Watch our mango kulfi recipe video to learn how to make Indian kulfi at home. See our mango kulfi recipe for all ingredients and step by step cooking method.
Once you have tried our homemade mango kulfi recipe, it is sure to become a frequent fixture on your table.
Summer in India means mango mania! Let’s make the most of this seasonal — and universally beloved — fruit before it disappears till next season.
Mango kulfi — sweet, luscious, smooth, creamy, rich, and utterly irresistible — is the best way of celebrating summer and keeping cool at the same time.
Follow our fool-proof best mango kulfi recipe for tasty kulfi, made with just four ingredients that are always at hand in your kitchen.
Kulfi is a frozen milk-based Indian dessert, traditionally made with just milk, sugar, and cardamom, to which we have added fresh mangoes to make homemade mango kulfi.
Kulfi is often described as an Indian ice cream, but it differs from the latter in texture and density. Kulfi is harder, denser, and creamier. You can bite into a kulfi, while ice cream is softer and less dense. Unlike ice cream, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a delicious, dense frozen dessert.
Kulfi comes in various flavours. The more traditional ones are cream (malai), mango kulfi (aam), cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar / zafran), pistachio (pista).
More unusual flavour combinations are banana, strawberry, chai, rose, coconut, chocolate, and even ginger (adrak).
How to make kulfi: Kulfi is traditionally made of thickened, evaporated, or condensed milk that has been reduced by boiling over a low flame to a thick and creamy consistency, and flavoured with sugar, cardamom, dry fruit (pistachio or almond), and saffron. Then frozen in small individual containers.
Nowadays shortcuts are taken with cooks adding thickening agents like rice flour and cornflour to add density to kulfi. Milk solids (malai / fresh cream, whipping cream, condensed milk, khoya / mava, milk powder) are also added to the kulfi to make it quicker. This is not something we approve of and feel that the traditional kulfi preparation using just the four ingredients listed above to make pure kulfi is the best. No doubt, this short-cut method is a kulfi ice cream recipe that requires little effort, but we still prefer our kulfi made at home the old-fashioned way, with fresh mangoes and milk reduced through boiling.
For the best mango kulfi, choose ripe sweet non-fibrous mangoes for mango kulfi like alphonso, himsagar, or kesar.
Puree the scooped-out flesh of the mango in a blender / mixer and strain the pureed pulp to remove any fibres, if needed.
For best results, use full-fat cow’s milk (full cream or whole milk) and not low-fat or skimmed milk. The fat content of the milk determines the creaminess and richness of the mango kulfi.
Reducing the milk over a low flame is a lengthy but otherwise easy process in our mango kulfi recipe. Keep stirring the milk so it doesn’t catch the bottom of the pan and cook till the mixture thickens. It is important to achieve a thick and smooth consistency, otherwise ice crystals will form in the frozen mango kulfi. Continue stirring even when the mixture is cooling down, so that a skin does not form.
For extra crunch, garnish mango kulfi with a few chopped nuts like pistachio, almond, along with some freshly chopped mango. For another flavour dimension, sprinkle some cardamom powder and saffron threads, or add falooda (vermicelli).
How to freeze kulfi at home:
For an old-fashioned and authentic taste, set the mango kulfi in traditional kulfi matkas / kulhads (small earthen pots) and freeze them. You can also set the kulfi in airtight metal moulds (stainless steel, aluminium), ice trays, ice popsicle moulds, cups (stainless steel, paper, glass, plastic), or ramekins.
If using ice trays, cups or ramekins, cover the mango kulfi with cling wrap, which helps prevent the formation of ice crystals.
For a mango kulfi on a stick or tilli wali kulfi, once the mango kulfi has set a little (around 1.5 hours), take the moulds out of the freezer and insert an ice cream / popsicle stick or bamboo skewer into each mould. Then return the moulds to the freezer and freeze until set, preferably overnight.
Also, pour the mixture into the kulfi moulds till they are nearly full. Leave some space (at least ½-inch) for the kulfi to expand when it freezes.
To unmould the mango kulfi, rub each mould between your palms to slightly warm it, or dip it in water for a few seconds, or hold the sealed container under running water, or run a knife around the edges of the mould. Turn the mould upside down onto a plate and tap it a couple of times. The kulfi should slide out.
Serve immediately.
You might also like our:
Easy Ice Cream (without Ice Cream maker)
Malai Kulfi
Mango Shrikhand
Mango Pudding
Shahi Phirni
Shahi Tukda
Or see all our Dessert Recipes right here!