No-Churn Pistachio Ice Cream - With A Twist

This No-Churn Pistachio Ice Cream is creamy delicious and easy to make. It is made with only four ingredients, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk blended with pistachio paste made from scratch, and generous pure vanilla.

I found out how to make no-churn ice cream only about two years ago. There was a Pandemic and the kitchen was one of the places I went to kill time and got creative. 

My husband and I love ice creams, especially vanilla ice cream. I have tried a couple of different recipes and I have to admit I love how this no-churn pistachio ice cream turned out. I added some twists to it; chocolate chip and grated some lime peels on top. My husband gave two thumbs up and he dislikes any fruits mixed in in his ice cream or chocolate - big time. So, it is reallyyy good!

What do you need

• Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Heavy Cream – It is best to use whole/heavy or whipping cream, any cream less than 30% fat won’t whip.
• Pistachio paste or butter - made it from scratch and the leftover can be used in many ways. 
• Pure vanilla extract - good vanilla extract will make your ice cream smell and taste better.

How to make pistachio paste

First, you would want to remove the pistachio skins - the brownish layer that covers half of the pistachio. In a medium container, place about 8 oz of lightly salted shelled pistachio (use more for deep pistachio flavor) and pour in milk until all the pistachio is wet and only slightly submerged. Set aside for at least one hour then start removing the skins (if you are using warm milk you can remove it easier). 

By removing the skins, you will get more of the pistachio green color compared to just leaving them as is. But, if that’s too much work, you can opt to put some green food coloring in your paste. 

Make the pistachio paste: In a blender or food processor, add the skinned pistachio and the milk. Blend until you get a smooth texture paste (or if you are into coarse textures). That's it! You just made a pure pistachio paste from scratch. 

Topping or condiment choices

For this batch, I was trying to be adventurous so I used chocolate chip and grated lime peel. It was excitingly refreshing. 

Here are some other choices:

Pistachio, dark chocolate, chocolate sauce, rose, cherry, strawberry, salted caramel, shredded coconuts. 

No churn pistachio ice cream

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup pistachio paste (see the note above)
• 1-pint cold cream (whipping/heavy or whole)
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extracts

EXTRAS

• 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios
• Chocolate chips 
• Lime zest/peel

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a small bowl whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and pistachio cream.
• In a medium bowl whip the cream until stiff peaks appear.
• Gently fold in the condensed milk/pistachio cream mixture to the whipped cream and combine well. 
• Place the mixture into a loaf pan (8×4 inches/20×10 cm), and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. Cover and freeze for at least 3- 5 hours or until firm, even better to freeze overnight. Enjoy!