This is the easiest ice cream recipe ever. Just 3 ingredients, no ice cream maker needed, and virtually no work. The result is a super creamy gelato.
I haven’t made any ice cream yet this summer. I’m not sure why, but I just haven’t really had the time and patience to wait for the ice cream maker, freeze, wash all those dishes, etc. Then I came across this ridiculously easy 3 ingredient ice cream recipe.
I had my doubts, but I tried it, and it works! The consistency is like gelato. You won’t believe this wasn’t made in a machine.
This recipe barely requires any work. You add the three ingredients, whisk a few strokes, pour it into a container, freeze, and then it’s ready to eat. It’s delicious just as it is, but it would be perfect for serving with desserts like my Easy Blueberry Tart.
One of the main ingredients is sour cream, which had me a little worried because I don’t really like sour cream ice cream, but the taste is very faint. I can’t wait to use this as a base for other flavors.
Is it just me or does anyone else miss the old school ice cream scoops that have a release lever? I like that the commercial-style scoops cut through ice cream easily, but I can’t get pretty ice cream scoops. A lot of the release lever ones I purchased broke easily, but then I found this one from OXO* a few years ago and it’s been my go-to scoop ever since, even though I actually have a drawer full of ice cream scoops. It is sturdy and makes pretty scoops.
You can view the full recipe on Lady and Pups. One note, I used vanilla bean paste rather than vanilla extract because it has a richer vanilla flavor and aroma.
If you love ice cream desserts you might like my Cotton Candy Affogato!
3 Ingredient No Churn Gelato Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all of the ingredients until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into a container. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for six hours or overnight.
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Hey Kirbie,
out of all your ice cream scoops, which one is your favourite and why?
I have the OXO Trigger Release scoop and I either got a dud or it is truly useless as it doesn’t release…anything. I’ve tried warming it in water, but nothing works. Everything (ice cream, gelato, cookie dough) gets stuck and I end up digging it out with a scoop or my finger. 😛
Hi Jubes, the OXO SteeL Ice Cream Scoop, which is the one I linked to in this post, is my favorite. I have about half dozen scoopers and this is the only one that released the ice cream and makes nice round scoops.
i made this today,its so sweet!how can i reduce the sweet?
less condensed milk?
I found another no churn recipe on Yahoo! but haven’t tried it yet https://www.yahoo.com/food/nigella-lawsons-one-step-no-churn-ice-cream-95247938158.html
thank you for sharing this!
I need to try making this! The use of sour cream makes me skeptical, but if you say the flavor is ‘faint’, I’ll give it a go. The end product looks pretty good!
if you can spare some of the 2%, you can use that too.
the condensed milk and the vanilla hide a lot of the sour cream. it just had a little bit of faint tang that tasted like it could have been yogurt