Carrot kesar ice cream made of carrot and kesar or saffron, it’s a flavorful frozen treat. This is made with few ingredients, and it is perfectly flavorful, creamy and sweet. A great summer recipe to try. Step by step instructions is given in the post.
Truly mouthwatering isn’t it! Have a scoop and indulge in this creamy carrot ice cream flavored with kesar.
This is ridiculously tasty ice cream, not heavy and sweet. I could go on for ever. This is the best carrot ice cream you will ever eat. I don’t say it’s a quick, every homemade ice cream needs some preparation and freezing time until you can enjoy it!!
I always wondered how to make ice cream at home and without an ice cream maker. But I learnt from my blogger friend Shrikripa to make the ice cream gelato from her blog. Later developed my own ways of making it.
Kesar ice cream is a very popular flavor among other Indian ice cream flavors. My family is clearly obsessed with this kesar flavored ice cream. This summer we have already made a batch of this no churn and no ice cream machine recipe.
You might be freaked out looking at the steps involved in the recipe, however its worth a try. This easy no churn carrot ice cream is made without an ice cream machine and creates perfect creamy ice cream every time!!
Check a quick video of how to make carrot kesar ice cream and try this in your kitchen. If you have enjoyed the video do subscribe to Dice n Cook Youtube channel for more food videos.
Are you looking for more delicious summer treats, more ice cream recipe from Dice n Cook
We like this carrot kesar ice cream because…
It’s a unique combination of carrot and saffron or kesar flavor.
Vegetarian and No Eggs: This homemade ice cream recipe is eggless or without any kind of egg mixture.
Creamy soft: This ice cream is soft and easily scoopable.
Flavorful: The kesar or saffron is so vibrant in both colors and flavor.
Better than any store-bought ice cream. A perfect way to impress your family with this after-lunch dessert.
It’s no rocky hard crystallized ice cream.
Equipment
Below are the kitchen essentials required to make this ice cream
Saucepan – Used a thick bottomed sauce pan to cook carrot and milk along with saffron.
Mixing bowl – Here I have used mixing bowl for both mixing the ice cream base with whipped cream and storing the ice cream in freezer. We finished it in a day, so have used the same mixing bowl for freezing as well. If you wish to store for long time, you can use an airtight container with a lid.
Mortar and pestle – These are used to crush and grind the saffron fine so that we get maximum flavors and colour from it.
High speed blender or mixer grinder – used for grinding cooked carrot gratings.
Electric hand blender or whisker – I have used electric hand beater to whip the fresh cream. Whipping with electric hand blender makes it easy compared to whisker. Whisker takes long time to whip the cream into soft peaks.
A steel bowl – Choose a smaller bowl than mixing bowl for whipping the cream
Ice cream Scoop – To scoop out perfect portion of ice cream and helps in serving.
Ingredients
Here is your list of ingredients for making carrot kesar ice cream. For best results use fresh ingredients.
Carrot: This adds to the colour and sweetness to the ice cream base. Always use small less fibrous young carrots. Use fresh ones from the market. Large carrots are usually fibrous and takes long time to cook. Frozen and tinned carrots do not work for this recipe.
Kesar or saffron: make sure to use good quality kesar for best results. We love this kesar or saffron brand It takes the carrot ice cream to new level.
Fresh cream: In this recipe I have used chilled 30% fat Amul fresh cream. High fat fresh cream can also be used.
Condensed milk: Used as sweetener in making this ice cream. You can also use sugar however, we have to completely dissolve the sugar and thicken it. I have used this brand of condensed milk
Whole milk: I always use whole milk for best results. This is used to make base of carrot ice cream along with carrot. We also use milk to completely cook the carrot before we puree it. Thick milk makes the cooking of carrot faster.
Hot milk: We use hot milk to extract the maximum flavors and colour from kesar or saffron.
Milk powder: It helps in thickening of the milk, carrot, kesar ice cream base.
How to make carrot kesar ice cream
For a perfect carrot kesar ice cream follow these mentioned steps.
We can divide mainly the entire process into three main parts
Make the carrot kesar ice cream base
To make the ice cream base, first we need to prepare kesar milk, then cook carrot in milk, next is to nicely mix the cooked carrot with kesar milk.
Preparation of kesar milk:
Take a cleaned mortar, add saffron or kesar strands. With the help of pestle, crush the strands to fine powder. Now add little hot milk to this crushed kesar. Close and keep this aside until we prepare carrot for ice cream base.
