The Best 3-Ingredient Pistachio Ice Cream Recipe

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Although people have been making ice cream for a long time without ice cream makers, the invention of the appliance certainly made the process faster and easier, to the point where it's become something of a standard. Not everyone has an ice cream maker at home, though, so that's where crafty no-churn ice cream recipes come in handy — and even better yet when they showcase a delicious star ingredient.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has crafted the best three-ingredient pistachio ice cream recipe, featuring freshly ground roasted and salted pistachios that pack a delicious, nutty punch with every bite. Without any special equipment (besides an electric hand mixer, unless you use a whisk and some elbow grease), you can make rich, creamy, and smooth ice cream that also conveniently doesn't require a whole lot of effort. Though the texture of three-ingredient ice cream is a little different than that of its churned counterpart, it still makes for a delightfully delicious frozen treat, and one that your dinner guests or family will be happy to feast on.

The ingredient list for this recipe is simple. You'll need heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and shelled roasted and salted pistachios. Raw or unsalted nuts won't give you as intense a flavor, but they could be substituted if desired. Or, you can choose to roast raw pistachio nuts yourself.

Finely grind the pistachios in coffee grinder, or grind them by hand using a mortar and pestle if you want to retain a little more texture.

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the sweetened condensed milk and ground pistachios into the whipped cream as evenly as possible with a spatula.

Transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container and level the top.

Cover the container tightly with plastic wrap, foil, or a container lid. Freeze the ice cream for at least 6 hours before serving.

Once frozen, scoop and serve the pistachio ice cream.

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Three-ingredient ice cream is easily customizable with different flavors. The third ingredient, after the heavy whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk, provides the unique flavor of the batch you make. This recipe calls for freshly ground roasted and salted pistachios for an intense pistachio flavor, but that's not the only option. Alternatively, you can use your favorite nuts, like walnuts or pecans. Roasting them first will make the ice cream more flavorful.

Using cookies or candy will provide a more complex flavor profile in just one easy ingredient. For example, folding in crushed Oreo cookies will give you cookies and cream ice cream, and breaking up Reese's peanut butter cups and adding those will give you a peanut butter cup flavor. For chocolate ice cream, mix in cocoa powder or melted chocolate. Fruit lovers have many options. Chop or dice your favorite fresh fruit and mix the pieces in. Peaches, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries raspberries, cherries, banana, mango, and plums are all delicious and can give you more unique flavors than what you find in the supermarket. Roasting and cooling the chopped fruit first will reduce the water content that can make the ice cream icy.

Make the third ingredient vanilla extract or vanilla bean for a simple vanilla ice cream. Of course, you can also make a plain milk-flavored ice cream with just two ingredients, omitting the flavoring completely.

Ice cream is normally made in an ice cream maker, a machine that churns the cream, sugar, and other ingredients. Since the mixture is always moving, air is incorporated into it and large ice crystals can't form and set. The result is light and airy ice cream that's scoopable, smooth, and can be stored in the freezer for awhile. Just mixing the ingredients and freezing them won't work, as you'll end up with something hard and more like a chunk of ice than anything else. You could take the pan out of the freezer at least every hour while it's freezing and whisk or beat it vigorously with a fork before putting it back. That will break up the ice crystals and give you a better result, but it does take a lot of effort and the result still won't be the same.

The idea behind this three-ingredient ice cream is to incorporate the air into the ice cream ahead of time. That's accomplished with the first ingredient, cream, which is turned into whipped cream in the recipe. Whipped cream is fluffy and light as well as rich and creamy, everything ice cream should be. The second ingredient, sweetened condensed milk, adds the sugar and more rich creaminess. The third ingredient adds the flavor. In this case, it's ground pistachios. There's no need to hand churn this ice cream as it freezes. It will be smooth and scoopable as soon as it's fully frozen.

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