Homemade Passion Fruit Ice Cream is a creamy, smooth and dreamy frozen dessert. Made with just 4 simple ingredients and without an ice cream maker, this no churn ice cream will brighten up your entire year.

two bowls of passion fruit ice cream in white bowls next to a container of ice cream and a bowl of passionfruit pulp

Oi, Gente!

Yes, this ice cream really is creamy and smooth, even though an ice cream machine isn’t required.

The trick is to use fatty cream and sweetened condensed milk — the usual suspects in any no churn ice cream recipe. The secret is to whip as much air into the mixture as we can because THAT will bring in that smoothness we need for homemade ice cream.

This sweet and tart ice cream is easy to make and it consists of two parts: the no churn ice cream base, and a passion fruit jelly. We use this jelly to make a beautiful swirl and add a little texture from the seeds. It also adds a nice counterbalance to the sweetness of the creamy mixture.

There are secrets to freezing and serving this ice cream to make it perfect every time, so check those notes below.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!

Beijinhos xx

Other ice cream recipes you’ll love: Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Recipe, Banana Pecan Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

collage of two images showing yellow passion fruits, some halved and some whole and a hand holding a halved fruit

remember!

Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Substitutions can greatly alter your final results.

For the Ice Cream Base

Seedless passion fruit pulp — purchase it frozen at Target, Walmart or your local grocery store. Finding it is a hit or miss depending on where you live, but you can also try Latin grocery stores and a local Brazilian market, too. Whatever brand you get, make sure there’s no water added and the ingredients listed is just passion fruit pulp. Do not use juice (it is NOT the same thing) because it contains water and this leads to crystallization. Alternatively, you can make your own passion fruit pulp as I teach in this post from approximately 2-3 yellow or 8-10 purple passion fruits.
Heavy whipping cream — this has the fat content we need to make the base of the ice cream. You’ll want to make sure the cream is very cold so it whips perfectly! You cannot substitute for a lower fat cream or milk product because it will not yield the right consistency. Simply put, it will compromise the creaminess of the ice cream.
Sweetened condensed milk — it sweetens and also provides creaminess to the ice cream base. There is no substitute.

For the Passion Fruit Swirl

Passion fruit pulp with seeds — from approximately 1-2 yellow or 5-6 purple. This is simple… but you’ve obviously got to get your hands on fresh passion fruit, which can be a harder ask in some areas of the country. That said, Amazon sells these. I haven’t personally used them myself, but they look like they could work.
Granulated sugar — also know as white sugar, this is going to add sweetness to the tart passion fruit pulp with seeds and will give us the jelly texture we need to be able to swirl. I do not suggest substituting another sweetener or using a different type of sugar in its place.

Tools and equipment:

Mixer with a whisk attachment — a stand mixer is best, but you could also use a hand mixer. Can you make this by hand? Sure. Do I recommend it? No.
An additional bowl for your mixer — this comes in handy because we are mixing in two separate parts. But, you can just use a large bowl where you can set aside one mixture while you mix the other.
Ice cream container — it can be a pyrex, loaf pan, cake tin or an ice cream specific freezer container.
Plastic wrap — we’ll need this to wrap the ice cream once it goes into the freezer to help prevent ice crystals from forming.
Ice cream scoop — for scooping your ice cream!

How to make Passion Fruit Ice Cream

collage of two images showing halved and pitted yellow passion fruit and a hand holding a bowl of passion fruit puree and lifting it up with a spoon

Start by making the swirl so it has plenty of time to cool off to room temperature before we can use it. This is very important!

Combine the sugar and the seeded passion fruit pulp in a sauce pan. Simmer on high until the sugar has melted and the liquid has cooked down so looks like a jelly. This will take about 8-10 minutes.

This mixture gets really hot, and it’s important to allow ample time for it to cool off before you add it to the ice cream mixture.

Note

To thicken the passion fruit coulis a bit more, add a half teaspoon of cornstarch. All you need to do is make a slurry with about one tablespoon of cold water and whisk in the cornstarch. Then whisk the slurry into the sauce when it’s nearly done and it will thicken up like a charm.

I say a good 30 minutes to an hour on the counter should suffice. You know the mixture is good when it’s room temperature when you touch it.

Can you refrigerate the jelly to speed this up? Well… yes and no. Refrigerating it can lead it to it getting a little too stiff, which could cause it to not swirl correctly when the time comes. It can be messy. Additionally, refrigerating the jelly can create condensation, and that can cause crystallization, as well.

