No-Churn, Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
ICE CREAM!!!
We’re going there.
Anyone who knows me knows that ice cream is my ultimate summertime splurge — soft served, hard packed, a cone, a cup, sprinkles, no sprinkles? I am ON IT like the fattest kid at camp. So when I figured out that I could make my own ice cream at home, without a machine, and that it would be some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, I practically had a meltdown.
A good one, obviously. Like a puppy on Christmas.
Making this does require a food processor or an electric hand mixer, but the basic vanilla recipe that it builds on requires just THREE ingredients, so things really couldn’t be easier. All you need is the magic combination of sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and heavy cream — From there you can mix, match, and totally rock out with the ice cream mashup of your dreams, today’s version being classic mint chocolate chip.
I’m unusually proud of this recipe for three distinct reasons.
1 – I did not eat it all by myself.
2 – There is NO mint extract OR food coloring!!!! It’s 100% all-natural.
3 – The fresh mint leaves are from my very own urban garden! Très exciting.
Let’s break it down.
It’s a little hard to quantify how many ounces of mint you’ll need to buy since I culled mine from my garden. But a safe estimate is about 2oz worth, which should render the 2/3 of very tightly packed leaves that you need. Give your mint a rinse, then transfer to your food processor and combine with a few tablespoons of water + sugar before puréeing into a moshy mess — It won’t look pretty, but you’re on the right track.
Next, strain the puréed mint through a fine mesh sieve to extract all the mint juices. In the end you’ll be left with a mostly dark green liquid and a touch of foam on top — SKIM THAT FOAM. You do not want this in your ice cream. Once you bid adieu to the foam, whisk your mint liquid into the sweetened condensed milk + vanilla, then gently fold in the heavy cream after it’s been whipped. Stir in chocolate chunks, freeze for at least 8 hours, die of anticipation, and voilà! You’re eating the best ice cream ever.
After making my own ice cream I began to notice just how processed the store-brought stuff tastes. The flavor here is pronounced, refreshing, and crisp, it’s truly unlike any other ice cream I’ve ever tasted. The texture is wonderful too — creamy and smooth, without being too heavy — and the chocolate chunks add the final, perfecting touch.
And like a broken record, I’ll say it once more – NO mint extract, NO green food coloring!!
Just pure, natural, 100% organic mint leaves. Pretty cool, huh? xo
No-Churn, Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz)
- 1 1/2 tsps Vanilla
- 2/3 cup Fresh Mint Leaves, tightly packed (4 – 6oz worth)
- 6 tbsps Water
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 pint Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips (or more!)
Directions:
- In large mixing bowl combine the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Set aside.
- In food processor combine the mint leaves, water, and sugar, then pulse until mixture is as puréed as possible (I let mine spin for 3-5 minutes). Next, strain through fine mesh sieve (a few flakes of mint leaf might still come through, but that’s okay!), then skim the foam off the top of the strained liquid so that all you are left with are the mint juices. Lastly, whisk the liquid mint into the sweetened condensed milk, combining well.
- Clean out your food processor. Line a standard sized loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In food processor gently pulse the heavy cream for ~30 seconds until a whipped texture forms. Fold the whipped cream into the mint milk mixture until combined, then lastly stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer to parchment-lined loaf pan, then freeze for 8 hours/overnight. Devour!
>> chocolate mint is my favorite choice for this recipe, but peppermint and spearmint are both great choices! it all depends on which you prefer best
Sooooo good!! Can you make it again please!!??
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Oh that looks divine! I’ve been growing a variety of mint leaves just so I can be cool like you and make ice cream with them.
The mint leaves you used above look a lot like chocolate mint or peppermint leaves! Not like the normal mojito ones you often find in grocery stores. I find chocolate mint and peppermint to have a much sweeter taste. The chocolate mint leaves really taste like peppermint patties!
I’ll try your recipe tomorrow but I’ll use the ice cream maker. Heh 🙂
Thanks for the tutorial!
great eye Carolyn! yes they are in fact Chocolate Mint leaves, they’re delicious! sometimes I just pick a leaf and eat it plain, so yummy 🙂
hope you enjoyed it! xo
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I cheated and used an ice cream maker – it’s so good! Thank you!
that’s great Ann! so glad you loved it xo
I just packed a 2/3 cup measure with mint leaves, holding them down to keep them from spilling over the cup, & when I weighed it there was 1.2 ounces iof mint. Wishing the recipe had never mentioned a 2/3 cup measure because there is no way I could fit 4 ounces of mint in a 2/3 cup measuring cup and I’m feeling confused about which to use. That’s a huge difference in amounts.
I’m sorry for the confusion Kathy, I realize the ounces can be misleading and I’ll make an amendment to the post — You need 2/3 cup of deeply packed mint leaves, which in the end should render 1/3 cup of green mint juices. It’s a delicious recipe that so many readers have loved, so I hope you still give it a shot! xo
It’s a pity you were not clear about the type of mint because regular mint does not work well in this recipe.
hi Brenda — the footnote in the recipe does actually specify what mint I think is best, but ultimately what you use comes down to your own personal preference. if you don’t care for how the leaf tastes on it’s own, then you won’t like it as ice cream, either — best of luck! xo
I made this today with my son. I was not sure what to expect. I too grow my own mint – this year I grew spearmint and a variation called “the best mint”. So I was happy to find a recipe other than a mojito recipe that uses mint. I really didn’t think you could make ice cream WITHOUT an ice cream maker. But holy smokes! You sure can!! This is really good. I would imagine that chocolate mint would be a better variation to use. But mine turned out very nice. So glad I stumbled upon this recipe. I made a second batch, but did a raspberries and cream flavor – just waiting for that to harden up. 🙂
that’s so awesome Barbara! I’m glad you loved it xo
A friend of mine gave me fresh mint which I had no idea what to do with. I found your recipe through Pinterest. I never made ice cream before. This. Was. Perfect. No kidding! We use Truvia in my house so I used that and mini Nestle chips. I can’t say enough. 3 days later and it’s gone. I was looking at other ice cream recipes and I feel I came across a gold mine with yours. So easy, no egg…no ice cream maker…I think I’m going to swap mint for other ingredients and experiment. Peanut butter swirl? Fudge swirl? Fresh peach or strawberry? Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! Mint chocolate chip is a favorite so I’m sure I’ll be making that again soon!
that’s wonderful Val!!! so so happy you loved it, it’s one of my favorite recipes on WRY 🙂 happy summer! xo
I, like other, was looking for something to do with the spearmint plant besides the basics. Admittedly, I was hasty and nit readung the directions clearly and put all the milks together after putting in my mint juice… Not wanting to throw it, I processed it until it started stiffening up and put it in the freezer. It still came out so delicious! Next time Ill do it like the recipe. This is seriously so delicious. I cant wait to try other things to put in there. Thank you!
that’s awesome Lisa! thanks for letting me know xo
This is soooo good. Thank you : )
This is the best ice cream recipe ever! I would like to make it a little less sweet. Do you think I can put a little less sweeten condensed milk, skip the sugar in the mint puree and increase the cream a tiny bit?
absolutely! start with little tweaks and you’ll be able to find your perfect level of sweetness 🙂