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Don't Have an Ice Cream Maker? Use Your Blender.

Making ice cream in your blender is the easiest (and tastiest) thing you’ll ever do.
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Published May 13, 2022.

Don't Have an Ice Cream Maker? Use Your Blender.

As the weather is warming up, my ice cream cravings are arriving more often than they usually do. I could easily walk to 7-Eleven and grab a pint, but there’s something special about making homemade ice cream.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an ice cream maker. But that’s okay, because I love making ice cream in a blender instead.

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10 ingredients. 45 minutes. Quick, easy, and fresh weeknight recipes.

This recipe for no-churn ice cream, developed by Cook’s Country’s Morgan Bolling, is easy and magical. Plus, it takes only a few minutes to make before you put it in the freezer.

When you make ice cream in an ice cream maker, it churns the base of milk, cream, sugar, and egg yolks as it freezes. In order for this to become ice cream, the machine creates ice crystals and incorporates air, which makes it creamy.

What Do You Need to Make No-Churn Ice Cream?

For this recipe, you only need two pieces of equipment:, a blender and a loaf pan.

Morgan whipped heavy cream in the blender until she achieved stiff peaks. Next, she blended sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla and salt. Then, she simply poured the mixture into a loaf pan and let it freeze. Six hours later, she had perfect ice cream.

That’s it. I’m serious.

Recipe

Vanilla No-Churn Ice Cream

With help from an heirloom recipe, we made a no-churn ice cream that made us melt.
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How Does Making Ice Cream in a Blender Work?

This no-churn ice cream works because the air in the blender has the same effect as the air an ice cream maker would usually incorporate.

But the corn syrup also plays an important role. It adds sweetness, and its viscosity contributes to the smooth texture of the ice cream. Sweetened condensed milk helps keep the ice cream scoopable as it freezes. 

Different Flavors of No-Churn Ice Cream

This is the recipe for our vanilla ice cream, but since its base is so simple, it allowed us to create lots of variations (12 to be exact), some of these variations include: 

How to Make No-Churn Ice Cream In a Blender

Serves 8 to 10

15 minutes, plus 6 hours freezing

2 cups heavy cream, chilled

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

¼ cup whole milk

¼ cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon table salt

1. Process cream in blender until soft peaks form, 20 to 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of blender jar and continue to process until stiff peaks form, about 10 seconds longer. Using rubber spatula, stir in condensed milk, whole milk, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Process until thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed.

2. Pour cream mixture into 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan. Press plastic wrap flush against surface of cream mixture. Freeze until firm, at least 6 hours. Serve.

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