Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
Save RecipeSatisfy your sweet tooth in minutes. Delve into your favorite classic with my homemade chocolate ice cream recipe.
Hi Bold Bakers!
Chocolate-fiends and ice cream lovers unite! My homemade chocolate ice cream recipe is just for you. I spend every summer creating new ice creams for you Bold Bakers and with the season’s heat just around the corner, I’m excited to bring you even more. This year it hit me: I’ve shared almost every flavor I could think of but I’ve never given you guys a recipe for good old chocolate ice cream. With my 2-ingredient, No Machine Ice Cream as a base this recipe is almost too easy. You’ll have no excuse not to make it!
How to Make My Homemade Ice Cream Base
To make my homemade chocolate ice cream, you start with my 2-Ingredient No Machine Ice Cream master recipe. For those of you who have never tried it, my homemade ice cream is simply made up of heavy whipping cream and condensed milk. Once whipped up, these two ingredients will yield you a creamy blank canvas for your Ice Cream Base. My ice cream recipes can be made completely without a machine and don’t require any churning once they’ve been frozen.
The additional vanilla will keep your ice cream soft and scoopable. You can make vanilla and a variety of extracts with my homemade extracts recipe.
How Do You Make Chocolate Ice Cream
You can whip up my 2 ingredient ice cream base in 10 minutes flat. Once you’ve combined your condensed milk into your whipping cream, your favorite chocolate will become the star of the show. Not cocoa powder. Not chocolate chips. It’s melted chocolate that gives this homemade ice cream a super rich and deeply fudgy flavor. After just 6 hours in the freezer, this ice cream is thick and silky-smooth. Prepare to enter chocolate heaven.
What Can I Substitute for Condensed Milk?
Sweetened condensed milk is essential in this recipe. If you aren’t able to get your hands on some, definitely refer to my condensed milk recipe. This ingredient cannot be substituted.
How Long Does Homemade Ice Cream Last?
My homemade chocolate ice cream can be kept in the freezer for as long as store-bought ice cream. If stored in an airtight container, your ice cream will keep for up to 6 weeks. You’ll always have your chocolate fix on hand.
Make More Ice Cream!
Get 100+ Ice Cream recipes at my Gemma’s Freezer Section Ice Cream Destination page!
- 2 cups (16oz/450 ml ) cold heavy whipping cream (all purpose cream or heavy cream)
- 14 ounces (1 can/ 400ml) cold sweetened condensed milk (fat-free or regular)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- 2/3 cup (4oz/115g) of bittersweet chocolate, melted. (70% or so cocoa solids)
- Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whip the cold cream on medium/ high speed until soft peaks form.
- Turn off the machine and pour the condensed milk into the whipped cream.
- Turn the speed up to high and whisk until the mixture is thick and stiff peaks. Turn off the machine and stir in vanilla extract and the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod.
- Introduce a little of the ice cream base to the cooled melted chocolate to loosen it up. Then quickly introduce this to the base and mix through. Work fast or the chocolate will stiffen.
- Transfer to an air-tight sealable container and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight before eating.
- Keep stored in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!
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Hi Gemma,
Is there any tips that we should do before we start making the chocolate ice cream?
Are there any tips that we should do with our ice cream?
I bet you will have fun making it!
Hi Ida,
The most important tip is to do with the ingredients. The cream which I use for most of my recipes is fresh dairy cream. This needs to be at least 35% fat content to whip well. This is from cows milk. It is a liquid product found in the chill cabinet in your store. It will spoil in a few days, even when refrigerated. It has no additives, it is just natural cream, skimmed from milk.
In some places, where there is no dairy industry, there are manufactured products, usually made with milk powders and fats. These are good for some applications, but they are not fresh cream and will not work in my ice cream recipe.
After that follow the recipes, and if you want to watch the videos too, that will be helpful to you.
Thank you for being in touch, let us know how you get on with this,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
Hope you’re doing well. I want to add coffee as well in the chocolate ice cream. How do I do that?
Thanks
Raksha
hi there,
coffee ice cream is amazing!
I love it, and certainly it can be added to this one. Choose a good quality instant coffee powder/espresso powder, and for all coffee add about 5 teaspoons to the base mix. To spike the chocolate flavor use about 2 teaspoons of added coffee.
