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Snow Ice Cream

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This fun snow ice cream recipe is super fun and easy to make in just 5 minutes!

Snow Ice Cream

When life gives you snow, make snow ice cream! ♡

If you’ve never whipped up a batch of this fun snow day treat, it couldn’t be easier. All you need are 4 simple ingredients, a bowl and spoon, and a few scoops of fresh snow (or shaved ice). And in less than 5 minutes, a cute and legit-delicious bowl of snow cream can be yours to enjoy!

It’s the perfect quick and easy activity for kiddos of all ages (or, hey, any of us kids at heart). And it’s of course completely customizable with whatever different flavors, nuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles, or any other ice cream add-ins that you love best.

So the next time you wake up to a winter wonderland, go scoop up some fresh snow and let’s make some snow ice cream together!

Snow Ice Cream Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Snow Ice Cream Ingredients

Snow Ice Cream Ingredients

Here are the 5 simple ingredients that you will need to make this snow ice cream recipe:

  • Milk: You can use just about any kind of milk that you prefer for this recipe — dairy or plant-based, plain or vanilla or chocolate, sweetened or unsweetened, up to you!
  • Sugar: We typically make snow cream with basic white granulated sugar, but feel free to use whatever type and amount of sweetener you prefer.
  • Vanilla extract: We’ll add a little splash of vanilla extract as our main flavor.
  • Fine sea salt: I also highly recommend adding a pinch of fine sea salt to bring out the vanilla flavor.
  • Fresh snow (or shaved ice): Finally, you’ll need about 8 cups of fresh clean snow. Or if you prefer not to use snow, you’re welcome to use shaved ice instead. I recommend placing the snow in a metal mixing bowl or a chilled glass bowl to prevent it from melting if you bring the snow inside.

Scoop of Snow Ice Cream in Bowl

Snow Cream Tips

Detailed instructions are included in the recipe below for how to make snow ice cream. But here are a few extra tips to keep in mind too!

  • Freeze snow while prepping: I’m sure this goes without saying, but fresh snow melts quickly! So I recommend either popping your bowl of fresh snow in the freezer while you prep the other ingredients. Or wait to go scoop up the fresh snow (or make the shaved ice) until you have already whisked the other four ingredients together.
  • Adjust the sweetener to your liking: Please feel totally free to add however much (or little) sweetener that you prefer. If you are using a sweetened/flavored milk, you will likely also need to use less sweetener.
  • Add sprinkles just before serving: Most sprinkles will start to bleed their coloring into the ice cream after a minute or two, which is no big deal — they’ll still be delicious. :) However if you would like the sprinkles to look nice when serving the ice cream, I recommend waiting to add them until the very last moment.
  • Enjoy immediately: In our experience, fresh snow ice cream doesn’t hold up all that well in the freezer. So it’s best to enjoy immediately. :)

Snow Ice Cream in Bowl with Sprinkles

Fun Variations

Here are a few ideas for fun add-ins you can mix into or sprinkle on top of your snow ice cream:

  • Cocoa powder: To make chocolate snow cream, mix 1 heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder into the milk mixture before adding in the snow.
  • Chocolate chips: Semisweet, white, butterscotch, vegan, etc.
  • Cookies/candies: Crumbled Oreos or gingersnaps, chopped candy bars, M&Ms, etc.
  • Fruit: Chopped berries, cherries, peaches, pineapple, etc.
  • Nuts: Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, etc.
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Snow Ice Cream

Snow Ice Cream

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 76 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: About 2-4 servings 1x

Description

This 5-minute recipe for homemade snow ice cream is a sweet way to celebrate a snow day!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup milk (any kind)
  • 1/3 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • 8 cups clean snow or shaved ice (more or less, depending on the density of the snow)
  • optional topping: sprinkles!

