How to Make Snow Ice Cream
My snow ice cream recipe uses only four ingredients, and it's the perfect way to celebrate a fresh snowfall! I've been making this exact recipe for creamy, vanilla-flavored snow cream since I was a kid, and it always makes a snow day feel just a little more special.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Snow Ice Cream
- ⏰ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- ❄️ Flavor Profile: Sweet, creamy, frosty vanilla goodness! Imagine if ice cream and slushies had a vanilla-flavored baby
- ⛄️ Good For: Snow day fun, family projects, easy sweet treats, post-sledding treats (pair with with my slow cooker hot cocoa!)
- 🧡 Difficulty: I've been making this since I was 4 years old!
"I just want to say THANK YOU! for this! I shared this post with lots of my friends who have kids, and we have all made it! It is such a neat idea, and it is so so so yummy!"
- Justine -
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hey friend, we're diving deep into childhood nostalgia with this one! This snow ice cream recipe is the exact recipe my family has been using since I was a wee little one sledding down the hills of Southern Indiana. It's fun to make, it's easy, it requires no speciality ingredients, and best of all, it's SO tasty!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- No Special Ingredients: Who wants to drive to the store after a snow storm? Hard pass. This recipe uses ingredients you already have on hand.
- Super Tasty: Packed full of vanilla flavor, this snow ice cream is as tasty as it is fun.
- Tips for All Snow: Dry snow? Wet snow? Doesn't matter. I'll show you how to make snow ice cream with any kind of snow.
- So Easy To Make: Literally a toddler could do this!
- Fun to Customize: Color your snow ice cream, use sprinkles, flavor however you want! Have fun and experiment.
❄️ The Ingredients You Need
- Fresh Snow: If you're thinking ahead, place a bowl out on an elevated surface before the snow starts and let it fill up, otherwise scoop snow from a clean spot. Avoid areas with pollution, dirt, leaves, etc. And obviously, avoid yellow snow. 😉 If you're concerned, you can always use snow from a snow cone machine. We have this one and LOVE it!
- Milk of Any Kind: I've made this with cow's milk, oat milk, coconut milk, almond milk-it really doesn't matter! I've even made it at Christmas using my easy eggnog recipe. Use what you have.
- Granulated Sugar: Regular ole white sugar is what works best here.
- Vanilla Extract: What gives the snow ice cream it's flavor!
- Sprinkles and Food Coloring: Optional, but adds a bit more fun!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Use honey or maple syrup: My kiddo's favorite snow ice cream is made with maple syrup because she loves the maple flavor! Swap in honey or maple syrup for the granulated sugar if you'd like.
- Use sweetened condensed milk: Some folks swap out the sugar and milk for a can of sweetened condensed milk in their snow cream. It is absolutely delicious, but I never have sweetened condensed milk on hand when there is a snowstorm!
- Use flavors other than vanilla: Vanilla is the classic snow ice cream flavor, but kinda like with my easy sugar cookie icing, you can also swap in any other extract-lemon, almond, mint, maple, whatever!
☃️ How to Make Snow Ice Cream
Step 1: Collect fresh, clean snow. Get a giant bowl worth!
Step 2: Combine snow with sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir well.
Step 3: Depending on the moisture content of the snow, you might need to add more fresh snow to get the right texture.
Step 4: The right texture is slightly thicker than a slushie. Add more snow to thicken and more milk if you need to thin out.
Step 5: Divide your snow ice cream into separate bowls and tint with a few drops of food coloring, if desired.
Step 4: You can serve immediately, or pop it into the freezer for 30-60 minutes for a more solid texture.
🙋🏻♀️ Snow Ice Cream Recipe FAQs
Snow ice cream uses fresh snow, milk, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Some recipe call for sweetened condensed milk.
Yes! Snow ice cream is a mixture of fresh fallen snow, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract to make a sweet snow day treat.
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Nail down the texture: Some snow is light and fluffy (dry snow) and some is dense and heavy (wet snow). You can make snow ice cream with either, but you might need to add more or less snow during the mixing process to get the right texture. You're looking for a final texture of a very thick slushie.
- Prep ahead: If you know a snowstorm is coming, place the largest bowl you have in an open area on an elevated surface (like a patio table). That way the bowl will fill with fresh, clean snow as it comes down.
- Stay safe: If you live near a heavy industrial area, busy roadway, or other area with air quality concerns, make your snow ice cream using a snow cone machine or try my no-fail mason jar ice cream! Never use snow from near where ice melt or salt has been put down.
☕️ More Fun Family Snow Day Recipes
If you tried this Snow Ice Cream Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Snow Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 cups fresh fallen snow plus more to adjust texture
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup milk of any kind, plus more to adjust texture
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- food coloring optional
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the snow sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Stir well to combine.
- Depending on the texture of your snow, you may need to add more milk to thin it out or more snow to thicken it up. You're looking for the texture of a very thick slushie.
- Divide the snow ice cream into separate bowls and tint with food coloring, if desired.
- Enjoy immediately for a softer snow ice cream, or freeze for 30-60 minutes for a more solid ice cream. Top with sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
- Only use fresh, clean snow from an area low in pollutants. If you're concerned, you can always use snow from a snow cone machine.
- How much snow and milk you add to the recipe will depend on the moisture content of the snow. For very heavy, wet snow, you'll need less snow and less milk. For very dry, light snow, you'll need more snow and maybe more milk.
