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Peanut Butter Ice Cream tastes like the inside of a peanut butter cup, transformed into cold and creamy homemade ice cream.
Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream
With a rich swirl of peanut butter and plenty of chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, this is a treat that you’re going to be finding every excuse to make. If you’ve already fallen in love with this creamy peanut butter fudge, I can tell you now that you will love this ice cream every bit as much!
I usually figure a batch of homemade ice cream to be 5-6 servings. However, this is very rich ice cream and we tend to enjoy it in smaller portions.
To make this ice cream, you’ll whisk together creamy peanut butter with milk, heavy cream, and vanilla. This mixture is sweetened with brown sugar providing an added richness.
While the ice cream is churning, you’ll make the sweet peanut butter mixture to swirl into the ice cream. And while you’re at it, you should probably go ahead and chop up some peanut butter cups to sprinkle on top of each serving.
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!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Peanut butter swirled ice cream filled with peanut butter cups in every bite is a guaranteed win. With a drizzle of warm chocolate sauce or a generous spoonful of hot fudge over the top, this is an ice cream treat that few can resist.
I shared this with a friend who was visiting and she immediately asked how soon I’d be sharing this recipe. So, here you go! This one is certain to be everyone’s new favorite.
The chocolate here is optional, but if you love the chocolate peanut butter combination as much as my family does, you’ll want to try it both ways.
Ice Cream Ingredients
- creamy peanut butter
- light brown sugar
- kosher salt
- heavy cream
- milk
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe
- Stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cream and whisk smooth. Slowly add the milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Pour into the ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.
- While the ice cream is churning, warm ⅓ cup peanut butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until smooth and liquid. Slowly add the powdered sugar, whisking smooth. Set aside.
- When the ice cream finishes churning, transfer half of the to an airtight container and drizzle with half of the peanut butter mixture. Repeat the layers and swirl with a knife just a couple of times to mix throughout.
- Cover with a lid and place in the freezer until firm enough to scoop. For an even more amazing treat, drizzle with chocolate sauce or hot fudge when ready to serve.
Homemade Ice Cream
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!
Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
Ice Cream Ingredients
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1⅓ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Swirl Ingredients
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- Stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cream and whisk smooth. Slowly add the milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Pour into the ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.
- While the ice cream is churning, warm ⅓ cup peanut butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until smooth and liquid. Slowly add the powdered sugar, whisking smooth. Set aside.
- When the ice cream finishes churning, transfer half of the ice cream to an airtight container and drizzle with half of the peanut butter mixture. Repeat the layers and swirl with a knife just a couple of times to mix throughout.
- Cover with a lid and place in the freezer until firm enough to scoop. For an even more amazing treat, drizzle with chocolate sauce or hot fudge when ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I got an ice cream maker a few months ago and I’ve been experimenting – this is the best recipe I’ve found so far. One of the reasons I wanted to make my own ice cream is to control the sugar. I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar for the ice cream base and omitted the powdered sugar and the ice cream is delish! I also used half/half instead of milk just because that’s what I had in the house. Anyway – very very yummy. Thanks!
Thank you, Sheryl. Enjoy your ice cream maker. It is my favorite appliance.
So insanely yummy! And easy too! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
You are welcome, Brigitte! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the ice cream.
I’m Just making the peanut butter ice cream for the 1st time. Is the 3/4 cup brown sugar packed or not?
Hi, Donna. The brown sugar is packed. I hope you love the ice cream!
The stores are all out of kosher salt, what’s the best alternative? Ground sea salt, course salt, table salt?
Hi, Julie. If kosher salt isn’t an option, I would recommend using a course sea salt. If you use finely ground salts as a substitute, the flavor will be far too salty. Enjoy the ice cream!
This sounds amazing! How much does one 8 serving batch make? I have a 4 quart ice cream maker and need to know so I can adjust the quantity of ingredients. Thank you, Susan
Hi, Susan. It’s been a while since I made this recipe, so I can’t be absolutely certain, but I think this was a three-quart recipe. The ice cream maker I typically use makes 1.5-qt batches, and I think I made two. It should scale nicely to fit whatever ice cream maker you’re using. Happy cooking; I hope you enjoy the ice cream!
This ice cream was amazing! It was gone quicker than it took to make it. Delicious! Thank you!
I’m thrilled you enjoyed it, Mel!
The ice cream was incredibly fat and it ruined the process that freezes it properly, making a strange oily fluffy mixture that I would call neither ice cream not whipped cream.
I’m having difficulty picturing a result as you’re describing, Ian. Without being in your kitchen with you, it’s hard to guess what might have gone wrong.
I got the same result. The fat ratio was way off so as good as it tasted which was very good it didn’t mix right and it was a frozen chunky oily texture that was not ice cream. Maybe it was the kind of milk or heavy cream or peanut butter.
This ice cream was simple and so decadent! My husband loves peanut butter, but generally doesn’t care for PB ice cream because it never has enough flavor. This really packs a punch! We took it a step further and not only swirled in PB swirls but also marshmallow fluff. I heated some slightly and added it in during the same steps as the PB swirl. It doesn’t harden completely upon freezing and so it adds an extra “yum.”
Thank you for sharing this!!
I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying the ice cream. I bet the marshmallow was a fun surprise in each bite too!
My wife is allergic to peanuts, so we tried this recipe with a peanut butter alternative since she’s never had anything like peanut butter ice cream. We used Wowbutter (made from soy), and it turned out amazing! Out of all the ice cream we have made with our ice cream maker, this one is definitely the best!
I’m glad you like it!
The flavor is awesome! I didn’t do the peanut butter swirl because it already had great peanut butter flavor. I added chocolate chunks at the end. My complaint is that it separated when freezing in the ice cream machine like others said. It looked like oily cookie dough, but tastes awesome so I still have it 4 stars!
That’s peculiar. I’ve never had it separate like that. I’m glad it’s still delicious for you though, Casey!
I am a first time ice cream maker. I am afraid of this not turning out correctly, can you tell me what kind of peanut butter you used? Also, at the end of step 1, you said pour the mixture in the ice cream make and freeze. Then said add peanut butter then freeze in the last step. Is that correct?
I use Jif peanut butter for pretty much everything, it’s my favorite. You’ll churn the ice cream mixture first, (first section of ingredients, yes, there is peanut butter in that part) and then while the ice cream is churning, warm ⅓ cup peanut butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until smooth and liquid. Slowly add the powdered sugar, whisking smooth. Set aside.
When the ice cream finishes churning, transfer half of the ice cream to an airtight container and drizzle with half of the peanut butter mixture. Repeat the layers and swirl with a knife just a couple of times to mix throughout. Then cover with a lid and place in the freezer until firm enough to scoop.
Hi, your directions don’t even use the ingredients listed. Brown Sugar and then icing sugar?
The brown sugar is in the ice cream mix and the powdered sugar is in the peanut butter swirl at the end.
1. Stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cream and whisk smooth. Slowly add the milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Pour into the ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.
2. While the ice cream is churning, warm ⅓ cup peanut butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir until smooth and liquid. Slowly add the powdered sugar, whisking smooth. Set aside.
3. When the ice cream finishes churning, transfer half of the ice cream to an airtight container and drizzle with half of the peanut butter mixture. Repeat the layers and swirl with a knife just a couple of times to mix throughout.