Name: Easy 3 Ingredient Malai Kulfi Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: PT-493201H37M18S
Cuisine: South Asian
Ingredients: 3 cups cold heavy whipping cream (720g); 1 can sweetened condensed milk (396g or 14oz); 3 King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (84g) - or use about 3 slices of any other white bread that is roughly the same weight in grams; Optional: 1 tsp ground cardamom; Optional garnish: Chopped pistachios and crushed freeze dried strawberries

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This 3 Ingredient Malai Kulfi is my shortcut take on the beloved South Asian ice cream, and it comes together in under 5 minutes with no cooking required. The secret? Bread! Blended into cream and sweetened condensed milk, it helps mimic the rich texture of traditional slow-cooked kulfi without spending an hour at the stove. The result is creamy, perfectly sweet and surprisingly authentic. Add a pinch of cardamom or some crushed nuts, then freeze in molds or a simple 9"x9" pan, and you've got yourself a simple, delicious dessert ready to impress.

A square piece of white Indian sweet, garnished with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals, served on a small silver dessert stand placed on a black and white marble surface.

If you're hosting for Eid, Diwali or a similar occasion, I also have a few other easy desserts you might love, like this Easy Shahi Tukray that take 15 minutes to make, or this Easy Rus Malai Tiramisu in which you can use bread or ladyfingers!

Video tutorial

Here's a video tutorial in which you can see this quick recipe in action:

Close-up of sliced squares of creamy white kulfi, sprinkled with chopped pistachios and small bits of red topping, arranged on a plate.

3 ingredients and why they work

Here are the 3 ingredients used in this malai kulfi, and why they work:

Heavy cream: Cream has a higher concentration of fat than milk, which is exactly what we want for kulfi. Instead of cooking milk until it's reduced, we just use cream to begin with
Sweetened condensed milk: This is made by cooking down milk and sugar - again, exactly how kulfi is made! So it helps us skip the cooking step and adds the perfect amount of sweetness
Bread: When milk is cooked down, the milk fat in it coagulates, adding a rich, slightly "lumpy" texture that is signature for Kulfi. A little bread blended into the cream and sweetened condensed milk helps replicate this texture. I love using King's Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, but you can use any white bread

In addition, you can add optional mix ins! I love adding cardamom powder, which is also used in Malai Kulfi. You can also add chopped nuts like almonds or pistachios or freeze dried berries.

Two pieces of kulfi, an Indian frozen dessert, are served in a silver dish and garnished with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals. A spoon with a bite of kulfi rests on the edge of the dish.

Blending impacts the texture!

Here's a fun little secret. How long you blend the mixture will impact the texture of the kulfi:

If you blending just enough so the bread incorporates (this is usually just a few seconds), the mixture will still be very liquidy. Freezing at this stage will result in a "harder" kulfi, which, in my opinion, is much more authentic! Anyone who's eaten kulfi off a stick knows it snaps off and has a bite to it, instead of being really soft like typical ice cream
If you blend longer (approximately 30 to 60 seconds, depending on the strength of your blender), the mixture will become thick and fluffy like whipped cream. Freezing at this stage will result in a softer kulfi, with a texture more similar to gelato

Although the first option is more authentic, you can choose whichever one your prefer. Just don't over blend, as that can cause the cream to split!

Two metal dessert cups each hold a square piece of kulfi topped with crushed pistachios and dried rose petals, placed on a checkered marble surface with scattered toppings.

Freezing Malai Kulfi

There are 2 ways you can freeze the kulfi:

Molds. You can divide the mixture between traditional stainless steel kulfi molds or regular ice cream molds to make ice cream sticks. This makes for beautiful presentation, but is slightly more complicated as it requires demolding
A 9x9" cake pan. My preferred method is to line a 9x9" square pan with cling wrap, and pour the mixture in it. Freeze, then take out of the pan by lifting the cling wrap, cut into slices, and serve! You can even scoop / spoon directly out of the pan. This is much quicker and uses equipment you likely have at home.