Super Simple Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream is a recipe I brought home from a field trip to the Smuckers headquarters. I already knew the recipe, tbh. We've been making it for years. It's also known as No-Churn Condensed Milk Ice Cream. You don't need an ice cream maker and the base calls for very few ingredients, just condensed milk, half & half & whipping cream. All of the flavorings and add-ins can be varied.
Jump to Recipe
No-Churn Condensed Milk Ice Cream
Some no-churn condensed milk ice cream recipes are better than others. Eagle Brand has several on their web page including one like this, but mine's a little different because it only calls for ½ cup of half & half so there's a higher proportion of cream. If you don't have half & half, you can mix whole milk and a little extra cream to make ½ cup. I also add chocolate chunks that melt in your mouth with the ice cream which makes this really good.
Melt in Your Mouth Chocolate For Ice Cream
Melting chocolate and refreezing it or melting it and mixing in a little coconut or olive oil is an important step when adding chocolate chunks to ice cream. To do this, just melt the chocolate, add a little coconut or olive oil, spread it on a rimmed plate, freeze, then chop. The ratio I use is 2 teaspoons of oil to 3.5 oz of chocolate. I use Lindt Dark or 70%. I have also tested with 3.5 oz (a heaping half cup) of dark chocolate chips. You might want to play with the amount of oil you add to the chocolate. More oil equals softer chocolate, but the oil also dilutes the flavor so you don't want to add too much.
No-Churn Ice Cream Flavors
This recipe is for mint ice cream, but if you don't have the peppermint extract, you can omit everything mint and just use more vanilla. If you keep the mint, you can also bump up the texture by adding broken Girl Scout Thin Mints or Mint Oreos. A little green food coloring is optional.
Here's the recipe with the mint. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't you should most definitely buy yourself an ice cream maker! I don't make this ice cream as often now because I purchased an ice cream maker with a built-in compressor. It's one of my most-used appliances. If it breaks, I'll order another one.
Recipe
Super Simple Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 3 ½ oz dark chocolate or ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons light olive oil or vegetable oil OR coconut oil
- 1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk, 14 oz
- ½ cup half & half cream
- ¼ scant teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract plus an extra ½ teaspoon if needed
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- green food coloring or a few drops of yellow and blue
- 2 cups whipping cream
Instructions
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave using the 50% power setting and stirring at 30 second intervals. Stir the oil into the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture onto two plates lined with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Put plates of melted chocolate in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until solid.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together your condensed milk, half & half, salt and flavorings. Add a little green coloring if desired.
- In a second bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture. Now take your chocolate out of the freezer, peel away the foil and cut the chocolate into chunks. Stir the chunks into the ice cream.
- Divide equally among two small plastic containers or pour into a loaf pan and cover with foil. Freeze overnight. Makes about 6 to 8 servings.
Shannon says
This sounds so simple for homemade ice cream. I'm amazed you don't need any special ingredients or equipment. Is the texture similar to regular store-bought ice cream?
Louise says
I have the same issue as Suzy. I made chocolate chocolate chip ice cream just before dinner using Hershey's Special Dark Syrup, as that's what I had. I made Lindt 70% chunks and must have had them in the freezer too long as they were rock hard to cut up. Right after I added them I knew I had a sinking problem. The stuff is almost soft frozen now and I just gave it a stir so we'll see what happens tomorrow. I probably could have made more chocolate chunks for it too. But the semi-frozen stuff is pretty tasty. 🙂
Anna says
Suzy, I've never had that happen, but I do tend to add the chocolate chunks last. Based on your experience, I'm going to make a note to add the chunks last.
Suzy says
I made the ice cream last night according to your recipe, but all of my chocolate chunks sunk to the bottom of the container. Is there a trick to getting the chocolate to stay suspended through the ice cream? I probably should have stirred the mixture when it was partially frozen, but it was too late to stay up and wait for that and by morning all of the chunks were on the bottom. Depsite that, it tastes delicious!
Katrina says
Yes you can churn it in a ice cream maker. I've made a number of recipes for ice cream with condensed milk and I've always churned them in the ice cream maker. Amanda at http://www.amandascookin.com has recently discovered that method, too, and we both kind of prefer it with condensed milk. Makes a creamier ice cream.
Anna says
Stacey, I haven't tried it, but I'm almost positive it would work! I'd love to hear your results if you try it.
Lisa, I hope you like it!
Sue, I'd like to hear the ice cream man's assessment.
Louise, Nicole made a chocolate version at Smucker's and I believe she just mixed in a bunch of Smuckers chocolate fudge topping. The chocolate extract experiment will be interesting. I'm with you on the coconut extract!
Stacey says
Can I follow all these step and still use my ice cream maker?
Lisa Ernst says
The tip on how to make chocolate chunks that aren't rock hard is worth a "mint" to me! I've always wondered about that, and have stayed away from home made ice cream with chocolate chips or chunks for that reason. Thanks for this great piece of information.
Sue says
I should forward this to my husband. He is the ice cream man and is just fine with sweetened condensed milk.
Louise says
I was thinking I'd use chocolate extract, which I need to buy. Either that or I'll try something like swirled Biscoff Spread, which I have, and chocolate chunks or Oreo cookies. I also have Strawberry Extract and frozen strawberries. And, Coconut Extract plus dried coconut. I love coconut ice cream, but I'm afraid I'd make something tasting like suntan lotion and never want to eat coconut ice cream again.
I know that Ben & Jerry do not use Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. 🙂 If this is a success, maybe I can recreate the Festivus flavor that Ben & Jerry made several years ago. Give me a couple of days.
Anna says
Louise, give it a try! If you're not in the mood for mint, try adding melted chocolate. Adding flavors really helps cover up the condensed milk flavor.
Louise says
Maybe I'll try making Chocolate Chocolate Chip. 🙂 Like I said, I don't like the taste or smell of Eagle Sweetened Condensed Milk, but maybe this will change my mind.
Gloria says
Thanks for posting this! I hate when I try ice cream out and the chocolate chunks are hard and don't melt in your mouth! Sometimes they are grainy and the ice cream is expensive!!!! My favorite ice cream is Kilwin's key lime pie ice cream. I think I can make my own now!!!
Dee says
You can also use coconut oil mixed with the chocolate. If you use this combo with an ice cream maker and pour/drizzle the chocolate in towards the end of the churning time it hardens on contact (due to the coconut oil - kind of like Magic Shell!) with the cold ice cream and will make chocolate 'flakes' throughout. Yummy!
Adam says
That's pretty neat :)! I have an ice cream maker (which I don't use often enough) but this could come in quite handy if I'm away from home :). And thanks for the awesome tip about the chocolate. It's one of those things that when you read it you're like "well that just makes so much sense, why didn't I think of that? " :).. or maybe I just like to make myself feel better :).
vanillasugarblog says
never seen it that way.
would love to try this.
i eat a lot of ice cream, its gross really
and mint is my favorite.
Darlene says
Thanks for the wonderful hint about making "melt-in-your-mouth" chocolate chunks. I would have never thought to combine olive oil with the chocolate.
Erin says
OOOO I love mint and chocolate and ice cream!!!!