I hope this is of help to you,
Gemma 🙂
Hey Gemma
I’ve got a breville stand mixer with a the freeze & mix accessory (ice cream churner) so you freeze the bowl for so many hours before use then pour your refrigerated ingredients into the bowl which will slowly freeze while churning so I was wondering if I could still use your 2 ingredient (no machine) ice cream base with this and if not do you have another basic ice cream recipe that I can use instead?
Thanks heaps. Cheers, Kate
Hi Kate,
There is a big difference between a gelato/traditional ice cream and my recipe.
what makes mine work is the low level of water content, and the volume of the whipped cream. This will not do well in the churn.
Look for a custard style ice cream if you use eggs (https://letters.cookingisfun.ie/2011/04/16/eggs/#Ballymaloe+Vanilla+Ice+Cream+with+Pedro+Xim%C3%A9nez+and+Raisins) here is a good recipe from my old cookery school!
There are others which work well without eggs too, so a bit of google-ing for you,
Gemma 🙂
I’ve made this a few times now and my hubby and just LOVE this ice cream. The first time I made it using some melted dark chocolate candy bar and it was delicious though (in my humble opinion) a tad too sweet.
I’ve since experimented with using pure cocoa powder and I finally have it perfected 🙂 I have determined for our palettes, adding 6 Tablespoons of Hershey’s Cocoa powder to the above recipe creates a rich, super creamy and decadent chocolate ice cream. Using the cocoa powder greatly reduces the grams of sugar (0 grams in cocoa vs 58 grams in bar).
My husband thinks this is better than any store bought ice cream ever! Now to start experimenting with other flavors and additions. Thanks so much!
Hi there,
You got it! It is all about balancing the sweetness in this recipe. you can do much the same with coffee powder too, a good quality espresso type powder works really well.
Onward and upwards now. thank you for this kind review, and great input,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
I made the chocolate ice cream, but I putted in 1teaspoon orange extract, 2tablespoon orangesaft and a little grated orange peel too. It is yummy! 🙂 😉 Thank you for the chocolate basic recipe! <3
Monca
WOW Monaca, That sounds truly gorgeous!
Thank you so much for telling us about this,
Gemma 🙂
Soooo delicious! I finally gave it a try and boy is it good! It’s so rich and creamy I don’t eat nearly as much as I do when I have store bought ice cream. I made the chocolate and will definitely add more of the bittersweet chocolate to the next batch. I am going to make the butterscotch sauce tonight to pour over my ice cream. So YUMMY!!!
Wow, im so glad to hear that, share a photo with us!
Thanks for the quick response! I live in the US and I have a feeling that I won’t be able to get the fresh cream here. I think I will try heavy cream, as that is the closest I can find to the fat content. Do you think it will work?
Hi Kim,
I live in the US too, and Heavy Whipping cream is exactly what you need to get, it is widely available. Check the carton for the fat content. Below 35% fat it will not whip as it needs to.
I hope this helps,
Gemma 🙂
Hi gemma! I tried to alter your recipe and guess what? It works! I reduced the amount of condensed milk.. im using 1 cup of whipping cream and only ⅓ cup of condensed milk..im so happy! It is so delicious and marvelous. Thank you gemma! 🤗
Hi there Eira,
Well done you. It is always worth an experiment to get a recipe to where you want it. That is a big change to this recipe, but I am delighte to hear it works. You are doing my job for me!
I will save this to my notes,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma….I am so glad that I found your page! Of course, this will be the end of my diet, so I’ll just have to work that much harder to lose the extra pounds. I was shopping this morning and the store didn’t have any heavy cream, so I bought half and half. Is that ok to use or does this recipe required heavy cream? Also, I got sweetened condensed milk, is that okay or will it be too sweet? Thanks so much for these fabulous recipes!
Hi Kim,
Good questions!
First of all milk will not condense without the sugars, so that is perfect.
The 1/2 and 1/2 has a fat content of about 20%.
