The homemade ice cream recipe I would start with on this list is the blackberry one, and only partly because blackberries are my favorite fruit on earth. I picked them with my mother when I was small, so that flavor has had an unfair advantage with me ever since. The rest of the list covers every setup there is: proper custard bases with six egg yolks for anyone who wants to do it the long way, no churn versions that need nothing but a bowl and a loaf pan, and one you make by shaking a mason jar. Salted pretzel with chocolate and peanut butter, matcha, cotton candy, ube macapuno, lemon curd, cake batter, apple pie and a dulce de leche with two ingredients in it. Perfect for a hot afternoon, a birthday, an ice cream maker still sitting in its box and a freezer that deserves better than a tub!
1. Mason Jar Ice Cream
No ice cream maker, no custard, no churning. Everything goes into a mason jar, the lid goes on and you shake it until it thickens, which is genuinely the whole method and the reason this is the one to hand a child on a long afternoon. Three steps start to finish. It makes a single serving rather than a tub, so nobody argues over flavors and there is nothing left melting in the freezer door.
Get the full tutorial at DIY JOY.
2. Homemade Green Tea Matcha Ice Cream
Four ingredients and 20 minutes: a tablespoon and a half of matcha whisked smooth with three tablespoons of water, then folded into a cup of cold heavy cream and a third of a cup of cold sweetened condensed milk. No machine required. The cream and the milk have to come straight from the fridge, because cold is what lets them whip and hold air. Dissolve the matcha in the water first or you will be chasing green lumps around the bowl.
Get the full tutorial at Melanie Cooks.
3. Homemade Coffee Ice Cream
This is the long way and it is worth it once. Two and a half cups of whole milk, a cup and a half of sugar, salt and two tablespoons of instant coffee granules are heated, then tempered into six egg yolks and cooked about five minutes until the custard thickens. Strain it. Every custard has a few threads of cooked egg in it and straining is the difference between silky and grainy. Decaf granules mean you can eat it after dinner.
Get the full tutorial at Baked by an Introvert.
4. Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
Vegan, dairy free and built entirely on coconut: a cup of shredded coconut toasted until golden, a can of coconut milk, two tins of coconut cream, monkfruit or sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and salt. The tablespoon of vodka at the end is the part worth knowing about, because alcohol does not freeze and it keeps the whole thing scoopable instead of rock solid. Chill the ice cream maker bowl overnight. Toast the coconut with your eyes on it.
Get the full tutorial at Well Vegan.
5. Salted Pretzel Ice Cream with Chocolate and Peanut Butter
Thirty small salted pretzels steep in a cup and three quarters of whole milk in the fridge for an hour and a half, then get strained out and discarded, leaving milk that tastes like pretzel. That infusion trick is genuinely clever and it works on all sorts of things. The custard goes on from there with four yolks, sugar and cream, plus dark chocolate and half a cup of peanut butter. Press the pretzels when you strain them. All the flavor is in that last bit of milk.
Get the full tutorial at Cake Over Steak.
6. Homemade Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips
The riper and uglier the bananas, the better this gets, because ripeness is where all the sweetness and the actual banana flavor live. It is a custard with eggs, whole milk and heavy cream, not a frozen banana blitzed in a blender, so the texture is proper ice cream rather than soft serve. Do not swap in skim milk to save calories. Less fat means more ice crystals, and you will taste every one of them.
Get the full tutorial at Well Plated.
7. No Churn Snickers Cheesecake Ice Cream
Five ingredients and no machine: two cups of heavy cream whipped to peaks, three quarters of a can of condensed milk, five ounces of cream cheese, three crushed graham sheets and two thirds of a cup of chopped Snickers, which is about eight snack size bars. Put the bowl and the beater in the fridge 20 minutes first. Cold equipment whips cream faster and further, and stopping at soft peaks rather than stiff ones keeps this scoopable.
Get the full tutorial at Cook With Manali.
8. Cotton Candy Ice Cream
Cotton candy syrup is what carries the flavor here, half a cup of it whisked into two cups of heavy cream, a cup of whole milk, three quarters of a cup of sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Six servings. Some syrups arrive already tinted, so check the color before you reach for the food coloring, and add it a drop at a time unless you want a blue that alarms people. Have the machine frozen and ready before you mix.
Get the full tutorial at Homemade Hooplah.
9. Peaches and Cream Ice Cream
Six peeled, pitted peaches get cooked down with sugar and lemon juice into a jam first, which concentrates the flavor instead of leaving you with watery fruit chunks. That folds into whipped heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk, so there is no custard and no churning. Let the jam cool completely before it meets the cream or it will deflate everything you just whipped. Best made in August, when peaches are worth the trouble.
Get the full tutorial at Baked by an Introvert.
