How to make homemade ice cream with sweetened condensed milk

This ice cream is made with only two ingredients, requires no stovetop cooking, and can be made with just a hand mixer. No ice cream machine needed.

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This ice cream reads a bit like a 1980s infomercial, doesn’t it? “No ice cream maker? No problem! Just try our fancy-shmancy gimmicky gadget!” Cue jazz hands. To be honest, if I hadn’t tried this one for myself — and sampled the result — I’m not sure I would believe it either.

This ice cream really is made with only two ingredients, requires no stovetop cooking, and can be made with just a hand mixer — or even, if you’re very industrious, a whisk and some upper-arm strength. No ice cream machine needed. And it tastes just as decadent and silky-smooth as any ice cream I’ve ever tried, homemade or otherwise. This step-by-step recipe is simply your fastest, easiest-ever ticket to amazing ice cream at home.

Two Ingredients: Whipped Cream and Sweetened Condensed Milk

To make this ice cream you just need a few cups of heavy cream and a can of sweetened condensed milk (not to be confused with evaporated milk). Whip the cream, fold it into the sweetened condensed milk, freeze for a few hours, and sweet ice cream bliss is yours. Sure, you can argue that sweetened condensed milk is itself two ingredients — milk and sugar — but if I only have to pour one thing in my bowl, then it counts as one ingredient in my kitchen.

What Does Condensed Milk Do in Ice Cream?

Think of no-churn ice cream like taking a shortcut. With traditional ice cream, first you have to make a sweetened base — usually a cooked mixture of heavy cream and sugar with eggs or cornstarch to help thicken it into a rich custard — which needs to be cooled, then churned in an ice cream maker before freezing. Churning incorporates air and breaks up ice crystals as they form, making the finished ice cream creamy and smooth rather than one icy block.

With no-churn ice cream, a can of sweetened condensed milk takes the place of the base and the whipped cream brings the airy, creamy texture. Fold the two together until they’re just barely combined and you get the exact flavor and texture of vanilla ice cream after freezing. It’s creamy, it’s scoopable, it melts on your tongue, and it’s fantastic in a sundae with a cherry on top.

Making Other Flavors with No-Churn Ice Cream

Plain vanilla is fine and dandy, but by all means, let’s not stop there. This no-churn method can really be adapted to just about any ice cream flavor or recipe you’ve fallen in love with over the years.

Add mix-ins like nuts, fruit, caramel, or chocolate chips by layering them into the ice cream as you pour it into the freezer container. You can also flavor the ice cream itself by warming the cream and then steeping ingredients like fresh mint, coffee beans, and fresh ginger for a few minutes, or make chocolate ice cream by stirring some chopped chocolate in the warm cream until it melts. Just be sure to completely chill the cream in the fridge before whipping it.

What Will You Do with Your New Ice Cream Power?

Since stumbling across this no-churn method on Martha Stewart and then Nigella Lawson, I feel like my ice cream game has been completely revolutionized. I went from skeptic to fanatic overnight. I like that it only requires two ingredients — both of which I usually have in my kitchen — and that it’s so easy that even my lazy cat could probably do it. But I really like that it doesn’t require an ice cream maker. I don’t have to remember to freeze the base a day ahead, or cloister the machine in the pantry to dull the noise while it churns, or even dig the machine out of whichever deep, dark cupboard I last stashed it.

Yes, this no-churn technique makes ice cream dangerously easy. Knowledge is power: Use it wisely. What ice cream will you be making this week?

This ice cream is made with only two ingredients, requires no stovetop cooking, and can be made with just a hand mixer. No ice cream machine needed.

Equipment

• Measuring cups and spoon

• Spatula

• 2

  large bowls

• Hand mixer, stand mixer, or immersion blender

• 8-inch loaf pan, 8x8-inch pan, pint container, or other freezer container

• Wax paper