Cooking carrot:
Raw uncooked grated carrot cannot be added to ice cream base directly. So, we must cook them in milk on medium heat.
Heat a pan and add grated carrot, fry for few seconds. Add half the quantity of milk mentioned in the recipe. Cook the carrot until it becomes soft. Cool this mixture.
At this point we can use the cooked carrot as it is or grind it completely. I have ground half the quantity of cooked carrot and kept the other half as it is.
You can puree it into fine paste or into coarse paste. Keep this aside until we make the ice cream base.
Preparation of ice cream base:
Follow the below steps to make carrot kesar milk ice cream base.
Heat the saucepan, add milk, next add in the milk powder. Mix well and cook for few seconds. Next add in the cooked carrot paste and cooked grated carrot.
As the entire mixture is cooking together, add the soaked kesar or saffron milk. Cook the mixture with continuously stirring.
Cook until the milk evaporated, and mixture thickens. This way of cooking the carrot and saffron milk together brings out the flavors from both.
Cool the mixture and add condensed milk to this. Mix well. Carrot kesar ice cream base is ready. Keep this aside until we whip the fresh cream.
Let’s whip the fresh cream for making ice cream.
Whipping the fresh cream
Below is the method I follow to get the perfect whipped cream from fresh cream in less than 5 minutes.
Whipping the fresh cream needs all the required items to be chilled before whipping. So, we need to refrigerate the fresh cream, and keep the whipping blades, medium sized bowl in freezer (for whipping) for 2 to 3 hours. I prefer steel bowl to whip cream, as steel will stay cooler for a longer time.
If the temperature is high, you will not get good results.
I have used 30% fat Amul fresh cream. High fat fresh cream can also be used. High fat whips fast and you will get peaks soon.
If you are using fresh cream tetrapack, then refrigerate it upright, so that water content remains at the bottom. We need thick cream for whipping, that can be scrapped out from top. There shouldn’t be any water in the cream that is used for whipping
Take a big mixing bowl, add few ice cubes (these help to maintain cold condition). Keep the chilled bowl on the ice cubes. Pour the chilled cream into this chilled bowl.
Start whipping at low speed in the beginning. Next whip at high speed for approximately 4 to 5 minutes. We get soft peaks that is good enough for this ice cream. Do not whip for long, the cream curdles, and it results in butter.
Stop whipping and refrigerate the whipped cream until we prepare the base. If kept at room temperature for long time the whipped cream will deflate.
Mixing the ice cream base with whipped cream
The next step here is mixing the carrot kesar milk base with whipped cream. Gently mix the two using a spatula. Close the ice cream mixture and freeze for 1 to 2 hours.
When ice cream starts to thicken, remove from freezer and whip for 40 to 60 seconds.
Since we add grated cooked carrot, they tend to settle at the bottom, if we whip it, they get distributed evenly in the ice cream.
The other reason is this also helps to remove any ice crystal formed at the surface.
Freezing the ice cream
The ice cream mixture is closed and transferred back to freezer. Its frozen until you can easily scoop the ice cream.
Since we finished the ice cream in a day, I have used aluminum foil to close the ice cream during freezing. However if you wish to store it for more than day, use a lid to close.
How to store carrot kesar ice cream
Like any other ice cream, carrot kesar ice cream is best stored in a freezer. Carrot kesar ice cream can be stored in freezer upto a week.
It’s always good to store the finished ice cream in freezer wrapped well. When you plan to serve, take it out for 5 minutes to give a bit of thaw, making it easy to scoop later.
Place back the ice cream in freezer covered. Do not keep for long time at room temperature, this changes the texture of ice cream.
Serving Suggestions
Scoop out carrot kesar ice cream, serve it in a bowl or in waffle cones. Serve and enjoy immediately with you friends and family.
This can be also be served with some nuts or chocolate sauce. If you love some fresh carrot gratings, then top the scoop with grated carrot. You can enjoy with warm brownies or gulab jamun. You can also top with some chocolate chips.
Tips and tricks for carrot kesar ice cream recipe
Have you ever tried homemade ice cream, it isn’t a rocket science. It’s pretty easy, however a bit more extra work, if you are ready to make everything from scratch without a ice cream machine then make sure to follow these tips to get a perfect ice cream every time.
