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!
3 Ingredient No Churn Ice Cream (Basic)
Ingredients
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy 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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can it be made with a substitute for real cream? cool whip perhaps?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Michele. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
ok thanks for your quick reply! Not sure when I’ll try the recipe
Made this recipe for Father’s Day~ It was delicious and extremely simple to make. This is a keeper recipe for sure!
This was a total fail for me the ingredients separated!! I don’t understand how to do this without the churning process. Any tips are welcome would love to know what went wrong
Excellent! I followed the base recipe (including chilled containers); then I added one ripened banana and about 1/4 cup of walnuts. Creamy and delicious! I can’t stop eating it! Next I am going to try lime juice and crushed Graham crackers. I am going to make ice cream with the grands for sure. They love to help in the kitchen. Thanks for sharing.
Yummy! Those sound like some delicious variations Karen!
this turned out amazing! If you prefer a denser more custardy ice cream like me you can skip the whipping the cream part. I just put the cream, condensed milk and vanilla in the blender and pulsed it a few times. if you want to use less condensed milk you can add a tsp of vodka to ensure the ice cream stays scoopable.
So easy and so so tasty!
Yummy! and easy to make. Will deserve my 5 star of this content.
Delicious and easy to make!
AMAZING! I used fat free condensed milk (that was all I had on hand) and this ice cream turned out absolutely delicious! I am almost afraid to try it now with regular condensed milk because I don’t want anything to change. I also used a vanilla bean and scraped out the inside, used that along with the vanilla extract. My daughter drizzled Nutella on top of half and I have to say….it also was heavenly. The creaminess and flavor of this ice cream is just so perfect!
can i substitute heavy cream for peak evaporated skimmed milk
Hi Fatima, we have only made this recipe as listed but would love to hear how it turns out for you if you attempt it.