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This sweet and slightly tart Cherry Ice Cream is made with just a handful of easy ingredients.
No custard base, no eggs, no cooking time, just a quick whirl in the blender with sweet cream, sugar, and cherries.
Cherry Ice Cream
Fresh, sweet cherries are one of my favorite fruits, but the hassle of removing the pits, combined with their limited availability makes their frozen counterparts perfect for this quick and easy ice cream recipe.
Homemade Ice Cream is the perfect dessert for any occasion and as any of my friends will attest, I’ll use any possible excuse to make a fresh batch.
The most popular question I get is whether it’s possible to make ice cream without a machine. The answer is YES. You can make ice cream without a machine. Find the full directions here!
Cherry Ice Cream Recipe
- frozen sweet cherries
- heavy cream
- milk
- sugar
- kosher salt
- vanilla extract
I make this ice cream both with and without the chocolate swirl. The chocolate is optional, but I highly recommend it. Isn’t everything better with a chocolate swirl?
My favorite homemade ice creams are the ones that require very little effort on my part. At least half of the reason I love making my own ice cream is because it is often easier than a trip to the grocery store.
Stir together the cream and sugar along with whatever flavors you are craving and just pour it into the machine. Nothing beats a batch of homemade ice cream straight out of the machine.
Here are a few more of my favorite easy ice cream recipes:
Oreo Ice Cream is not your everyday cookies and cream ice cream. (Although don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a batch of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream too!) The base of this ice cream tastes just like Oreo cookies, not like vanilla ice cream with chunks of Oreos.
Fluffy, creamy Berry Banana Ice Cream is filled with strawberries and bananas. It is the perfect way to cool off this summer.
Chocolate Chip Toffee Bits Ice Cream is exactly that – a homemade vanilla ice cream fully loaded with miniature chocolate chips and toffee bits. This is the best ever chocolate chip ice cream. You’re going to love it.
With over 160 ice cream recipes here to choose from, there’s sure to be an ice cream for everyone! If you’re new to making ice cream, the best and easiest vanilla ice cream is a great place to start.
These are my favorite inexpensive containers for storing ice cream. They’re perfect for gifting (who doesn’t love homemade ice cream?) storage, re-using, etc. I write the flavors on the lids with a sharpie and it washes off with dish soap.
I have more ice cream scoops than I can keep track of at this point and I definitely play favorites. This ice cream scoop does the best job ever of cutting through firm ice cream and still delivers a pretty scoop. It gets bonus points for being one of the least expensive scoops I own as well.
Don’t miss our Ice Cream Maker Review for all the information you need to find the BEST Ice Cream Maker for your needs. Spoiler alert – our top-rated machine under $50 just might surprise you. It sure surprised me!
Cherry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 16 ounces frozen sweet cherries about 3 cups worth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Swirl Ingredients
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
Instructions
- Combine the cherries, cream, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla in the blender. Puree until completely smooth. Serve immediately for soft-serve ice cream or pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Chocolate Swirl Instructions
- While the ice cream is churning, combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small glass bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If needed, heat an additional 20-30 seconds. Stir until smooth.
- Let cool a bit at room temperature while the ice cream finishes churning. (If it solidifies too much to drizzle while waiting, reheat for 10-15 seconds and stir again.)
- When the ice cream finishes churning. Transfer about a third of the ice cream to an airtight container and drizzle generously with about a third of the melted chocolate. Repeat twice. Freeze until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally published 5/31/15 – recipe notes and photos updated 7/6/22}
After years of making ice cream the traditional way this was wonderful! I chopped up some cherries and did a chocolate swirl. I also used oat milk and Country Crock plant heavy cream because I try to go non-dairy whenever possible and it was luscious!
Patty – Thank you for sharing your version. I love knowing how people use my recipes.
Fantastic!
Made it in my food processor as I don’t have a blender. It was close to the max liquid level for the machine but I managed to keep the mess fairly small.
Because I put all the ingredients in the processor at once, and then had to fumble around to get it running, the cream started to freeze around the cherries, and ended up with little chunks of frozen cream that never got fully mixed in. It looked a little odd, but they were quite small and not at all unpleasant to eat.
I’m off to try a second batch!
Ohh the times I have maxed out my liquid, the messes! I am right there with you. I am glad you still enjoyed the ice cream but you are right, you do have to work quickly. It always surprises me how fast it can start to free sometimes.
my first ever homemade ice cream and i think theres now no going back! very easy and came out amazing. I didnt make the chocolate swirl but made your chocolate sauce to pour on the top 🙂
You are hooked, Helen! I am so happy you love it.
Your cherry chocolate ice cream would send people over the moon if you added almond extract instead of vanilla 😋 😜
That’s a great option as well, Delena. I’m glad you’re enjoying the ice cream.
I’m just curious how much this makes. I’ve never made ice cream before so I’m unsure if the 3 cups of cherries, 1 cup of cream, and 1 cup of milk make 5 cups, or if there’s some expansion in the process. Thank you for your help!
Yes, this recipe will make approximately 5 cups in thh blender. If you churn it, it will expand a bit more.
Came across this recipe while looking for a way to make cherry ice cream using frozen cherries. I followed the recipe as is than the addition of 1.5 tsps vodka before churning to keep it from going rock hard. End result is great, like a cross between ice cream and sorbet. Only thing I would add is straining, the mechanical pitters aren’t perfect. There was a cherry stone in our ice cream that was thankfully, not pulverized by the blender.
I’m glad you like the ice cream, Emily.
This ice cream had great flavor and it was so easy to make!!! But it wasn’t creamy…it was kind of crumbly and icy. My tongue hurts after eating it!! LOL I did churn it but it just would have been better if it was creamy. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ilene! Sorry to hear that the ice cream didn’t turn out quite how you’d hoped it would. Did you by chance substitute something else for the heavy cream? It sounds like the fat content wasn’t quite right. I’m glad you loved the flavors, though!
The flavor is great but the texture is like soup. I thought it would fluff up with the cream. Where did I go wrong?
Have you churned the ice cream yet? It will be liquid until it is churned in the ice cream maker.
This looks and sounds amazing! One question – can I use fresh pitted cherries instead of frozen?
You bet. If you’re lucky enough to have extra cherries on hand, they’ll work great.