Vietnamese Coffee Ice-Cream

I have never considered myself a coffee drinker. I usually prefer tea.

However, I make a notable exception in the case of Vietnamese iced coffee. The combination of brewed dark roast coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk poured over ice is addictive. Vietnamese iced coffee is like dessert for me so when I discovered I could have it in ice-cream form, I was hooked. There is something about the thick and creamy consistency of sweetened condensed milk that cream and sugar on their own just can’t replicate. It sets Vietnamese coffee ice-cream apart from other coffee ice-creams.

Ingredients for Vietnamese Coffee Ice-cream

There are only 3 ingredients required and there’s no cooking! How easy is that.

First, there’s coffee. Although using authentic Vietnamese coffee for this recipe is ideal, it is not a requirement. I was all out of the Vietnamese coffee I had been gifted and used a dark roast coffee from Starbuck’s instead for this batch. It was still wickedly delicious.

Next is sweetened condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk is a thick (and semi-magical) concoction created by cooking down milk to remove most of the water and then adding sugar. Be sure to use a sweetened condensed milk that has just milk and sugar in it. Some brands add other ingredients that aren’t necessary. Also, do not confuse sweetened condensed milk with evaporated milk. They are very different and cannot be substituted for each other.

Finally, there’s some heavy cream to ensure your Vietnamese coffee ice-cream is a creamy dream.

Churn vs No-churn

I know there are several recipes for no-churn ice-cream using sweetened condensed milk. In fact, I have a Vietnamese coffee affogato recipe that does just that. However, for this particular recipe, I really like the smooth texture that churning gives this ice-cream so the instructions below call for using an ice-cream maker.