10. No-Churn Ice Cream
Two cups of heavy cream blended to stiff peaks, then a cup of sweetened condensed milk, a quarter cup each of whole milk and light corn syrup, two tablespoons of sugar, salt and whatever extract you want. The version in our tutorial goes mint with peppermint extract and crushed Oreos, but the base takes any flavor you point it at. Press plastic wrap right onto the surface before it goes in the freezer for six hours. That is what stops ice crystals forming on top.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
11. No Churn Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Heavy whipping cream beaten to stiff peaks is the one thing here you cannot substitute, because it is the only structure this ice cream gets. Sweetened condensed milk does the sweetening and happens to be a key lime pie ingredient anyway, then lime juice, lime zest and graham crackers finish the job. Key limes are hard to find most of the year, so bottled key lime juice or plain limes are both fine. The zest is where the real lime flavor is.
Get the full tutorial at Like Mother Like Daughter.
12. Cookies and Cream Nutella Ice Cream
Two cups of heavy cream, two thirds of a cup of chocolate milk, three quarters of a cup of Nutella, sugar, vanilla and salt go into a blender, chill, then freeze 45 minutes, get blended again for 20 seconds and freeze another 45. Those two rounds of blending are a poor man’s churn and they work, breaking the ice crystals just like a machine paddle would. Between 10 and 13 crumbled Oreos go in at the end. Double stuffed, if you are asking me.
Get the full tutorial at Dash of Sanity.
13. Easy Chocolate Ice Cream
Six ingredients and no eggs, which means no tempering and no custard to stand over. Three quarters of a cup of good cocoa, brown and white sugar, a cup and a half of very cold whole milk, two cups of very cold heavy cream and vanilla, straight into the machine for 20 to 30 minutes. The word doing the work in that list is cold. Everything wants to be refrigerator cold going in, because a warm base churns slowly and comes out icy.
Get the full tutorial at Chew Out Loud.
14. Espresso Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Four things: heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, espresso powder and mini chocolate chips, whisked together and churned. The mini chips matter more than they sound like they do, because full size chips freeze into hard chunks that fight your teeth while minis stay pleasant. Freeze the machine bowl a full 24 hours, not the four you were hoping to get away with. Dairy free works here too, with full fat coconut milk in place of both dairy ingredients.
Get the full tutorial at Table for Two.
15. Lemon Ice Cream
This one makes lemon curd first, over a double boiler: half a cup of fresh lemon juice, which is five or six lemons, with butter, two whole eggs and a cup of sugar, whisked about 15 minutes until it thickens. Then lemon extract, two cups of cream and salt go in and it chills overnight before churning. Fifteen minutes of whisking is not a suggestion. Rush the curd over direct heat and you get sweet scrambled eggs, which is a sad way to lose six lemons.
Get the full tutorial at Life Currents.
16. Cake Batter Ice Cream
The flavor comes from actual yellow cake mix stirred into a base of whole milk, sugar, half and half or heavy cream, vanilla and a dash of sea salt, with rainbow jimmies folded in at the end. Imitation flavorings never get close to this, which is why the box is the right answer. Use whole milk and heavy cream rather than the lighter options, because every bit of fat you leave out comes back as ice. A birthday in a bowl.
Get the full tutorial at Like Mother Like Daughter.
17. Homemade Peach Ice Cream
Two ripe peaches, or two cups of thawed frozen slices, with a cup and a half of whole milk, a cup of heavy cream, four ounces of softened cream cheese, half a cup of sugar, honey, vanilla and salt. One peach goes into the blender with everything else and the other is diced and held back, so you get fruit you can actually bite. Chill an hour, churn 10 minutes, add the diced peach and run 10 to 15 more. The cream cheese is the secret to the texture.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
18. Rocky Road Ice Cream
Sugar, cocoa and salt get whisked in a saucepan before the cream and milk go in, which is how you avoid cocoa lumps. Bring it to a boil, simmer two minutes, then off the heat add chocolate chips, vanilla and almond extract. That almond extract is the quiet reason this tastes like rocky road and not simply chocolate. Chill six hours before churning. Almonds and mini marshmallows go in at the very end, once the ice cream is already thick.
Get the full tutorial at Barefeet in the Kitchen.
19. Homemade Dark Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream
Two kinds of chocolate go in, four heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa and six ounces of chips at 60 percent or darker, which is what makes this read as fudge rather than as chocolate ice cream. Heat the cream and cocoa together first, pull it off the heat and let the chips sit a few minutes before stirring, so they melt rather than seize. Five egg yolks thicken it. This is a grown up one, closer to dark chocolate than to a sundae.
Get the full tutorial at It's Always Autumn.
