No churn blackberry ice cream made right in your food processor ~ this easy method for homemade ice cream is genius (and delicious!)
blackberry ice cream without an ice cream maker
Everybody loves homemade ice cream, but not everybody has or wants an ice cream machine. I get it, it can take up limited kitchen space, especially if you only get the urge for homemade ice cream a couple of times a year.
what you’ll need
- heavy cream
- milk
- sugar
- vanilla
- blackberries ~ the blackberries need to be frozen, so you can freeze fresh berries or buy them already frozen. I vote for freezing fresh summer berries for fabulous results.
the no churn food processor method for making ice cream
I came across this idea here and decided to give it a try. It basically replaces the ice cream machine with the more common kitchen tool, the food processor. Here’s the gist:
- Combine your ice cream mixture as usual: mix cream, milk, sugar, and flavoring together until the sugar dissolves.
- Transfer it to a large heavy duty zip lock baggie.
- Place the baggie flat on a baking sheet and freeze until solid.
- Break up the frozen cream mixture and process in a food processor until smooth.
- Blend in frozen berries until smooth.
- Spread into a pan and freeze until ready to enjoy.
variations on no churn blackberry ice cream
There’s lots of delicious options possible with this basic concept. The most obvious is to change up the fruit. Any berry will work beautifully, and bananas will make an especially creamy ice cream. Try swapping out the cream for a whole milk yogurt, or the sugar for honey. Lots of options!
I’m continually amazed at what the food processor can do. And at the incredible ingenuity of people who love ice cream 🙂 You’ll want to keep your food processor front and center on your counter all season long.
more no churn ice cream ideas!
- No Churn Bailey’s Ice Cream
- No Churn Wild Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
- Ballymaloe No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream
- No Churn Cranberry Ice Cream
- No Churn Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
Easy No Churn Blackberry Ice Cream
Equipment
- full sized food processor I use this model
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 ounces frozen blackberries
Instructions
- Mix the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and add the milk and vanilla. Update: You can skip the stove and just stir the sugar into the cream, it will dissolve more slowly than if you heat it up, but it will dissolve.
- Cool the mixture and then pour it into a gallon sized zip lock bag. You can set the bag in a bowl to make this easier. Close the bag securely and lay it flat on a baking sheet. Put it in the freezer and freeze solid. I left mine overnight.
- Cut open the bag and break up the mixture into pieces. I used a knife to cut off chunks. Put them in a food processor and process until smooth. This will take a couple of minutes. Scrape down the machine and redistribute the chunks a few times to help your machine out.
- When the machine runs freely and the ice cream is smooth,
- Add in the frozen berries. The machine will take a while, but it will eventually get all the berries pureed into the ice cream. Redistribute the berries a few times during the process.
- Scrape the ice cream into a loaf pan and smooth it out. Cover with foil and place back in the freezer until firm enough to scoop.
- Scoop and enjoy (then start dreaming up your next batch!)
Notes
Nutrition
Would Half and Half also result in a creamy Ice cream? Thanks in advance!
It would be less creamy, Nadine, and a little ‘icier’, but it should work.
I’m really interested in making this but I don’t have a food processor. I do have a nutribullet. Do you think this process would work using that? Any advice/info you can share would be greatly appreciated…
I think that would be too small, you need full size capacity for this. You might try a mini version!
Going to leave 5 starts because my mom told me this is restaurant quality good! But I wanted to ask if you could skip the first freeze and just blend the berries right away? Curious about that part! Thanks 🙂
Wait, I want to make sure I am asking this question correctly. What I mean is.. can I blend in the blackberries with the ice cream base straight sway?
I think the reason the blackberries are added as a second step is that it helps create the thick creamy effect. The processor breaks down the vanilla frozen cream to get it smooth, and then the frozen berries help to freeze it all again, if that makes sense. But you can certainly experiment with that idea.
I am trying this for the first time with a blender.
Keep us posted!
I bought a 3 pint container of ice cream. High quality. I was disappointed. Learning to do everything I can for myself. This sounds wonderful…and I love blackberries. Thanks.
I agree, store bought ice cream can be so disappointing, I had the same experience with lemon ice cream, so I created my own recipe! Hope you love this one Carol 🙂
I tried your recipe over the weekend & it came out absolutely wonderful!! I also mixed in some mini chocolate chips that I had on hand & it definitely added to the ice cream. Can’t wait to try other berries or combination of ingredients for other flavor options!! Thanks again for this recipe!! I look forward to visiting your site for other interesting ideas & recipes!
Hi Theresa, I’m so glad you found me! I love the idea of adding chocolate to this ice cream, that’s quite a sophisticated flavor combo. I have lots of other no churn ice cream recipes on the blog, so I hope you get a chance to check them out too.