I Tried Ben & Jerry's 2-ingredient Recipe To Turn Ice Cream Into Bread, And I Found Some Flavor Winners

I tried the Ben & Jerry's ice-cream bread recipe with four different ice-cream flavors.

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• I made Ben & Jerry's two-ingredient bread using four different ice-cream flavors. 
• I enjoyed the vanilla and Chunky Monkey breads and think they'd work great for French toast.
• My Half Baked and Netflix & Chill'd loaves were not as good as the ice cream on its own.

Ben & Jerry's has a recipe for swirled ice-cream bread made with just the company's famous pints and self-rising flour.

The ice-cream brand is not the first to share this recipe, but I was sold. Although the original recipe uses fudge brownie and chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice cream, I was curious how it would work for other flavors. 

So, I made the sweet loaf with some of my favorite Ben & Jerry's varieties — Half Baked, Chunky Monkey, and Netflix & Chill'd — as well as a basic vanilla from Häagen-Dazs.

First, I gathered my ingredients and melted the ice cream

I ended up buying eight pints of ice cream to make four loaves of bread.

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For the recipes, I bought a 5-pound bag of self-rising flour since each bread requires 3 cups of it. I also purchased eight pints of ice cream as each recipe requires two, and I planned to make four loaves. 

First, I had to let the ice cream melt. Since I only have two loaf pans, I put the Chunky Monkey and Netflix & Chill'd in the fridge to slowly defrost and vanilla and Half Baked on my table to use first. 

I didn't defrost my ingredients in the microwave because it could "change the molecular structure" of the frozen treat and "impact the ice cream bread's texture," according to the recipe.

The vanilla loaf was easy to throw together and could be great for French toast

The vanilla bread got wonderfully crispy.

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Once both pints of ice cream melted, I mixed in 3 cups of self-rising flour to make a very thick batter. I then transferred the batter to a loaf pan and popped it in the oven for an hour, per the instructions. 

The vanilla ice-cream bread was nice and sweet, with crisp edges and a soft and spongy middle. 

The inside of the vanilla ice-cream bread was deliciously spongy.

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It was OK on its own, but this bread would be best topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. It also might make a good base for French toast.

The Half Baked bread didn't quite work or taste as good as the pint 

Half Baked is a beloved Ben & Jerry's flavor.

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Ben & Jerry's Half Baked flavor blends chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chunks of cookie dough and brownie.

I followed the same technique I did for the vanilla loaf. Stirring the batter was difficult because of the brownie and cookie-dough chunks, so I used my stand mixer. 

I didn't love the Half Baked ice-cream bread.

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The Half Baked loaf was probably my least favorite of the ones I made, even though I love the ice cream.

This ice cream's add-ins didn't work as great in the bread.

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The chocolate ice cream resulted in a weird overall flavor, and the cookie-dough bites and brownie bits created a strange, chunky texture throughout the middle of the bread. 

The Chunky Monkey loaf didn't taste like banana bread as I expected

Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey flavor includes banana ice cream.

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Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey flavor has banana ice cream plus chunks of chocolate and walnuts, so I thought it would make a sweet loaf similar to banana bread.

I used my stand mixer for this batter, which was much easier and faster than trying to mix it by hand. This bread took the longest to bake — about an hour and 10 minutes.

The Chunky Monkey bread took the longest to bake.

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Still, it looked great, with crisp edges and a soft, dense interior.

Although it didn't taste like banana bread, it was probably my favorite loaf of the bunch.

This bread may also work well for French toast.

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I loved the crunch from the walnuts and the thick pieces of chocolate throughout wonderfully paired with the fruit's flavor. This option would be great topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh banana slices.

I'd still prefer to just eat a Chunky Monkey pint of ice cream, but this bread was pretty good.

The Netflix & Chill'd flavor made for a difficult batter and a strange-tasting bread

The outside was nicely crispy.

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This flavor features peanut-butter ice cream with swirls of pretzel and fudgy brownie bits. The batter I made with this ice cream was super thick and difficult to combine, even with the stand mixer.

The bread's final texture seemed off as well. Although I liked the slightly crispy exterior, the inside was quite dense.

The inside of this bread was a bit too dense.

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Pretzel swirls might be great in ice cream, but they didn't taste the same in bread.

This option would likely be better with some added chocolate, but overall, the flavors and textures weren't quite right.

These breads were a fun change of pace, but I'd rather just eat the ice cream from the pint

With just two ingredients, this ice-cream bread is a unique treat that's easy to make. Although some of the loaves were tasty, they weren't nearly as good as just enjoying a bowl of ice cream on its own.

Still, I'd love to try the vanilla and Chunky Monkey options again to turn them into French toast or bread pudding.

This story was originally published on May 28, 2021, and most recently updated on January 31, 2025.