No churn mint chocolate chip ice cream is a rich and creamy frozen treat. This mint flavored ice cream is filled with chopped dark chocolate and is made with just four ingredients. No ice cream machine required!
Want to learn how to make mint chocolate chip ice cream without a machine? It turns out creamy and rich, has a perfectly minty flavor, and is filled with chopped dark chocolate.
We love making no churn ice cream. Butter pecan ice cream and peanut butter ice cream are a few of our favorites. It's easy, takes only a few minutes of prep, and is made with simple ingredients. What could be better?
Serve no churn mint chocolate chip ice cream any time of year - it's a classic for a reason. It's refreshing during those hot summer months, and has a classic minty Christmas flavor during the holidays.
Ingredients and substitutions
For this recipe, you'll need:
- Sweetened condensed milk - Make sure you're grabbing a can of sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. While they may be sold next to each other and look similar, they are very different ingredients. Sweetened condensed milk is thick and sweet, which is necessary to sweeten our ice cream. Evaporated milk is not sweetened at all.
- Heavy cream - You'll be whipping your heavy cream to make a homemade whipped cream. Heavy cream, or heavy whipping cream, is a must for this recipe. Lower fat dairy products like half & half, light cream, or whole milk will not work as substitutes.
- Mint extract - Mint extract or peppermint extract is needed to add that signature minty flavor to your ice cream. Peppermint could be substituted with vanilla extract to make a chocolate chip ice cream if desired.
- Dark chocolate - We used a 4 ounce bar of Baker's semi sweet chocolate for this recipe. An equal amount of any plain chocolate, like Hershey's milk chocolate, will work as a substitute. Or, use 4 ounces of mini chocolate chips if you'd prefer a chip texture over the chopped chocolate texture.
Can I make my ice cream green?
If you'd like to make a green mint chocolate chip ice cream instead of white mint chocolate chip ice cream, add a few drops of green food coloring along with the mint extract and stir until evenly incorporated. Liquid or gel food coloring works.
Whipped cream tips and tricks
Arguably the most important part of making no churn ice cream is making whipped cream. The whipped cream is what gives your ice cream it's airy texture, much like what happens in an ice cream maker.
If you've never made whipped cream before, check out my post on homemade whipped cream for even more tips and detailed photos.
- Cold heavy cream whips up much more easily than room temperature cream. Remove your heavy cream from the refrigerator once you're set up and ready to begin.
- Use a large bowl. The cream doubles in size as it's whipped, and may splatter a little.
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whipping cream by hand with a whisk is hard work and requires a lot of elbow grease. It can be done, but a hand mixer will get the job done much faster.
- You'll notice your cream getting thicker and holding its shape in the bowl as it's whipped. To test for "stiff peaks", turn the mixer off. Gently tip the whisk up in the air. If the tip of the cream holds its shape without drooping, you're done.
- Whipped cream can go from stiff peaks to overwhipped very quickly. If your cream looks lumpy or separated, it's been overwhipped.
- To save overwhipped cream, slowly drizzle un-whipped, cold cream into your bowl and stir until the mixture comes back together.
Type of chocolate to use
We used a bar of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces with a chef's knife. Any flavor of Baker's chocolate works - we like the combination of rich semi-sweet with refreshing mint.
Any chocolate will work - a few bars of Hershey's milk chocolate is a great choice.
Or, add mini chocolate chips if you'd like to make a true "mint chocolate chip" ice cream.
Want to mix things up? Try using white chocolate instead.
Freezing
How long does it take for no churn ice cream to freeze? This depends on how cold your freezer is, but in general, a 9x5 loaf pan takes 4 to 5 hours to freeze to the proper consistency for scooping.
Pan size
A 9x5 loaf pan is ideal for no churn ice cream because it perfectly fits one batch. Don't have a loaf pan? Any freezer friendly container will work as long as it holds about six cups of ice cream.
Recommended
No Churn Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream cold
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon mint extract
- 4 ounces dark chocolate chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add cold heavy cream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Once you begin to see ripples in the cream from your mixer and it appears to be holding its shape, stop the mixer and pull the whisk out of the bowl. If the tip of the whipped cream holds its shape without drooping, your whipped cream is ready. Take care not to over-mix or your whipped cream will separate.
- In a separate bowl, add sweetened condensed milk and mint extract (optionally, add food coloring here for green ice cream). Stir until fully incorporated.
- Gently fold whipped cream into condensed milk mixture until just combined. Add chopped dark chocolate and fold to incorporate.
- Pour mixture into a 9x5 loaf pan (or any container that will hold 6 cups). Cover and freeze immediately for 4-5 hours or until firm.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- We used Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, but any chopped chocolate (or mini chocolate chips) work in this recipe.
- Homemade ice cream will keep in a tightly sealed container for 1 month or more. Eventually, ice crystals will develop, especially if ice cream is not tightly sealed.
- Mint extract can be substituted with vanilla extract to make chocolate chip ice cream. Chocolate can be omitted to make plain mint ice cream.
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