Mint chocolate chip ice cream is a favorite in this house. Back when I upgraded from my broken down manual crank ice cream maker to one with an actual motor, this was one of the first ice cream recipes I experimented with.
Why this recipe works
This homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe is just as good, if not better than store-bought ice cream. It’s super easy to make and so delicious. There’s no cooking involved because there’s no eggs.
My kids loved this ice cream (just as much as my Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Ice Cream!) and each time it was gone within the first couple of nights. I’ve made it many times over the years as it’s now a family favorite.
I actually prefer ice cream made with a sweetened condensed milk base. It’s not only easy, it doesn’t require eggs or to be cooked, which also means no long chill times in the refrigerator. Just mix, add to the ice cream maker, and freeze. That’s it.
So, you’ll see a lot of sweetened condensed milk based ice creams on this blog. The egg custards are good, and I know I can make them. That’s all I need to know. Been there, done that, like this way better.
Ingredients you will need
Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.
- 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk (I use 1%)
- large pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure mint extract
- 5 drops green food coloring (optional)
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
How To Make Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. Please scroll down to simply print out the recipe!
- Combine all ingredients except for the chocolate in a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Five minutes before churning is complete, melt the chocolate on 50% power in your microwave. Slowly drizzle the chocolate into the churning ice cream maker.
- The difference in temperature between the ice cream and the melted chocolate will cause the chocolate to harden and crack, creating wonderful chocolate chips. This method is known as stracciatella.
- Turn the ice cream out into a freezer container and freeze until hard, usually a few hours or so.
That’s it, just wait several hours for it to harden in the freezer then enjoy!
I hope you all love this creamy and delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream as much as we do.
See what our readers are saying!
Oh my goodness! Heaven in a bowl! During quarantine we have rediscovered our ice cream maker. However we’ve been stuck on vanilla because it was so delicious. Today my son asked for mint chocolate chip, my favorite, so I headed online and found your recipe. I adore easy recipes and this one was so simple. The perfect subtle amount of mint. And the melted chips at the end making the crackle? That’s what cinched the deal for me. All of my kids now agree this is the best flavor we’ve made yet! Thank you!
~Melanie
Better than any!!! I used lactose-free half-and-half, now everyone can enjoy this ice cream. I used your same recipe blend, and the lactose free half-and-half, to make chocolate chip, too (omitting the mint extract). Rave reviews and special thanks from my lactose intolerant friends and family. Thank you for sharing!!!
~ Barbara
More of My Homemade Ice Cream Recipes
- If you’re looking for more amazing ice cream recipes to whip up, this Mocha Chocolate Chip Ice Cream or Caramel Chocolate Nut Ice Cream are absolute game changers.
- Looking for a healthier version? Try our Mint Chocolate Popsicles, you won’t be disappointed!
- Speaking of extremely delicious ice cream bases, we just made my Freakshakes again the other night and oh my! You guys HAVE to try these extreme milkshakes! Super fun for birthday parties. You will never make milkshakes the same way again.
- After making these Butterfinger Ice Cream Sandwiches, now I want to try chocolate mint cookies with this mint ice cream to make the ultimate chocolate mint ice cream sandwiches!
And if you love mint and chocolate as much as we do, be sure to try our peppermint patty brownies.
More Mint Chocolate Recipes
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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk I use 1%
- large pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure mint extract
- 5 drops green food coloring
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
Things You'll Need
Before You Begin
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for the chocolate in a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- 5 minutes before churning is complete, melt the chocolate on 50% power in your microwave. Slowly drizzle the chocolate into the churning ice cream maker.
- The difference in temperature between the ice cream and the meted chocolate will cause the chocolate to harden and crack, creating wonderful chocolate chips. This method is known as straccietella.
- Turn the ice cream out into a freezer container and freeze until hard, usually a few hours or so.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on this blog on September 13, 2011.
Amanda Davis
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Amelia says
I attempted this recipe earlier, but my mixture seemed pretty watery before adding it to my icecream maker, therefore it overheated before it was anywhere near the right consistency. I used the correct measurements and used the British equivalent of heavy cream so I’m not sure where it went wrong. I’m now finishing it off the old fashioned way by hand and freezer. Any thoughts?