1. We must always allow ice cream base to cool to room temperature before mixing it with whipped cream.
2. If you are making whipped cream at home, make sure to chill the whipping blades, vessel used in whipping, for atleast 2 to 3 hours. Everything should be really cold, this will help the cream form peaks and prevent from heating up.
Also keep some ice cubes ready to have chilled atmosphere.
3. Like I have said earlier, the important point is using good quality carrots and kesar so that flavour is dominant with bits of carrot.
4. If you want more of carrot gratings in your ice cream, simply do not puree the cooked carrot.
5. If you leave the ice cream open in the freezer, they become freezer burnt and ice crystals form. So, it should be always covered.
6. We have to fold in all the ingredients gently and not to deflate the cream.
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Recipe Card
Carrot Kesar Ice Cream
Equipment
- sauce pan
- Mixing bowl
- Mortar and pestle
- High speed blender
- A steel bowl
- Ice cream Scoop
Ingredients
- 1 cup Carrot grated fine
- ¾ tsp Kesar or saffron
- 2 tbsp Milk powder
- 400 ml Fresh cream Amul; 30% fat
- 300 ml Condensed milk
- ¾ cup Milk
- 2 tbsp Hot milk
Instructions
Make the carrot kesar base
Preparation of kesar milk:
- Take a cleaned mortar, add saffron or kesar strands. With the help of pestle, crush the strands to fine powder. Now add hot milk to this crushed kesar. Close and keep this aside until we prepare carrot for base.
Cooking carrot:
- Heat a pan and add grated carrot, fry for few seconds. Add half the quantity of milk mentioned in the recipe. Cook the carrot until it becomes soft. Cool this mixture.
- At this point we can use the cooked carrot as it is or grind it completely. I have ground half the quantity of cooked carrot and kept the other half as it is.
- You can puree it into fine paste or into coarse paste. Keep this aside until we make the ice cream base.
Preparation of ice cream base:
- To make the ice cream base we are cooking the carrot and saffron together. Follow the below steps.
- Heat the saucepan, add milk, next add in the milk powder. Mix well and cook for few seconds. Next add in the cooked carrot paste and cooked grated carrot.
- As the entire mixture is cooking together, add the soaked kesar or saffron milk. Cook the mixture with continuously stirring.
- Cook until the milk evaporates, and mixture thickens. This way of cooking the carrot and saffron milk together brings out the maximum flavors from both.
- Cool the mixture and add condensed milk to this. Mix well. Carrot kesar ice cream base is ready.
- Let’s whip the fresh cream for making ice cream.
Whipping the cream:
- Below is the method I follow to get the perfect whipped cream from fresh cream in less than 5 minutes.
- Whipping the fresh cream needs all the required items to be chilled before whipping. So, we need to refrigerate the fresh cream, and keep the whipping blades, medium sized bowl in freezer (for whipping) for 2 to 3 hours.
- If the temperature is high, you will not get good results.
- I have used 30% fat Amul fresh cream. High fat fresh cream can also be used. High fat whips fast and you will get peaks soon.
- If you are using fresh cream tetrapack, then refrigerate it upright, so that water content remains at the bottom. We need thick cream for whipping, that can be scrapped out from top.
- Take a big mixing bowl, add few ice cubes (these help to maintain cold condition). Keep the chilled bowl on the ice cubes. Pour the chilled cream into this chilled bowl.
- Start whipping at low speed in the beginning. Next whip at high speed for approximately 4 to 5 minutes. We get soft peaks that is good enough for this ice cream. Stop whipping and refrigerate the whipped cream until we prepare the base. If kept at room temperature for long time the whipped cream will deflate. Do not whip for long, the cream curdles, and it results in butter.
Mixing the base with cream:
- The next step here is mixing the carrot kesar milk base with whipped cream. Gently mix the two using a spatula. Close the ice cream mixture and freeze for 1 to 2 hours.
- When ice cream starts to thicken, remove from freeze and whip for 40 to 60 seconds. Since we add grated cooked carrot, they tend to settle at the bottom, if we whip it, they get distributed evenly in the ice cream. The other reason is this also helps to remove any ice crystal formation at the surface.
Freezing the ice cream:
- The ice cream mixture is closed and transferred back to freezer. Its frozen until you can easily scoop the ice cream easily.
How to store
- Like any other ice cream, carrot kesar ice cream is best stored in a freezer. Carrot kesar ice cream can be stored in freezer upto a week.
