The flavors of this No-Churn Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream are inspired by chocolate covered cherries. It's rich, creamy, and every bite has a bit of chopped cherries and chocolate shavings. Trust me; the entire pan will disappear quickly!
Okay, these flavor combinations create such a decadent dessert.
Cooking down fresh sweet dark cherries creates a beautiful, bright red juice that will tint the no-churn ice cream base without any food coloring! And with chocolate shavings in each bite, you're going to keep reaching for another spoonful.
Have extra cherries lying around? You have to try my Cherry Apple Crisp!
The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per serving: $0.62
- Total Cost (about 12 servings): $7.43
- Those Other Guys: $5.49 per serving
Ingredients
- Heavy Whipping Cream - Could also be called heavy cream. We whip this up using a whisk attachment to give our ice cream a nice, fluffy texture.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk - A can of this will provide the perfect amount of sweetness and help the ice cream freeze correctly.
- Sweet Dark Cherries - Grab some fresh cherries, wash and pit them, and cook them down until soft. We also naturally dye the ice cream base with the cherry juice!
- Chocolate - You can use chocolate chips, but melting down a bar and thinning it out (before solidifying again in the fridge) creates these beautiful chocolate shreds.
- Salt - A pinch of salt will balance out the sweetness of the other ingredients.
- Vanilla Extract - The vanilla extract gives our vanilla ice cream base a pop of flavor.
Variations and Substitutions
Blueberry Crumble Ice Cream: Filled with layers of homemade blueberry swirl and crunchy brown sugar crumble, it's the perfect springtime treat! And it looks so gorgeous too.
Cookies and Cream Ice Cream: A classic flavor and one of my personal favorites! Simply stir in chopped chocolate sandwich cookies into the vanilla base.
Birthday Cake Ice Cream: Stir in a little bit of yellow cake mix into the ice cream base, and fold in multi-colored sprinkles. You can also add in chopped pieces of funfetti cupcakes for even more fun!
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream: This one tastes just like frozen strawberry cheesecake! It uses cream cheese in the ice cream base recipe to give it the perfect flavor.
How to Make Cherry Chip Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Machine
Step 1: To begin, gently cook down your pitted cherries until they are soft enough to crush using a spoon or spatula.
Cool this mixture down in the refrigerator until it's time to mix it in.
Step 2: Meanwhile, melt down your chocolate (make sure not to burn it!) and spread it into a thin layer on parchment paper.
Cool this down as well until it's solidified, and then break or chop the bar into chocolate chunks.
Step 3: The ice cream base is simple! Whip cold, heavy cream with vanilla and salt until it forms medium peaks.
Then, stir in the cherry juice and sweetened condensed milk.
Step 4: You should have a beautifully pink ice cream base. Finally, stir in the cooked chopped cherries and chocolate shreds.
Pour everything into a loaf pan, wrap with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and freeze for at least 6 hours. And you're ready to go!
Recipe Pro Tips
- Chill your tools. Add your whisk attachment and mixing bowl to the freezer for about 5 minutes before whipping the heavy cream. This keeps everything nice and cold!
- Don't overmix the cream. If you use too high of a speed to mix the cream, your whipped cream can curdle. To stabilize the whipped cream and get it nice and smooth again, simply fold in a little more cold heavy cream by hand using a spatula until it evens out. Be gentle!
- Cover twice. Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap, then wrap with aluminum foil. We don't want the ice cream to taste like freezer burn.
- Don't forget the pits! Fresh cherries usually contain the pit in the middle. You can use a cherry pitter tool, or follow my tips in the recipe card below.
Recipe FAQs
This usually happens due to overmixing. You can pour in just a little bit of cold heavy cream into the bowl, and gently hand-fold it into the curdled whipped cream using a spatula until it smooths out. I also recommend placing your mixing bowl and tools into the freezer before whipping cream to keep everything as cold as possible.
Yes! You can use agave or sugar as the compote sweetener.
In addition, you can find non-dairy heavy cream and vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk in the grocery store, or make your own using oat or almond milk.
Not at all! While many recipes (especially those that require an ice cream maker) call for milk or eggs, my no-churn ice cream recipe doesn't need either of those.
There's actually a cherry pitter tool out on the market that makes it super easy.
However, because I didn't have one - I used a piping tip. See the recipe card below for details and other alternatives!
I like to store in deli containers if the ice cream will be eaten within a week, or add it to an airtight container and it will keep for up to 3 weeks.
Other Fruit-Based Desserts You'll Love!
If you tried this No-Churn Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Recipe, or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Thanks for visiting!
No-Churn Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Equipment
- Cherry Pitter
- Saucepot
- Parchment Paper
- Silicone Spatula
- Stand Mixer or hand mixer
- Whisk Attachment
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Wooden Spoon
- Chef's Knife
- Loaf Pan
- Plastic Wrap
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
Cooked Cherries & Chocolate Shreds
- 12 ounces fresh dark cherries pitted
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 6 ounces chocolate bar
Ice Cream Base
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
Cooked Cherries
- Add the pitted cherries, honey, and lemon juice to a sauce pot.See the recipe notes below for ways to quickly pit cherries if you don't have a tool!
- Heat on medium heat for 5 minutes until it comes to a boil. Then, mash some of the cherries and turn the heat down to medium-low.
- Cook for another 5-8 minutes, then remove the pan from heat. Let the cherries and their juices cool in the refrigerator while you continue preparing the ice cream.
Chocolate Shreds
- While the cherries are cooking, add the chocolate bar to a parchment-lined sheet pan.
- Bake at 225℉ for 6 minutes, or until the chocolate has softened enough to spread it out using a silicone spatula.
- After the chocolate is spread thin, add the pan to the freezer to firm up.
Ice Cream Base
- Meanwhile, add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt to a large, cold mixing bowl.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the cream mixture with a whisk attachment until medium peaks form, about 3-4 minutes on low speed.
- Slowly pour in the sweetened condensed milk and juice from the cherries.Mix with a wooden spoon until everything is combined.
- Chop or break the chocolate into shreds, and set aside.
- Pour the chocolate shreds and chopped cherries into the ice cream base. Mix well.
- Pour the ice cream base with its mix-ins into a 9x5 loaf pan.Add any extra pieces of cherry and chocolate to the top for visual effects.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Freeze for 6 hours, or up to overnight. Enjoy!
Notes
- A metal frosting tip: Press the cherry down over a frosting tip to separate the fruit from the pit.
- A chopstick and bottle: Set the cherry over a bottle, and push a chopstick through the stem to easily remove any pits.
Kylie says
I immediately went to get the stuff to make this after seeing your video on Tiktok!! My favorite flavor combination!! and like you said, ice cream is a year long treat :)) It was amazing! I hated having to wait for it to be ready however lollll
Shani W. says
Haha yes, it really is! Thank you so much for trying and leaving a review Kylie!