No Churn Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream
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No Churn Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream- Toasted marshmallow ice cream is swirled with lemon curd and pie crust crumble. No fancy machines or equipment required!
July 18, 2026 by Nicole Collins
Today, we’re making No Churn Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream!
A couple months ago, I bought an ice cream maker. Don’t ask me why. I can count on one hand the number of times a year I eat ice cream. But, I’ve been so mesmerized by the whole Ninja Creami fad. And, I thought I could make some fun protein ice cream while I’m on this health journey. So, I bought a small, much cheaper Cuisinart ice cream maker. And you know how many times I’ve used it? ONCE. I made one failed batch of ice cream, so currently that machine works as a stable device to prop up my photo backdrops when I’m taking food pics.
The truth of that matter is, I may not eat a lot of ice cream; but I absolutely love making it. I love making a simple no churn ice cream that doesn’t require any fancy equipment but tastes just as decadent as something that came from a big, fancy, expensive machine. I love dreaming up new flavor combos to swirl through my ice cream. And, I really love giving the ice cream away to my loved ones so they can enjoy it too! So, that’s what we’re making today.
We’re going to start with the pie crust crumble. Start with a store bought pie crust, lay it out on a parchment lined baking sheet, then bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s nice and golden. Then, we’re going to crumble up most of that pie crust, and mix it with a little butter and brown sugar. Spread the mixture back on the baking sheet, reduce the oven temp, and pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes so that crust can become golden and caramelized. We need to let this mixture cool completely, but we can work on other things while we wait.
We’re going to make a toasted marshmallow ice cream base, and that starts with, of course, toasted marshmallows! Crank your oven heat to broil, line a baking sheet with foil, give it a light spritz of cooking spray, then spread out half a bag of mini marshmallows. We’re going to pop these under the broiler for only 60-90 seconds until those marshmallows become golden and toasty. Sit right next to the oven with the light on while these toast, because they can go from zero to burnt in the blink of an eye. After the marshmallows are toasted, you can slide them right off the foil and into a big bowl to cool for a couple minutes.
To the bowl with the marshmallows, we’re going to add a can of sweetened condensed milk and a little bit of vanilla bean paste. Use a hand mixer to beat everything together until combined. Now, this mixture is going to look a little crazy. First, the marshmallow is going to try to climb up your beaters, but it will unstick itself if you keep mixing. Then, the mixture is going to look chunky and little gross. It’s fine. Once we fold in some freshly whipped cream, the whole situation works itself out, and the mixture becomes light, fluffy, beautiful, and speckled with toasty bits.
Now, we layer. We’re going to spread a third of our ice cream base into a loaf pan, then top it with dollops of store bought lemon curd. Sprinkle over a third of our pie crust crumble. And, use a butter knife to gently swirl the toppings into the ice cream. Repeat this process 2 more times until you’ve used up all of your ingredients, and that’s ice cream! Cover the pan, pop it in the freezer for a few hours to set, and you’re ready to dig in.
I think my favorite thing about this ice cream is that you can taste each thoughtful layer we added. I purposefully did not want to make this a lemon ice cream, but more of an ice cream with lemon. You can taste the sweet nuttiness from the roasted marshmallows. You can taste the sugary lemon from the curd. You can taste the candied buttery pie crumbs. All put together, it’s pure magic.
I’m not even a fruity dessert kind of girlie, but I think this one might be going in my top 3 favs of all time. It’s that good!
Ok, everyone! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this one. Enjoy! And, let’s eat!
No Churn Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream
Serves: 12 Print
Ingredients:
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
½ tbsp brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup lemon curd
Cooking spray
Directions:
Make the pie crust crumble: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange pie crust on baking sheet, and poke all over with a fork. Bake for 10 mins. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
Break up the pie crust into bite sized pieces, and measure out 1 cup of crumbs. Discard remaining crust. Add crumbs to a bowl with butter and brown sugar, and toss well to coat. Spread the crumbs in a single layer on the baking sheet, and bake for 10 mins until golden. Cool completely.
Roast the marshmallows: Increase oven heat to broil. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly spritz it with cooking spray. Arrange marshmallows on baking sheet, and place under the broiler for 1-1 ½ mins until golden and toasted. Watch this closely as they can burn easily. Slide the marshmallows off of the baking sheet and into a large bowl.
Make the ice cream base: To the bowl with the marshmallows, add condensed milk and vanilla bean paste. Beat with a hand mixer until combined. (The mixture will look chunky and strange, but trust the process.)
Pour heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip cream on medium high speed until stiff peaks have formed (about 2-3 minutes). Alternately, you can whip the cream in a chilled glass bowl with a hand mixer for about 6-7 minutes.
Mix about a cup of whipped cream into the ice cream base mix. Stir to combine and lighten up the mix. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until fully incorporated.
To a 9x5 loaf pan (I like a glass loaf pan with a lid), layer in 1/3 of the ice cream base. Using a third of the lemon curd, spoon dollops all over the ice cream. Evenly sprinkle 1/3 of the pie crumbs over the ice cream. Use a butter knife to swirl the lemon and pie into the ice cream base, cutting and swirling all the lemon dollops until they’re no longer blobs. Repeat this process 2 more times until all ice cream base, lemon curd, and pie crumbs have been used. Cover, and transfer to the freezer for at least 6 hours to set.
To serve, remove ice cream from the freezer for 10-15 mins to soften slightly. Scoop, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*To fold the whipped cream into the ice cream mix, use a rubber or silicone spatula. Start at the outside of the bowl. Run the spatula around the outside and the bottom of the bowl in a half circle. Then, flip your wrist to bring the bottom that you've scooped up to put it on top. Turn the bowl, and repeat until the whipped cream is fully incorporated. This helps us keep the air in the whipped cream so our ice cream stays smooth and fluffy.
*When crushing the pie crust, we don’t want fine crumbs, but we don’t want huge chunks either. See pics in the post for my recommended texture.
*This is the glass loaf pan with a lid that I like.
*This is the lemon curd I like to use.
