This no-churn ice cream takes your favorite cereal and turns it into the perfect summer treat!
When you think of eating a nice big bowl of cereal, one of the best parts is the leftover milk. It has a lightly sweet flavor that’ll put a regular cup of milk to shame. Take that same idea, and turn it into a frozen dessert…. cereal milk ice cream is born!!!
This is a super simple recipe. Not only is the cereal milk fool-proof, since we all pretty much make this all the time, the ice cream is also no churn! Can’t go wrong with that!
What type of cereal should I use for cereal milk?
The best part of cereal milk is that you can use any brand and flavor you love! No limits with cereal milk.
For my cereal milk ice cream recipe, I went with Cap’n Crunch! It’s not only one of my favorite cereals, it also leaves behind the most delicious drinkable cereal milk everrrrr!!!! The flavor of sweetened corn cereal in milk can’t be beat!
But whether you’re a fan of corn, fruity, or chocolate cereals, you can make a batch of cereal milk with just 2 ingredients: cereal and milk (I stated the obvious lol, but you get it).
How to make cereal milk
Making cereal milk is done as simply as we’ve been unintentionally (or intentionally) doing by letting your cereal of choice soak in milk. To get more of the cereal’s sweetness into this milk, it’ll get soaked for 30 minutes. There’s the option to add a little brown sugar to make it a bit sweeter if you’d like.
- The cereal gets finely ground in a food processor, or crushed in a bowl with your hands.
- Next, pour milk over the cereal, and soak for 30 minutes.
- While the cereal is soaking, set up a separate bowl with a strainer. Inside of the strainer, add a few layers of cheesecloth.
- Once the cereal has soaked, pour it into the cheesecloth. The milk that’s being strained is that nice flavorful cereal milk!
You’ll want to squeeze out as much of the milk from the soaked cereal as you can. To do this:
- Grab all the corners of the cheesecloth into one hand
- Pickup the cheesecloth so you’re holding it like a pouch with the soaked cereal.
- Squeeze the excess liquid from the soaked cereal with your hands, still keeping the cheesecloth pouch over the strainer. A glove can be used to keep your hands clean.
For cereal milk ice cream, the cereal is soaked in heavy cream instead of milk.
What to do with the leftover cereal from making cereal milk
That cereal paste that’s leftover from straining the cereal milk can be tossed.
BUT, for the cereal milk ice cream, the paste can be incorporated into the ice cream base! Again, this is optional, but does help to add a little more sweetness to the ice cream.
It’s also up to you how much of that cereal paste you’d like to add. If you’re crushing your cereal by hand, be mindful of any chunks. Once it’s mixed and frozen with the ice cream, the texture can be a bit odd, almost like it’s stale, even though it still has flavor. The finer the crushed cereal, the better!
How to make cereal milk ice cream
As I mentioned earlier, the cereal is soaked in heavy cream instead of milk, as heavy cream is what’s used in an ice cream base. It’s still being soaked and strained in the same manner.
Once strained, the heavy cream is beaten on high speed to create a stiff whipped cream. Then, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla is incorporated. Adding the soaked cereal to the ice cream base is optional.
How to store homemade ice cream:
The best way to store your ice cream in the freezer is in an airtight container that is freezer safe. I keep mine in a Tupperware container.
Pressing some plastic wrap or parchment paper directly on top of the ice cream helps to prevent freezer burn.
Additional toppings for the cereal milk ice cream
I’m a big fan of different textures in a dish. So just like adding crushed cookies on top of ice cream as a garnish, you can sprinkle cereal on the ice cream as well! Almost like making a bowl of cereal, but your milk is scoop (or 2, or 3) of cereal ice cream! Sounds like a great time to me!!!
If you’re looking for more super easy no churn ice cream recipes, check out my S’mores Ice Cream with Toasted Marshmallows, and my Cookie Butter Cheesecake Ice Cream with Espresso and Kahlua!
And remember to tag me on Instagram if you try out any of my recipes, along with leaving a rating and review!!!
Cereal Milk Ice Cream
Equipment
- Food processor
- Hand or stand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Strainer
- Cheesecloth
- Freezer safe container with a lid
- Parchment paper or plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 1 cup cereal brand and flavor of your choice
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Crush the cereal in a food processor, or by hand, until finely ground.
- Combine the crushed cereal with the brown sugar and 2 cups of the heavy cream, reserving 1 cup of heavy cream for later. Soak the cereal for 30 minutes.
- Once soaked, set up a bowl with a strainer and 4 layers of cheesecloth. Pour the cereal mixture into the cheesecloth to strain into the bowl. Squeeze any additional cream from the cereal by bunching together the loose ends of the cheesecloth, turning it into a pouch holding the cereal, and squeezing excess liquid into the strainer.
- Set the soaked cereal aside (optional)
- Combine the strained milk and the reserved cup of heavy cream in a large bowl or stand mixer. Whip the heavy cream mixture on high for 2-3 minutes. The whip cream is the right consistency when stiff peaks are formed.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract into the whipped cream. Whip on low for 30 seconds.
- If desired, gently mix in the leftover soaked cereal.
- Pour the ice cream mixture into an airtight and freezer safe container. Press a layer of plastic wrap or parchment paper directly onto the ice cream.
- Cover the container with an airtight lid and freeze for 2 hours for a soft serve consistency, or at least 4 hours for a scoopable consistency.
This was so delicious and nostalgic for me and very easy to follow. I will be making your cereal milk ice cream again!
Fire recipe! I’ll be making this all summer. I tried another cereal milk ice cream recently and it was sour. This version doesn’t have that taste; it was perfectly sweet and tasted just like a bowl of cereal. So good!
I could eat cereal all day so when I saw this recipe, I had to make it. It came out so good, tasted JUST like fruity pebbles. I even kept a couple of the fruity pebbles in the ice cream for a cool rainbow colors. Thanks for this recipe!
I am SO happy I found this recipe! Now me and the kids always make ice cream at home!!! And they appreciate it so much more!
This is my new favorite no-churn ice cream! I made it with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it was such a treat!
I love a no-stress dessert and this was such a delight to make nad to have!
I had never heard of cereal milk until viewing this recipe. But since I loved the combination of corn flakes and milk as a kid, I decided to give it a try. The flavor and texture were so amazing I’ll be making it again and again.
My cereal milk ice cream turned out amazing! This recipe is definitely going to be on rotation in our family this summer.
I love making cereal milk anything, but this no-churn ice cream was so tasty. It was a lot easier than using an ice cream machine, for sure.