The Easiest Homemade Ice Cream Recipe with 50+ Flavors

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE You don’t need an expensive ice cream machine to enjoy homemade ice cream. I’ll show you the easiest way to make ice cream at home. My two-ingredient, no-machine ice cream recipe is versatile and easy to whip up.

And finding your next go-to ice cream recipe will not be a challenge because I have 50+ ice cream flavors and dozens of frozen desserts at my Gemma’s Freezer Section Ice Cream Destination. 

IMPORTANT NOTE This recipe was updated and improved on 5/3/2023, to include additional photography, answers to the most frequently asked questions and Pro Chef Tips.

Table of Contents

• What is the Easiest 2-Ingredient Homemade Ice Cream? 
• Tools You Need
• Easiest Homemade Ice Cream Ingredients 
• How to Make the Easiest Homemade Ice Cream
• Can I Use Evaporated Milk Instead of Condensed Milk? What is the difference between condensed milk and evaporated milk?
• Can I Replace Heavy Cream With Milk?
• How to Store Ice Cream at Home?
• FAQs
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make Vanilla Ice Cream & 50+ Flavors

What is Homemade Ice Cream?

My easy homemade ice cream recipe requires just two simple ingredients—heavy whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk—and you do not need an ice cream maker!

Heavy Whipping Cream is readily available in the United States, and it’s referred to as Whipping/Double Cream in Britain, Slagroom in the Netherlands, and Whipped Cream or Heavy Cream in the Philippines. There is also a heat-treated cream from Nestle in large parts of Asia. In parts of South East Asia and the Philippines, there is a Nestle product called whipping cream. It is made from milk powder and milk fats. It is suitable for some applications, such as no-bake cheesecakes, but not for this ice cream.

Condensed milk can be difficult to find in many places, but it is very easy to make at home using my sweetened condensed milk recipe!

Tools You Need

(No special ice cream maker needed!)

• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Stand mixer or hand-handled electric mixer
• Spatula

Ingredients You Need for Homemade Ice Cream

• Heavy whipping cream: Heavy whipping cream is a fresh liquid dairy product skimmed from full-fat cow’s milk. It has a fat content of around 35%, which makes it whip up well.

1) Heavy whipping cream not only incorporates air but also retains the incorporated air to aerate ice cream to make it light and tender.

2) The fat from heavy whipping cream also adds flavor and creaminess. In the meanwhile, the fat lowers the freezing point to make ice cream still scoopable once frozen.

• Condensed milk: Condensed milk is traditionally cow’s milk that has much of the water content boiled away and then sugar added.

1) Cold condensed milk is a key ingredient, and there is no substitute. Condensed milk provides sugar to dissolve in water from cream to form inverted sugar, which sweetens ice cream to enhance flavors, and lowers the freezing point to provide a smooth and creamy texture.

2) Condensed milk’s sugar also coats air bubbles to stabilize the light and aerated structure.

How to Make Homemade Ice Cream

1. DO NOT add condensed milk in the beginning.

1)BEFORE adding condensed milk: whip cold cream only to SOFT peaks (which barely hold their shape and flop over immediately when you lift the beaters).

2) Whipping heavy cream to soft peaks will build a structure to hold upcoming condensed milk and prevent the cream from getting over-whipped later.

2. “INTRODUCE” condensed milk.

1)Condensed milk tends to weigh down the cream due to its thick consistency and is hard to mix.  You can mix condensed milk with a small amount of surrounding soft whipped cream first then continue to mix with the rest (majority) of the whipped cream.

2)This will introduce condensed milk to soft whipped cream more easily to get stiff peaks eventually, which stand straight up when you lift the beaters.

Can I use Evaporated Milk Instead of Condensed Milk? What is the difference between condensed milk and evaporated milk?

No. Due to its lack of sugar, you can not use evaporated milk in place of condensed milk in this Easiest Homemade Ice Cream Recipe.

• Both are made by reducing the percentage of the water content from the milk.
• The most significant difference between condensed and evaporated milk is the sugar content. Evaporated milk has NO sugar. While condensed milk has sugar which can caramelize to thicken the milk, so it is called Sweetened Condensed Milk.

Can I Replace Heavy Cream With Milk?

No. Milk has up to about 3.5% milk fat (full-fat milk or whole milk), which is much less than the 35% in heavy cream. Milk does not contain enough milk fat to whip up well to incorporate or retain air.

