3 Ingredient No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream

No churn chocolate ice cream. Three ingredients. No ice cream machine. No cooking a custard, tempering eggs, or endlessly checking the freezer and stirring every hour. Just three simple ingredients combined in one bowl, poured into a tin, and left to do its thing in the freezer. The result is the creamiest, richest, most deeply chocolatey ice cream you will ever make at home. Honestly, it gives shop-bought a serious run for its money.

My inspiration for this easy chocolate ice cream recipe

The other day, I was in the store looking for a plain chocolate ice cream to use in another recipe. I visited three different stores, but couldn’t find one that was just a simple chocolate ice cream. There was everything from chocolate fudge sundae to chocolate fudge brownie, with chocolate chips or cookie dough balls. Swirled with vanilla ice cream or fudge sauce, sprinkled with nuts and fruits. You name it, it was there! But a simple, plain chocolate ice cream? Impossibly hard to find!

So this got me thinking: perhaps we are so obsessed with variety and convenience where we just need to open the tub and scoff, that we’ve ended up losing out on the joy of basics.

And so the idea of a “basic” chocolate ice cream was born. Additionally, to make it even better, you don’t even need an ice cream machine for this, it is the best no churn chocolate ice cream ever!

Why you’ll love this 3 Ingredient No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream

• Just three ingredients. Overly simple, fuss-free recipe? Sometimes it is absolutely an essential! You simply need double cream, sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder. That’s it. Easy peasy!
• No ice cream machine needed. This is the whole magic of no churn ice cream! The whipped cream does the work that an expensive machine would otherwise do, trapping air into the mixture so it freezes into something gloriously scoopable and indulgently creamy.
• Incredibly rich and chocolatey. We are using cocoa powder here rather than melted chocolate, which gives a beautifully intense, pure chocolate flavour that really shines through. Deep, dark, completely delicious.
• The creamiest texture. This is not an icy, disappointing homemade ice cream. This is silky, scoopable, a properly dreamy frozen dessert. People will not believe you made it with just three ingredients!
• Endlessly customisable. Once you have the base recipe down, the flavour possibilities are genuinely limitless. I have got a whole section of ideas below if you want them, but this recipe alone is already absolutely scrumptious as it is!
• Works all year round. It goes without saying that ice cream is a summer staple. But imagine a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream on top of a warm gooey brownie, or a delicious skillet cookie in the middle of winter? This one is worth keeping in the freezer all year round!

What are the 3 ingredients for no churn chocolate ice cream?

• Double cream: the secret ingredient that makes no churn ice cream possible without a machine. When whipped to soft peaks, it traps thousands of tiny air bubbles which keep the ice cream light, fluffy and scoopable once frozen. Make sure the cream is cold straight from the fridge, as warm or room temperature cream does not whip nearly as well!
• Sweetened condensed milk: the other essential part of any no churn ice cream recipe. Thick, decadent and deliciously sweet, condensed milk does two crucial things: it sweetens the ice cream without requiring you to dissolve any sugar, and most importantly, its high sugar content lowers the freezing point of the mixture. This is what prevents the ice cream from freezing into a rock-solid block of ice. This cannot be substituted with evaporated milk, regular milk, or any other dairy product. It is a total non-negotiable!
• Cocoa powder: for that glorious, rich chocolate flavour in every scoop. Good quality cocoa makes a real difference here, especially as there are so few ingredients used in this chocolate ice cream! I love a Dutch-process cocoa for a particularly deep, smooth chocolate flavour, but any good quality unsweetened cocoa will work just fine too.

What equipment do I need to make no churn chocolate ice cream?

• Digital kitchen scales*: I provide all my measurements in cups too, however I would encourage all bakers to weigh out ingredients when baking. A set of digital kitchen scales is so useful and totally an essential baking tool for me.
• Measuring spoons*: a set of measuring spoons is essential for any baker. This is because these are more accurate than using everyday teaspoons and tablespoons, which can vary greatly in size.
• Mixing bowl*: in which to beat all the ingredients together until thickened before freezing this beautiful chocolatey ice cream! I like to put mine in the freezer before I start, as a cold bowl will help the mixture whip up and thicken quicker.
• Handheld electric mixer*: a useful tool to make life easier in the kitchen! You can, of course, make this whole recipe entirely by hand using a whisk. However, it would give your arm quite the workout to do so!
• Spatula*: useful to help make sure nothing has been missed and not mixed in. Also useful to scrape down the bowl out when transferring the easy chocolate ice cream recipe to the container for freezing.
• Storage container with lid*: to store this chocolate ice cream in when in the freezer. I use a loaf tin in my images here, only because it looks pretty, but I would normally use a lidded container instead.

