No Churn Ice Cream is the perfect way to send off summer with one last celebration. Made with just 3 ingredients there is no need for any fancy equipment, ice cream makers, or special tools!
For parties, a DIY ice cream sundae bar with strawberry sauce, blueberry sauce, and caramel sauce, whipped cream, chopped nuts, and a cherry for the top is always a crowd pleaser! Or serve with your favorite fall desserts like apple pie or a delicious rhubarb crisp!
How Do You Make Ice Cream?
A traditional homemade ice cream recipe often starts with cooking a custard. The custard is then added to an ice cream machine that has been pre-frozen and churns until the custard freezed into a creamy delight.
No Ice Cream Maker? No Problem!
This ice cream is made with 3 simple ingredients, 3 easy steps and no ice cream maker is required!
- Combine the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl (per recipe below). For a more intense vanilla flavor, use a real vanilla bean by scraping the tiny seeds out of the bean. Add to the mixture.
- In the second chilled bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold together until fully mixed. Do not overmix or the finished result won’t be as light and airy.
Now you are ready to freeze it! Just pour into a prepared loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap.
How Long Does it Take to Make?
As long as the loaf pan and bowl for the whipping cream are pre-chilled, mixing up the rest of the ingredients shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes or so!
Once the mixture is poured into the loaf pan, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
Additions to No Churn Ice Cream
The possibilities to change the flavor of this ice cream are endless. Simply sprinkle in a handful of add-ins and freeze as directed. Swap of the vanilla for your favorite extracts.
- Add a swirl of peanut butter, nutella, or cookie butter.
- Broken bits of graham crackers/cookies or chopped nuts.
- Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or M&Ms.
- Fresh strawberries, peaches or cherries slightly mashed.
- Try adding edible cookie dough for the ultimate treat!
Storing Homemade Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream will easily pick up freezer odors and flavors, so keep it tightly sealed in a freezer container. Be sure to label the container with the date it was prepared.
How Long Will It Last?
Once the ice cream is made, the key is to keep it from temperature fluctuations. Here are a couple of tips to make sure the ice cream stays fresh!
- Cover the ice cream with plastic wrap before you put the container lid on it. This prevents ice crystals from forming on the top of the ice cream. (This works with store bought ice cream as well.
- Store in a flat container instead of a deep container.
- Store towards the back of the freezer (not the door) so the temperature stays the same.
Scoop Over These Desserts
- Homemade Peach Cobbler – melt-in-your-mouth tender!
- Apple Cobbler – completely from scratch
- Homemade Cherry Pie Recipe – bursting with juiciness
- Apple Crisp – easy cinnamon kissed filling!
- Homemade Blueberry Pie – delicious & easy dessert!
- Easy Baked Alaska– try baking into this yummy dessert
- Bananas Foster – so easy to make!
Ingredients
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1 can
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Place in the freezer.
- Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a large chilled bowl.
- In a separate chilled bowl, whip heavy cream on medium high until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk. (Stir in any mix-ins you'd like at this point).
- Pour into prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 4 hours or overnight.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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Hi! Can you make this with half n half or does it have to be heavy whipping cream?
Hi Eissa, we have only tried this recipe with heavy cream but would love to hear your results if you use half and half!
Best homemade ice cream recipe ever! I’ve made different versions of no-churn ice cream and they were good but I followed your instructions to a tee (cold bowls, ftw!) and this turned out to be EXCEPTIONAL. I folded in some frozen raspberries (so they’d remain whole and not crushed) from the bounty in my yard, and served it with peach butter cake. Healthy? Nope. Irresistible? YEP! Hubby just walked by and exclaimed, “You can make ice cream ANY TIME!”
Aewsome recipe. I added rum extract and soaked raisins!! It was fantastic!! Tysm
Yum!!
I tried this recipe and added some crushed oreos. It turned out amazing, and was so easy to make!!
I have everything to make this but my mon wants it to be half and half. She wants half of it t be chocolate. How do you make it chocolate with this recipe. I told her I could squeeze some Nestle quick syrup in half but she wants another opinion
Hi Tammy, other readers have turned this recipe into chocolate ice cream by adding ¼ – ½ cup of cocoa (depending on how chocolatey you want it).
I made this for the 1st time yesterday. It came out so good. So creamy. I made 2 flavors by splitting the ingredients in half. 1 batch was made with vanilla bean paste with added bittersweet chocolate chips. The other was made with Biscoff spread. I couldn’t wait 24 hrs, lol so I tried the Biscoff. Wow, I don’t know why but I was surprised that it not only worked but that it came out so creamy. I can’t wait to make this using different flavors especially with berries. I have some frozen mashed bananas in the freezer. I plan to add some to my next batch of Biscoff. Those 2 flavors pair very well together. Thanks for the recipe. I just glance at a few others you have scrolling on this page. Can’t wait to check them out. Thanks again!!
Oh my, those sound like delicious combinations! Thanks for sharing Tammie.
