They say, “Ice cream solves everything”, and I believe it’s true in all terms.
Mexican ice-creams come in many flavors and forms. From horchata to sweet corn, everything can be the base for any palatable ice cream in Mexican cuisine.
Then, there are the soothing paletas with which you can get creative. And not to forget the world-famous Mexican fried ice cream.
We know you can’t wait anymore. So, here are 10 best Mexican ice-creams to keep you cool this summer. The best part, you can make these at home.
Table of Contents
1. Paleta de Fresas con Crema (Strawberry and Cream Popsicles)
Paletas are Mexican popsicles and can be made in a variety of flavors.
These paletas are made with loads of seasonal fruits, unlike the traditional popsicles. They are low on sugar and get their sweetness primarily by the fruit added.
One of the classic paletas is the paleta de fresas con crema or strawberry and cream popsicles.
Ingredients:
- Cream cheese – ½ cup (another ½ cup if you need your popsicles thick and extra-creamy)
- Milk – 1 cup
- Condensed milk – ⅓ cup
- Chopped strawberries – 1 cup
- Mexican vanilla – 1 tsp
- Sugar – 2 tsp
Directions:
- Blend milk, cream cheese, sugar, condensed milk, cream, and vanilla extract.
- Check the sweetness and add more sugar if needed.
- Fill this mix into the molds. Drop a spoon of chopped strawberries in each.
- Insert popsicle sticks and freeze the popsicles for at least 3 hours.
- Dip the molds in warm water to loosen the popsicles from the mold.
2. Avocado Ice Cream
Mexican cuisine is head over heels in love with avocados that it introduced everyone to avocado dishes.
They are healthy with a lot of nutrients. Level up your avocado dessert game from mousse to ice cream, and make this avocado ice cream.
Use very ripe avocados for a real avocado aroma and dig into the ice cream straight out of the ice cream maker.
Remember to not skip the limes as it can brown the avocados and spoil the ice cream.
Ingredients:
- Ripe avocados – 3
- Whole milk – 1 cup
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Limes – 2 or 3
- Salt – a pinch
Directions:
- Scoop out the avocado flesh and blend it with milk, and sugar.
- Add a pinch of salt and lime juice. Blend for 30 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap.
- Freeze it for 3 hours and whisk it to make sure everything is emulsified.
- Process this in the ice cream make and chill for 30 minutes. You can also serve it immediately.
3. Stone Fruit and Cream Ice Cream
This stone fruit and cream ice cream is made with peaches and cherries. But you can use plums, dates or nectarines based on the season.
This recipe is sweetened by condensed milk and the heavy cream makes it creamy without any churning. That’s right! You don’t need an ice cream maker or a whisker to make this ice cream.
Freeze it overnight to enjoy the next noon. If you love nuts, almonds taste good with all stone fruits.
Ingredients:
- Peaches – 200 g
- Fresh cherries – 170 g
- Condensed milk – 400 g
- Heavy cream – 500 ml
- Vanilla extract – 1½ tsp
- Salt – ½ tsp (a pinch)
Directions:
- Bring water to a boil in a large pan.
- Put scored peaches to the water and remove them after 30 seconds.
- Transfer them into ice water. Peel the skin and chop them.
- Wash cherries, cut each to half and remove the pits.
- To a large chilled bowl, add heavy cream, condensed milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix them well.
- Pour this into a freezer-friendly bowl. Mix in the chopped peaches and cherries.
- Freeze your ice cream for at least 8 hours. Freezing overnight will fetch you the best results.
4. No-fry Fried Ice Cream
Mexican fried ice cream is not a newbie anymore. Mexican vanilla ice cream is enclosed in a crispy coating and deep-fried in piping hot oil.
Well, this works with all ice cream flavors. But not everyone is great at deep-frying and that may cause a few mishaps. The truth is you don’t have to deep-fry your ice cream to enjoy fried ice cream.
Here is a foolproof no-fry fried ice cream recipe that looks gorgeous and makes you say “Mmmmmm..” on the first bite.
Ingredients:
- Crushed corn flake cereal – 2 cups
- Butter – ½ cup
- Sugar – 3 tbsp
- Cinnamon – 2 tsp
- Mexican vanilla ice cream
- Chocolate syrup
- Whipped cream
- Cherries
Directions:
- Line a tray with parchment paper.
- Scoop ice cream into balls and chill them in the refrigerator to firm up.
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Roast crushed cornflakes and cinnamon in it. Stir constantly until they turn golden brown.
