Easy homemade ice cream made with only 3 ingredients and no ice cream maker needed.
I come from a long line of ice cream lovers. Growing up, we always had ice cream in our freezer and made frequent trips to the local ice cream parlor. But we never made homemade ice cream. As an adult, I’ve tried making all kinds of different ice creams. I even have a nice Cuisinart ice cream maker. I’ve tried making homemade ice cream using eggs – and got scrambled eggs. I’ve tried non-dairy recipes with marshmallows. Nothing really could come close to store bought ice cream. In fact, I read somewhere that homemade ice cream could never be as good simply because ice cream makers have very high end machines that are hard to replicate in the home kitchen. What’s a girl to do? I gave up.
Then the weather got warmer and I ran across a recipe on Pinterest that used only a few ingredients, looked light and smooth and didn’t require an ice cream maker. I had to give it a try. I’ve read about a million different “no churn” ice cream recipes in the past few weeks. It seems to all point back to Nigella Lawson and her no churn recipe. It didn’t really require much to try, so I did.
I decide to start with basic vanilla. All you need is whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract. I’ve mentioned my love of Trader Joe’s shelf stable whipping cream and you can add their organic sweetened condensed milk to that list. No can! Organic! I’m truly sorry if you don’t live near a Trader Joe’s. My vanilla is homemade so this pretty much worked out to an organic vanilla ice cream for pennies.
It took me about 10 minutes to whip the ice cream up. And then another 6 hours to let it harden. Start by whipping your whipped cream in a stand mixer or just using a hand held mixer.
While the cream whips up, mix together the condensed milk and the vanilla. I mixed up in a Tupperware Wonderlier bowl that I was using to freeze the ice cream in. No need to dirty more dishes! Once the cream is whipped, pour the condensed milk mixture in with the whipped cream. Gently gold the two together.
Pour the mixture in to a freezer proof container. Can you see how light and fluffy it is? Yum! Try not to lick the spoon because you’ll want to eat this ice cream before it freezes. Gently place the ice cream in the freezer and let it freeze for at least 6 hours. That’s it! It’s ready to go once it’s frozen. I notice that homemade ice cream needs to be eaten sooner rather than later. This makes a small batch so if you need a lot, double it for certain!
If you are dairy free, or just love chocolate, make sure to check out my dairy free chocolate gelato recipe! And “Fried” Ice Cream for a Crowd (no frying required) is always a hit at potlucks!
3 Ingredient, No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream
Turn 3 pantry ingredients into delicious ice cream with this easy no church vanilla ice cream recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- In a small bowl, stir together condensed milk and vanilla to combine.
- Gently fold the condensed milk mixture into the whipped cream.
- Pour the mixture into a freezer-friendly, air-tight container.
- Freeze for at least 6 hours.
That looks delicious! We want to try making homemade ice cream at the beach this summer, so I will definitely save this recipe.
I love this Ice Cream, it is right up my alley. I appreciate the whole food approach. I can only imagine how delicious it tastes. I would be honored if you would stop by Pure Grace Farms and link your recipe at the Wonderful Wednesdays Blog Hop this evening. This will be my first week at co-hosting and I am beyond excited! Blessings…Shari
Thank you so much, Shari! Best of luck with your party – I hope it goes well!
I love easy ice cream recipes like this. It’s so nice to know exactly what is in what we are eating – and your recipe sounds delicious!! Pinned (and I’ve pinned your yummy chocolate chip cookies too). Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul hop.
Thank you, April!
Hi Camille,
WoW this will be a very special ice cream for the summertime treats! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great weekend and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
I love it when a recipe calls for ingredients I already have in my cupboard. And I LOVE Trader Joe’s too! Can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Me, too, Lila! Love not having to make an extra trip to the store!
This looks delicious! Just pinned it!
Thanks, Melissa!
This looks great, I am not a big icecream eater but my sons would love it. Thanks again for sharing and linking up with us at the #WWDParty.
I’m planning to make the version without ice cream maker
I have a Kitchen Aid mixer
I want to make maraschino cherry ice cream
When do I add the drained cherries?
Hi! You can find our cherry ice cream recipe here: https://growingupgabel.com/cherry-ice-cream-recipe/
this looks so easy and maybe fun to do with the kids. I haven’t made homemade ice cream in years.
It’s perfect for kids!
This looks SOOOO good, I can really appreciate it too, I just tried making my own mint chocolate chip ice cream at home the other week and it was a BUST. Yours looks soooooo good, and the picture is AWESOME! I found it at whats cookin wednesday 🙂 It’s my first week there- great to find your site, I’ll definitely be back!
Thanks, Stephanie. It’s so frustrating to not get a good result! I still can’t believe this works – and it’s so simple!
This is so easy to make! ANd it looks so delicious 😡 Thanks for sharing the recipe! I will try it out!
I’m always disappointed by the taste and texture of homemade ice cream – but not this one! I couldn’t believe it worked. 🙂 Enjoy!
This looks really good! I would love to make this with my kids x
Thanks Liz! I’m sure you’d all love it!