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No-Churn Cranberry Ice Cream is a tangy and sweet frozen treat that comes together without an ice cream maker. Tart cranberries, the scent of orange, and real whipped cream combine in this creamy dessert recipe that’s swirled with a bright stripe of an easy cranberry compote.
Looking for a unique holiday recipe to serve at Thanksgiving? Or want to make a fun treat without turning on the oven when it’s a hot summer day? This cranberry ice cream recipe fits both bills! As a bonus, you can make it with leftover cranberry sauce to use up holiday leftovers!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- No Ice Cream Maker Required! This is a no-churn ice cream recipe which means you can make it with only a few bowls and a whisk or hand mixer. And you don’t have to mess around with freezing components of an ice cream machine. How fabulous is that?
- Minimal Ingredients. There’s only SEVEN ingredients required for this cranberry ice cream recipe. And you likely have most of them in your pantry already, especially around the holidays.
- Loaded with Cranberries. This recipe is lousy with cranberries. They’re incorporated in both the base as well as mixed throughout the ice cream in swirls of compote. You get tart and tangy cranberries in every bite!
Ingredients for this recipe
- Cranberries – You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for the simple compote.
- Sugar – This sweetens the cranberry compote.
- Water – Cranberries don’t have a lot of moisture and the water helps keep the fruit sauce from becoming too thick.
- Orange Juice – Orange and cranberry are a perfect pairing.
- Heavy Cream – Freshly whipped heavy cream is the foundation of the light and airy ice cream base.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – This is the secret ingredient to a super simple no-churn ice cream. I use it in my peach pie ice cream and my no-churn grasshopper ice cream, too!
- Vanilla Extract – To add another layer of flavor to the ice cream!
How to make cranberry ice cream
This is just a very brief overview, detailed instructions can be found in the recipe card below!
- Make the cranberry compote. Then blend it with an immersion blender to smooth it out.
- Whip the heavy cream. Then set this in the fridge to keep cool.
- Mix together the ice cream base. By combining the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and some of the blended cranberry compote with the whipped cream.
- Layer the ice cream. By alternating the flavored base with the reserved compote.
- Freeze and enjoy! Once the ice cream is set, enjoy the cool, creamy treat!
Making swirled ice cream
Here's how to get those gorgeous swirls of compote throughout the ice cream so you get bits of cranberry in every bite!
- Pour half of the flavored ice cream base into the prepared pan or container.
- Add half of the reserved compote, swirling in with a chopstick or knife.
- Pour the other half of the ice cream base over the top, smoothing it out.
- Add the remaining compote and swirl again before freezing.
Ingredient substitutions
Brown sugar – To add an even deeper, richer flavor you can make the simple cranberry compote with brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar.
Citrus Juice – Out of oranges? You can substitute lemon or lime juice in the compote recipe for a brighter, punchier flavor!
Dessert recipe for leftover cranberry sauce
As I mentioned above, you can use 1 ½ cups of leftover homemade cranberry sauce instead of making a batch of fresh compote if you’d like. Here’s how:
- Make sure the sauce is thin enough to swirl and spread. Add a splash of water and mix well if the sauce doesn’t slide off a spoon easily.
- Stir 1 cup of sauce into the base. If your sauce has cinnamon or other spices in it, this will add so much delicious flavor.
- Swirl in the remaining ½ cup sauce. As directed in the recipe between the layers of flavored ice cream in the pan before freezing.
If the leftover cranberry sauce you have is the ridged kind that comes from a can, you’ll want to blend it with ½ cup of water to make it smooth enough to stir into the ice cream.
Mixing no-churn ice cream
This recipe for no-churn ice cream gets its light and airy body from the (high-quality) whipped cream. To avoid deflating or losing all that beautiful air you’ve whipped into it, you have to gently fold it into the ice cream base.
Serving Ideas
This cranberry ice cream recipe is absolutely a treat enough on it's own, but you can always serve it on top of a warm slice of powdered sugar pound cake for something really special.
Of, if you're crazy for cranberry like I am, serve a drizzle of extra cranberry compote or cranberry sauce with orange and cinnamon on top of a few scoops of ice cream!
Maybe go wild and mix your holiday flavors - a scoop of tart cranberry ice cream on warmed glazed apple slices? To die for!
Storage Directions
For the sake of beautiful photos, I like to make my no-churn ice creams (like my no-churn mulberry ice cream) in round cake pans lined with parchment paper. And it works like a dream!
But, it can make it difficult to store the ice cream after it’s been frozen and I’ve taken photos of it. To get around this, I like to cover the pan with foil for long-term storage.
Alternatively, the ice cream can be frozen and stored in a plastic container with a lid for up to one month.
That is, if it lasts that long!
Watch the recipe video!
No-Churn Cranberry Ice Cream
Equipment
- Whisk or Hand Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
- Round Cake Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Ice Cream Scoop
Ingredients
For the cranberry compote:
- 12 ounces cranberries fresh or frozen
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
For the ice cream:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 12 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cranberry compote:
- Line an 8-inch round cake pan with a large piece of parchment paper and set aside. (The parchment paper fits in the pan easily if you crumple it up beforehand.)
- In a small saucepan, combine 12 ounces of fresh or frozen cranberries, with ¾ cup sugar, ½ cup of water, and 1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until cranberries have burst and compote has thickened slightly.
- Carefully transfer the compote to a large jar and blend with an immersion blender. (Alternatively, you can blend the compote in a blender.) Set compote aside to cool, reserving ½ cup of the compote in the process.
For the ice cream:
- In a large mixing bowl, whip 2 cups of cold heavy cream to medium peaks. This can be done with a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer. Set whipped cream in the fridge while you continue with the recipe.
- Next, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together 12 ounces sweetened condensed milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and all of the blended compote, save for the ½ cup you reserved earlier. Mix until well combined.
- Gently fold the heavy cream into the cranberry-flavored ice cream base, being sure not to mix too aggressively to avoid losing the light, airy consistency.
- Pour ½ of the ice cream into the prepared pan, and drizzle half of the reserved compote over the top. Gently swirl the compote into the ice cream with a chopstick or butter knife.
- Top with the remaining ice cream mixture, followed by the rest of the compote, again swirling to combine everything. This is how we get beautiful layers of ice cream and compote all throughout.
- Place ice cream in the freezer until solid, at least four hours, or overnight.
- Remove ice cream from freezer 5 minutes before serving to make for easier scooping!
Video
Notes
- Alternatively, ice cream can be assembled and frozen in a plastic Tupperware container with a lid for easy storage.
- Leftover ice cream can be kept in freezer, covered, for up to one month.
- 1 ½ cups of leftover cranberry compote or cranberry sauce can be used in place of the freshly made cranberry compote, if desired.
Niki says
Best evvver
If I remember correctly this is the first time I made ice cream! I bought way too many fresh cranberries (I’m a big fun) and boy, am I lucky to find this recipe! Simple and perfect! I made double portion, and used one box of 36% heavy cream and one box of 18%! It was good idea, texture came out so creamy..mmm.. and I spunked it up with home made ORANGE-CARAMEL SAUCE
I filled the mixture layered and have poured decent amount of sauce between the layers)
Family almost fainted when they tried it! Hahaha
Thank you Amanda
Elise says
This was so good, and really easy to make! I used it in ice cream floats with ginger ale- they were a Friendsgiving hit!
(This comment was left by a friend of the writer of midwestniceblog.com)
Amanda Gajdosik says
The idea to make floats with ginger ale is absolutely genius! Thanks for rating and reviewing 🙂