Did you know you can make ice cream at home without an ice cream maker? Well you absolutely can! Today I’m going to share with you how I made this dulce de leche ice cream at home without an ice cream maker. It is SO easy AND SO good.

I opted to make dulce de leche ice cream because I was lucky enough to have a few jars in my pantry. Plus, there is no better combination than dulce de leche and vanilla ice cream. So why, you might ask, did I have so much dulce de leche in my house?

I have the best friends. On my trip to Denmark, my good friend Leo brought me dulce de leche, all the way from Argentina. We both went to Denmark for a conference and he was so thoughtful to bring me all the best dulce de leche you can buy in Argentina. He actually brought me three different jars. One for baking and two for toppings. I’m still devising how I’m going to use the other two jars, but I opted to use the first jar to make this easy homemade dulce de leche ice cream. No ice cream maker required!

If you want to try to make this for yourself, you need to have ice cube trays, to start. You also need to follow this recipe for homemade vanilla ice cream. Once you’ve made the vanilla ice cream base and followed all the steps to blend and smooth out the ice cream. Next, you’ll want to add in the toppings, mix them around and then refreeze again.

The process is not at all difficult, but it does require a few steps to get the perfect ice cream. You could put anything you want in this vanilla ice cream base. I chose to add in streaks of dulce de leche and I also added chocolate covered peanuts. I wanted a crunch and that salty flavor to go with the super sweet vanilla and dulce de leche.

Let me tell you, this ice cream recipe is just as good as most ice cream you can get at the store. It does have a slightly ice texture, but it is still very creamy and delicious. The dulce de leche pairs so well against the vanilla base and the chocolate covered peanuts bring it all together. I considered adding short bread cookies or pretzels instead of peanuts. I think either of those would also work, as they’d give you the crunch and salt against the sweet that I love so much.

If you’ve ever been afraid to try making ice cream at home, I’m telling you that you must try it! It’s actually super easy to do, and it’s such a fun treat to make at home. Also, my kids absolutely loved it. I know you will too!

Looking for more ice cream recipes? Here’s a pumpkin pecan praline ice cream and the homemade vanilla ice cream recipe.