- Remove the skillet from heat and add sugar. Stir for everything to combine well.
- Transfer this to another bowl and cool it down.
- Place each ice cream ball in this cooled corn flake crumbs and roll to coat evenly.
- Top with whipped cream and cherries. Drizzle some chocolate sauce and serve.
5. Mexican Chocolate No-Churn Ice Cream
Mexican chocolate tastes sweet with a hint of spice, thanks to cinnamon.
Make this Mexican chocolate no-churn ice cream that is sweetened with condensed milk and has a good aroma of cinnamon.
If you can’t find Mexican chocolate, use regular chocolate instead and add another teaspoon of cinnamon. Flavoring it with cayenne is optional.
Ingredients:
- Cream – 1 cup
- Condensed milk – 1 can
- Granulated Mexican chocolate – 1 cup
- Mexican vanilla extract – 1 tsp
- Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
- Salt – a pinch
Directions:
- In a stand mixer, blend milk cream until it turns smooth and thick.
- Sift granulated Mexican chocolate into a large bowl. Add condensed milk, vanilla extract, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the creamed milk to the chocolate and mix thoroughly.
- Pour this into a tray and freeze overnight.
- Scoop out and serve.
6. Cheese Ice Cream
Who doesn’t love cheese? Cheese with ice cream is not everyone’s idea of ice cream for dessert. Cheese is savory, after all. But ice creams don’t have to be sweet.
Cheese ice cream is salty and sweet. It is flavored with a splash of Mexican vanilla extract to serve as a gourmet dessert.
If you’re not much of a sweet tooth, this ice cream with cheddar cheese is your comforting sugar confection.
Ingredients:
- White sugar – 1½ cup
- All-purpose cream – ½ cup
- Fresh milk – ½ cup
- Evaporated milk – 1½ cup
- Cheddar cheese (diced) – 125 g
- Egg yolk – 1
Directions:
- Heat a medium saucepan and pour in the all-purpose cream, fresh milk, evaporated milk, sugar, and egg yolk. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Simmer the mixture until it is thickened.
- Transfer it into a bowl and mix cheddar cheese bits.
- Cover with a plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 3 hours.
- Beat for 15 minutes so that the mixture is doubled.
- Put the mixture in an aluminum pan. Cover with plastic wrap and chill it for another 2 hours (or overnight for best results).
7. Lemon Ice Cream
Lemon ice cream is sweet and has a tangy flavor.
There’s some tart but refreshingly. Lemon ice cream is as yummy as lemon meringue pie. On one of these hot summer noons, you deserve this zippy ice cream.
If you don’t like lemony flavor, reduce the quantity (stated in the recipe) by half.
This recipe uses Limoncello liqueur to prevent the ice cream from freezing rock hard. If you’re omitting it, remember to thaw the ice cream before you serve.
Ingredients:
- Half-and-half – 1½ cups
- Heavy whipping cream – 1½ cups
- Sugar – 1 cup + 1 tbsp
- Lemon juice – ½ cup
- Limoncello liqueur – ¼ cup
- Egg yolks – 6
- Mexican vanilla extract – ½ tsp
- Lemon zest of 3 lemons
Directions:
- Heat a saucepan on low flame.
- Pour heavy whipping cream and half-and-half into it. Add sugar and lemon zest. Stir with a spatula.
- Increase the flame to medium and keep stirring.
- When you see bubbles around the edge, simmer it until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid. Let it sit for 20 minutes for the lemon zest to get incorporated into the liquid.
- After 20 minutes, put the pan back onto the flame.
- When the cream hits a simmer, remove it from the heat.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the yolks. Add two spoons of cream at a time to them and whisk. Do this until you finish adding a cup of cream. If you add all of it at once, the eggs will start to scramble.
- Pour the yolk and cream mixture into the rest of the cream.
- Put the pan on low heat and stir constantly for 8 minutes with a wooden spoon.
- Turn off the heat and add vanilla extract.
- Cool the mixture and transfer it into a bowl. Cover it with a lid or plastic wrap and freeze it overnight.
- Pour the chilled mixture in an ice cream maker. Add lemon juice and limoncello liqueur. Churn for 20 minutes.
- Put the ice cream in a shallow dish and freeze for 3 hours.
8. Horchata Ice Cream
Horchata is a traditional Mexican drink that boosts your energy immediately. It is cinnamon-flavored and gives a tough competition to the regular milkshakes.
