Summer

No-Churn Chocolate Ice Cream

by:
March 11, 2021
4.7
18 Ratings
No-Churn Chocolate Ice Cream
Photo by Carolina Gelen
  • Prep time 8 hours
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

You know that moment when you are craving some ice cream, you pull it out of the freezer, and it’s hard as a rock? You decide to microwave it, but it ends up completely melting. Well guess what? This no fuss, no churn recipe will deliver a rich, decadent ice cream that’s scoopable the minute you take it out of the freezer.

The presence of liqueur in this dessert prevents it from fully solidifying, leaving us with a delightful soft serve. You will be able to taste the liqueur you are using, so feel free to play around—you could use Cointreau, sambuca, pistachio liqueur, coffee liqueur, raspberry liqueur, and the list goes on and on. If you want to skip the alcohol in this, the recipe will work without it as well, the ice cream will be firmer when pulled out of the freezer, so give it a few minutes at room temperature before scooping. —Carolina Gelen

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Chocolate ice cream
  • 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup liqueur of choice (see author notes)
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream, super cold
  • Chocolate shell
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped (75 grams) dark chocolate
Directions
  1. Whisk the sweetened condensed milk, liqueur, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl until combined. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
  2. Gently fold all the whipped cream in the cocoa mixture. Pour the mixture in a container and let it freeze overnight. Serve it as soon as you pull it out of the freezer—it will be nice and scoopable. Bonus points if you serve it in a frozen bowl. Don’t let it sit at room temperature for too long, it will start melting fast.
  3. For the chocolate shell sauce, simply melt the coconut oil and chocolate in a bowl, in the microwave or over a bain marie. Whisk to combine, then pour it over the ice cream and watch it harden.
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  • Carolyn Anhalt
    Carolyn Anhalt
  • Carolina Gelen
    Carolina Gelen
  • Mrs Currie
    Mrs Currie
  • JennW
    JennW
Carolina Gelen
Carolina is a resident at Food52. She's also one of the hosts of Choose Your Own Recipe Adventure, our YouTube show where our Food52 readers pick the ingredients and techniques for a brand new recipe. Carolina recently immigrated to the U.S. from Transylvania, a place she spent most of her life. She continues to get inspired by the classic Romanian and Hungarian foods she was raised on, creating approachable, colorful, and fun recipes. For more cooking ideas and candid moments, check out her Instagram @carolinagelen.

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23 Reviews

JennW
JennW August 27, 2023
One of the quickest, tastiest ice cream recipes I've seen. I'm not a fan of the custard style ice creams and so most non custard style ice creams just aren't creamy enough. THIS was creamy and just sweet enough. As my friend and I ate it we were thinking of all sorts of other flavors to make. I'll be making this one again for sure. Thanks for the recipe.
 
JennW
JennW August 28, 2023
I should also say, I churned mine in an ice cream machine. I think the result is about the same.
 
Sbedal
Sbedal June 10, 2023
Could you still churn it if you wanted to?
 
Carlagahm
Carlagahm August 27, 2021
Anybody find this salty?
 
Ntokozo
Ntokozo March 5, 2022
Replace it with pink salt
 
Virginia
Virginia July 25, 2021
Great stuff! Have made this lots of times…lately, lacking cream, with frozen bananas. With and without cocoa. I just want to eat it all up immediately.
 
Lori
Lori July 19, 2021
If you want to use alcohol to keep the ice cream soft but don’t want any flavor, use plain vodka. I use it often in ice cream.
 
dc52food
dc52food March 11, 2021
Absolute perfection! So simple to make, I'll be repeating this and looking for more, No-Churn ice cream recipes :)
 
Julia H.
Julia H. February 23, 2021
Can I somehow replace the condensed milk with cream?
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 28, 2021
The condensed milk plays such a huge role in this recipe, it adds sweetness and richness to our ice cream, maintaining the mixture nice and creamy once frozen. It’s quite hard to replace those key elements by only using heavy cream, so I wouldn’t encourage you to do so, the result won’t be the same without it :)
 
Virginia
Virginia August 28, 2021
Lately I have been using only a couple of tablespoons of condensed milk….seems to work just as well.
 
lasciviouslunch
lasciviouslunch February 22, 2021
Can this handle something folded into it like dark chocolate chips or chopped peanut butter cups?
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 28, 2021
Absolutely! Feel free to add anything else you want in there :)
 
Amy R.
Amy R. February 21, 2021
So easy, and so very good. I didn’t make the shell but the ice cream was amazing. I used a tiny bottle of Godiva chocolate liqueur someone gave me a while ago and it was like I was in chocolate heaven. I will absolutely be making this again.
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 28, 2021
I’m so happy to hear that, Amy! Thank you for giving the recipe a go :)
 
Akouli
Akouli February 17, 2021
Absolutely delicious! Made it with baileys and it blew our minds!
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 28, 2021
What an amazing choice!!! So happy to hear it was a success :)
 
Carolyn A.
Carolyn A. February 14, 2021
Craving satisfied! Made it with amaretto and poured Advocaat on it. Yummers!
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 15, 2021
Ouuuhh, nice choice! I'm happy you gave this recipe a go :)
 
Micaaszp
Micaaszp February 14, 2021
I tried this last night and it turned out really good! I did have any liqueur so I used bourbon which gave it a nice kick. I also added 2 tablespoons of instant espresso before adding the whipped heavy cream. Super easy, delicious, and makes a lot!
 
Carolina G.
Carolina G. February 15, 2021
I'm so happy to hear that!
 
Mrs C.
Mrs C. February 21, 2021
Thanks. I wondered if a spirit would do instead of liqueur. Did you add a titch more sweetener?
 
Lori
Lori July 19, 2021
Anything will do. It is the alcohol that keeps it soft.