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I have a well-established love of ice cream, with over 150 ice cream recipes here on the website, and yet I still make this simple ice cream recipe at least once a month. There’s a reason why we call this the easiest (and best!) ice cream you will ever make or taste.
How To Make Homemade Ice Cream
Can anyone ever turn down a scoop of rich and creamy homemade ice cream? With just a handful of ingredients, this vanilla ice cream is beyond easy to make and it’s adaptable for whichever add-ins you’re craving.
While ice cream is a staple in our freezer year round, the add-in potentials for this particular ice cream are endless. I’ve filled this ice cream with chunks of brownies, bits of cookie dough, pieces of oatmeal cookies, and swirls of salted caramel sauce.
I have tried many ice cream recipes with many levels of difficulty, but my husband has deemed this recipe his favorite! Thank you so much for your hard work! I love the endless possibilities!
I try to keep a stash of crumbled cookies, brownies, and other treats in the freezer so that I can toss in a few handfuls whenever I’m churning a batch of ice cream.
I’ve also topped this ice cream with warm chocolate sauce, salted caramel sauce, or my favorite of all, this simple berry sauce. There has yet to be a combination that we didn’t love.
Homemade Ice Cream Recipe
When I first started making homemade ice cream, I initially followed recipes for traditional custard-style ice creams. And while a custard base does make for an amazing ice cream, don’t get me wrong, custard ice creams tend to be rich as can be.
And I quickly found that most custard ice creams just aren’t my thing. Besides, I’ll be honest, I like to make things simpler and not more complicated in the kitchen wherever possible.
The Ice Cream That Changed Everything
When I discovered Philadelphia-style ice cream, it was a complete game changer. You’ll need just 5 ingredients to make this ice cream: cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Philadelphia style ice cream is simply ice cream made with no eggs. I’ve played with the basic ratios and the method over the past few years and I’m telling you now that this recipe is hands down, the BEST simple vanilla ice cream I have ever made.
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!
How To Make Ice Cream
This ice cream is dead simple. Just combine some cream, milk, sugar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla in a saucepan. Give it a stir and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Then cool, chill, and churn; less than 10 minutes of actual prep time. If I put the mixture together in the morning, refrigerate it, and then churn it in the afternoon, we will happily scoop this ice cream into bowls or cones for dessert the same evening.
Want To Make It Even Easier?
If you are in a rush, you can simply stir everything together cold and pour it into the machine. I can’t deny that simmering it just long enough to dissolve the sugar and then cooling it again does make it even better.
Truthfully though, I’m impatient most of the time, so I skip the simmer step frequently. This is fantastic ice cream, however you make it.
The ice cream works beautifully in every ice cream maker I’ve tried. Hand crank, electric crank, freezer bowl, and ice cream compressor are all terrific options, but don’t worry, you can make ice cream without a machine too!
Ice Cream Recipes
Once you have an ice cream maker in your kitchen, get ready for all the ice cream recipes you can handle. Two kinds of chocolate and real cream make this the best and easiest homemade chocolate ice cream. The deliciously rich chocolate flavor of this recipe comes from the combination of both cocoa powder and melted chocolate chips.
Strawberry Ice Cream is an old-fashioned favorite made simply with strawberries, sugar, cream, and milk. Just a few ingredients add up to a summer ice cream treat that everyone loves.
Fresh Mint Ice Cream is like no other mint ice cream you’ve tried in the past. Sweet chunks of edible cookie dough fill each scoop of this rich and creamy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.
This creamy, rich Blueberry Ice Cream is filled with chunks of dark chocolate that will melt in your mouth. Oh, my friends, make this. You won’t regret it – and I’m willing to bet that you’ll fall in love with it at first bite. I know I did.
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!
The Best (and Easiest) Ice Cream You’ll Ever Make
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups heavy cream
- 1¼ cup whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla 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. If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds of the bean into the mixture and then add the vanilla pod to the saucepan.
- Warm the mixture over medium heat, just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the remaining cream, milk, and vanilla extract (if using extract). Whisk to combine and chill in the refrigerator.
- When ready to churn, remove the vanilla pod, whisk the mixture again, and pour it into the ice cream maker. Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Serve immediately or transfer the finished ice cream to an airtight container and place it in the freezer until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally published 5/22/18 – recipe notes and photos updated 9/14/25}
I’m going to scout camp and plan to use this recipe for an ice cream contest (modified into a cocoa/cayenne concoction, of course) We leave Monday morning and the contest is Monday night. Have you ever mixed this, chilled and waited a day or two to freeze? In other words, if I make it Saturday night or Sunday morning and transport as a liquid, will it be fine to stir and freeze Monday?
Thanks!
As long as you keep it nice and cold, that will work nicely. Good luck, Andrew!
I made this to go on your Southern Peach Cobbler recipe. I doubled quantities except for the vanilla bean to fill our ice cream freezer. It was delicious. I used organic whipping cream from grass fed cows and organic whole milk from grass fed cows. One of our guests commented that this ice cream didn’t leave a fatty film in his mouth. I don’t know if it was the heating process or the organic grass fed cream and milk that made the difference, but I will make it again using the same products. Thank you!
I am so happy you love the ice cream, Peggy!
Easy and delicious
I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying the ice cream, Sherri!
What if you cant afford to buy an ice cream maker?
Then stick around, Fran, because I’ll be giving a few away in the next couple of weeks!