20. No Churn Apple Pie Ice Cream
Two Granny Smith apples in quarter inch pieces cook down with brown sugar, butter and apple pie spice into a compote, which then swirls through a no churn base of condensed milk, spice, vanilla and two cups of cold heavy cream. Three quarters of a cup of crushed crunchy oatmeal cookies stands in for the crust. Granny Smiths hold their shape and stay tart, which is the only reason this does not taste like sweet mush. Very much a fall recipe idea.
Get the full tutorial at Celebrating Sweets.
21. Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream
Two cups of heavy cream, a cup of whole milk, two thirds of a cup of brown sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, salt, vanilla and five egg yolks, churned, with half a cup of cinnamon chips folded through. Brown sugar instead of white is what gives it that faint butterscotch edge. Put the machine canister in the freezer at the same moment you start the custard, so the base finishes chilling and the bowl finishes freezing together. Cinnamon toast, essentially.
Get the full tutorial at Sugar Dish Me.
22. 2-Ingredient Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
Two cups of chilled heavy cream and two cans of dulce de leche. That is the entire list. One can gets beaten into the whipped cream in two or three additions and the second is folded in loosely at the end, deliberately not mixed all the way through, so you get ribbons instead of one uniform caramel color. Seven minutes of work and four or five hours in the freezer. It is the easiest thing on this page by a wide margin.
Get the full tutorial at Living Sweet Moments.
23. Chocolate-Chunk Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
Three separate components and worth every one: a chocolate syrup made with cocoa, brewed coffee, sugar and bittersweet chocolate, a base thickened with cornstarch and two ounces of cream cheese instead of egg yolks, and a raspberry sauce from three cups of berries. The coffee in the syrup does not taste like coffee, it just makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate. Swirl the sauces in at the end with a knife. Stir them and you lose the ribbons.
Get the full tutorial at Saving Room for Dessert.
24. Homemade Blackberry Ice Cream
Five ingredients and no cream at all: a cup of blackberries, half a cup of sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla, a quarter teaspoon of salt and two and a quarter cups of whole milk, run through a food processor and churned 15 to 20 minutes. Chop the fruit finer than feels necessary, because big pieces freeze into hard shards while small ones freeze evenly. Serve it straight out of the machine, soft, or firm it up in the freezer. This is my favorite fruit, so I am not neutral here.
Get the full tutorial at My Fearless Kitchen.
25. Fresh Blueberry Ice Cream
Four cups of blueberries pureed and warmed with a cup and a half of sugar until it dissolves, chilled, then mixed with vanilla, salt, whole milk, half and half and two cups of whipping cream. Eight servings. Warming the puree is doing two jobs, dissolving the sugar and taking the raw edge off the fruit, and skipping it leaves a gritty base. Frozen berries work as well as fresh, which makes this one you can have in February.
Get the full tutorial at Your Homebased Mom.
26. Ube Macapuno Ice Cream
Five ingredients, no machine and ten minutes of active work: two cups of very cold heavy cream, a can of condensed milk and a cup of cooked mashed ube beaten eight to ten minutes to stiff peaks, with a few drops of ube extract for color and a cup of macapuno strips folded in. Rinse and drain the macapuno well, since the syrup it comes in will loosen everything you just whipped. Purple yam and sweet coconut, and it tastes like nothing else on this list.
Get the full tutorial at Kawaling Pinoy.
27. Nutella Ice Cream
The base is a straightforward churned vanilla, but the crunch is the point: two cups of Rice Krispies get coated in warmed Nutella, spread on a sheet pan and frozen solid before being stirred through. Layer the finished ice cream with the rest of the warmed Nutella as you pack the container, rather than mixing it in, so you get seams of it. Twelve half cup servings. Freezing the cereal first is what keeps it crisp instead of soggy.
Get the full tutorial at Your Homebased Mom.
28. Almond Cherry Ice Cream
A pound and a half of pitted cherries simmer 10 to 12 minutes with a third of a cup of sugar, then a third of them get strained out and saved to fold in later while the rest are blended smooth. That is why this has both cherry flavor throughout and actual cherry pieces. The custard is six yolks, whole milk, cream, vanilla and half a teaspoon of almond extract. Almond and cherry are relatives botanically, which is why that half teaspoon works so well.
Get the full tutorial at Ashlee Marie.
29. Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
The cookie dough is made separately from butter, brown and white sugar, milk, vanilla, a third of a cup of flour and mini chips, then chilled and chopped. The ice cream underneath is a no churn base where butter and brown sugar are cooked first and stirred into condensed milk, which gives it a real toffee note. Two cups of cold heavy cream whip in. A raw flour warning is worth noting: heat treat it, or use a flour labeled safe to eat.
Get the full tutorial at Celebrating Sweets.
