Homemade dulce de leche ice cream

This easy recipe for homemade dulce de leche ice cream is made with milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and dulce de leche. This recipe can be made using an ice cream maker, or using a mixer/blender/food processor. We love dulce de leche in our home. With a South American mom and a French dad, my kids have been caught in the dulce de leche vs Nutella debate about which is one is the best.

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I think that dulce de leche might have an edge, especially since my oldest only likes Nutella in empanadas or certain desserts. I feel so proud every time I see them introduce dulce de leche to their friends when they’re having a playdate. And I was told I shouldn’t say “playdate” anymore, seems like now that they’re older it’s called hanging out.

Even though it’s not exactly ideal ice cream weather yet, they claim that it’s never too cold for ice cream when you’re a kid. I bought some amazing cream from a local creamery and we were going to make vanilla ice cream. However, as soon as they saw that we still had a couple of jars of homemade dulce de leche, they asked if we could make dulce de leche ice cream instead. I obviously said yes, dulce de leche ice cream is one of my favorite ice cream flavors – right up there with rum raisin, passion fruit, and coconut.

This dulce de leche ice cream is very easy to make, especially if you have an ice cream maker. It requires a little more work if you don’t have an ice cream maker, but can still be made using a mixer, blender or food processor. The first part of the ice cream preparation is to make what could easily be a basic vanilla ice cream, and then you add the dulce de leche at the end. So simple and so delicious!

This ice cream can be made with homemade or store bought dulce de leche, you can also use any dulce de leche variation like cajeta, arequipe or manjar/manjarblanco. I also like to serve this ice cream with a drizzle of warm dulce de leche on top, it gives it an extra boost of yumminess!

Homemade dulce de leche ice cream

Easy recipe for homemade dulce de leche ice cream made with milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and dulce de leche. Can be made in the ice cream maker, or using a mixer/blender/food processor.

4.90 from 94 votes

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Course: Dessert, Sweets

Cuisine: Argentina, Ecuadorian inspired, International, Latin fusion

Keyword: Dulce de leche, Dulce de leche ice cream, Homemade ice cream

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Freezing time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 -10

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup sugar adjust based on your preference – keep in mind that the dulce de leche is very sweet
• 3 cups liquid whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups dulce de leche about 1.5 lbs, homemade or store-bought

To serve:

• Ice cream waffle cones
• Warm dulce de leche for drizzling on top

Instructions

• Combine the milk with the sugar in a large mixing bowl, mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Add the cream and the vanilla extract, stir and mix well.

Using an ice cream maker:

• Pour the milk and cream mix into the ice cream maker and prepare it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
• During the last minutes in the ice cream maker, add the dulce de leche in spoonfuls into the ice cream maker and let it mix in.
• Place the dulce de leche ice cream in a freezer friendly bowl and let it freeze for a couple of hours to let it ripen before serving.

Using a mixer or blender/food processor:

• To prepare the dulce de leche ice cream without an ice cream maker, place the milk and cream mix in a plastic or metal freezer friendly container and freeze for 1 hour. It should be semi-frozen, but still somewhat soft.
• Remove from the freezer and use an electric mixer to soften the mix. You can also place it in a food processor or blender and mix (make sure your blender is powerful enough to blend frozen foods). Return to the freezer and let it rest for another hour, then repeat the process for 3-4 times or until you’ve achieved the desired smoothness, add the dulce de leche during the last time that you mix it. Let the ice cream rest in the freezer for a couple of hours before serving.
• Serve the dulce de leche ice cream in waffle cones and drizzle warm dulce de leche on top.

Step by step preparation photos for homemade dulce de leche ice cream