I was wondering, I see it says it makes 6 serving, roughly how big is a serving? I want to use this while we are camping but we have a group of 11 going and at least 3 of them can eat a lot. Thanks in advance
It’s a 1.5-quart recipe, so six smallish servings. The average serving is “supposed” to be 1/2-cup, so it’s roughly based on that. My family of five easily polishes off a batch. If you want bigger servings, I’d plan on three batches.
I have a 4qt ice cream maker. Rather than do 3 batches, can I triple the ingredients and do the process one time?
Absolutely, Jen. That should work nicely!
Thank you so much this will help a bunch
Love how simple this is – and how quickly it comes together. Because of this recipe, all summer we have been doing homemade ice-creams – justifying my ice cream bowl that takes up space and in the past 10 years has only ever made sorbet twice – now makes ice cream weekly! This has also inspired us to look for other easy recipes too. Thank you so much for sharing,
I love hearing this, Jo!
So delicious! Our new go-to for our machine! We’ve tried other ice cream recipes that were too sweet, or not flavorful enough, but this recipe hits the mark!
I’m so very happy to hear that you’re enjoying the ice cream, Dianne!
Just taken my old Gaggia gelteria out of the cupboard, and will give this recepi a try…Will let you know how it goes….
Just purchased an ice cream maker today and tomorrow I will be making this wonderful simple ice cream recipe. Going to add nuts on top with chocolate. Wow, my mouth is watering. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Enjoy!
I’m wanting to make banana ice cream. Can I use this recipe? And how many banana’s and when do I put them in?
You can either puree the bananas or chop them small and stir them in at the very last, Staci.
My 9 year old and I made ice cream for the first time…..this recipe is not only easy but it literally is the best tasting! We did cut back on the sugar a tad bit. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us! God bless you!😀
I am so glad you’re enjoying the ice cream recipe, Margarette!
your recipes are simple and easy to follow,keep up
I’m happy to hear that you’re enjoying the recipes, Dorothy!
I love this recipe! I’ve used it to make praline and caramel, vanilla, and fresh mint chip. The only thing is that it leaves a greasy finish on my lips and tongue. Am I doing something wrong? Is all the fat in (in the heavy cream and whole milk) necessary? Thanks!
This can happen when you overchurn the ice cream, or sometimes just because the cream can turn to butter. Some ice cream makers do this much more easily than others. I’ve found it most common with freezer bowl machines, as the liquids close to the bowl freeze faster and form that layer of frozen ice cream faster.
That is the exact kind I have. I think I may be using this recipient enough to invest in a different machine! Thanks!
We had the same issue with a compressor ice cream machine. It was our first attempt. How do you know when to stop churning?
I just look at the ice cream to determine it, Jennifer. Most compressor machines I’ve seen have clear lids to help with that. (The ones I’ve used have all shut off automatically when the ice cream finishes churning.)
do you have any idea what a vanilla bean cost? Space
You bet I do, Jane. That’s why there is a vanilla extract alternative listed in the recipe, Jane. When I find a great deal and can stock up and have them on hand I use the vanilla bean (and it’s been a LONG time since that has happened).
Costco usually has the best deal on vanilla beans
Thanks for the tip, Jessica!
How much does this make? 6 servings of what size?
This makes about 1.5 quarts, Tanya. So, the servings will vary depending on size.
I didn’t have whole milk, just 2%. So I adjusted by using 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup 2% milk. It seemed to come out fine. It is a little sweet. What would happen if I cut the sugar to, let us say, 2/3 cup? It was delicious, however. I used a new Cuisinart Ice-21, my first time ever using it, followed the instructions exactly. Took a bit under 20 minutes to freeze enough to transfer to ice cream container. Can you, yourself, detect a difference when you heat the cream and dissolve the sugar first? Side-by-side comparison: could you tell the difference? Thanks!!
Yes, side by side comparison, the sugar melts into the cream more smoothly when heated. That said, knowing that, I rarely heat it. I stir everything together and pour it into the machine immediately 95% of the time now.
I’ve made this with 2/3 cup sugar many times in the past. I often change it up depending on the add-ins I’m tossing into the ice cream or if I just don’t want it quite so sweet. It works nicely with slightly reduced sugar.
What about the 2% milk situation? Could I use 2% in place of the whole milk, leaving the recipe just the same as written otherwise?
We’ve made this recipe about 6 times already. We’ve double it before as well. We substituted heavy whipping cream for half and half and found we like it best. There is no film on the roof of your mouth with the half and half. Love it and will use this as a go to always.
I’m so happy you’re enjoying the ice cream, Kim!
My freezer is for 4 quarts. Is it possible to make 1 quart of ice cream in a 4 quart freezer?
Yes, that should work fine, Frieda. It will depend on the machine, but I’ve had good luck making smaller batches that way.
This is a fantastic Recipe! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you like it, Christina!
Do you have to use sea salt ad why?
Kosher salt will work fine.
Thanks for this recipe! I made a batch of plain vanilla and it was great. I’m going to give it a try with black raspberry, I’ll let you know how it goes.
I’m so happy you’re enjoying the ice cream, Fay!
I made the black raspberry and it was also very good. I’d like to make another batch, chocolate this time. How much cocoa would you recommend?
There are a few different chocolate ice cream recipes on this website. If you search “chocolate ice cream” you can check them all out. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend simply adding cocoa to this one. I don’t think it will work quite the same way. I do love my chocolate!