Make your own Japanese rolled ice cream: Teppanyaki style recipe
You must’ve seen rolled ice cream—those tiny, sweet, creamy swirls gathered in a cup and decorated with a rainbow of toppings.
The frozen treat known as rolled ice cream, sometimes known as stir-fried ice cream or Thai rolled ice cream, originated in Thailand.
I have excellent news for you if you thought you could only get rolled ice cream from professionals: it’s simple to make your own from home and, believe it or not, only requires two ingredients—plus the mix-ins of your choice.
So, how is the ice cream shaped into a simple worthy dessert?
The rolls are created by pouring a cream bottom onto a dish that’s cooled to subzero temperature ranges.
The bottom is tossed around with spatulas, sometimes with mix-ins like Oreo cookies, chocolate crumbles, or candy, and spread out flat into a straight coating on the dish.
Then it’s scraped into rolls with the spatula.
You can even use a special frozen pan used for making rolled ice cream at home. Now let’s get into the recipe!
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How to make Teppanyaki-style rolled ice cream at home
How to make this frozen sensation at home?
Until you have sufficient cash preserved up for the next visit to a city with rolled ice cream, you can luckily satisfy your cravings at home.
This is one of those easy and delicious recipes that will impress all ages!
Before making rolled ice cream, you’ll first need more info on doing it at home. Don’t worry; making ice cream rolls isn’t as hard as it seems.
So, we’ve put together a list of the core materials you will need.
Supplies
In this instance, supplies are very important. But unlike traditional ice cream, the rolled ice cream can’t be made with an electric ice cream maker.
You’ll need a large sheet pan that fits into your freezer.
I prefer to use a metal rimmed baking sheet or any other metal baking pans which can be scraped.
Don’t use Teflon or non-stick coated pans because you will remove all the coating while scraping the ice cream.
Nobody wants ice cream with metal bits in it!
Alternatively, you can use this special rolled ice cream machine which is basically a pan that you can freeze.
It has a special surface so you can scrape and roll the ice cream easily.
A rolled ice cream machine isn’t really a “machine” though, but more like a frozen pan that helps you shape the homemade rolled ice cream into rolls.
You’ll also need an ice cream scraper or two to make the Thai rolled ice cream. A silicone spatula also comes in handy for adding and mixing the ingredients.
Teppanyaki-style rolled ice cream recipe
Equipment
- 2 scrapers
- 1 silicon spatula
- 1 metal sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 14- ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- toppings/mix-ins of your choice
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and a pinch of salt. Whisk together until the mixture is uniform. This is the ice cream base.
- Pour the ice cream base into the pan. The layer should be thin (less than 1/4 inch thick). Spread out the ice cream base, so it covers the entire bottom of the pan.
- Next, scatter your toppings of preference over the ice cream’s base.
- Use the scrapers to chop in the toppings and combine them into the ice cream.
- After the toppings are incorporated into the ice cream base, place the sheet pan in the freezer for 4 hours. The ice cream must be extra frozen to be able to scrape it into rolls.
- This step is essential! Place the bowls you’ll use to serve the ice cream and the scrapers to scrape the rolls into the freezer for at least a quarter-hour.
- Once your ice cream is freezing solid together with your bowls and scrapers, it is time to make some ice cream rolls!
- Quickly scrape the ice cream into rolls by positioning the scraper at an angle against the edge of the skillet, pushing carefully ahead.
- If the ice cream requires a little help, use a butter blade to force the sheet of cream into the roll.
- Set the ice cream rolls carefully into your iced dish. Then, top it with whatever you please–more sprinkles, whipped cream, fudge, caramel, or fruit.
Notes
- For the best rolled ice cream, don’t dilly dally and start scraping as soon as you remove the pans from the freezer. This ice cream melts very fast, and you need it to keep its shape until you’re ready to place and decorate it in the serving bowl.
- If you’re struggling with scraping, make sure to hold the scraper or spatula at a 45-degree angle and scrape away from you, applying plenty of pressure.
Homemade rolled ice cream topping and mix-in ideas
You can really use any mix-in or topping in your ice cream recipes as long as you crush everything into very tiny pieces. This will make it easy to roll the ice cream.
One of the reasons why I love homemade ice cream is that you can really experiment with all the ice cream flavors you can think of.
You can use fancy ingredients like exotic fruit, chocolate from different parts of the world (try Japanese chocolate!), or even spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
Or you can keep it simple with classic fun toppings like chocolate chips.
