Recipes, guides and kitchen know-how. Mostly useful, occasionally silly.
How to Make Homemade Ice Cream - No Machine, No Churning, No Nonsense
Three ingredients, no machine, no churning: whipped double cream folded into condensed milk and vanilla, frozen into a smooth, scoopable tub. Plus how to scoop it like a pro and a Christmas pudding version for Boxing Day.
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- Prep10 min
- Freeze6 hrs
- Serves8
- Calories~460
Calories are approximate, per serving, worked out from the ingredients. Brands and portion sizes vary.
I don't own an ice cream machine.
I owned one once. It lived in a cupboard for six years and came out twice.
Both times the bowl hadn't been in the freezer long enough.
Then I gave it to Aaron for his birthday. Still in the box.
He was thrilled. He still thinks I bought it new. Please don't tell him.
The bowl needs 24 hours' notice. I don't give my family 24 hours' notice for anything.
Right now I'm whipping cream, answering an email and looking for the vanilla.
I'm holding the vanilla.
So this is how to make homemade ice cream with three ingredients, one bowl and no churning. You whip, you fold, you freeze, you wait.
The waiting is the hard part. Erin has asked "is it ready?" eleven times while I've been typing this.
She's also launched a petition for marshmallow ice cream. Four signatures, all hers.
It comes out smooth, properly creamy and soft enough to scoop straight from the freezer after a few minutes on the side.
No crunchy ice crystals. No stirring every half an hour like a nervous parent.
I read a pile of recipes from Italian food writers, British chefs and people who test these things for a living.
I kept the bits they agree on and pinched the clever tricks. Professional research. Some call it copying.
Then I added the bit nobody else bothers with: how to scoop it like you work in a gelateria.
Now showing
Short on time? Here's the whole thing in 38 seconds. Erin can ask "is it ready?" in under four.
Starring Isaac on the whisk, Her Majesty on folding duty and Aaron on freezer patrol. Tyson stole the scoop. Obviously.
Why does it work without churning?
A machine does two jobs. It beats air in, and it keeps the ice crystals tiny by stirring while it freezes.
Big crystals are what make ice cream crunchy and sad. Like the lawn on a frosty morning.
This homemade ice cream recipe cheats at both. Whipped cream brings the air before it ever goes near the freezer.
And condensed milk brings the sugar, which stops some of the water freezing solid, so the crystals stay small and it stays scoopable.
Sugar fixes everything. Erin has been saying this for years.
I told her this was practically health food. She found the tin I'd hidden and read me the back of it. Statement withdrawn.
Roughly half a tub of shop ice cream is air, held in bubbles about a fortieth of a millimetre across.
Half. For years I've been paying for air.
Physics World's guide to the science of ice cream goes through it bubble by bubble.
Aaron read the whole thing out loud. At the table. During pudding.
I scream when he does that.
It isn't a new trick either. Italian home cooks have made gelato senza gelatiera (ice cream without the machine) this way for years.
Dissapore's Italian no-machine version uses the same cold cream and condensed milk, frozen in a loaf tin. If the Italians are happy, I'm happy.
So yes, homemade ice cream without machine help is not only possible, it's easier.
Condensed milk ice cream is the lazy cook's secret weapon. I've never been prouder of being lazy.
Ayden had the lead in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so he's appointed himself head of anything sweet.
Lara pointed out Charlie never made anything. He just turned up with a ticket.
Ayden changed the subject. Word association.
"Ice?" "Cream." "Cream?" "...Ice."
Ayden loses again.
He can do long division in his head. Just not this.
Lara celebrated with a showtune. In the middle of his piano practice.
What you need
For the base (makes about 1 litre, serves 8)
- 500ml double cream, straight from the fridge. Not single, not whipping cream - double has the fat that holds the air.
- 1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk. Not evaporated milk. They live next to each other in the shop to catch you out.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract - a level teaspoon. Aaron checked with a knife.
- A pinch of fine salt, if you like. It stops it tasting too sweet. Ingredient three and a half. Doesn't count.
Flavours and mix-ins
Vanilla is lovely. Vanilla is also the beige of the ice cream world.
I asked if chilli counts as a flavour. Eesha said no. I appealed.
Eesha got to three, which is as far as she counts, and threw it out. Short fuse. Shorter appeals process.
For the record, chilli and chocolate have been friends for centuries. I'm not wrong. I'm early.
- Jam ripple - a few spoonfuls of raspberry or strawberry jam, swirled in at the end
- Crushed biscuits - a good handful of broken biscuits or cookies
- Chocolate chips - or a bar, roughly chopped
- Coffee - 2 tbsp instant espresso powder whisked into the condensed milk, the way Nigella does it
- Lemon - the finely grated zest of a lemon instead of the vanilla
- Mini marshmallows - a handful, folded in at the end. Erin's petition passed. On appeal.
Some recipes add a couple of tablespoons of spirit to keep it softer.
We leave it out so everyone can have a bowl - a few minutes out of the freezer does the same job.
Kit
- Two mixing bowls - one big one for the cream
- An electric hand whisk (a balloon whisk works, it just takes 4 minutes of arm instead of 2)
- A big spatula or metal spoon for folding
- A 2lb (900g) loaf tin or a 1 litre freezer box, plus baking paper or cling film
- A proper scoop and a flat ice cream spade - more on those in step 5
How to make no churn ice cream
Step 1 - Whip the cream
- Pour the cold double cream into your big bowl.
- Whisk until it's thick and holds peaks that stand up but still look soft and glossy. With an electric whisk that's about 2 minutes.
- Stop there. Keep going and it turns grainy, then into butter.
Three adults argued over soft peaks or stiff peaks. Isaac said "stop now" without looking up from Mario, straightened his cape and carried on. He was right. He usually is.
