Kit Kat Ice Cream

This homemade Kit Kat Ice Cream recipe is a rich chocolate ice cream packed with lots of Kit Kat candy and vanilla wafer pieces. It’s a simple, delightful dessert that’s perfect for any Kit Kat lover!

Jump to:

• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🍦 How to make Kit Kat ice cream
• ⏲️ How to store
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🍫 More candy ice cream recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

I love fully loaded candy bars packed with caramel, nuts, nougat, and more. But I also love the simplicity of Kit Kat bars, an incredibly underrated candy, in my opinion. The crispy wafers are covered in milk chocolate with no add-ins and no extravagance.

But there's something so satisfying about that light and airy crunch and smooth chocolate. Sometimes simple really is best.

I recently saw Kit Kat ice cream in my grocery store freezer and decided I needed to make my own version at home. This homemade Kit Kat ice cream is easy to make, simple, and absolutely delicious.

It's a chocolate ice cream with lots of chopped Kit Kat bar pieces added in. The store version also has a "wafer swirl" added in, so I decided to swirl in some vanilla wafer pieces, too.

🗒 Ingredients

If you've made a homemade custard-based ice cream before, this Kit Kat ice cream will be pretty familiar to use. It uses standard chocolate ice cream ingredients, plus Kit Kat candy and vanilla wafers.

Here's everything you need, but be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.

• Heavy cream
• Whole milk
• Granulated sugar
• Unsweetened cocoa powder: I recommend a high-quality cocoa powder, like Ghirardelli
• Egg yolks
• Vanilla extract
• Salt
• KitKat bars
• Vanilla wafer cookies

🍦 How to make Kit Kat ice cream

Making a custard-based ice cream is really easy. The hardest part is waiting for it to chill multiple times before you can enjoy it!

To start, heat 1 cup heavy cream, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-heat.

Stirring constantly, let mixture reach just the point of simmer and remove from heat.

While the cream and milk mixture is heating, lightly whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl. 

Slowly pour about half of the warm milk mixture into the bowl with the yolks, whisking continuously.

This step is to "temper" the eggs. If you add them right into the hot milk, they may end up scrambling; but this process allows them to react to the rising temperature slowly.

Now, you can pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the hot mixture.

And continue to cook it over low heat, whisking all the while, for about 5 minutes.

When the mixture coats the back of the spoon or reaches 170-180 degrees on a thermometer, remove the saucepan from the heat.

Pour the remaining cup heavy cream into a large bowl. 

And strain the egg/milk mixture into the cream, stirring all the while. Stir in the vanilla extract, too.

Now you'll want to pop this in your fridge for at least 4 hours. The first round of chilling!

Once the mixture is chilled, you're ready to process the ice cream in your ice cream maker, based on your machine's manufacturer instructions.

I use the KitchenAid ice cream attachment and it takes about 20 minutes to process. 

When it’s just about done, mix in the KitKat pieces and vanilla wafer cookie pieces.

I already want to grab a spoon and start eating!

But even though it's done processing, the ice cream will still be quite soft. So, you need to chill it some more!

Transfer it into an airtight container (I love these ice cream containers!) and put it into the freezer for at least 4 hours. I like to freeze mine overnight... If I can wait!

Once sufficiently frozen, you're ready to scoop and enjoy!

I always top my Kit Kat ice cream with more chopped candy pieces because why not?

I think this might be my dream ice cream. Honestly, the base chocolate ice cream is SO delicious, I'd eat it by the gallon without any candy added in.

But the Kit Kat and vanilla wafer pieces add in an extra tasty dynamic and a little crispiness that's to die for. I'm obsessed.

If you love Kit Kats and want to add a little extra fun to your chocolate ice cream, this is the way to do it!

⏲️ How to store

Of course, you need to store your Kit Kat ice cream in the freezer! Make sure it's in an air-tight container; you can use a Tupperware or a container specifically meant for ice cream storage (like these tubs).

When stored properly, the ice cream should keep fresh for about a month.

Make sure the temperature of your freezer is well-regulated as fluctuations can cause freezer burn.

🎉 Variations on recipe

I tried to make this ice cream both simple and as close to the store-bought Kit Kat ice cream as possible.

Of course, there are lots of things you can add to this ice cream or ways you can make it your own. Here are some ideas:

• Make a vanilla ice cream base instead of a chocolate base. This will make the Kit Kat chocolate pieces stand out even more.
• I mixed my vanilla wafer pieces right into the ice cream, but you can turn them into more of a "swirl" before adding by making a paste. Put them in a food processor with melted butter and confectioners' sugar and process until they're a spreadable consistency.
• Add mini marshmallows.
• Add a caramel swirl into the ice cream.
• Add nuts, like walnuts, for some extra crunch.
• Incorporate even more candies into the ice cream for extra fun.

I think I'm on a mission to incorporate all my favorite candies into ice cream flavors.

What kind of candy would you love to turn into a homemade ice cream?

📖 Recipe