Some things never change, least of all the nation's favourite ice cream. Survey after survey puts vanilla at the top of the UK's favourite ice cream flavours, with chocolate and mint choc chip close behind, swapping second and third place depending on who's asking. It isn't a new trend, either - these are three flavours with genuinely old stories behind them, running from seventeenth-century chocolate houses to a dessert competition for a royal wedding.
They're also three flavours that happen to suit how Q-Gelato works. Instead of a bulky compressor humming away on the worktop, you mix a base, freeze it solid in a Freezing Cup for at least 24 hours, then blend it to scoopable in 2 to 4 minutes. The same machine handles a custard gelato, a quick blitzed ice cream, or chocolate chips folded in after the fact.
Below are three versions of the nation's most-eaten flavours, with a little of their history and the exact settings to make each one properly.
1. Vanilla Gelato Recipe
Vanilla's hold on the top spot isn't a new thing, and the flavour itself has been around longer than the words "ice cream" have meant much to anyone. The most romantic version of its story, that Catherine de' Medici brought it to France in the sixteenth century, is one that food historians now treat as a nineteenth-century invention rather than fact. What is also documented is that Thomas Jefferson came home from France in 1784 with a vanilla ice cream recipe of his own, and that a cooked custard base flavoured with vanilla, much like the one below, has been made across Italy for a very long time under exactly this name: gelato.
Cook Time: 24 hours to freeze, then 2 - 4 minutes to blend
Ingredients
- 250ml double cream
- 250ml whole milk
- 125g sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- Vanilla extract or a vanilla pod, to taste
Method
- Whisk the cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla together, then heat gently in a pan from cold to 80°C, stirring constantly. Don't let it boil.
- Allow the custard to cool to room temperature.
- Pour into a Freezing Cup to the 'Spoonable' MAX line, then freeze upright and level for at least 24 hours.
- Load the frozen cup into the machine and select the Gelato preset.
- Once the machine stops, serve immediately for the smoothest texture.
2. Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
According to written record, chocolate ice cream is actually older than vanilla ice cream. A recipe for an iced chocolate dessert, flavoured with cinnamon and anise and based on the drinking chocolate of the day, appears in an Italian text called The Modern Steward (Lo Scalco alla Moderna) by Antonio Latini as early as 1692, nearly a century ahead of vanilla's own documented ice cream recipes. Chocolate reached Europe from the Americas before vanilla became a kitchen staple in its own right, so the nation's second favourite flavour could say it was there first.
Cook Time: 24 hours to freeze, then 2 - 4 minutes to blend
Ingredients
- 280ml warm whole milk
- 85g double cream
- 80g chocolate (dark or milk)
- 55g sugar
- 20g milk powder
Method
- Blend the warm milk with the cream, chocolate, sugar and milk powder until the chocolate has fully melted and everything is smooth.
- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
- Pour into a Freezing Cup to the 'Spoonable' MAX line, then freeze upright and level for at least 24 hours.
- Load the frozen cup into the machine and select the Ice Cream preset.
- Once the machine stops, serve immediately for the smoothest texture.
3. Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream Recipe
Unlike vanilla and chocolate, mint chocolate chip is a twentieth-century flavour with a distinctly British story attached. As the story is usually told, it was invented in 1973 by Marilyn Ricketts, a British culinary student, who created a mint ice cream studded with chocolate called "Mint Royale" for a dessert competition marking Princess Anne's wedding. She obviously won. It's a charming origin story, though it isn't as watertight as some of its rivals' (Baskin-Robbins, among others, claims a version of their own), so take it as the tale most often told rather than settled fact.
Cook Time: 24 hours to freeze, then 2 - 4 minutes to blend, plus a short Mix-In pass for the chips
Ingredients
- 280ml whole milk
- 85g double cream
- 55g sugar
- 20g milk powder
- Peppermint extract, to taste
- A few drops of green food colouring (optional)
- 60g dark chocolate chips, to finish
Method
- Blend the milk, cream, sugar, milk powder, peppermint extract and food colouring (if using) together until the sugar has fully dissolved.
- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
- Pour into a Freezing Cup to the 'Spoonable' MAX line, then freeze upright and level for at least 24 hours.
- Load the frozen cup into the machine and select the Ice Cream preset.
- Remove the Freezing Cup, make a 40mm hole to the bottom of the ice cream, and add the chocolate chips. Reload the cup and select the Mix In preset.
- Once the machine stops, serve immediately for the smoothest texture.
More Ice Cream Flavours to Make at Home
Vanilla, chocolate and mint choc chip are only the beginning. The same machine that cooks a custard gelato and folds a round of chocolate chips through on Mix In also turns out a lighter Lite Ice Cream, a tangy Frozen Yogurt, a proper milkshake and a fruit-forward sorbet on the Sorbet and Frappé preset. Respin is there for anything that comes out a little too firm. Freeze a cup the night before and whichever one you fancy is only minutes away. Browse the Q-Gelato ice cream maker and make every flavour at home.
Ice Cream Flavour FAQs
What is the UK's favourite ice cream flavour?
Vanilla, by a clear margin, in every major UK survey. Where the surveys differ is second and third place: some put chocolate just ahead of mint choc chip, others the other way round, but the same three flavours consistently make up the nation's top three.
Is chocolate ice cream older than vanilla ice cream?
According to written record, yes. The earliest known chocolate ice recipe dates to 1692, while vanilla's own documented ice cream recipes come later, including Thomas Jefferson's, brought back from France in 1784. Vanilla has since overtaken it to become the nation's favourite, but chocolate was enjoyed first.
Who invented mint choc chip ice cream?
There's no single, fully confirmed inventor, but the story most often told credits British culinary student Marilyn Ricketts, who created a mint-and-chocolate "Mint Royale" for a 1973 dessert competition celebrating Princess Anne's wedding, and won.
Why does homemade ice cream turn icy instead of creamy?
Usually because the mix is too low in fat or sugar, or it's been frozen too cold. Q-Gelato needs a minimum of 15% fat and/or sugar by volume to blend up smooth rather than hard and icy, and Freezing Cups should stay between -13°C and -22°C, no colder, or the mix gets too hard to process properly.
Can I make these flavours dairy-free?
Yes. Swap the milk and cream for a full-fat oat or coconut alternative and keep the sugar similar to the original recipe, the 15% fat-or-sugar minimum still applies, so a very low-fat dairy-free milk on its own won't set properly without a bit more sugar to make up the difference.