That said, if you want, refrigerate it, but check it every 5-10 minutes to stir and hopefully avoid any issues.

How to make the passion fruit ice cream base:

collage of four images showing how to assemble and make the base of passion fruit ice cream

Whip the condensed milk and the seedless passion fruit pulp together. Do this in a bowl of a mixer and whip them a good 5 to 10 minutes.

We want to whip as much air into the components as possible to ensure optimal creaminess.

Once done, set it aside so we can do the same thing with the cream.

Whip the cream. We whip the cold cream into stiff peaks to get as much air in it as possible.

This is what will provide us with the creaminess we expect from a proper ice cream.

collage of four images showing how to assemble and gently mix and finish passion fruit ice cream

Fold the two mixtures together using a rubber spatula. I recommend adding the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture in FOUR parts so that we retain as much air in the ice cream base as we can.

Start with 1/4 of the cream. Gently fold it into the condensed milk/passion fruit mixture.

When that’s combined, add in another portion and continue until the ice cream has been completely mixed.

Pour the ice cream into a freezer safe container.

Add the swirl

collage of two images showing how to smooth ice cream into a container and how to swirl passion fruit swirl into it from above

Swirl. I like to save some of that jelly to top the ice cream when I serve, so I only use about half of it to swirl into the ice cream.

Add as much of the sauce you’d like to the ice cream in an “S” shape.

To swirl, simply draw “8’s” with the back of the spoon to create a pretty swirl effect, as shown in the photo above.

How to freeze and serve:

Freeze the ice cream at least 8 hours. But please note that 10-12 hours is best.

Pop it out of the freezer and let it sit just a couple of minutes on the counter so you can scoop it.

To scoop, dip a metal ice cream scoop into hot water so it glides better. (This is a pro tip, learned in the restaurants I worked in.)

After 24+ hours in the freezer, the ice cream will freeze harder, which means you just need to let it sit on the counter a few extra minutes before you can scoop it nicely.

Also, after 24+ hours, you may find some icy particles in the ice cream if your pulp had water added — it can happen.

Serve with a drizzle of the seeded passion fruit sauce, if you saved any, and some fresh mint.

overhead close up of a bowl of passionfruit ice cream garnished with mint leaves and passion fruit puree

More passion fruit recipes to try:

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5 from 4 votes

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

Prep Time: 20

Freeze Time: 8

Servings: Servings

Calories: 185kcal

Author: Aline Shaw

Ingredients

Passion Fruit Swirl

1/2 cup of passion fruit pulp with seeds approximately 1-2 yellow or 5-6 purple
1/2 cup of granulated sugar

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

3/4 cup of passion fruit pulp, seedless approximately 2-3 yellow or 8-10 purple
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 14 oz. can of sweet condensed milk

Instructions

Make the passion fruit swirl:

Stir the passion fruit pulp and the sugar to combine in a saucepan over medium to high heat.
Simmer 5-10 minutes until the sugar melts and the sauce thickens to a jelly-like consistency.
Set it aside to cool to room temperature. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your kitchen.

Make the ice cream:

In a large bowl of a mixer, whip together the seedless passion fruit pulp and the condensed milk until frothy for about 8-10 minutes. Set it aside.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks using a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
Fold the cream into the passion fruit/condensed milk mixture in batches. Do this gently because you do not want to force the air out of the cream. (The air helps with the texture of the ice cream.)
After all cream is folded in, pour the ice cream mixture into a freezer-safe dish.
Drizzle the passion fruit jelly on top. (I like to save about half of this to serve on top of the ice cream, but you do you!) Use the back of a spoon to swirl it in, making a figure eight movement to create a pretty swirl on top.
Cover with plastic wrap to contact and freeze at least 8 hours.
Scoop, top with additional passion fruit jelly, if desired, and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

Bom Apetite!!

Did you make this recipe? Show me how it turned out! Snap a photo and share with me on Instagram tagging @aline_shaw!

Notes

When ready to serve the ice cream, remove it from the freezer, and let it sit for a couple of minutes on the counter so you can scoop it.

To scoop, dip a metal ice cream scoop into hot water so it glides better.

Please note that after 24 hours in the freezer, the ice cream will freeze harder, so you’ll need to let it sit out for a bit longer on the countertop before you can scoop it. Also, you might find some icy particles in the ice cream if your pulp had water added.

Nutrition

Passion Fruit Ice Cream Recipe