Then you can add these either into the ice cream base to scrape (but then you should just stick to one or two ingredients) or place them as toppings once the rolled ice cream after it’s in the cup.
Here are some tasty topping and mix-in ideas:
- cookie dough
- oreo cookie
- chocolate chip cookies
- cocoa powder
- vanilla extract
- chocolate syrup
- strawberry jam
- fruit jams
- chocolate chips
- fudge
- whipped cream
Substitutions and variations
You can use simple condensed milk for this recipe. However, I like the sweetened version because then you can skip adding sugar.
If you use unsweetened condensed milk, add 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) to the base mixture.
Cold heavy cream will give you the best results. If you don’t have heavy cream, you can use a mix of milk and cream.
Use 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream. Or you can use 1 1/2 cups light cream.
You could also use half and half instead of heavy cream, but the ice cream will be a little less creamy.
You can use any type of milk – whole milk, 2%, 1%, or skim.
If you want to make a vegan version, use almond milk, coconut milk or soy milk. You can also use a mix of milk and cream. Use 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream.
If you want, you can also experiment with flavored extracts like almond, peppermint, or even rum! Just add a few drops (1/4 teaspoon should do it) to the base mixture.
As I mentioned before, this frozen dessert is versatile, and you can mix in all kinds of ingredients or top it with your favorites.
For more tips on making your own rolled ice cream check out Minori trying it:
What is rolled ice cream?
Some people like to call it Japanese rolled ice cream, stir-fried ice cream, or Thai ice cream.
Whatever you want to call it, rolled ice cream is a type of ice cream that is made by pouring a mixture onto a cold surface, then scraping it into rolls.
The process of making rolled ice cream is similar to making crepes or pancakes. Except instead of using a spatula to flip them, you scrape the mixture into rolls.
The secret to the best homemade rolled ice cream is to use a frozen baking sheet.
At specialty ice cream shops, the rolled ice cream is made on a special frozen teppanyaki plate.
Instead of the regular hot plate, this type of metal pan is ice cold to ensure the rolled ice cream is frozen at all times.
Rolled ice cream originated in Thailand and then made its way to Japan, where it became very popular.
Is rolled ice cream healthier than regular ice cream? The answer is yes.
That’s because the ice cream base is only made of a few ingredients, and you can choose to add healthier mix-in ingredients.
If you choose a fruit puree instead of chocolate chips, you can make this frozen dessert healthier and low in calories.
You can also skip the toppings like whipped cream. It really depends on the ice cream recipe you use.
Origin of rolled ice cream
Contrary to popular belief, rolled ice cream is not a Japanese invention. This dessert was invented in Thailand in 2009.
The only reason why Thai rolled ice cream is associated with Japan is that it’s made and scraped on a metal plate which is called Teppanyaki in Japanese.
But this dessert is completely frozen and has nothing to do with high heat cooking on a hot plate.
Thus, rolled ice cream is also sometimes called Teppanyaki ice cream, but it’s not Japanese.
How to serve and eat
Rolled ice cream is best eaten immediately after it’s made in a few minutes max.
Scrape the ice cream into rolls and transfer it to a serving bowl or small cup. Place the toppings beside the ice cream or on top of it and serve quickly before it melts.
To eat ice cream, simply use a spoon to scoop up the ice cream rolls and some of your toppings like whipped cream.
If you want to be extra fancy, serve the rolled ice cream in a cone. You can either make your own cones or use store-bought ones.
How to store rolled ice cream
If you have leftovers, store them in the freezer in an airtight container. Let the ice cream thaw for about 10 minutes before eating.
It’s best to eat the ice cream while it’s frozen solid, and I don’t recommend freezing it for too long.
Conclusion
Homemade rolled ice cream is quite simple to make, and best of all, there’s no fancy equipment required.
All you have to do is mix your base, spread it out into a thin layer, add mix-ins, freeze, and then scrape into rolls.
The store-rolled ice cream is made on a special cold metal plate called a teppanyaki plate and scraped into rolls.
But at home, you can use any frozen quarter sheet pans you have on hand.
Kids and adults alike will love this fun treat. No wonder this frozen dessert is such a hit in Asia!
It’s definitely more fun to make at home than traditional ice cream.
Next, read all about Matcha green tea ice cream (what is it & how does it taste?)
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Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.