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk milk, sugar, vanilla and salt together until combined. Go scoop up some fresh (clean!) snow, and immediately stir it into the milk mixture until you reach your desired consistency.  (The ice cream should be fluffy, not runny.  But it melts quickly, so dive in quickly.)
  2. Top with sprinkles or other ice cream toppings if desired, and enjoy!


Notes

*Consume fresh snow at your own risk.

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240 comments on “Snow Ice Cream”

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  1. Snow ice cream is always on our list of things to make on a snowy day! Beautiful photos!

  2. I love snow cream. I make mine with a can of condensed milk and snow. Sooo good! Wished it snowed more here in Tennessee!!

    • I used 2 cans of evaporated milk and made a double batch. The richness of the evap milk really made it taste like homemade ice cream!

  3. What a genius idea! This looks like the most adorable ice-cream ever, and the sprinkles you used are super cute ; )

  4. Ever since I’ve wanted to do this, we’ve had no snow! Love the sprinkles.

  5. How fun! My kids will love this idea! Thanks, Ali!

  6. This is a great idea. Thank you for sharing… Does it really taste like ice cream? Thank you, again. Happy New Year

  7. How much fun is this?! Our NYC snow is downright nasty at this point, but I’ll be armed with this recipe next time we get a blast. Thanks for this adorable post.

  8. delicious! want to try chai-flavored next!!!

  9. SO cool!! I have tons of snow here, so this will be happening!

  10. This sounds delicious and fun but I’ve never heard of it. Is it safe to eat the snow? I have heard that it may be full of toxins or pollution. Not sure… anyone know?

  11. O MY GOODNESS. I USED TO LIVE UP NORTH AND I LOVED SNOW ICE CREAM. IT WAS BETTER THEN HOME MADE. HAVEN’T HAD IT FOR YEARS BUT IT SURE LOOKS GOOD. YOU BROUGHT BACK SOME GOOD MEMORIES. THANKS

  12. Thank you for this post! I saw it yesterday and immediately made snow ice cream with my 2-year old. It tastes like slushy vanilla ice cream. She loved it! Great idea.

  13. Made it and we love it! Thanks for the fun recipe!

  14. What a fun idea! We’ve had so much of the white stuff lately…I’m totally going to try this the next time we get a fresh snowfall!

  15. Do NOT feed this to your children!No matter how clean snow looks, as it falls from the sky it collects all kinds of pollutants that could make them sick! Its no different than collecting a glass of rain water and drinking it.

  16. We made this ALL the time as kids!! Now I’m wishing for some fresh snow so I could have a little treat!!

  17. This is so clever! Glowing up in Alaska, we just put some birch syrup on it and called it good…but I think this is definitely more ice cream like :)

  18. Eating this is my favorite memory of first grade! So excited to find out how to do it as an adult :)

  19. Thanks for the great idea! We made this on Monday and it was a big hit here. I am actually going to share a link on my blog on Friday! Hope you are staying warm there!

  20. Fresh snow or not, you shouldn’t eat snow it’s dirty lol just get shredded ice

  21. I grew up on snow cream but we always waited until the second snow (it was cleaner we thought). Ha!

  22. Living in Western Australia, we don’t have snow. However, this is too awesome to not make. I will be making this as a treat for my kids today using the shaved ice! Will let you know how it goes!!!

  23. There’s bugs in snow. I did an experiment in class when I was younger, we brought fresh snow inside and waited for it to melt and it was full of little tiny bugs that you could barely see. Doesn’t matter if the Snow is fresh, there’s still stuff in it. I would definitely try this with shaved ice though.

  24. thx well i am a kid and we have been getting a lot of snow latly and i love ice cream and when i found this well i know what i am going to do when my mom gets home

  25. This is SUCH a fun recipe :) I love it!

  26. It looks like mashed potatoes with sprinkles!

  27. *This* Georgia girl is excited to try this with my two small kids. We have a light, fluffy coat of snow outside. I set out a deep casserole dish a few hours ago, and we’ll whip up a batch after our homemade pita pizzas this evening. Blending some berries and spinach (shhh!) to add to the ice cream with the Vitamix. Thanks for the recipe! :)

  28. This sounds interesting but I would never use snow from outside, that is probably one of the dirtiest things. I guess going the shaved ice route would be the one to go. Most people don’t know but even though snow appears to be clean it contains so much bacteria and you can get quite sick from eating it.

