Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Recipe
This easy to make, no churn Dulce de Leche Ice Cream recipe is a sweet and decadent treat! Perfectly scoopable and wonderfully creamy, all you need are just three ingredients (and no ice cream maker!) to make this recipe. This homemade ice cream will become your go-to dessert.
Can’t find dulce de leche where you live? Make your own with this easy, one-ingredient Instant Pot Dulce de Leche Recipe!
Why I love this dulce de leche ice cream:
Oi, Gente!
This easy dulce de leche ice cream recipe has been my family’s go-to dessert this year.
It’s sweet, it’s creamy and it’s minimal effort. What else can we want?
It has a layer of crunch from digestive biscuits that brings in some texture to all this creamy goodness. Plus, the biscuits help balance out some of the sweetness, too. So, you can add as much or as little as you like, to your taste!
And no dulce de leche ice cream is legit without the pretty, sticky dulce de leche swirls that make a delicious ice cream delightful to look at.
If you’re new to dulce de leche, think of it as a different twist on caramel.
And to that point, like in a salted caramel ice cream, you can also serve your dulce de leche ice cream sprinkled with some sea salt on top.
Doing this helps balance some sweetness, adds some interest to the bite, and of course, gives it some extra fancy oomph.
And the best part to all of this, all you need are three simple, easy-to-find ingredients and a little bit of time to make this decadent treat.
The magic of this recipe is that while most no churn ice creams require a combination of heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk, we’re swapping that can of condensed milk and replacing it with creamy, sweet dulce de leche, which amps up the dulce de leche flavor.
So, let’s make it! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Beijinhos xx
More easy dessert recipes to try: Churro Cake with Dulce de Leche, Banana Pecan Ice Cream, Pavê de Chocolate – Brazilian No Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake, Banana Bread Cake with Caramel – Bolo de Farinha de Rosca com Banana.
What you need to make this no churn ice cream:
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Here are the ingredients you will need:
- Heavy whipping cream — this has the fat content we need to make the base of the ice cream. You cannot substitute it with a lower fat cream or milk product because it will not whip. Simply put, it will compromise the creaminess of the ice cream.
- Dulce de leche — you can find it in the Latin aisle of your local grocery or you can use homemade dulce de leche, made from a can of sweetened condensed milk, as I show here: Instant Pot Dulce de Leche. You can also try to buy it online on Amazon.
- Digestive biscuits, such as:
- Biscoito de maizena — this one is my favorite! They are a Brazilian brand that we’ve been using most of our lives, and you can get ’em at Brazilian supermarkets or on Amazon.
- Galletas Maria — this brand can be found in regular grocery stores in the US. If you can’t find them, Amazon has them them, as well.
- Goya Maria cookies — this brand is also easy to find in grocery stores, as well as Target, Walmart, and sometimes even at the Dollar Tree!
- Graham crackers — while this is my least favorite option, they certainly work in a pinch!
Tools and equipment:
- Mixer with a whisk attachment – a standing mixer is best, but you could also use a hand mixer. Can you make this by hand? Sure. Do I recommend it? No. I don’t hate anyone that much… AND you’d probably hate ME if you tried.
- Ice cream container – it can be a pyrex, loaf pan, cake tin or an ice cream specific freezer container
- Ice cream scoop
How to Make No Churn Dulce de Leche Ice Cream
Open the dulce de leche container. Measure out 4 tablespoons and set those aside to make swirls with later.
Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. You want to work with cold cream and cold bowl to ensure maximum creaminess. This will take a few minutes, depending on how quickly your mixer works.
Add in the dulce de leche (minus those 4 tablespoons that you removed earlier) and whip it more until the ice cream is combined and frothy.
Time to assemble the ice cream!
Pour half of the ice cream into a freezer safe container.
Plop half of the reserved dulce de leche on top, then swirl using the back of a spoon in a figure-8 motion.
Pro Tip: Not all dulce de leches are made equal — they can sometimes be ooey gooey soft. Sometimes, they are stiffer — this seems to be common especially among the canned ones. If your dulce de leche is too stiff and isn’t swirling, pop it in the microwave in a microwave-safe container, and heat it in increments of 5-10 seconds to soften it into a spreadable cream. Whisk it a little, too, and that should do the trick.
Sprinkle on some of the crushed digestive biscuits on top of the ice cream mixture.
Repeat.
Freeze:
Once all your ice cream is in the pan, cover it with a plastic wrap. Press it on top of the layer of ice cream, pushing out any air, so that it does not crystallize as it freezes.
Freeze at least 4 hours before serving.
How to store and serve:
Keep the ice cream in the freezer until you plan to serve it.
Scoop it with your favorite ice cream scoop and top with additional crushed biscuits and a pinch of sea salt like Fleur de Sel or Maldon Sea Salt flakes, if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
This no churn ice cream is made of dulce de leche, heavy whipping cream and digestive biscuits for texture.
Dulce de leche is wonderfully sweet, creamy and has delicious caramel notes.
While they look and taste similar, making dulce de leche and caramel is a completely different process. Dulce de leche is made from milk and sugar cooking down and caramelizing together while caramel is made from sugar caramelizing.
No. Condensed milk is a sweetened dairy milk product that has been cooked down a bit for a sweet, creamy flavor and texture. Dulce de leche is made with the same ingredients but cooks down further until it caramelizes.
Quick tips and tricks for the best no churn ice cream
- Use cold cream and a cold bowl. This will ensure maximum creaminess.
- Don’t do it by hand. A stand mixer or hand mixer are what you’ll want to mix this as easily as possible.
- Serve with additional digestive biscuits or some serving sea salt, if desired.
- Purchase ice cream tools, like an ice cream freezer container and a specialty ice cream scoop.
Other dulce de leche recipes:
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No Churn Dulce de Leche Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 14oz can of dulce de leche
- 50 grams of digestive biscuits *see note below for examples
Instructions
- Open the can of dulce de leche. Scoop out 4 tablespoons into a bowl and set aside to use to make swirls later.
- Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. (This will take some time, depending on how quickly you're whipping the cream.) You want to work with cold cream and cold bowl to ensure maximum creaminess.
- Add in the rest of the can of dulce de leche. Whip until all is combined and frothy.
- Pour half of the ice cream mixture into a freezer-safe container.
- Plop 2 reserved tablespoons of dulce de leche. Swirl using the back of a spoon in a figure eight movement.
- Sprinkle on some of the crushed digestive biscuits on top.
- Pour the rest of the ice cream mixture on top. Add the remaining dulce de leche, and swirl into the ice cream. Sprinkle the rest of the crushed digestive biscuits on top.
- Wrap with plastic film and freeze at least 4 hours.
Bom Apetite!
Notes
- Digestive biscuits, such as:
- Biscoito de maizena — this one is my favorite! They are a Brazilian brand that we’ve been using most of our lives, and you can get ’em at Brazilian supermarkets or on Amazon.
- Galletas Maria — this brand can be found in regular grocery stores in the US. If you can’t find them, Amazon has them them, as well.
- Goya Maria cookies — this brand is also easy to find in grocery stores, as well as Target, Walmart, and sometimes even at the Dollar Tree!
- Graham crackers — while this is my least favorite option, they certainly work in a pinch!
