Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Rum Raisin Ice Cream is full of rum-soaked raisins mixed in custardy vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum. This recipe is a little bit old school and a whole lot of creamy delicious.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

This recipe is a good bit more involved than my usual ice cream recipes, but sometimes, the end result is just plain worth the effort. This is absolutely one of those times.

I found this recipe in Great Scoops: Recipes from a Neighborhood Ice Cream Shop. I had such fun flipping through this gorgeous ice cream cookbook. While my love of ice cream is a well-documented thing, it’s also fun to check out someone else’s flavor combinations.

Rum Raisin ice cream has been on my must-try list for years and I simply never got around to it. The description in the book had me sold on it immediately.

Similar to the Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream from Rusconi’s, my forever beloved Cafe con Leche Ice Cream, and the French Custard Style Cinnamon Ice Cream as well, you need to temper and use egg yolks in this recipe.

Don’t be intimidated, I promise it’s simple enough for all of us to do. While there are 60+ egg-free Philadelphia-style ice cream recipes on this website, sometimes, you just need to allow yourself a few extra minutes in the kitchen for an extra special result.

There isn’t a shortcut to this recipe. Yes, you can take the rum-soaked raisins and just stir them into a batch of the Best and Easiest Homemade Ice Cream. Will it be tasty? Yes. Will it be anything at all like this classic recipe for Rum Raisin Ice Cream? No.

Take the time to make this creamy, ultra rich, custard-based rum ice cream exactly the way Marlene Haley of The Merry Dairy intended it, my friends. You’re going to love it.

Rum and Raisin Ice Cream

Rum-soaked raisins are as simple to make as they sound. Combine raisins with rum and allow them to soak until the raisins are plump and have absorbed a good bit of the rum.

Just a note about alcohol and ice cream, when used it moderation, alcohol can contribute a lovely creaminess to ice cream without contributing much alcohol flavor at all. It can also be used to provide a hint of flavor, without being overpowering.

Take care not to adjust the alcohol amounts too much when playing with ice cream recipes. If you add more than a few tablespoons of alcohol to most ice creams, the result might be too soft and it can inhibit freezing altogether.

And lastly, be sure to add alcohol to ice cream mixtures after the base is removed from the heat. If it’s added during the cooking process, the small amount of alcohol will simply cook off.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream Recipe

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this ice cream:

• heavy cream
• whole milk
• sugar
• kosher salt
• egg yolks
• Caribbean rum
• ground nutmeg
• rum-soaked raisins 

Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

With over 70 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!

Looking for more classic ice cream recipes? This Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream captures the timeless combination of refreshingly cool mint and indulgent chocolate chunks with that vivid green hue we all know and love.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

5 from 2 votes

Rum Raisin Ice Cream is full of rum-soaked raisins mixed in custardy vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum, old school delicious.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Chill Time: 4 hours hrs

Total Time: 4 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Servings: 6

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Ingredients 

Rum-Soaked Raisins

• ▢ ½ cup raisins
• ▢ ¼ cup Caribbean rum (I use Mount Gay rum.)

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

• ▢ 2 cups heavy cream
• ▢ 1 cup whole milk
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 5 large egg yolks
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Caribbean rum
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ 1 batch of Rum-Soaked Raisins see above

Instructions

Rum-Soaked Raisins

• Combine raisins and rum in a small jar. Cover with lid and shake to combine. Set aside for at least 4 hours, until the raisins plump up.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream

• Prepare an ice bath by filling a large mixing bowl with ice and settling a smaller metal bowl into the ice. Add just enough cold water to the larger bowl to float the ice cubes around the smaller bowl.
• In a medium-sized saucepan, combine cream, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until steam begins to rise from the surface. Remove from the heat.
• While the cream mixture is warming, whisk the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly pour 1 cup of the heated cream mixture into the yolks, while whisking vigorously. Continue adding heated cream and whisking until about half the cream mixture has been added to the yolks. Transfer the egg mixture to the saucepan.
• Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula, about 5-6 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into the inner metal bowl of the prepared ice bath.
• Stir in rum and nutmeg. Cool the custard in the ice bath until room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill the mixture in the refrigerator at least 4 hours, or overnight.
• When ready to churn, pour into the ice cream maker. Churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the finished ice cream to an airtight container and stir in the rum-soaked raisins and any additional rum from the raisins.
• Serve immediately or freeze for 2-3 hours for a firmer, scoopable ice cream.

Notes

The job of an ice bath is to cool the ice cream base FAST, more quickly than the refrigerator can do this. Cooling the base quickly halts the cooking process and lessens the chance of pathogens forming.

Yes, this is an extra step, but it’s an important one when making custard-based ice cream recipes.

Nutrition

Calories: 477kcal · Carbohydrates: 31g · Protein: 6g · Fat: 34g · Saturated Fat: 20g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g · Monounsaturated Fat: 9g · Cholesterol: 257mg · Sodium: 145mg · Potassium: 253mg · Fiber: 1g · Sugar: 21g · Vitamin A: 1448IU · Vitamin C: 1mg · Calcium: 125mg · Iron: 1mg

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{originally published 6/24/22 – recipe notes and photos updated 3/15/24}