Stracciatella Gelato, No Churn

How to make ultra smooth and creamy Stracciatella Gelato without an ice cream machine. This no-churn Italian gelato is made with four simple ingredients and takes no more than 5 minutes to prepare, insanely easy, and good!

Stracciatella gelato is such a classic and traditional Italian flavour with a beautiful smooth and creamy texture, lightly scented with vanilla and speckled with dark chocolate shards.

Traditionally Stracciatella is made by pouring melted chocolate into the churning vanilla gelato which freezes as it hits the cold ice cream.

Since this recipe is a no-churn version it's been simplified to take no more than 5 minutes to prepare and using the simplest of ingredients.

It's smooth and creamy and has such a beautiful luxurious flavour, it's so much more than your average chocolate chip ice cream and it couldn't be easier to make.

Ingredients you need

All you need is four basic ingredients heavy cream, condensed milk, dark chocolate and vanilla extract or bean paste. See the photo below that shows all the ingredients you need.

How to make Stracciatella Gelato – step by step

Put the heavy cream, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until thick, smooth, and resembles soft peaks (photos 1-3).

Roughly chop the dark chocolate, you want there to be tiny pieces and some larger chunks and fold it through the gelato mixture (photo 4).

Transfer the stracciatella gelato to a freezer-proof container, cover with a lid and freeze for 6 hours to overnight. Remove the gelato for the freezer around 10 minutes before serving (photos 5-8).

Serving suggestions

You can serve this gelato as it is or alongside other desserts like with a slice of strawberry Crostata (jam tart). Another good and easy serving option is to use it to make an Affogato which is ice cream with a shot of espresso coffee, it's the solid way to end a meal!

Top tips and recipe FAQs

• Cream – use heavy cream so it whips up nice and thick.
• Chocolate – Use high-quality dark chocolate if possible for the best flavour.
• Vanilla – We love to use vanilla bean paste which gives you a beautiful vanilla favour and tiny black speckles throughout the gelato but you can also use vanilla extract don't use vanilla essence which is artificial flavouring.

What does Stracciatella mean?

Stracciatella comes from the verb Stracciare which means to tear or rip up. The name Stracciatella refers to the little rough shards of chocolate sprinkled throughout the ice cream.

What does it taste like?

This gelato has a classic vanilla and chocolate flavour but what makes it so good is its ultra smooth and creamy texture. It's luxurious and good!

More Italian ice cream recipes you might like

• Tiramisu ice cream
• Chocolate hazelnut ice cream
• Boozy Limoncello ice cream

Ingredients

Makes 12 servings

• 14 oz condensed milk ((397g))
• 2.5 cups heavy cream (double cream (600ml))
• ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate (roughly chopped (100g))

Method

1. Put the heavy cream, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until really thick, smooth and resembles soft peaks.

2. Roughly chop the dark chocolate, you want there to be tiny pieces and some larger chunks and fold it through the gelato mixture.

3. Transfer the stracciatella gelato to a freezer proof container, cover with a lid and freeze for 6 hours to overnight. Remove the gelato for the freezer around 10 minutes before serving!

Kitchen notes

• Cream use heavy cream so it whips up nice and thick.
• Chocolate Use high-quality dark chocolate if possible for the best flavour.
• Vanilla We love to use vanilla bean paste which gives you a beautiful vanilla favour and tiny black speckles throughout the gelato but you can also use vanilla extract don't use vanilla essence which is artificial flavouring.