No churn ice cream will keep for up to 3 months in a tightly sealed freezer-safe container in the freezer.
Frequently asked questions
No churn ice cream is ice cream that's made without the use of an ice cream maker or other specialized equipment. All you need is a hand mixer and a few simple ingredients. For this recipe, we're blending sweetened condensed milk together with homemade whipped cream. Whipped cream gives this homemade ice cream it's light and airy texture without the need for an ice cream maker.
A 9x5 loaf pan is the ideal size for this no churn ice cream recipe. However, any freezer safe container will work. Try using a large tupperware container with a tightly sealing container.
This depends on the temperature of your freezer. It takes my freezer about 4 to 5 hours to freeze ice cream, but it could take as long as 8 hours or overnight.
Yes, liquid or gel food coloring works well in this recipe. I recommend adding it along with the vanilla extract.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
Vanilla ice cream
- 16 ounces (454 g) heavy cream
- 14 ounces (397 g) sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Optional mix-ins
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger
- ½ cup baking chips, cookie pieces, chopped nuts
- ½ cup jam, nut butter, chocolate sauce
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add heavy cream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip until stiff peaks are achieved, about 3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract (and optional flavor mix-ins like food coloring, jam, or dried spices). Stir to combine.
- Fold whipped cream into milk mixture until just combined.
- Optionally, add dry mix-ins (like baking chips, cookie pieces, or chopped nuts) and gently fold to combine.
- Pour mixture into a 9x5 loaf pan (or any container that will hold 6 cups). Cover and freeze immediately for about 4-6 hours, or until firm.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Optional mix-in measurements are a starting point. Do a taste test and add more as desired.
- Depending on the temperature of your freezer, ice cream may need to be frozen overnight to freeze solid.
- No churn ice cream will keep for up to 3 months in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
- Calorie estimate shown is for vanilla ice cream base only. Calorie count will change if mix-ins are added.
I made the chocolate ice cream with 1/2 cup of cocoa (I used a mesh strainer to get any lumps out of the cocoa) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla added to the sweetened condensed milk and then blended this very well with a hand mixer before adding all to the heavy whipping cream which I whipped to form stiff peaks. I don't like chocolate ice cream but this is so creamy and delicious that I could eat it everyday. Thank you for this recipe.