How to Make Ice Cream in a Stasher Bag

What can’t you do with a stasher bag? You can cook an omelette, make a tender sous vide steak, pop popcorn… and even make homemade ice cream! All you’ll need are a few simple ingredients, and a little bit of patience, to whip up an all-American treat perfect for a hot summer day.

Making ice cream in a stasher bag is a fun, mess free summer activity for kids, a great portable dessert idea for BBQs or picnics at the park (just throw a big bag of ice in a cooler, along with a carton of half and half and some sugar and salt, and make ice cream on-the-spot!), or an easy way to satisfy an ice cream craving. The recipe below makes a generous single serving, but you can comfortably double it in a sandwich-sized stasher bag for a treat for two.

How to Make Ice Cream in a Stasher Bag

Ingredients:

• ½ cup half and half
• 1 Tb sugar 

Add ins for flavor:

• Vanilla: ¼ tsp vanilla extract 
• Strawberry: ¼ cup chopped strawberries, ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• Chocolate: 2 tsp cocoa powder, ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• Mint chocolate chip: 1/8 cup mini chocolate chips and a few drops of peppermint extract

Experiment with your own combinations- crushed cookies or candy, flavorings, and fruits!

Directions: 

Place ice cream mixture inside of a sandwich-sized stasher bag, seal firmly (try to squeeze out excess air), and nest it inside a half-gallon sized stasher.

Add 3 cups of crushed ice and 1/3 cup rock salt (normal table salt will work in a pinch!) to the half-gallon stasher.

Shake, squish and flip the bag gently for 10 minutes, or until the ice cream mixture has hardened to your liking (subtract a few minutes for soft serve, add a few minutes for a harder texture).

Eat the ice cream right out of the bag, or transfer to a bowl or cone. Add additional toppings if desired. You’ve just made your own ice cream in under 15 minutes!

Commercial ice creams are full of chemical preservatives and emulsifying agents that are hard on the digestive system, like Butyraldehyde (derived from butane), Benzyl acetate (carcinogenic agent used in paints and solvents), Polysorbate 80 (a chemical that keeps ice cream from melting quickly, but is also being tested for use as birth control since it’s known to cause fertility problems).

Making your own ice cream means that you’re bypassing all of the unhealthy additives, and only using real-food ingredients. It saves money, too- a quart of organic half and half is cheaper than a quart of organic ice cream!

If you try this out as a healthy, fun, naturally-minded treat, we’d love to know what flavors you tried! Tag us on Instagram to show off your creation.