If you enjoy this bit, you'll love whisking air into egg whites instead. Same arm, different pudding.
Step 2 - Fold in the condensed milk
- In the second bowl, stir the condensed milk with the vanilla and salt (and the coffee, if that's your flavour).
- Add a third of the whipped cream and stir it in to loosen it.
- Then fold in the rest gently - big slow sweeps from the bottom, turning the bowl as you go. Stop as soon as it's an even colour.
All that air you just whipped in is your churning. Knock it out and you get a dense, icy brick.
Isaac gets the spatula. It comes back cleaner than the dishwasher gets it.
Step 3 - Add your flavours
- Fold chips, chopped chocolate or biscuits straight into the bowl.
- For a ripple, spoon half the mixture into the tin, dot over half the jam, add the rest, dot again, then drag a knife through it two or three times. That's it. More swirling makes it pink, not rippled.
Plain vanilla? Skip this step and feel very calm about your life choices.
I made one jam ripple. Now everyone in the house wants one. I didn't see that effect coming.
Step 4 - Freeze it
- Scrape everything into the loaf tin or freezer box and smooth the top.
- Press baking paper or cling film right onto the surface, then add a lid or foil. Air on top is what makes ice crystals.
- Freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight. No stirring, no checking, no opening the door every hour.
Aaron checked the freezer was at -18C first. With a thermometer. Nobody asked. It was -18C.
He put his jacket on to do it. He's from Belfast. He said it was still warmer than July back home.
I told him it looked more like -17C. Just to see. He checked again. He rises to it every time.
Step 5 - Scoop it like a pro
- Take the tin out and leave it on the side for 5-10 minutes. Start at the softer edges.
- Warm the scoop in a mug of hot water, then shake it dry - drips of water freeze into little icy bits.
- Drag the scoop across the surface in a slow S-shape, letting it curl the ice cream into a ball rather than digging straight down.
We use the heavy-duty stainless steel scoop we make. I'd say that even if we didn't make it. Probably.
No scoop? A big metal spoon dipped in hot water will get you most of the way.
For slabs, wafers and the rock-hard corners, our flat wooden-handled spade cuts straight through.
It also scrapes the tub clean, which is why Isaac hides it.
Tyson, my Doberman puppy, got the scoop first and ran off to his bed with it. It was clean. He was disappointed.
Dexter, the gentle giant, was at the scene as usual. He's half retriever. He retrieved it, then took it to his own bed.
Aaron had his in a cone with a Flake. I asked if it brought back his flaky past. He says that was a pastry phase. He changed the subject very quickly.
Christmas pudding ice cream
Got leftover pudding on Boxing Day? Crumble about 250g of it and fold it in at step 3.
Olive magazine uses 300g with a bit more cream. Nobody in our house has ever had 300g of pudding left over.
Freeze it in a pudding basin lined with cling film, then turn it out like a frozen pudding.
A sprig of holly on top and nobody will know it took ten minutes. Take the credit. I always do.
It's the first time in my life I've been ahead of Christmas. I froze.
Most Christmas puddings have brandy in them. For an alcohol-free version, check the label - there are plenty of alcohol-free puddings about.
Planning the rest of the day? Here's a minute-by-minute plan for the main event.
Keeping it and serving it
Whip it right, fold it gently, cover it tight. Nearly every icy, dense or grainy batch comes from over-whipping, over-mixing or leaving the top open to the freezer. Treat the air in that bowl like the last biscuit in the tin. Precious.
Keep it covered, with the paper still pressed on top, and it's best eaten within 2 weeks.
After that it still tastes fine but starts to grow a little frost beard.
Keep it at the back of the freezer, not in the door. The door warms up every time someone goes looking for fish fingers.
Once it has melted, don't refreeze it. It comes back icy, and nobody wants that.
Eesha put that in a pop quiz. I got it wrong. Detention.
I appealed. Two detentions.
It's very good on its own. It's better on a hot crumble that needs something cold on top.
Lara called the combination "very well cast". She does musical theatre. It's a compliment.
Serve it on a Sunday and call it a sundae. That one was terrible. I'm keeping it.
If it goes wrong
Rock hard straight from the freezer? Home freezers are very cold, and this mix has no machine-made air to soften it.
Fix: Leave it on the side for 5-10 minutes before scooping and start at the edges. It just needs a few minutes to chill out. We all do.
Icy and crunchy? Air got to the top in the freezer, or the cream was under-whipped.
Fix: Press paper right onto the surface before freezing, and whip the cream until it holds its own peaks. Tuck it in like it's going to bed. It is, sort of.
Grainy or buttery? The cream was over-whipped and started turning into butter.
Fix: Stop whisking as soon as the peaks hold and still look glossy. If it's only just grainy, fold in a splash of unwhipped cream. If it's yellow, you've made butter. Spread it on toast. Ask Erin.
Dense and heavy? The air got knocked out while folding.
Fix: Loosen the condensed milk with a third of the cream first, then fold the rest in slowly with big gentle sweeps. Fold like you're holding someone else's phone.
Far too sweet? Condensed milk is very sweet on its own.
Fix: Add the pinch of salt, use a sharp jam ripple or lemon zest, or serve it with something tart. Or give it to Erin, who has never once said anything was too sweet.
Mix-ins all sank to the bottom? They went into a runny mix, or they were big and heavy.
Fix: Chop them small and fold them into the thick mixture at the end, not into the condensed milk. Like my car keys. Which I've just found in the freezer.
That's it. Whip, fold, freeze, scoop.
And if anyone asks where the machine is, tell them it's in a cupboard. Aaron's cupboard, in my case. Happy birthday, Aaron.
Now go and cook something.
Technically you didn't cook anything. I won't tell.
