The Easiest 3-Ingredient No-Churn Ube Ice Cream

Have you seen that stunning, jaw-droppingly vibrant, and beautifully purple ice cream all over social media and wondered what it is and how you can make it at home? Get ready to discover your new favorite flavor! This is the ultimate guide to making the easiest, creamiest, and most beautiful Homemade No-Churn Ube Ice Cream you will ever taste.

This isn’t just a pretty dessert; it’s a taste of the Philippines, where the ube, or purple yam, is a beloved staple. And the best part? You don’t need a fancy, expensive ice cream machine to create this masterpiece. Using a brilliantly simple, 3-ingredient no-churn method, you can whip up a batch of this sophisticated, uniquely delicious, and unbelievably creamy ice cream with just a few minutes of active prep time.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Recipe Overview: The Easiest, Most Beautiful Ice Cream Ever

What makes this No-Churn Ube Ice Cream recipe so amazing is its incredible simplicity and its truly unique flavor and color. Ube has a mellow, sweet, and nutty flavor with delightful hints of vanilla, which is perfectly complemented by the creamy, rich base. The foolproof, no-churn technique uses sweetened condensed milk and fresh whipped cream to create a perfectly smooth and scoopable ice cream without any special equipment. It’s a fun, easy, and impressive dessert that is guaranteed to wow everyone.

Metric	Time / Level
Total Time	8 hours 10 minutes (includes freezing)
Active Prep Time	10 minutes
Difficulty Level	Easy
Servings	8-10

The 3 Essential Ingredients for Ube Ice Cream

This recipe uses just three simple, powerhouse ingredients to create its magical flavor and texture.

• Heavy Whipping Cream: This is the key to the ice cream’s light and airy texture. It’s crucial to use cold, full-fat heavy whipping cream. When we whip it to stiff peaks, we are incorporating air into the base, which is what prevents the ice cream from becoming a dense, icy block.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is the magic ingredient in all great no-churn ice cream recipes. This thick, sweet, canned milk serves two purposes: it provides the perfect amount of sweetness, and more importantly, its high sugar content lowers the freezing point of the mixture. This is the secret that prevents large ice crystals from forming, ensuring your finished ice cream is incredibly smooth and creamy, not icy.
• Ube Extract: This is what gives our ice cream its signature flavor and its stunning, vibrant purple color. Ube extract is a concentrated, liquid flavoring made from the ube (purple yam). It’s a convenient and easy way to get that authentic, nutty, vanilla-like ube flavor into your desserts. You can find it in the baking aisle of most Asian grocery stores or easily online.

What is Ube? (And Is It the Same as Taro?)

Before we start, let’s talk about our star ingredient!

• Ube (pronounced OO-beh) is a species of purple yam that is a staple crop in the Philippines. It has a beautiful, deep purple flesh and a unique, mellow flavor that is often described as a cross between vanilla, pistachio, and a sweet potato.
• It is not the same as taro. Taro is a different root vegetable that has a pale, lavender-colored flesh with a much starchier, more potato-like flavor. The vibrant purple you see in trendy desserts is almost always from ube.

Step-by-Step to the Creamiest Ube Ice Cream

This recipe is incredibly simple. The most important step is to be gentle when folding the ingredients together to keep the mixture light and airy.

Step 1: Whip the Cream and Ube Extract

First, it’s a great idea to chill your large mixing bowl and the whisk attachments from your electric mixer in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

Pro Tip: Using very cold equipment is the number one secret to making whipped cream that whips up quickly, with lots of volume, and is beautifully stable.

Pour the cold heavy cream into the chilled bowl. Add the 1 tablespoon of ube extract.

Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream and extract together on medium-high speed. Continue to beat until the cream becomes thick and forms stiff peaks. This means that when you lift the beaters out of the cream, the peak that forms will stand up straight and not curl over. The mixture should be a beautiful, uniform lilac color.

Step 2: Fold in the Condensed Milk

Now, slowly drizzle the can of sweetened condensed milk into the bowl with the purple whipped cream.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the condensed milk into the whipped cream until no streaks remain and the mixture is uniform in color and texture. Be careful not to stir or beat the mixture, as you don’t want to deflate all the beautiful air you just whipped into the cream. The gentle folding motion is key to a light and airy ice cream.

Step 3: Freeze to Perfection

Pour the beautiful, light purple ice cream mixture into a loaf pan or another freezer-safe container. Smooth the top with your spatula.

Cover the container tightly with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream mixture. This simple trick helps to prevent ice crystals from forming on the top.

Place the container in the freezer and freeze for at least 8 hours, or preferably overnight, until the ice cream is completely firm.

Step 4: Scoop and Serve

When you are ready to serve, remove the ice cream from the freezer.

Pro Tip: Homemade ice cream freezes quite hard. For the easiest scooping, let the container sit out at room temperature for about 5-10 minutes to soften slightly. It’s also very helpful to run your ice cream scooper under hot water and then pat it dry before each scoop.

Scoop the beautiful purple ice cream into bowls or cones and enjoy!

Print

Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

This No-Churn Ube Ice Cream is the perfect make-ahead dessert.

• Storage: Store the ice cream in a freezer-safe, airtight container. To prevent freezer burn and ice crystals, it’s always a good idea to press a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper directly onto the surface of the ice cream before putting the lid on.
• Longevity: Your homemade ice cream will be at its best and creamiest within the first 1-2 weeks. After that, it is still delicious but may start to develop some ice crystals.

For more recipe follow my Pinterest account

Creative Recipe Variations

This simple and delicious ube ice cream is a fantastic base for all sorts of creative and flavorful additions.

1. Richer Version with Ube Halaya: For an even richer, more authentic ube flavor and a slightly thicker texture, you can gently fold in 1/2 cup of ube halaya (a sweet purple yam jam, available at Asian markets) along with the sweetened condensed milk.
2. Ube Cookies and Cream Ice Cream: For a delicious textural twist, gently fold in 1 cup of coarsely chopped Oreo cookies or another chocolate sandwich cookie into the ice cream base at the very end, just before you pour it into the pan to freeze.
3. Ube Toasted Coconut Ice Cream: For a wonderful, tropical flavor pairing, you can fold in 1/2 cup of toasted, sweetened shredded coconut into the ice cream base. The nutty, toasted flavor of the coconut is incredible with the vanilla-like flavor of the ube.

Enjoy Your Stunning Homemade Creation!

You’ve just created a truly special, gourmet-quality ice cream that is sure to stun and delight your friends and family. This Homemade No-Churn Ube Ice Cream is a beautiful, delicious, and fun introduction to the wonderful world of Filipino desserts. It’s a simple recipe that proves you don’t need any fancy equipment to make an incredible, unforgettable frozen treat.

We hope you love every last, creamy, and colorful spoonful!

If you enjoyed making this recipe, please leave a comment below or share it with a friend who loves to try new and exciting flavors!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)