How to fix hard ice cream
Learn how to adjust your ice cream recipe to make it softer and easier to scoop.
A common problem with homemade ice cream (and even some commercial brands) is that it freezes too hard and can be impossible to scoop.
One solution, of course, is to let it warm up on the counter before serving. But there is another, much more satisfying solution: adjust the recipe so that your ice cream is perfectly scoopable, straight out of the freezer.
Choosing the right serving temperature
Serving temperature is the temperature at which your ice cream has the texture you want: firm enough to hold its shape, but soft enough to scoop and eat comfortably. The higher the serving temperature is, the longer you will need to let it warm up before it's ready to scoop.
Most typical home freezers are set to around -18°C (0°F), but you should check your own settings (or if it's old, verify with a thermometer) to be sure. Once you know your freezer temperature, that value should be the lower limit of your serving temperature.
While you could target the same temperature as your freezer, it might already be too soft by the time you're done scooping. A good rule of thumb is to add 2-3 degrees to your freezer temperature to give yourself some wiggle room. Once you make your recipe and taste it, you can (and should!) adjust your target to get the firmness you prefer.
For the typical home freezer temperature of -18°C (0°F), a good serving temperature target is around -15°C (5°F). This will give you ice cream that is firm but scoopable, and it will be ready to eat right out of the freezer.
Dialing in your recipe to hit the serving temperature
Now that you have your target serving temperature, you can use the ice cream calculator to build your recipe. The calculator will show you the estimated serving temperature of your recipe based on the ingredients and their proportions.
To soften an ice cream recipe, you usually want to:
- Add ingredients with strong freezing point depression (like sugar, alcohol, or salt)
- Minimize the amount of water (also known as increasing total solids)
While doing so, you need to keep an eye on the three most important metrics: Serving temperature, sweetness, and total solids. Sometimes, it isn't possible to hit all three targets at once without reaching for a new ingredient.
Ingredients that lower the freezing point
There is no single best ingredient for softening ice cream. Each one has different effects on freezing point, sweetness, and total solids, so most balanced recipes use a combination to achieve the desired texture and sweetness.
Granulated sugar FPDF 100%Sweetness 100%
Granulated sugar, or sucrose, is the standard starting point. It adds sweetness and solids while lowering the freezing point. Adding more will soften a hard recipe, but it can quickly make the ice cream too sweet. For that reason, sucrose is often used alongside a less-sweet ingredient with stronger anti-freezing power.
Skim milk powder FPDF 67%Sweetness 8%
Skim milk powder (or nonfat dry milk) is a fantastic ingredient for softening ice cream because lactose has very little sweetness. It allows you to add more dairy flavor and solids without introducing more water or fat.
Dextrose FPDF 190%Sweetness 70%
Dextrose is one of the most useful tools in an ice cream pantry. It has nearly twice the freezing point depression of sucrose but is only about 70% as sweet. It's common to replace up to 50% of the sucrose in a recipe with dextrose to soften it dramatically.
Vodka and other alcohols FPDF 247%Sweetness 0%
Alcohol is one of the strongest common freezing point depressants. A small amount of vodka can dramatically soften ice cream without adding any sweetness or other flavor.
Salt FPDF 1,111%Sweetness 0%
Salt has very strong anti-freezing power, but flavor limits how much you can use. It is recommended to add a small amount to any recipe to enhance the other flavors.
Allulose FPDF 190%Sweetness 70%
Allulose is one of the most popular sugar substitutes in ice cream, because it behaves remarkably like dextrose while contributing only a tenth of the calories. Large amounts (20g for a typical adult) may cause digestive discomfort, so it is best used in moderation.
Glycerin FPDF 370%Sweetness 60%
Food grade glycerin (also known as vegetable glycerine or glycerol) is a sugar alcohol with very strong freezing point depression and mild sweetness. It can have a laxative effect in larger amounts (10g for a typical adult) so it is also best used in moderation.
Inulin FPDF 65%Sweetness 10%
Inulin is a soluble fiber that adds solids and body with very little sweetness. It is a popular option for adding body and creaminess low-fat recipes such as sorbets.