This Mango Kulfi is my easy but delicious take on the beloved South Asian ice cream, made with just 4 ingredients and 5 minutes of work. It is made with fresh (or canned) mango pulp, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and - my secret - bread. Just like in my classic Malai Kulfi, the bread gives this kulfi the rich texture of malai without any of the cooking. The kulfi has a beautiful mango flavor, creamy texture and is not too sweet. It is the best mango ice cream you've ever had!

A metal bowl filled with creamy mango kulfi ice cream, topped with small mango pieces. A spoon is scooping out a piece of the ice cream. The bowl sits on a light-colored surface.

If you're hosting for Eid, Diwali or a similar occasion, this mango kulfi is the perfect, low effort make ahead dessert. I also have a few other easy desserts you might love, like this No Bake Tres Leches Cake, or my delicious 6 ingredient Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake.

4 ingredients in this kulfi

Here are the 4 ingredients used in this mango kulfi, and why they work:

Fresh mango pulp: Grab the sweetest, ripest fresh mangoes you can find, and add their flesh to the blender along with the rest of the ingredients. I personally love using Pakistani Sindhri mangoes or Indian Alphonso mangoes when they are in season. But if it's not mango season, you can also use this canned mango pulp that doesn't have any added ingredients
Heavy cream: Cream has a higher concentration of fat than milk, which is exactly what we want for kulfi
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 texture that is signature for Kulfi. A little bread blended into the cream and sweetened condensed milk helps replicate this texture

In addition, you can add optional mix ins! I love adding cardamom powder. You can also add chopped nuts like almonds or pistachios.

Three creamy yellow mango kulfi slices are stacked, topped with small diced mango pieces and red sprinkles. More slices and mango pieces are scattered around on a white surface.

A note on texture

When we add fruit to ice cream, no matter what kind, the texture of the ice cream becomes slightly more brittle (or icy) as opposed to fully creamy. This is because of the water content in the fruit. So the texture of this mango kulfi is going to be somewhere in between the texture of a pure malai kulfi and a mango sorbet. I personally love this texture, and it is exactly how mango kulfi is in Pakistan, too. Achieving a completely creamy texture would require cooking down the mango pulp, which is an unnecessary complication in my opinion.

Several creamy, yellow mango kulfi ice cream bars topped with diced mango and red bits are sliced and served on a white surface. One bar is being lifted with a metal spatula. Some melting is visible around the bars.

Freezing Mango Kulfi

There are 2 ways you can freeze this kulfi:

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! It is simple and effective
Molds. You can also divide the mixture between traditional stainless steel kulfi molds or regular ice cream molds to make ice cream sticks. I personally avoid this as de-molding can take some extra work