How to make 3 ingredient no churn chocolate ice cream

This chocolate ice cream is genuinely the easiest thing ever to make! Using simple, everyday easily available ingredients, this beauty comes together in super quick time and makes an excellent make ahead dessert to have handy in the freezer any time of year!

Step 1: This one is an optional step, but is very useful: chill the mixing bowl for 10 minutes in the freezer! I do this whilst I prepare the other ingredients: measure out the cream, open the tin of condensed milk and sift the cocoa (the last step is useful to avoid lumps of cocoa in the finished ice cream).

Step 2: Once the bowl has chilled, remove it from the freezer and pour in the double cream. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until the cream starts to thicken.

Step 3: Tip in the condensed milk and sprinkle over the cocoa. Continue beating until the mixture is evenly combined and has thickened.

Step 4: Transfer the mixture into a freezer safe container and pop in the freezer for at least six hours, ideally overnight. When you’re ready to indulge, simply remove the ice cream from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving, to allow it to soften slightly, making it easier to scoop. Enjoy!

Do you use cocoa powder in chocolate ice cream?

There are a huge range of recipes for chocolate no churn ice cream out there! Some will use melted chocolate, others cocoa powder and you will even find some that use a combination of both. In my recipe for no churn chocolate ice cream, I only use cocoa powder in the ice cream for ease and convenience. Just remember to sift it before adding to the mixture so you don’t end up with clumps of cocoa powder!

Can I use evaporated milk instead of condensed milk to make this homemade ice cream no churn?

Unfortunately not! Condensed milk and evaporated milk might look similar in the tin, but they behave really quite differently in this recipe. Condensed milk is thick and sweet, with its high sugar content is helping the ice cream from freezing too hard. Evaporated milk is much thinner and has no added sugar, which means the ice cream will likely freeze into a solid block that is impossible to scoop. There is no substitute for sweetened condensed milk in any no churn ice cream recipe, it is an essential ingredient!

Can single or whipping cream be used instead of double cream to make no churn ice cream? Can you use heavy cream or whipping cream?

In order for this ice cream to set, you must use a cream that will thicken to stiff peaks when whisked. Here in the UK, this means using double cream or whipping cream and not single cream. As a guide, always use a cream that has 35% or more fat content.

Can I include in extra add-ins?

Absolutely, and I would wholeheartedly encourage it! Chocolate chips, crushed Oreos, chopped nuts, mini marshmallows, swirls of caramel, crumbled brownie pieces are all brilliant additions if you wish! The key tip is to fold chunky mix-ins through the ice cream just before pouring into the tin (step 3), rather than adding them earlier, so they distribute evenly throughout rather than sinking to the bottom. For anything creating swirls or ripples, alternate between the ice cream mixture and the swirl ingredient, finishing with the swirl, then use a skewer to marble it through. Heavenly!

How long does no churn ice cream chocolate last?

This easy chocolate ice cream no churn recipe can be kept in the freezer and enjoyed for up to three weeks. I will be seriously impressed if it is not eaten sooner though!

Tips for making chocolate fudge ice cream

• Chill the mixing bowl before beating for quicker results. Cold tools = faster whipping time.
• Ensure the cream used will whip to stiff peaks when making this ice cream. If you use something that will not whip up, you will end up with a tasty but rather runny mess that winds up freezing solid!
• Always keep the cream in the fridge to keep it cold right until you are ready to use it. This helps the cream whip up a lot quicker, and gives wonderfully soft whipped peaks to the cream.
• Ensure you sift the cocoa powder before adding it into the mixture. If you don’t, you could wind up with lumps of cocoa that are much harder to beat out.
• Remove the ice cream from the freezer a few minutes before you want to enjoy it. Dip the ice cream scoop or spoon in a mug of boiling water before scooping. Dry it off then scoop the ice cream. This warming of the utensil helps it glide through the ice cream, making it a whole lot easier to create perfectly beautiful scoops of ice cream! Dip and wipe down the tool between scoops to give clean scoops of rocky road ice cream every time.

Share the social love!

Made this 3 Ingredient no churn chocolate ice cream? I would absolutely love to see it! Share your creations with me on Instagram @movers_bakers For me, there is honestly nothing better than seeing you using my recipes and enjoying them! And if you loved this recipe, a comment and a star rating below genuinely makes my day. Enjoy!

Other no churn ice creams made with condensed milk

Thanks for joining me today, lovelies! Hope you enjoy making and sharing this beautiful and super easy 3 ingredient no churn chocolate ice cream recipe! Enjoy! x

Recommended equipment I used *

Digital kitchen scales	Measuring spoons
Mixing bowl	Handheld electric mixer
Spatula	Storage container with lid