Amanda Formaro says
Hmm, well the mixture is watery so that’s probably not the issue. The mixture should be thick when the ice cream maker is done churning, but not totally set. Similar to when you stir up the ice cream in a bowl before eating it (my kids love doing that). So the only thing I can think of would be that the ice cream maker tub wasn’t frozen long enough. I leave mine ion the freezer for 24 hours before using it again.
michael says
Looking for a mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe I just now found your site. Lately I have been making ice cream two, three times a week! I have a double chocolate ice cream custard in the freezer now, will be ready to eat tomorrow.
I just printed your recipe and plan to make it tomorrow afternoon, thank you.
Check out my site sometime, recent post; homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Greeting from South Carolina!
Michael
http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/vanilla-ice-cream-2/
Amanda Formaro says
Hope you enjoyed it Michael, the vanilla ice cream looks great!
michael says
I made it yesterday, it’s in the freezer! Hope to eat some on Wednesday.. thank you
Amanda Formaro says
Hope it was good Michael!
Shelby says
I tried making this recipe this morning and after an hour the ice cream had hardly formed :( Our freezing bowl has been in the freezer for the past week, so I know that was cold enough. I put the contents in a container in the fridge and I’m going to try again tomorrow. I was so excited for this because mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream!
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Shelby. You will not have ice cream after an hour. You need to churn it in your ice cream maker, then pour the contents into a freezable container and freeze it overnight :)
Chelai says
This was my first time making one of your recipes. I loved this ice cream as a kid and my daugther does, too. We made it this weekend. It is spot on for flavor. I love the straccietella method. Definitely summer staple. Thanks!
Amanda Formaro says
That’s awesome Chelai, thank you so much! I love that method too, and thanks for the reminder. I need to make this again!
Megan says
How much ice cream does this recipe make?
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Megan. 1.5 quarts
Andre says
Hi Amanda. I’m new to ice cream making. I bought a ice cream machine and were very disappointed with the 1st 3 attempts. The ice were to icy, not creamy and when set were rock hard.
Until I discovered your recipe!! Thanx you saved the machine. I will use your base to try other flavours like peanut butter and Nutella/nuts.
Amanda Formaro says
That’s great Andre! Check out the ice cream section, there’s a TON of recipes in there. You can use the Category drop down menu on the right sidebar, or click on Desserts at the top of the page. The pink peppermint one is really good too!
Katie H says
I plan on using this recipe, I’m looking forward to trying it. I was wondering – Do you think it would also work to use the first few ingredients in this recipe as a base recipe for other ice cream flavors? I’m having a hard time finding recipes I like but thought maybe this would make a good base. I like the condensed milk also, but have run into a few recipes where the ratios seem way off.
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Katie! Yes, for my base ice cream recipe I use 1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk plus a combination of 3 cups milk/cream. So for example, you can use 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup milk, or 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup half and half, and 1 cup milk. You can even eliminate the heavy cream if you want to watch calories and go with 1 1/2 – 2 cups of half and half and the rest (to equal 3 cups) milk. Then add your extracts etc. For just vanilla, add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
Barbara Knouf says
I have never liked usinf sweetened condensed milk recipes – a childhood thing. However, after reading your recipe, and all the comments, I will break my own forever rule and use your recipe as is to make my 11 year old great-granddaughter’s favorite ice cream. Thank you very much.
Amanda says
I had that same aversion for a long time. However now I make all my ice cream with SCM!
Diana says
Wow Amanda, I just looked at some of the other ice cream recipes. I could
get hooked on this stuff lol…especially the one with the pb cookies added
Amanda says
Oh that’s a really good one!
Diana says
I made my first batch of vanilla ice cream last nite. I just bought a maker.
It turned out really good but a little sweet. I found your recipe after I made the vanilla and I would do the choc mint for sure next time.
Probably sooner than later as it is a favorite ice cream of ours.
Looking forward to it !!!!!
brandon says
All I could taste was the vanilla, FAR too much vanilla. A complete waste of time and ingredients.
Cut the vanilla by half at the very least. I should have compared ingredient levels to other recipes as none I could find have more than 1 tsp. and this calls for 2.