- Snow ice cream will get very hard when left in the freezer for a few hours, so it's best to eat it immediately.
- You can swap out the granulated sugar for maple syrup or honey. I've had better luck with mixing in maple syrup. Start with 2 tablespoons, then add more to taste.
- Try other flavors: swap in lemon, almond, maple, coconut, or mint extract for the vanilla extract. Start with ¼ teaspoon and add more if desired.
- This recipe works great with non-dairy milks like oatmilk and almond milk.
Nutrition
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Awesome idea...I have twin sons that have autism & they will probably enjoy this hands on ice cream making 🙂
If you're that worried about eating snow... and truth be told, If its a clean pile, from a deep snowfall, i'm not overly concerned..
but yeah, if you're that worried, use your blender on some ice cubes, until they are powdery, (it may take a high powered blender to do this, my kitchenaid does it just fine.) and then add the rest of the ingredients.
Viola, faux snow (sneaux?) ice cream.
When I do this, I go for rosewater and simple syrup, with maybe a squeeze of lemon.
That's a genius idea! I never had a problem with eating snow, but for people that are a little skittish, this is perfect!
Bah! Why do I have to stumble across this the day after all our snow has been rained down into dirty ice lumps?? I can't wait for more fluffy, fresh, clean snooooowwwwwww!!!!
Oh, don't you worry, we have plenty of winter left. There will be more!
Excellent! I like using rosewater for flavoring.
Oooh! I never thought of that. That'd be a fun dessert for a winter themed wedding. "Rosewater-scented snow sorbet"
I'm so glad someone else remembers snow ice cream! My mom always used to let us have snow ice cream for one breakfast when it snowed enough. Back before raw eggs were going to kill us all, she sometimes would beat an egg with the milk to make it more like a healthy breakfast, I guess. 🙂
We used eggs sometimes too, but I'm getting enough flack for eating polluted snow, I can't even imagine the comments I would have seen if I put a raw egg in it. 😛
How much honey would you use in place of sugar?
Hmmm, I'd say start with 2-3 tablespoons and then add more if it needs to be sweeter. Let me know how it turns out!
I told my husband I wasn't crazy. he grew up in WY and CO and never had snow ice cream. I had very little snow as a kid since I lived in WA and it rained a lot and snowed very little but best friend and I would make this with her mom every chance we got!
My husband grew up in Canada (with a TON of snow) and said he never made snow ice cream. Crazy!
this recipe is also good with sweetened condensed milk 🙂
OH MY! I bet it is! Okay. Now I seriously want it to snow again so I can try this. 🙂
We always used sweetened condensed milk, honey, cinnamon and vanilla. Sometimes we'd mix in almonds or other nuts left over from all of the Christmas parties. Our snowfalls were so deep that we'd wait for it to start snowing, and then set out four or five huge mixing bowls and then go back later to collect the snow. : )
Mmm! That sounds so good. Like cold oatmeal!
I've always lived too close to factories, highways, large towns, or a coal power plant to do anything like this. Eating snow still seems really taboo to me.
Yeah, you've got to make your own decision about it, for sure! I grew up in the country, so it was never a thought that even crossed my mind as a kid. Now, I live in a medium size town and I figure that eating 1/2 cup of snow once a year isn't going to kill me, even if it has some pollutants in it. 🙂
cool! i wanted to make this when it snowed.
Go for it! You won't be sorry. So fun! 🙂
This post reminds me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder book Little House in the Big Woods when they make maple snow candy! I've always, always wanted to try making snow candy and ice cream, but alas, I live in Arizona.
Oooh! What is this maple snow candy you speak of?
take maple syrup, heat it to soft ball stage and drizzle it over snow. you can then eat it right off the snow or you can butter your hands and pull it into taffy for later treats. either way, it is delicious!
Oooh! That sounds like fun. We'll definitely do that next time it snows. Thanks!
Next time I am home in Idaho, I must make snow icecream. Living in the PNW we didn't have much snow so not much chance for such a lovely kid thing! Hmmmm.... Love the green.
I love your beautiful photographs as well!
Thank you! The green was my favorite as well. 🙂
Next time I am home in Idaho, I must make snow icecream. Living in the PNW we didn't have much snow so not much chance for such a lovely kid thing! Hmmmm.... Love the green.
I just want to say THANK YOU! for this! I shared this post with lots of my friends who have kids, and we have all made it! It is such a neat idea, and it is so so so yummy!
THANK YOU!
Yay! I'm so glad you and your friends liked it. This was definitely a standard in our house.
Since I have an ample amount of snow outside...and zero ice cream in the fridge....its time to make icecream! yippee! Thanks for sucha good idea!
I love it!!
You make me smile with fond memories.
-gw-
I live (and grew up) in WI, so I'm not sure how I've managed to live 31 years without sampling snow ice cream! I certainly won't let my daughter miss out on this experience, thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Same here! I grew up in WI, but I had never heard of this before. We totally missed out:)
Oh. my. goodness! That is so cute! It does not snow where I live but I am SO enjoying your photos!
This is so fun! We did not have this when I was a kid, but I can (and will) eat it like a kid now. And there's fresh snow falling as we speak, even. 🙂
Go make some now! And make sure you make it hot pink or electric purple or some other ridiculously bright hue you would have made it when you were eight. 🙂