Blend ripe mango with sweetened condensed milk and you have the base of a frozen dessert that needs no custard and no ice cream maker. This version folds in whipped heavy cream and vanilla — four ingredients in total — and freezes for at least six hours into a tub you scoop from, once it has softened for five or ten minutes. The two-ingredient version you will meet most often online leaves out the cream and eats more like soft serve, straight from the blender.
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Recipe
HOMEMADE MANGO ICE CREAM WITH CONDENSED MILK
Ingredients
Method
- Peel and chop the fresh mangoes into small pieces. Put them in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. If you prefer smoother ice cream, you can strain the puree through a sieve to remove any lumps or fibers.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mango puree with the sweetened condensed milk. Stir well until everything is well combined.
- In another mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks. Add the vanilla extract and continue to whip until the vanilla is fully incorporated.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the mango puree mixture. Be careful not to overmix, as this could cause the mixture to become runny.
- Pour the mixture into a large, airtight container and cover it with a lid or plastic wrap. Place the container in the freezer for at least 6 hours, or until the ice cream is fully frozen.
- Once the ice cream is frozen, remove it from the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to soften slightly. This will make it easier to scoop and serve.
- Serve the mango ice cream in bowls or cones and enjoy!
Two ingredients, three, or four
Two ingredients works, and it is what most of the versions you will find online do: frozen mango blended into sweetened condensed milk and eaten as soft serve. Three — mango, condensed milk and heavy cream — is what makes it ice cream you scoop out of a tub. The recipe above is that, plus vanilla.
The cream is the difference. Here it is whipped to stiff peaks and folded through the mango and condensed milk, then frozen for at least six hours. The two-ingredient versions are served straight from the blender, or after about an hour in the freezer. Fold gently rather than stirring — overmixing makes the mixture runny.
You do not need an ice cream maker
No. There is no churning step at all: the whipped cream is folded through the base, the mixture goes into an airtight container, and it sits in the freezer until firm. If you would rather work at it, stir it about once an hour while it freezes to keep the texture from going icy.
Three things make it easier:
- Use ripe mangoes.
- Chill the mixing bowl and the whisk in the fridge for half an hour before you whip the cream — cold equipment makes stiff peaks easier to reach.
- Fold in chopped pistachios, almonds or shredded coconut before freezing if you want some texture.
The same approach carries to other fruit — homemade strawberry ice cream is made with a mixer and a bowl and no machine either.
Filipino desserts made with mango and condensed milk
Mango float: layers of graham crackers, thinly sliced ripe mango and a cream-and-condensed-milk mixture, chilled in the fridge for at least three hours. Nothing is cooked and nothing is churned.
The method on this page — whipped cream folded into a condensed-milk base, then frozen — is not limited to fruit. Filipino cheese ice cream is built the same way, with grated processed cheese and cream cheese in place of the mango.
Questions people ask
Can I make mango ice cream with just two ingredients?
Yes. Blend frozen mango chunks with sweetened condensed milk until smooth and eat it as soft serve, or give it about an hour in the freezer for a firmer texture.
Can you make it with three ingredients?
Yes — mango, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream. That is the recipe above without the vanilla.
Can I use canned mango pulp instead of fresh?
Yes. Look for a brand with no added sugar or preservatives; the sweetened condensed milk is already carrying all the sugar in the recipe.
Can I use something lighter than heavy cream?
Half-and-half or light cream will work in place of heavy cream, but the result is less rich and less creamy than the recipe as written.
Can I swap the condensed milk for a different milk?
Not as a straight substitution. Sweetened condensed milk is the only sugar in the ingredient list, and it is concentrated and thick in a way that fresh milk and evaporated milk are not. Swapping in either one means rebuilding the recipe — finding the sugar somewhere else, and the thickness too — rather than substituting an ingredient. There is no tested version of that on this page.