Buffalo milk produces a really good high-fat cream and will be perfect for this.

There are manufactured products, made with milk powders and fats, in places where there is no dairy industry. Although good for some recipes, they are not the fresh cream required in my homemade ice cream recipe.

How to Store Ice Cream at Home?

Vanilla extract keeps your ice cream from freezing too hard. If you omit vanilla extract, you can leave your ice cream at room temperature for about 15 minutes to make it more scoopable. Store your ice cream in an airtight container or a well-covered loaf pan for up to six weeks. Try these frozen dessert containers to store your ice cream flavors.

FAQs

1. How can I make homemade ice cream that’s less sweet?

Add one-third more heavy whipping cream or a ripe avocado to your ice cream base to reduce its sweetness without making it icy or freeze-rock hard.

2. How can I keep my ice cream from becoming icy-hard?

1) INCORPORATE ENOUGH AIR: Note to whip up heavy cream till SOFT peaks to build an aerated structure then add in condensed milk. If you whip cream and condensed milk at the same time from the beginning, you won’t distribute the condensed milk evenly. More water will float onto to form crystals.

2) Do not cut back condensed milk (sugar) by more than one-quarter. As condensed milk is beaten in, the sugar from it will coat the air bubbles to prevent them from popping or drying out. Ice cream will be light and creamy instead of dense and hard.

3) Adding more vanilla extract will help. Vanilla extract is alcohol-based and has a lower freezing point than water, so the ice cream will not freeze icy hard.

3. How can I make 2-Ingredient Ice Cream in an ice cream maker?

Gradually introduce about 1/4 cup of cold heavy whipping cream into cold condensed milk until the mixture is smooth. Add this mixture with the rest of the cold heavy whipping cream into your ice cream maker. Churn ice cream accordingly to its manual instructions.

Fold in desired add-ins before storing it in the freezer.

4. How to make dairy-free homemade ice cream

Don’t eat dairy? Not a problem! You can make my homemade ice cream completely dairy-free with full-fat coconut milk and vegan condensed milk. Learn more about my dairy-free coconut ice cream recipe.

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips on Making the Easiest Homemade Ice Cream at Home:

1. Chilling your bowl and the whisk attachment in the freezer will help to keep the ingredients cool during high-speed whipping.
2. Cold condensed milk is a key ingredient, and there is no substitute. You can use fat-free or low-sugar if you wish.
3. After you add the condensed milk, whip the mix on high speed to STIFF PEAKS. They will hold their shape and will be firmer than before. Take care not to over-whip at this stage, or your cream will curdle.
4. Add in a little vanilla extract at the end. The alcohol in the extract will lower the freezing point, making your ice cream a little softer and easier to scoop. (Think about what happens to a bottle of vodka in the freezer—it gets very cold, but it doesn’t freeze!)
5. How to read labels to calculate fat content? What’s the “7%” on the label?

1) DAILY VALUE -DVs are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume or not to exceed each day.

The %DV is how much a nutrient in a single serving of an individually packaged food or dietary supplement contributes to your daily diet.

2) For example, most brands label 1 Tbsp (15ml) as one serving. The fat is around 5g. 15ml heavy (whipping) cream weighs around 13.8-15g. So 5g/13.8-15g=around 30%-36% fat content. The “7%” means in each serving of 1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream, the fat should not exceed 7% of all the nutrients/food that you consume in one day.

Make Vanilla Ice Cream & 50+ Flavors

With just this base, you’ll be able to make an endless supply of homemade ice cream flavors! On its own, it’s a vanilla ice cream recipe and it’s also a blank canvas to make more than fifty of my favorite flavors. You can find all the flavors of the easiest ice cream on my Gemma’s Freezer Section Ice Cream Destination. From classic vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate to pistachio kulfi, strawberry cheesecake, cookies & cream, tiramisu, and green tea, we have a wide variety of ice cream flavors that you’ll love.

• Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
• Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
• 6 Ice Cream Flavors (Mintchocolate chip, Nutella, Pistachio and Raspberry, Cookie dough, Cotton Candy)
• Homemade Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream: Top 5 Flavors!
• Mochi Ice Cream

IMPORTANT NOTE This recipe was updated and improved on 5/3/2023, to include additional photography, answers to the most frequently asked questions and Pro Chef  Tips.

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