Amanda says
Brandon, is it possible that you forgot to include the mint extract? There’s no way, if the recipe was followed correctly, that this would just taste like vanilla. The only other thing I can think of would be that your mint extract wasn’t any good. Sorry you had a bad result, but I can guarantee you that this recipe, if followed per the instructions, is very minty and the vanilla simply tones down the mint a little to give it a creamy taste. Hope you’ll try it again, sorry you had trouble!
Sugarmomma says
Made this recipe this past weekend and let me tell you – it didn’t last in the freezer. I will need to triple the recipe next time. Oh, and I’m not a chocolate lover so I compromised for the family used Andes mints instead of regular chocolate bars and shaved the candies in a zip bag. It was great!
Amanda says
So glad you loved it as much as we do!
Kate says
Aww I made a comment from my phone yesterday but it didn’t post :(
This is my first time using condensed milk and I am really pleased with the result, its very creamy. I have previously warmed milk sugar and cream with vanilla to use as my base as i’m not quite brave enough to make a custard yet :)My ice cream was made and in the freezer within 30 mins which is great! Its usually at least a 2.5 hour job
This was my first time using the straccietella method and I wont be going back to chopping up chocolate or throwing in chocolate chips, it gives you more of a chocolate ‘crisp’ texture rather than a chip texture and there is less danger of getting a really hard bit of chocolate.
I made a couple of wee changes, I only used 1 tsp of vanilla and tbh when I make it next time I will just omit it altogether as I feel the condensed milk gives it enough sweetness. I also added 1/4 of a tsp of glycerine at the very end and just stirred this in by hand before I split the mix. This gave me a lovely soft scoop ice cream for a few hours last night so I would reccomend adding the glycerine if you were maybe having a dinner party the day you made the ice cream as you could just scoop straight from the freezer and have 1 less thing to worry about.
I just checked the ice cream this morning and it is firmer than it was yesterday but I can tell that its much softer than my normal ice creams, which I usually have to give a good 20 mins to get soft.
Bottom line, this is a wicked recipe, its super easy and I reckon very adaptable. My next ice cream will be a white chocolate one using this method. I have also bookmarked your ice creams page – you have some cracking recipes :)
Keep up the good work
xK
Amanda says
I am so glad you liked it! I agree, I’m totally sold on the sweetened condensed milk version too. And agreed again on the stracciatella method!
kate says
This is in the ice cream maker just now. I’ll be adding the chocolate shortly. The only Change I made was to just use 1tsp vanilla. The mix tasted good before I threw it in the maker so I can’t wait to try it after the chocolate has been added :-)
Ann says
I made this Mint Choclate chip ice cream….WoW! This was so good.
I will only make ice cream with condensed milk from now on. It makes a huge difference. Thank you for this recipe. :) My family loved it!!
Amanda says
You are so welcome! I couldn’t agree with you more, it’s the only way I make it now ;)
Judy says
Thanks so much for this condensed milk based mint chip ice cream. In the middle of summer the last thing I want to do is stand over a stove top cooking custard! This is sinfully rich and delicious and the vanilla really takes the “bite” out of the mint flavoring, balancing it perfectly. I admit that I wanted it more minty and less vanilla-y so I used 1 tsp. of each flavor. Perfection!
Amanda says
So glad you are enjoying it! :)
kelly says
I made this with my 6 yr old daughter last night in my Cuisinart 2 qt icecream maker. She had fun drizzling the chocolate in. This turned out excellent!!! THANKS!
judi says
I just made this with my 9 year old grandson. It was so easy — he did it all himself! (With supervision!) We added 1/4 t more mint extract and did half semi sweet and half bittersweet chocolate. It’s in the freezer now – YUM
Amanda says
That’s awesome Judi, so glad you guys had fun in the kitchen!
Aki says
This recipe sounds delicious…I will have to try it. How much ice cream does this recipe yield? I have a 1.5 qt. Cuisinart ice cream maker, & want to be sure it’s big enough. Thanks!
Amanda says
Hi Aki. I have a 2 quart machine but I BELIEVE it makes 1.5. To be safe, just pour enough of the mixture in to your maker to fill it 3/4 full. If you have any left over you can just freeze it in another container.
Linda says
I just made your mint chocolate chip ice cream and it was delish. I have made several recipes but this one by far the best. Thank You