Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

A sweet treat, a fun science experiment, however you want to use this idea, you are going to love learning how to make homemade ice cream in a bag!

Why You’ll Love Making Your Own Homemade Ice Cream In A Bag!

1. It uses simple ingredients and supplies! No need for an ice cream machine or fancy ice cream maker. You can satisfy your ice cream cravings with just heavy whipping cream, salt, sugar, and ice.
2. It’s a fun summer activity! A dance party with plastic bags that results in some yummy soft serve, to cool off a hot summer day? No kid is going to pass that up!
3. It’s the perfect science experiment! Through this fun activity, your kids can learn about states of matter and freezing points. And any science experiment that end with simple ice cream is a fun way to get some learning done over summer break.
4. It makes the perfect amount. This recipe makes the right serving size for one person – or two, if you feel like sharing! You won’t wind up needing to store uneaten ice cream. This also makes it great for getting every kid involved. They can each shake up their own ice cream.
5. It’s delicious! Just because this recipe uses simple ingredients, and eschews fancy equipment, doesn’t mean that you’re left with a lackluster ice cream. This easy ice cream taste just as good as any other homemade ice cream – but it’s much more fun to make.

Ice Cream Ingredients You’ll Need For This Bag Recipe

• 1/2 Cup of Milk and 1/2 Cup of Half And Half – You can also use equal parts of whole milk and heavy cream, if you don’t have half and half on hand! Using whole milk on it’s own works too, but your ice cream won’t be as rich and creamy. It’ll still taste good, though!
• Salt – Typically, you use a special ice cream salt (also known as rock salt) to make ice cream. This is partly because the larger grains of salt are less likely to get mixed into your ice cream by mistake, making a salty ice cream! But regular table salt serves the same purpose.
• Ice – Ice is a key player in making ice cream, but it actually isn’t cold enough to do the job on it’s own! Ice cream freezes at a colder temperature. We’ll get into that below!
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla – Start with a classic vanilla ice cream. You can always try other flavors later!
• 3-4 Tablespoons of Sugar – Milk has natural sugars in it, so you don’t need to add very much sugar to make a delicious ice cream.
• Freezer Bags – You’ll need two sealable plastic bags – a larger bag for the ice and salt, and a smaller bag to hold the ice cream itself. It’s important that they’re good quality bags! You want the plastic to be nice and thick, so that the salt and ice don’t poke holes while you’re shaking it. And you want to be sure the bags can give a good seal. Otherwise, you’ll get salt in your ice cream. I like using a freezer style Ziploc bag. Non name-brand bags just don’t seem to hold up as well.

How To Make Delicious Ice Cream In A Bag

1. In your small bag, pour in your half and half, vanilla, and sugar. Press out any excess air, and seal the bag well. You can always place this bag into a second small Ziploc bag, just to be safe!
2. Fill the large bag halfway with ice, then add the salt. Add your ice cream bag, then fill the large bag the rest of the way up with ice. Seal it well!
3. Start shaking! It will take 5 to 10 minutes. The ice will get super cold – colder than usual! – so you might need to use gloves or wrap the bag in a kitchen towel.
4. Take out the small freezer bag, rinse it off so that no salt sneaks in, and open it up. Use a spoon to give it a good stir, then scoop it out and enjoy!

How Does This Ice Cream Recipe Work, Anyway?

The key to making ice cream lies in the salt! Let’s break it down.

Get our THIS LITTLE HOME OF MINE nEWSLETTER

Delivered directly to your inbox!

EMAIL

Please wait...

Subscribe

Thank you! You have successfully joined the This Little Home of Mine community!

The ice cream mixture requires a lower temperature to freeze than water does. If you just placed the mixture in a bag of ice, sure, the cream would get cold, but it wouldn’t form ice crystals and turn into ice cream! You need to somehow make the ice cubes colder than they already are.

Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes. You might notice the ice cubes starting to melt a little bit when you first add the salt in! The regular salt starts to lower the temperature of the ice, and will even start to turn the ice mixture into something more of a slushy than regular ice cubes. This ice-and-salt mixture is then colder than ice by itself – cold enough to ice cream!

If you want to use this easy homemade ice cream recipe as a science activity, don’t give away the secret too quickly! Try setting up two sets of bags – one with salt, and one without. Let the children observe the difference, and see if they can figure out that salt affects the freezing point! It’s fascinating because it goes against what we would assume. One bag keep it’s ice solid, but the cream never crystallizes. One bag appears to have it’s ice melt, but the ice cream starts to firm up!

Another science concept you can cover in this perfect summer activity is states of matter. Is the ice cream a solid or a liquid? It’s a great example of the concept of “reversible change”.

How To Flavor This Homemade Ice Cream Recipe

Vanilla ice cream is delicious, but chocolate ice cream is a great sweet treat too! You can turn the final product into chocolate ice cream by replacing the teaspoon vanilla extract with a teaspoon of chocolate syrup. Just a little chocolate syrup added to the milk mixture is all you need!

Later, you can experiment with using other flavored syrups, such as strawberry or caramel!

Favorite Toppings For Delicious Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

One of the favorite things about ice cream is that you can top them however you want! Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Chocolate Chips
• Fresh Fruit
• Sprinkles
• Chopped Nuts
• Whipped Cream
• Hot Fudge Sauce
• Shredded Coconut
• Granola

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 1 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Ziploc Bags
• Rock Salt and Ice

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Half-and-Half
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 3-4 Tablespoons Sugar
• Salt
• Ice

Instructions

 

• In your small bag, pour in your milk, half and half, vanilla, and sugar. Press out any excess air, and seal the bag well. You can always place this bag into a second small Ziploc bag, just to be safe!
• Fill the large bag halfway with ice, then add the salt. Add your ice cream bag, then fill the large bag the rest of the way up with ice. Seal it well!
• Start shaking! It will take 5 to 10 minutes. The ice will get super cold – colder than usual! – so you might need to use gloves or wrap the bag in a kitchen towel.
• Take out the small freezer bag, rinse it off so that no salt sneaks in, and open it up. Use a spoon to give it a good stir, then scoop it out and enjoy!

Keyword Homemade Ice Cream, Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag, Ice Cream

Ice Cream Themed Learning Activity

Ice Cream Themed Birthday Party