- It’s always good to store the finished ice cream in freezer wrapped well. When you plan to serve, take it out for 5 minutes to give a bit of thaw, making it easy to scoop later. Place back the ice cream in freezer covered. Do not keep for long time at room temperature, this changes the texture of ice cream.
How to serve
- Scoop out carrot kesar ice cream, serve it in a bowl or in waffle cones. Serve and enjoy immediately with you friends and family.
- This can be also be served with some nuts or chocolate sauce. If you love some fresh carrot gratings, then top the scoop with grated carrot. You can enjoy with warm brownies or gulab jamun.
- You can also top with some chocolate chips.
Video
Notes
This ice cream recipe was originally published in 2018, I have updated with detailed recipe and new photographs.
Substitutes and recipe variations
1. Pressure cooking carrots: Grated carrot can be pressure cooked with milk until they become soft instead of cooking in the pan. We can use up all the cooked carrot gratings instead of grinding half of it.
2. We can add whole saffron instead of crushing them in mortar and pestle. However, you will find strands in the ice cream bites.
3. If you are not using condensed milk, and plan to use castor sugar then we must use a thickening agent like arrow root powder or corn starch or tapioca starch for thickening and stabilizing.
4. You can use artificial whipped cream as well instead of whipping the fresh cream. Few of the super markets also have whipping cream powder, if you get hold it, follow manufacturers instructions and whip it.
5. Add-ons You can add a variety of mix-in to this no-churn carrot ice cream before placing it in the freezer.
Finely chopped cherries make a great add ons. Add few spoons of mini chocolate chips into the ice cream mixture. We can also add some cream cheese, then follow the recipe as given in recipe card to make it cheesecake carrot kesar ice cream.
We can also add some crushed peanut brittles or some shortbread cookies. You can also swirl in some roasted almonds pieces.
Some roasted walnuts also make a great choice.
As add-ons you can use dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips.
6. Flavor variations If you are not comfortable with kesar flavour, you can replace with cardamom or nutmeg. However the colour of ice cream doesn’t have the bright yellow hue as seen when we use kesar.
Frequently asked questions
What if I don’t have hand blender?
If you don’t have a hand blender, not to worry. The alternative is mixer grinder. Thick fresh cream can be whipped using mixer. You can see soft peaks for nearly after 4 to 5 minutes.
Which fresh cream to be used?
I have used store brought fresh cream in this recipe. Heavy cream can also be used.
Can I use homemade fresh cream?
I have never tried making ice cream from homemade cream. However, do not add any water while you are whipping, take only thick cream to make whipped cream.
How long does this last in the freezer?
It’s so delicious and irresistible, doesn’t stay for long in the freezer!! Your family will end up finish it. It remains good for a week in freezer.
Can we use canned carrots?
I don’t recommend using canned carrots, always use fresh grated carrots to make this ice cream.
Why isn’t my ice cream colour not same as yours?
The colour of this ice cream is dependent mainly on the type of kesar and quantity of kesar you use. If the strands are not crushed or cooked properly, the bright yellow orange hue varies.
Can we make it in advance?
Yes, the procedure is time consuming, so you’ll probably make it at least a day before you plan to serve the scoops.
Why do we whip again after 1 to 2 hours of freezing?
This step is important to make sure the grated carrot gets evenly distributed in the ice cream. When we mix the whipped cream and carrot kesar base, there is always chances of carrot getting settled at the bottom. So stirring prevents this. You can use electric handheld blender or mix it well using a spatula.
However, do not whip for long time, you might end up deflating the cream.
How to perfectly scoop ice cream
Use a metal or steel scooper to perfectly scoop out the ice cream. You can simply keep the ice cream box in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes. This will evenly soften the ice cream.
Pavithra M Adiga
I am a passionate foodie and food photographer with love to document easy, simple to follow, healthy vegetarian recipes in Dice n Cook.
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mondayswitholiver
I can only with for summer here in the north – but this may be worth pretending its summer! Time to dust off the ice cream maker!
Dice n Cook
thank you
Divya Deepak Rao
Hi Pavithra
This sounds and looks so delicious and might I add, a unique medley of flavors! Love that it doesn’t need an ice cream machine!
Dice n Cook
yes, no ice cream machine, glad you liked the flavors
Vidya Narayan
I love the combination of carrot and kesar. Absolutely delicious and tempting.
Dice n Cook
thank you so much