Recreate a fun and delicious Mexican dessert at home using my Easy Deep Fried Ice Cream recipe. You won’t believe how simple it is to make using bread, ice cream, and a little bit of cinnamon and sugar. 

Have you ever tried fried ice cream at your favorite Mexican restaurant before? If you haven’t, you are most definitely missing out. It’s the perfect ending to your chips and salsa extravaganza!

I personally love fried ice cream. Admittedly though, I often overindulge in way too much queso and guacamole and end up leaving the restaurant without dessert. Most times I can barely even eat my food. Why do tortilla chips and dip have to be so addictive?!

Now that I think about it, I probably have consumed more fried ice cream at home using this recipe than I ever have out at a Mexican restaurant. My mom has been making this particular recipe since I was a little girl so I’ve had my fair share over the years.

If you’ve never had fried ice cream before, you’re probably still wondering what the heck it is. It’s pretty self-explanatory actually. It is just a scoop of ice cream enclosed in either a batter or dough and then quickly deep-fried until golden brown.

Fresh out of the fryer we like to roll our fried ice cream balls into a cinnamon and sugar mixture. In my personal opinion, that’s all you need for this recipe but feel free to drizzle your fried ice cream with chocolate syrup or caramel if your little heart desires. Add some whipped cream and some chopped nuts too if you’re feeling extra fancy!

There’s really no right or wrong way to top these golden fried ice cream balls.

I haven’t made this dessert in ages but it came to my mind when I was trying to come up with a fun dessert to make for our at-home Cinco de Mayo festivities. On the menu for the celebration is my delicious taco dip with tortilla chips as an appetizer, Mexican lasagna with yellow rice for the main dish, and spicy mango margaritas for the cocktail! 

Obviously, I needed an amazing dessert to round up this fantastic meal and I definitely nailed it with this deep-fried ice cream recipe. And because I will already have the oil heated and some extra cinnamon and sugar mixture, I’ll most likely fry up some churro donut holes too. That’s an even easier recipe than this if you can believe that!

It’s important to note that this recipe does take a little bit of planning on your part if you’re wanting to make it. It does need at least an hour in the freezer prior to deep frying. I prefer to just make it in the morning or afternoon on the day I want to serve it for dessert. Honestly, you can make these days before and keep them in a large Ziploc bag in your freezer until you’re ready to fry them up.

You might find yourself wanting to make a stock-pile of them once you taste how incredibly yummy they are! You seriously won’t be able to believe that it was made with simple white bread and some ice cream.

Easy Deep Fried Ice Cream Recipe

*Make sure to watch me in action as I put together this recipe in my kitchen. You can find the YouTube video at the bottom of the recipe card below.

bread (you’ll need two slices per ice cream ball), ice cream (any flavor will do but I prefer vanilla), ½ cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, oil for frying, additional toppings are optional (nuts, chocolate syrup, etc.)

Place two pieces of bread on a cutting board or flat surface.

In the center of one of the bread slices, add a scoop of ice cream.

Carefully place the second piece of bread on top of the slice with the ice cream scoop.

Using a cup or mug, gently push down and twist until you’ve completely removed the crust and the ice cream is enclosed within the two slices of bread.

You don’t want any of the ice cream to be showing at this point.

If any of the ice cream is exposed, just carefully press the bread together with your fingers.  

From here, you’ll want to place your ice cream balls in the freezer for a minimum of an hour. I recommend longer if time permits.

Once your ice cream balls are frozen completely, you’re ready to deep fry them. Add about an inch of oil into a pot or Dutch oven and allow it to get up to 350 degrees. I like to clip my thermometer to the side of the pot so I can be accurate with this.

The temperature of the oil is really important. If the oil is too hot the fried ice cream will brown too quickly and not fully cook through. If the oil is not up to temperature, the bread will soak up too much oil.

While the oil is heating up, mix your cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. You’re going to coat your fried ice cream in the mixture as soon as it comes out of the oil.

With your oil at 350 degrees, you’re ready to fry up your ice cream. Make sure you have all your materials in one spot because the process goes really quickly.

Gently drop in your bread balls and let them brown up. This happens fast so don’t move away from the pot!

As soon as your fried ice cream comes out of the oil, place it in the bowl with the cinnamon and sugar mixture and coat it entirely.

Transfer your coated fried ice cream to a plate, add toppings if you choose, and go to town. Yummy is all I have to say!

This Easy Deep Fried Ice Cream Recipe is a total keeper. Whether you’re making it for your Cinco de Mayo dinner or “just because” I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be addicted to it from the very first bite.

Want to remember this? Post this Easy Deep Fried Ice Cream Recipe to your favorite Pinterest board!