For years I did not think that I should make ice cream at home. I thought to myself, “As many flavors and brands as I can easily find in supermarkets why would I spend the time to make it at home?”.

Then one day I went to a Christmas party. The host of the party, my friend, Jenny, served an apple pie with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. It was deliciously creamy and smooth. I would have never guessed that you could make such a delicious ice cream at home.
Jenny, who has 2 young children, told me that she would never want her kids to eat the ice cream they sell in supermarkets because she does not believe in the extra ingredients that they put in it to increase its shelf life.
That is when I decided to make it at home. I tried a couple of recipes that did not require an ice cream maker. Some of them turned out okay; some did not turn out that good. None of them were like Jenny’s.
One day my husband (then my boyfriend) bought me an ice cream maker as a gift. I immediately tried the vanilla ice cream recipe in the booklet that came with the ice cream machine.
It was okay but, still, it was not as creamy and as smooth as Jenny’s.
Then I bumped in to this recipe and tried it.
This was it.

Over the last 3 years, I made this vanilla ice cream so many times that I do not even need to look at the recipe anymore. I know it by heart. I made some minor changes to the original recipe to make it easier for myself.
This is a custard-based ice cream. Here, custard-based means it is made by cooking egg yolks with cream, milk, sugar and your choice of flavoring (vanilla beans for this recipe). It takes a little longer because you have to wait for it to cool before churning.
But it is totally worth it.
The end result is a vanilla bean ice cream that is extremely smooth, creamy and delicious. With every bite the vanilla seeds burst into your mouth.
I usually make it every Sunday and keep it in the fridge for us to enjoy throughout the week. A scoop of this ice cream can be served with brownies (like this one), sundaes and any of your favorite pies.
Or you can eat it just by itself.
Either way, it is a fantastic treat.
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla bean split in half lengthwise
- 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar – divided
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg yolks
Instructions
- Place the heavy cream, vanilla bean, seeds, milk, salt, corn syrup and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan. Heat it over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it registers 175 °F, 9-10 minutes. Remove it from the heat.
- Whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar in bowl until smooth.
- Slowly whisk 1 cup of the hot milk mixture in to the egg yolk mixture. (If you do it fast you may end up with cooked eggs.)
- Return mixture in to the pan and heat it, stirring constantly, until it thickens and reaches to 180 °F. This takes less than 10 minutes.
- Pour the hot mixture into a glass bowl and let it cool outside, until it is no longer steaming.
- Place 1 cup of the mixture into a small bowl.
- Cover both bowls with stretch film.
- Place the reserved 1-cup mixture in freezer and the other bowl in refrigerator. Let it cool for at least for 4 hours or overnight.
- Remove them from freezer and refrigerator. Scrape the frozen custard mixture into the custard in the big bowl. Stir it until it completely dissolves.
- Strain this custard through a fine-mash strainer. Transfer in to the bowl of the ice cream maker.
- Churn it until it registers 21 °F, for 20-25 minutes.
- Transfer it to an airtight container. Press firmly to remove any air pockets. Place it in the freezer and freeze it until it is firm, at least 4 hours.
- Take it out 5 – 10 minutes before serving to make it easily “scoopable”.
Nutrition
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s Vanilla Ice Cream recipe.

CookingNewbie
Recipe was great. A bit too sweet for my preference, so I’ll adjust the amount of sugar/corn syrup next time.
What are your thoughts about adding milk powder? And how would you incorporate it?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi there,
So glad to hear that you liked it.
To be honest, I have never used milk powder in my cooking so it is hard to say.
I am wondering, would you use milk powder instead of heavy cream and milk? or just add it in additionally to enhance the milk flavors?
Samantha Lane
Thanks! I used your trick of freezing part of the custard. I also froze my blender jug for about 20mins and the container I was going to store the ice cream in . I blended the frozen and cold custard with 1/4tsp of xantham gum. Since I was making honey ice cream I subbed honey for the corn syrup.
And the mouth feel is amazing. As good as a bought one!
Aysegul Sanford
These tips are super helpful Samantha. Thanks for sharing. I love this recipe because I think it is actually better than store bought ice cream.
Thanks again. Cheers!
Mary Ellen
I am interested in trying your recipe, but wonder, have you ever tried modifying this recipe for chocolate and/or chocolate-peanut butter? Thank you.
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Mary Ellen,
I haven’t made any modifications on this recipe. However, I do have a foolproof chocolate ice cream recipe on the blog. It is a dark chocolate recipe that uses Dutch processed cacao, which I think makes all the difference. https://foolproofliving.com/double-dark-chocolate-ice-cream/
I sometimes modify recipes to create new versions. However, I do not post them unless they are foolproof.
I love peanut butter, but I have never made peanut butter ice cream. Now that I am thinking about it, I probably should. 🙂
I hope this helps. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Best,
Ice
Tooba
hello
Why did you first freeze half of the mixture?
Eric
She froze some of the mixture and added it to the base in order to quickly lower the internal temperature of the entire mixture. This achieves two results…cuts down on the time it takes to make the recipe and the quicker you (flash) freeze the custard the smaller the ice crystals will be and the smaller the ice crystals the creamer the results!!
Chrissann Nickel
This looks (and sounds) so amazing, looking forward to trying it!
Purabi Naha | Cosmopolitan Currymania
Oh, nothing beats homemade vanilla ice cream! Yum!
Aysegul Sanford
Thank you Purabi. It tastes great too…Cheers!
atika
These ice cream look absolutely delicious 🙂
Aysegul Sanford
Thank you Atika. It tastes delicious too..
Cheers!