I want to make ice cream at home for diabetics without a machine. I'd want it to be sugar-free. What kind of base ingredients should I use? Will the any of the no machine methods here be better or worse, or require modification, since I'm not using sugar?

  • Can you clarify: are you trying to make it low sugar? Sugar free? We can help with the cooking side, but we're not doctors or nutritionists, so we'd rather not try to guys precisely what's okay for the diabetics you know.
    – Cascabel
    Jan 28, 2015 at 15:17
  • Sugar free is my first choice, next is sugar substitutes. But I don't know if it works. How about Carnation Milk? If I use it, do I need to add sugar substitutes? Cheers.
    – Siena
    Jan 28, 2015 at 15:33
  • By Carnation Milk, do you mean evaporated or sweetened condensed milk? (The latter is not sugar free.)
    – Erica
    Jan 28, 2015 at 17:43
  • 1
    For making ice cream without a machine, see cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1214/… - though one answer does say "use more sugar", most of them will work just fine for you. I've edited a link to that into your question to help people advise you about using those techniques without sugar.
    – Cascabel
    Jan 28, 2015 at 18:04
  • Also, using sugar substitutes is still sugar-free; unless you're trying to make ice cream that isn't sweet at all, you're going to need the substitutes.
    – Cascabel
    Jan 28, 2015 at 18:05

2 Answers 2


You could use sugar substitutes but you should take care to use one that is heat stable.

Sugar Substitute with Stevia as main ingredient can be used but you need to inquire to what ratios you would need to use your specific brand with.

Acesulfame Potassium is heat stable but is 200 times sweeter than regular sugar. The general rule of thumb I was taught is 1 gram per quarter cup of sugar.

Sucralose: Granulated sucralose can be used as an equal-volume substitute for sugar. (Raw sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, so you'd use less, but the granulated form contains fillers to bring it up to the normal volume.) There may be some considerations in making ice cream with this as when using this for baking the baking process is accelerated to a certain degree. Be careful with this one.

Saccharin and Aspartame should be avoided because they are heat sensitive.

Other more natural sugar substitutes include honey, fruit juice concentrates and refined fructose.

  • 1
    Given that the sugar substitutes are a few hundred times sweeter, don't you have to worry about the fact that you're basically taking out the entire volume of sugar, particularly since the sugar is part of what makes the ice cream soft? (Also I'm confused, if sucralose is 600x as sweet as sugar, why do you say you can use equal amounts of sugar?)
    – Cascabel
    Jan 28, 2015 at 20:11
  • granulated sucralose provides volume-for-volume sweetness
    – Neil Meyer
    Jan 28, 2015 at 20:26
  • I'm sure the texture of the ice cream will be different. You may easily just get frozen condense milk but I just thought I'd weigh in on the issues regarding sugar substitutes as I'm familiar with.
    – Neil Meyer
    Jan 28, 2015 at 20:28
  • @NeilMeyer what are the fillers you are talking about? I've frequently heard of brands using glucose as the "filler", which is totally counterproductive in a diabetic.
    – rumtscho
    Jan 28, 2015 at 20:51
  • Acesulfame Potassium and Sucrolose combined make an incredibly tasty sweetener. They're much better combined than either product alone.
    – Jolenealaska
    Jan 29, 2015 at 12:21

It's not the same as ice-cream, but plain whipped cream can be frozen, and tastes fine without extra sugar or sweeteners

Freeze it in shallow glass baking dishes for more even freezing, and easier serving

Use a "standard cream" or "whipping cream" depending on where you live (with a 30%+ fat content, preferably above 35% fat)

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