Ananda Eidelstein is a vegetable-loving food writer, recipe developer, and editor. She is the former Senior Food Editor at REAL SIMPLE magazine. Prior to writing and editing feature stories, having her own monthly vegetarian column, and developing over 300 recipes during her time at RS, she was the Assistant Food Editor at Rachael Ray Every Day. She has also gained experience in the test kitchens of Martha Stewart's Living, and Saveur magazines, in catering, TV, and a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City. Ananda is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, now known as the International Culinary Center, with nearly a decade of culinary and food media experience.
Homemade ice cream is a treat! It's much easier than it seems to make ice cream from scratch, and it's obviously delicious. Only a few simple ingredients are required to make homemade ice cream, and there are no fillers, thickeners, emulsifiers, preservatives, or stabilizers in sight. The best part is the variety of mix-ins you can add to the ice cream base. You're no longer confined to the flavors available only in the ice cream aisle; sure, there are hundreds, but all the fun is in creating your own and playing around with different combinations.
The homemade ice cream experience starts with the ice cream base, and that base then turns into the frozen dessert we all know and love. Whether the ice cream is milk or water-based, the base will be made up of milk, cream, sugar, and whole eggs or egg yolks. There are different bases to experiment with, and they range from fuss-free to one requiring more attention to detail, yet they're still incredibly simple. Keep reading to learn how to make homemade ice cream!
Custard-based ice cream is a French-style ice cream and is the most common. It is usually an egg custard with a good amount of heavy cream, and the technique is the same as making crème anglaise—the rich custard sauce that's served hot or cold over a variety of desserts. This base does take a little babysitting and caution to ensure the eggs don't scramble. Pro tip: even if there's a slight look of curdled eggs, pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl for smooth results.
One method that requires less concern over the delicate structure of eggs is Philadelphia-style ice cream, sometimes known as American-style ice cream. The base is made up of milk, cream, or a combination of both, but it does not contain eggs. It's frozen just like custard-based ice cream, yet the texture can lean grainy because of the lack of a luscious custard. The Easy Cookies 'n' Cream Ice Cream recipe below is a great example of this method.
To make traditional ice cream, including either of the methods described above, you do need an ice cream maker. Churning ice cream prevents large ice crystals from forming and clumping together, therefore smaller ice crystals encourage a smoother texture in the finished product. Ice cream makers range in price and quality, but it's easy to find fairly inexpensive options at around $20. But here is a bit of good news, you can still make ice cream without a machine! These no-churn options range from shaking up heavy cream, sugar, and mix-ins in a mason jar, to whipping up a sweetened condensed milk-and-heavy cream base with fruit, you can take your pick.
The basic ice cream recipe below will become your go-to base and a blank canvas. Enjoy it as is, or experiment with flavors and mix-ins and make it your own creation. You will need an ice cream maker to make this custard-based ice cream. Most ice cream makers call to freeze the bowl at least a day in advance, so plan ahead.
There are infinite possibilities when it comes to flavoring homemade ice cream. Just before transferring to the freezer, fold in a handful of chopped fresh fruit or chopped mix-ins like pretzels, marshmallows, nuts, chocolate chips, or candy; a generous drizzle of syrups, nut butters, melted chocolate, or a smidge (or more!) of instant espresso powder or freeze-dried fruit pulsed in a food processor into a powder. Feel free to skip the vanilla in the base and swap it for another extract depending on the flavor profile you are craving.
Now that you know what goes into making ice cream at home, feel free to experiment with the below easy ice cream recipes.
With just five ingredients, this crowd-favorite flavor omits eggs in the ice cream base. You'll need an ice cream maker to throw together this ice cream recipe, but the easy base is fool-proof and comes together in a snap.
For an ice cream recipe that doesn't require an ice cream maker, give this treat a try. While similar to traditional strawberry ice cream, roasting the berries gives this dessert a complexity of flavors that you won't find in the store-bought stuff. Not a strawberry fan? Substitute peaches or plums instead.
Rolled ice cream is a frozen dessert that originated in Thailand, often referred to as Thai rolled ice cream or stir-fried ice cream. The base is just two (!) ingredients, heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk, and there is no ice cream maker needed– all you really need is a small rimmed baking sheet and a spatula to scrape and roll the ice cream base. The hardest part will be choosing your favorite mix-ins.
Break out the ice cream maker for this five-ingredient ice cream studded with chocolate chunks. It's a fuss-free ice cream base that only calls for heavy cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and chopped semi-sweet chocolate. Experiment with different flavors and mix in equal parts chocolate and peanut butter chips, or chocolate and mini marshmallows.
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No ice cream maker needed for this tropical dessert, which is made with heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and fresh papaya chunks. Transform an ordinary bowl of this ice cream into a sundae by adding roasted pineapple, toasted coconut flakes, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.