To stretch it can you add a banana
This is so simple and so delicious! My family loved the consistency but thought the flavor could use some work. I’ll definitely add more vanilla next time. They also want it to be sweeter, what do you recommend?
You could try adding a bit of powdered sugar to the mixture, I can’t say for sure how it will work out as I haven’t tried it.
Hi Holly,
I really wanted to make some ice cream for my kids, I promised them last night. I know this isn’t the right month to make ice cream, but my kids are ICE CREAM LOVERS. We used to buy ice cream, but now I want to make my own. I searched up “ice cream recipe” and all the recipes needed ice cream makers. I was beginning to panic when I stumbled across this one. I have all the ingredients: bowls, parchment paper, loaf pan, heavy cream, vanilla, condensed milk. I made it and it was ready in three hours. My kids tried it and OMG it was melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. NOW I know one thing: You don’t need an ice cream maker to make delicious homemade ice cream!
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Alyssa
Yay Alyssa, so glad your family loved this as much as mine did!!
I have not made this recipe yet, but I was reading the reviews and thought to myself, if someone could take the time to answer just about every comment then they really care and this would be worth trying.
I want to try s’mores with cereal toast crunch, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. I hope this turns out as good as it sounds.
Thank you for your kind words Denise! I love your addition ideas, thanks for sharing.
I read you like cheese, so does my hubby and myself, not much at a time though. My question to you is this. How do you keep it from going moldy in the fridge. I don’t trust cutting it off, but hate throwing it out. Other than eating it faster or smaller quantities, what do you recommend , is there a special container, special paper to keep it in. We do keep some in the freezer then put it in a sealed bag in fridge.
Thanks for your help. Keep safe
I have a vacuum sealer and find cutting the blocks into smaller portions and sealing them helps is last longer. Make sure to rewrap your cheese in fresh parchment paper and every time you use it and then loosely wrap it in plastic wrap or seal it in a plastic bag. If it’s been in the fridge for a while, I grate and freeze the cheese before it has a chance to go bad. You’ll want to ensure there is no moisture in the container you are storing in (for example, I try not to use a wet knife). I hope that helps.
You can find more info on storing cheese here.
Could you replace the vanilla for teaberry extract for teaberry ice cream? Or lessen the vanilla and add the teaberry extract?
Absolutely you can! Adjust the strength of the extract to your tastes. Enjoy!
Anyone know if this ice cream stores well in plastic containers in the freezer? Really don’t have any metal containers with lids.
It stores well in plastic too.
Yes Amy it does cause all I have is plastic bowls just put wax/plastic paper over the top then add the lid. Love this ice cream
This is the best! So creamy! I loved it!! Such an amazing summer treat! Looks so delicious and it’s an easy recipe! I’ll be trying this as soon as the weather warms up!
I forgot to whip the cream until stiff peaks formed. Will this make a difference
I haven’t tried it without whipping the cream so I can’t say for sure but it may change the consistency.
Can this recipe also be used in a traditional ice cream maker?
We have never tried this recipe in an ice cream maker since it turns out perfectly without, Caroline. If you do, we would love to hear how it turns out!
I love this recipe!! So easy to make and the result was so much better than I anticipated! I have special requests to make it after just having it one time! Thanks for sharing this!
That is awesome Amy! So happy you love this recipe.
I love this recipe so much! I made it with a lot less sweetened condensed milk though because my family and I aren’t huge sweet tooth. But I’m running out of heavy cream! Is it possible to substitute it with whipping cream??
You’ll want to make sure any cream you use is 30-35% fat to make sure it holds its shape. Let us know how it goes!
How do you make it chocolate do you just add cocoa powder?
I have never tried making this into chocolate ice cream but I would love to hear how it turns out for you Lilly. I would try adding ¼-½ cup of cocoa powder depending on how chocolatey you want the ice cream.
We made chocolate today. I added 1/3 cup cocoa powder to the condensed milk and mixed it using the whisk beater on my mixer. It tasted like eating fudge! So YES chocolate absolutely works! Once it was fully incorrect it was like mouse! This is our fourth batch! The first we did just vanilla. Then I did one with mini choc chips, pb swirl and graham crackers mixed in. Also one with peaches. Now chocolate! Thank you so much for this recipe.
*incorporated not incorrect!
You’re very welcome Sonia! So glad you love the ice cream!
Heavy cream and whipping cream are the same
OMG this is my favorite go to ice cream. I make this with my preschoolers during our winter theme week so we can watch how things freeze as well as in the summer. The kids love making it and also eating! ❤
I’d LOVE to try this, but vanilla is my least favorite flavor. Could I use the same amount of another flavor extract? Probably so, but just checking to make sure. I can also probably add some finely chopped fruit, if I made strawberry ice cream, right?
Absolutely you can! I would slightly process the berries (or slightly mash). Enjoy!
How much mashed fruit (strawberries) or fruit pulp (soursop or passionfruit) can be added as to not affect the consistency of the finished product?
Thank you
This recipe should be fine with up 1 lb of fresh strawberries. As for the fruit pulps, I haven’t tried it but I do think if it were swirled in it should be just fine!