Ahhh yes 🍦✨ Vanilla ice cream—classic, creamy, and endlessly versatile. Here’s a simple way to make it at home, whether you have an ice cream maker or not.
🍨 Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients (about 1 quart)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions (with ice cream maker)
- Mix ingredients
- Whisk together milk, sugar, and salt until sugar dissolves.
- Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.
- Chill
- Refrigerate mixture for at least 2 hours (or overnight) for best flavor.
- Churn
- Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions (usually 20–25 minutes).
- Freeze
- Transfer to a container and freeze 2–4 hours to firm up.
No Ice Cream Maker Method (Freezer Method)
- Whisk all ingredients together.
- Pour into a shallow, freezer-safe container.
- Freeze for 30–60 minutes, then stir vigorously to break ice crystals.
- Repeat every 30 minutes for 2–3 hours until creamy.
Tips & Variations
- Extra creamy: Use more heavy cream than milk (2½:½ ratio).
- Vanilla bean: Scrape seeds from 1 vanilla bean for a richer flavor.
- Mix-ins: Chocolate chips, cookie chunks, or caramel swirls can be added after churning.
- Soft-serve style: Serve directly after churning before full freezing.
This is classic, silky, and perfect on its own or with pies, brownies, or fruit 😌🍦
I can also give a 5-minute no-churn version that’s almost instant if you want a quick treat. Do you want me to do that?