No-Churn Ice Cream

This no-churn vanilla ice cream is a low-FODMAP dessert that swaps regular sweetened condensed milk for a lactose-free can, giving you a soft, scoopable base without an ice cream maker.

Prep 15 min

Cook 1 min

Serves 8

Gluten-freeVegetarian

Ingredients

• 2 cups (480 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (about 36% fat); use lactose-free heavy cream if you can find it
• 1 can (about 11 to 14 oz / 320 to 396 g) lactose-free sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• Pinch of fine salt

Optional low-FODMAP mix-ins (see Tips for amounts): chopped dark chocolate, hulled strawberries, or toasted walnuts or pecans.

Instructions

Whip the cream

1. Put your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes. Cold equipment whips faster and holds more air.
2. Pour the cold cream into the chilled bowl. Whip on medium-high until it holds stiff peaks, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stop as soon as the peaks stand up. Overwhipped cream turns grainy and buttery.

Fold in the base

1. In a second bowl, stir the lactose-free condensed milk, vanilla, and salt together until smooth.
2. Scoop about a quarter of the whipped cream into the condensed milk and stir it in to loosen the mixture.
3. Add the loosened mixture back into the remaining whipped cream. Fold gently with a spatula in two additions, turning the bowl as you go, until you see no white streaks. Keep the mixture light and airy.

Freeze

1. Scrape the base into a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan or a freezer-safe container. Smooth the top.
2. Press a piece of parchment or plastic wrap directly onto the surface to limit ice crystals. Freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight, until firm.
3. Let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping so it softens evenly.

Tips & Substitutions

• Use lactose-free condensed milk. Regular sweetened condensed milk is concentrated milk sugar, so it is high in lactose. A lactose-free can gives the same sweetness and body without the FODMAP load.
• No lactose-free condensed milk on the shelf? Make a base. Simmer 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) lactose-free whole milk with 1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar over low heat, stirring often, until it reduces to about 1 cup and thickens, roughly 30 to 40 minutes. Cool fully before folding it in.
• Swirl mix-ins, do not overload. Fold in low-FODMAP amounts near the end: dark chocolate (70% or higher) capped around 30 g per serving, or a small handful of walnuts or pecans (about 10 halves each is a Monash low serving). Strawberries are low FODMAP and add color.
• Sweeten with sugar or maple syrup, never honey. The condensed milk already carries the sugar here. If you sweeten a homemade base, use cane or white sugar or maple syrup. Honey and agave add excess fructose.
• Keep it scoopable. Full-fat cream and the sugar in the base keep the texture soft. Do not cut the sugar to lighten it, or the ice cream freezes rock hard. A tablespoon of vodka stirred into the base is optional and keeps it softer straight from the freezer.
• Check mix-in labels. Keep the recipe gluten-free by choosing GF chocolate and add-ins, and skip anything with inulin, chicory root, or high-fructose corn syrup.

Why This Works

• Lactose-free condensed milk removes the main FODMAP. The lactose is split into glucose and galactose during processing, so the sweet, thick base that makes no-churn work no longer carries a lactose problem.
• Cream is high fat and low in lactose. Most of the milk sugar stays in the watery whey, not the fat, so whipping cream is low FODMAP at reasonable servings. If you are sensitive, use lactose-free cream and check the Monash app for the current tested serving size.
• Whipped air replaces churning. Beating air into the cream and folding it gently gives the soft texture a machine would create, so no ice cream maker is needed.
• Sugar does real work. The sugar in the condensed milk lowers the freezing point and keeps the ice cream soft and scoopable, which is why swapping in honey or a polyol sweetener is both a FODMAP problem and a texture problem.

Storage

Keep the ice cream covered in the freezer for up to 1 month, with parchment or wrap pressed onto the surface to hold off ice crystals. Let it temper on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping. A serving is about 1/2 cup; portion it out and return the container to the freezer promptly rather than letting the whole batch soften and refreeze.

Not sure about an ingredient? The FODMAP Foods app rates 1,000+ foods low, moderate, or high FODMAP, with the safe portion for each, so you can cook with confidence.