Fresh vanilla bean ice cream is extremely delicious and tastes nothing like your average store-bought artificial flavoured ice cream. With its smooth and velvet-like texture, you can make this with 20 minutes hands-off time!
Tiny black speckles of vanilla seeds almost guarantee that homemade vanilla ice cream will taste good. It's an exceptional treat for your family, and with the help of an ice cream machine, this recipe is both super easy and tasty.
It's almost impossible to believe that with just a few key ingredients, you can make such a delicious dessert. With only 20 minutes of churning time, you can sit back and relax while the machine does all the work!
The machine I use to churn my ice cream is the 2 QT Cuisinart Ice Cream and Yogurt Machine. I've been using this for years and it has never failed it! You can purchase it on Amazon and it is the best ice cream machine choice!
If you're looking to make a simple gourmet ice cream at home, this is the recipe for you! All you need is sugar, whole milk, heavy cream, a vanilla bean, and egg yolks.
We love serving this ice cream with Cinnamon Rolls with Rompope Frosting, Triple Chocolate Fudgy Brownies, or Super Moist Cherry Loaf.
If vanilla ice cream feels too basic for you and wanted something with packed with flavour and texture, try our Salted Caramel Pecan Ice Cream. It's honestly to die for!
Ingredients
Whole Milk - helps with the texture and flavour of the ice cream. I recommend whole milk and nothing of low-fat and lactose milk. The full fat helps create airy crystals once it is in the machine churning away.
Heavy Cream - one of the key ingredients here! Heavy cream (or whipping cream) is a must for homemade ice cream.
Sugar - you can use 1/2 to 3/4 cups of sugar. I find 3/4 a little bit too much for me and 1/2 cup is perfect for me and my family.
Egg Yolk - using egg yolks in the ice cream mixtures creates a richer and fuller texture of ice cream. It is literally the ingredient that takes you from average ice cream to gourmet-flavoured ice cream!
Vanilla Bean - just one vanilla bean is enough to bring this ice cream to life! I like to use the back of the knife it scraps all the vanilla beans out. If you don't have vanilla beans, you can replace it with 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste!
Salt - this is optional but I would recommend it. Just a pinch is enough to bring out the flavour of everything!
Food to Pair with Vanilla Ice Cream
- Pie (pecan, apple, strawberry, rhubarb, chocolate, etc)
- Cake (chocolate cake, fruit cake, cobble cake, pound cake, etc)
- Sundae's (toppings like: strawberry, peach, chocolate syrup, candies, nuts, etc)
- Loaf's (banana, chocolate chips, pecan, blueberry, cherry, etc)
- Tarts (apple, blackberry, peach, guava, pineapple, Nutella, etc)
- cookies (ginger cookie, chocolate chips, macadamia cookie, trip chocolate, etc)
Professional Vanilla Ice Cream Tips
PRO TIP #1 - COMPLETELY FREEZE YOUR ICE CREAM BUCKET
There is nothing more annoying than to be churning your ice cream to realize it is not cold enough to completely churn the liquid into ice cream. Therefore, I highly recommend to freeze the bucket overnight at least 12 hours. This will guarantee you a successful experience!
Pro Tip #2 - Cook the vanilla ice cream mixture
We have egg yolks in the recipe and that does require a little bit of cooking. This helps kill any bacteria in the egg. Eating uncooked egg yolk is not recommended.
Pro Tip #3 - A Good Coat in the Back of the Spoon is a Good Sign
To know if your liquid is cooked thoroughly, dip the spoon into the liquid. If it gives it a thick coat that is not runny, it's a sign to take it off the heat and ready to be cooled into room temperature!
Pro Tip #4 - cover the mixture with plastic wrap
When you finish cooking the mixture, you need to cool it before it can be placed in the ice cream bucket. When it is cooling, place a plastic film on top of the mixture touching the mixture. This helps prevent the surface from forming a film.
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Equipment
- ice cream machine
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- In a large non-stick saucepan, heat the pan over medium low heat. Add egg yolks and sugar, and whisk until a light yellow color.
- In another sauce pan, combine the vanilla bean, whole milk, heavy cream and salt. Combine well. When you see the sides of the sauce pan start to simmer, turn off the heat immediately.
- Slowly add the milk to egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly.
- When the temperature reaches 165°F, remove from heat. Do not let it come to boil.
- Pour the custard base into a container to reach room temperature. Then add a plastic film on top of the mixture and put it in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
- When the custard base is ready, pour it into your ice cream maker and process according to your ice cram maker's instructions.