The cream which I use for most of my recipes is fresh dairy cream. This needs to be at least 35% fat content to whip well. This is from cows milk. It is a liquid product found in the chill cabinet in your store. It will spoil in a few days, even when refrigerated. It has no additives, it is just natural cream, skimmed from milk.
This is essential to the ice cream recipe here. The high fat means low water content, and this is what allows this ice cream to be made without a churn.
1/2 and 1/2 will NOT whip up. I am sorry. It would be great in a traditional ice cream recipe though!
Gemma 🙂
Tq gemma for the reply… I used whipping cream that made of cow’s milk and milk solid (from cow’s milk) and content 35.5% fat … It whipped well, but turned watery once i added the condensed milk…
Hi Eira,
Yes, and that will not work in this recipe. I am sorry. This is a manufactured cream, good for some recipes, but not for this one. It does not tolerate additions, and will collapse.
This will not hold up in my ice cream recipe, sorry,
Gemma 🙂
Hi gemma… I love your recipe but i can’t get stiffed peak after i added the condensed milk ..i checked my whipping cream and there is no problem with it..i did my homemade condensed milk too..but still i cant get the stiff peak after i add the condensed milk..i dont know which part i did wrong
Hi Eira,
The cream which I use for most of my recipes is fresh dairy cream. This needs to be at least 35% fat content to whip well. This is from cows milk. It is a liquid product found in the chill cabinet in your store. It will spoil in a few days, even when refrigerated. It has no additives, it is just natural cream, skimmed from milk.
In some places, where there is no dairy industry, there are manufactured products, usually made with milk powders and fats. These are good for some applications, but they are not fresh cream, and I think this is what you are using!
You can tell me if I am wrong, but that is what it sounds like to me!
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
I tried your recipe for chocolate ice cream but increased the portion of cream to 500ml, hoping to reduce the sugar proportion. I added 2 tsp of instant coffee granules hoping to balance the sweetness. It turned out lovely and creamy but still too sweet for our palate.
Do you have any advice what is the minimum ratio of condensed milk to cream? I’m thinking 400ml of cream to half a can (200ml) of condensed milk. I’m not sure if the halved portion of condensed milk may render the ice cream to not form properly.
In addition, in view that I’m aiming to reduce sugar content, can I use unsweetened baking chocolate bar instead. Or would that make the ice cream too “rough” as baking chocolate would lack other emulsifying agents in a chocolate bar meant for consumption?
Regards,
Sue
Hi Sue,
you could use a heavier cocoa content bar, which is generally very bitter, but would balance with the sugar in the condensed milk.
The coffee, a good espresso type instant coffee will help too. It is the additional ingredient which balance the sweetness.
You are right though, it is sweet. The milk will not condense unless the sugar is there, and the low level of ‘water’ in this recipe, and the high fat is what makes it work. I think you can experiment with the balance of cream to milk, but I am not sure how low you can go. Perhaps 40/60, milk to cream would work well, but I am not sure as I have not tried it.
I hope this is of help to you,
Gemma 🙂
hi I made your ice cream last night chocolate but only had vanilla flavouring we have just had some but struggled to scoop it out the tub have I done anything wrong as it was so hard but does taste nice thanks michael
Hi Michael,
I am wondering about your ingredients. This is really reliant on the two ingredients of the base, so these must be right. I know we discussed this on facebook too, but it is worth saying again as helps others. The two ingredients, fresh dairy cream, at least 35% fat content, and condensed milk, which is inevitably sweet. Milk will not condense without the sugar, evaporated milk is not the same thing.
The low water content, and high fat content of these two ingredients should keep the ice cream scoopable. Adding other ingredients, especially ones with a high water content, will change this a little, as water freezes like ice.
I hope this is of help Michael, do try again, try the coffee version, 4 – 6 teaspoons of a good instant coffee powder will do it for you.
Gemma 🙂
Thank you Gemma for this wonderful recipe. I once won a prize for my freezer ice cream at our local fair but it is labor intensive and hard to transport. Yours is so easy I felt guilty. I was out of heavy cream and had no way to town so I used canned cream instead. I put two cans of canned cream and two cans of condensed milk in my mixing bowl and set all in the freezer for around 45 min. Then followed your steps. Made 1\2 gal of vanilla and 1\2 gal of lemon and swirled together in a gal container. My family loved it. Said it tasted like lemon ice box pie. Can’t wait to try other flavors. May never eat anything but ice cream again. LOL
I bet they loved it!!!! Sounds delicious.