    • Born and raised in Wyoming and been eating snow since I was 3 years old. Never gotten sick from it, and people consume a lot of food everyday that has a lot more bacteria in it than snow. As long as you aren’t eating snow that’s been a high traffic area for animals, or been walked through…you’ll be just fine :)

  29. After getting hit with a heavy winter blast and wondering what to do with all of this snow~I came across your *snow ice cream* recipe, made it, … with lots of purple and blue sprinkles and my daughter and I LOVED it! Thanks for posting this :) we’ll make it again and again!

  30. loved it never know you could make ice cream from snow but it was the best

  31. :-O Now I wish it snowed in Cali. This is so cool. Reminds me of something my Canadian friend showed me in Montreal when it snowed.

  32. Just made our very first batch of snow ice cream. Substituted half & half for the milk and added a little extra vanilla. The whole family now has a new favorite wintertime treat! Tasted exactly like homemade vanilla ice cream! Thank you Ali!

    • Our family loves peppermint ice cream so I modified the recipe. I substituted half and half as well. I also added strong peppermint tea to the half and half totaling one cup of liquid. Then used peppermint sprinkles on top.

  33. It’s snowing here in Iowa… Again!!! Hubby is out of town! I think Snow Ice Cream is totally in order for the kids and I! Thanks Ali and Pinterest!

  34. I just made it for my family and they loved it! This is the best ice cream I have ever made.

  35. Very cool, but……..AE Milk! you must live in my home town. (Des Moines, Iowa) I have not thought about Anderson Erickson in YEARS. I am old enough(50)to remember (barely!)home delivery in glass milk bottles from AE.

    • My husband is from Oskaloosa Iowa originally and swears by AE :) I must admit…their chocolate milk is outta this world! Also, I love the hyvee brand vanilla haha. Only the midwest-ians (new word perhaps) know about hyvee

  36. In the midst of a crazy Portland, OR snowstorm, this simple and delicious recipe just became a new tradition for our little family. Thank you! :)

  37. I am off to try this right now! We just got some snow in NC and I had to find a recipe for snow cream. We never made it where I am from (Ohio)–looks and sounds good!

  38. Perfect for the Snowpocalypse we’re having out in the Northeast today!

  39. What a lovely recipe! I was all out of milk so I used heavy whipping cream and used coconut sugar instead of white sugar and it came out great! My 3 year old gobbled it up! Thanks for sharing! :)

  40. Perfect and just what we needed on this 2nd day of snow. My mom used to make snow cream, but I couldn’t remember the specifics. Thank you!

  41. Ummmmmmm Your NOT suppose to eat snow. Do you know many pollutants are in that snow?! DO NOT EAT IT!!

  42. We drink our rainwater, so I don’t fear pollutants where I am. Made this with whipping cream, and it was delicious! I froze the extra, and ate it the next day. To my surprise the texture was more like ice cream! We’ll definitely be making this again. Thank you!

  43. Made snow ice cream before this and I never really used this many ingredients since we always just put a tiny bit of extract and called it good to go. When i made this it sort of just tasted like vanilla extract but then I read the comments and everybody else said it was really goo so i think it was my own mistake.      :)

  44. I used tropical punch kool-aid.
    Gma asks if instant pudding works too.?

  45. Does anyone have any advice on making a chocolate version of this? My Gram used to make chocolate snow ice cream flavored with chocolate syrup, but she’s since passed and we can’t find her recipe. I know the sugar had to be reduced because the syrup has sugar in it, but I can’t remember by how much.

  46. Getting about 2-3 feet of snow here so I’m glad I found this recipe today!!