You can also make horchata ice cream that is as good as the drink. For this recipe, you will have to make two bases with horchata and custard.
Though horchata is a rice drink, when it comes to horchata ice cream, you can use almonds instead of rice.
Ingredients:
- Rice – 2 cups
- Water – 1 cup
- Egg yolks – 4
- Condensed milk – 1 can
- Evaporated milk – 1 can
- cornstarch – 1 tsp
- Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
- Cinnamon stick – 5g
Directions:
- To prepare horchata base, add rice, cinnamon, and some water to soak rice completely. Cover it with plastic wrap and freeze it overnight.
- Add rice and cinnamon to a blender. Blend them with evaporated milk, condensed milk, and some water.
- Strain the mixture and set it aside.
- To prepare the custard base, add egg yolks, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat them until smooth.
- Put horchata base to a preheated pan and pour the custard base into it slowly. Keep whisking continuously.
- You’d know the ice cream mix is done when it coats the back of a spoon. Transfer it to a bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap. Chill it in the freezer overnight.
- Churn your ice cream in the ice cream maker until it attains a thick texture.
- Put it in a bowl and freeze it for at least 2 hours. Enjoy!
Tip 1: For the eggless version, replace eggs with another tablespoon of cornstarch.
Tip 2: If you want to make your ice cream dairy-free, replace condensed milk with the same quantity of coconut milk with a half cup of agave nectar, and replace evaporated milk with the same quantity of coconut cream.
Tip 3: This ice cream is perfect to make turtle ice cream sandwiches.
9. Sweet Corn Ice Cream
That sounds new, we know. But once you taste it, there’s no going back.
Corn is a staple food in Mexico, but the sweet corn ice cream is popular in some Asian countries and North American countries too. The corn gives the dessert a sugary taste different from that of cane sugar.
There are many ways to eat sweet corn, and ice cream is our favorite way for hot summers.
Ingredients:
- Milk – 2½ cups
- Heavy cream – 2½ cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Egg yolks – 6
- Corn syrup – 2 tbsp
- Fresh sweet corn – 3 ears
- Salt – a pinch
Directions:
- To a pan, add milk, heavy cream, and sugar. Mix them till the sugar dissolves completely.
- Cut the corn kernels with a sharp knife. Chop down the cob into large chunks.
- Add both chunks and kernels to the milk mix. The sugar in the cobs will get incorporated into the milk.
- Simmer the milk over low heat.
- In another bowl, separate eggs. Beat the yolks until smooth.
- When the milk starts to give bubbles around the edge, add a ladle of milk at a time to the egg yolks. Do this until you add a quarter of your milk mixture to the yolks.
- Now, pour the yolks and milk mixture into the milk pot.
- Place it back on the stove and heat it until it coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Turn the stove off and run the liquid through a fine strainer to get rid of corn cobs and other solids.
- Discard the cobs. You can discard corn too if you don’t like them in the ice cream.
- Add a pinch of salt and corn syrup to the mixture. Mix well and freeze it for 4 hours.
- Process it in the ice cream maker for 20 minutes.
- Send it into the deep freezer for another 4 hours and it’s good for serving.
10. Paletas de Coco (Coconut Popsicles)
You should cool down your body often in summers. Coconuts play a huge role in it.
Coconut popsicles, also called paletas de coco are super easy to make, they’re soothing and perfect to calm your taste buds. These popsicles are creamy and carry the refreshing flavor of coconut.
It is flavored with Mexican vanilla blend which smells nice when paired with coconut.
Ingredients:
- Cold milk – 2½ cans
- Coconut milk – 1 can
- Table cream – 1 can
- Shredded coconut (sweetened) – 1 cup
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Mexican vanilla blend – 1 tsp
- Cinnamon – ½ tsp
- Coconut maizena – 1 packet
Directions:
- In a bow, mix maizena with one cup of cold milk. Make sure there are no clumps.
- Heat a pot over medium heat and pour one and half a cup of milk, cream, coconut milk, maizena mixture, Mexican vanilla, cinnamon, and coconut. Mix it continuously for about 10 minutes.
- When it thickens, add sugar and let it dissolve completely.
- Turn the flame off and cool the mix for 20-30 minutes.
- Once it’s cooled down, pour it in popsicle molds.
- Freeze for overnight or at least for 8 hours.
- Run them in warm water to loosen up and take out your creamy coconut popsicles.
Isn’t your summer much better with these exquisite Mexican ice creams? Undoubtedly, yes!