Thanks for trying out my recipe
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma. I’m ready to make my chocolate ice cream I have a 3.5 is bar of Lundt 70% cocoa smooth Dark . How do I melt it? Double boiler? Microwave? When I melt in microwave I always over cook till hard. Can’t find a happy medium. Help I want my ice 🍦.
Hi Jackie,
I hear you!
The secret to melting this lovely chocolate in the microwave is not to melt all of the chocolate. You take it so far, then allow the warm chocolate to melt the remainder. It is tricky, but worth a try. Get it mostly melted, remove from the microwave, cover and let it sit. it will happen.
A double boiler, or a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, will work too. Do not allow the bowl to touch the water. This is easier to control.
I hope you get there, this chocolate usually works really well, just be patient. Turn down the power in the microwave if you wish, that will make it safer,
Gemma 🙂
I just made your ice cream base and I added a black raspberry puree(because I had a lot of ripe black raspberries from my garden) and added crushed semi sweet chocolate chips. It is so good. I want to make your chocolate recipe but I want to add peanut butter do you think since you have to mix it fast could peanut butter be added right after? I prefer chocolate ice cream with peanut butter not the other way around. Thanks Wendy
Hi Wendy,
Here is my peanut butter and chocolate version. (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/pb-chocolate-homemade-ice-cream/). I hear you, you want chocolate to be the top note, you can do this readily, read both recipes and you will see how to proceed.
I envy you the black raspberries, such a rare thing. Well done you, it sounds divine!
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
I love to try your 2-ingredients ice-cream, however it didn’t turn out the way you showed in the video. I just can’t get stiff peak after adding in condensed milk but watery instead.
I look forward to learn more from you. Hope to get reply from you soon. Thank you.
Hi Joey,
The cream which I use for most of my recipes is fresh dairy cream. This needs to be at least 35% fat content to whip well. This is from cows milk. It is a liquid product found in the chill cabinet in your store. It will spoil in a few days, even when refrigerated. It has no additives, it is just natural cream, skimmed from milk.
In some places, where there is no dairy industry, there are manufactured products, usually made with milk powders and fats. These are good for some applications, but they are not fresh cream, and I think this is what you have. This will collapse when the condensed milk is added and give the results you tell us about.
I am sorry you were disappointed, this recipe relies on the two ingredients being exactly right. You can try freezing what you have, and through the freezing time whisk it, to break up the ice crystals, until you cannot mix it because it will stiffen up.
It may very well be good, add the flavors before you start to freeze it,
Gemma 🙂
Thank you for your kind guidance!
Can I use good old Hershey’s chocolate syrup?
Hi Gregory,
Unfortunately you need to use a block of chocolate. You can however just swirl some sauce into your ice cream but don’t flavor the whole thing with it.
Gemma.
Hi Gemma, I just made your chocolate ice cream and while it tastes wonderful, the color does not have the deep depth of yours? Could it be because I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet? I’m not sure how that would matter, but mine looks more of a “dirty” vanilla? 🤔
Hi Blythe,
So what happened is really common and what happened is that you need to mix the melted chocolate into the ice cream really fast so it mixes well and doesn’t set on the ice cream. I’m guessing that is what happened to your.
It takes practice.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma! I recently found your site and am going to start “diving in” today with some of your recipes. But first, a question.
Several days ago I found an ice-cream recipe on another site. I decided to make condensed milk since it is difficult to find it where I live. I followed all of the instructions (the same as yours) and kept it on the lowest heat possible for 30 minutes. All seemed to be going well but, somehow, I ended up with a gooey mess (not even dulca-de-leche) and the pot became a planter. Thereafter, I found condensed milk in another store and tried again. The coffee ice-cream was the best I ever made (and even A BIT chewy since I added 1/4 tsp. of xantham gum). Unfortunately, the ice-cream was still way too sweet, which is why I wanted to make my own, tuned down version in the first place.
