Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream (No Churn)
No ice cream maker needed for this delicious salted caramel pretzel ice cream. A perfect balance of sweet and salty! A summer favorite!
Equipment
- A deep, heavy saucepan that’s at least 3 quart capacity (about 3 liters).
- A balloon whisk or a heat-proof silicone spatula.
- A standard loaf pan that’s about 9x5 inches (23X13 cm) or another freezer-safe container of the same size.
- A hand mixer.
Ingredients
For the Salted Caramel Sauce (makes about 1 ½ cups)
- 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar
- 1 ½ cups (375ml / 12 fl oz) heavy whipping cream
- 90g (6 tablespoons / 3oz) unsalted butter, cubed
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
For the Ice Cream Base
- 2 cups (500ml) heavy whipping cream (or whipping cream with at least 35% fat)
- 1 can (396g / 14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup (250ml) salted caramel sauce
- 1 ¼ heaping cups (50g / 1.8 oz) mini pretzels, coarsely chopped
Instructions
Make the Salted Caramel Sauce
- Place the sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
- Don't stir the sugar. After about 3 minutes or so, the sugar will begin to melt around the sides. Use a whisk or a heat-proof spatula to stir the sugar so it all melts or swirl the saucepan around.
- When it foams in the middle and small bubbles appear, add ⅓ of the cream and whisk the mixture continuously. DO NOT ADD ALL THE CREAM AT ONCE! It will bubble up and steam, but just keep whisking it. Then add a little more cream and continue whisking.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and add the remaining cream. Whisk until it’s well combined.
- Add the butter and whisk again to combine everything.
- Finally add the salt and whisk again. When it cools a bit, you can taste it to see if you want to add more salt.
- Pour the caramel into a bowl to cool completely. Set aside.
Make the Ice Cream
- Whip the cream and the vanilla together to stiff peaks.
- To the whipped cream, add the sweetened condensed milk and ¾ cup of the cooled caramel sauce. Mix until combined.
- Pour ⅓ of the ice cream base into the pan. Add about ⅓ of the pretzels on top. Then drizzle some caramel sauce over the pretzels.
- Repeat the process 2 more times, adding 2 more layers. If you wish, you can use a knife to swirl the caramel throughout after adding the last layer.
- Then cover with plastic wrap, touching the surface. Then cover with aluminum foil and freeze for at least 12 hours or overnight.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- If you want to buy caramel sauce for this recipe, make sure it's thick and not too runny. I would avoid using the caramel found in squeeze bottles because it's a bit runny.
- The recipe for the salted caramel sauce makes about 1 ½ cups, so there will be some left over. You can store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to a month. It will thicken as it cools.
- This ice cream can be kept in the freezer for up to about 2-3 weeks as long as it’s well covered.
- This is a soft-serve ice cream. It needs at least 12 hours to set (overnight is even better). Because it has a lot of caramel it won’t freeze rock-hard like regular ice cream and it won’t get icy at all.
