This rich and creamy homemade vanilla ice cream recipe only uses five ingredients. Heavy cream is warm in a saucepan with sugar and a pinch of salt. Then a vanilla bean pod is added to the mixture and warmed until the sugar is completely dissolved. Next the cream mixture is removed from the heat and more heavy cream is added with whole milk. The mixture chills in the refrigerator before adding to the ice cream maker. After churning the ice cream is frozen until ready to serve.
Course
Dessert
Prep Time5minutes
Cook Time30minutes
Freezing Time4hours
Servings4people
Ingredients
1 ¾cupsheavy cream
1 ¼cupwhole milk
¾cupsugar
⅛tspfine sea salt
1tbspvanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean split in half lengthwise
Instructions
Pour 1 cup of the cream into a saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the pot and then add the vanilla pod to the pot. Warm the mixture over medium heat, just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the remaining cream, milk and vanilla extract (if using extract instead of vanilla pod). Stir to combine and chill in refrigerator.
When ready to churn, remove the vanilla pod, whisk mixture again and pour into ice cream maker. Churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the finished ice cream to an airtight container and place in the freezer until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
The simmer step can be skipped. Whisk everything together, then pour directly into the ice cream maker.