Is there a way to make UNSWEETENED condensed milk, or perhaps to use less (at least by half) of the sugar in your (and all other) recipes I’ve seen? I prefer to taste the coffee, strawberries, etc. in my ice-cream than have it overpowered by the sugar.
I look forward to learning a lot from you. Have a great summer and thank you for making ours so much more fun!!!
Hi there,
first of all it is good to have you with us, you are welcome to the Bold Baking community.
The problem with this two ingredient ice cream is that it relies on condensed milk, and that will not condense without the sugar. The sugar is what thickens it, as you noted a step on the way to a caramel, which I think would have happened to your batch had you left it to continue cooking out.
Really what is happening in condensing the milk is the water content is being evaporated, and the sugars, added and natural, are thickening the mix. It is interesting that you use xanthan gum in this, and found it worked, but I am not sure if it would work to thicken the mix if you reduced the sugars, but it is worth a shot. You may be on to something there, I will have to experiment with this myself now!
Coffee is a great addition, and it tends to balance the sweetness a touch. Some people increase the cream too, which also helps.
Unsweetened condensed milk is evaporated milk, it remains liquid, and will not work in this recipe.
I hear you though, and I think I will take a fresh look at this recipe to see if we can get the sugars down. Natural sugars like agave/honey/maple syrup may be used too, but these are very high in fructose, so no great benefit there.
Thank you for being in touch, an interesting point with the xanthan gum!
Gemma 🙂
Can you use powdered or baking cocoa and if so, how much?
Hi Valerie,
Yes, but I do not know what baking cocoa is. I use an unsweetened cocoa powder here, and you can add this to my ice cream base readily. I tend to use melted chocolate for chocolate ice cream (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/homemade-chocolate-ice-cream/) as here. Adding 4 teaspoons of sieved cocoa will give a good result too. Try it!
Gemma 🙂
Can this work with chocolate syrup instead of melted chocolate?
Hi,
You can swirl in some chocolate sauce. It’s best though if you want to flavor all of the ice cream it’s best to use melted chocolate.
Gemma.
By the way, if you let the chocolate cool just a bit, you wind up with chocolate chip ice cream which is very yummy, too.
Thats great!! I’ll try that.
Gemma. 🙂
Hi Gemma,
I don’t have a standing or hand mixer. Can I use a balloon whisk? I have made many a batch of whipped cream this way in the past, though not without a proper amount of elbow grease. Haha, I am very eager to try this ice cream, it looks amazing.
Thanks,
Sean
Hi Sean,
Yes! I have done this too, and indeed it is hard work, but then there is the reward!
The colder the cream the easier it will whip up for you. Get on with it Sean, be positive, it is a workout 😉
hi jemma love your chocolate ice cream im gonna try it out
Hi there Connie,
Do! I hope you enjoy it,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
Do you think it’s necessary to put it back in the mixer and remix with the whisk on low? Or should I just fold the chocolate in with the base? Just trying to get the best consistency w/out compromising the texture 😊
Thank you and I am loving your recipes! They are fancy treats w/out the fancy tools! 😁
Hi Jenn,
I would mix by hand for the last step here, this will preserve the texture for you. I hope you enjoy this recipe,
Gemma 🙂
You said vanilla beans, I haven’t been able to find any vanilla beans in this part of PA. Can you just use vanilla extract only? And can you use Cacao Nips instead of chocolate chips?
Hi there,
Yes! it is always good to work with what you have. Cacao nibs are less sweet than chocolate chips. You can use chopped chocolate too if you wish, make it your own!
Gemma 🙂
I could find no directions either.
Hi,
Scroll down 3/4 the page and the recipe will be above the comments.
Hope you find it.
Gemma.
Gemma,
I love the idea of making your chocolate ice cream, however you did not write down anything about the type or quantity of chocolate. Please update. Thank you.
Hi Sandra,
I have no idea why this recipe did not include the instructions, I am traveling right now, will go back to it and edit it from memory. I will check it when I get back to the US tomorrow. Meanwhile you can rely on the instructions I will include right now, or use cocoa as advised,
Gemma 🙂
⅔ cup (4oz/115g) of bittersweet chocolate, melted. (70% or so cocoa solids)