Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is such a treat — and you don’t need an ice cream machine to make it!

Prep Time25

Chill Time5

Total Time5 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: Servings

Calories: 278kcal

Place the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla bean paste, vanilla bean seeds from the seed pod, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined.
Add the heavy cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip it until stiff peaks form, or about 2 minutes. You can also use a handheld mixer instead.
Slowly fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture with a rubber spatula. Continue to fold the ingredients together until well combined.
Add all of the condensed milk mixture to the whipped cream and fold together until fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
Pour the homemade vanilla bean ice cream mixture into an 8x4-inch metal loaf pan and freeze (covered) for about 5 hours. Serve & enjoy!

Be patient. You need to wait the full 5 hours for your ice cream to really chill and firm up. It’s even better if you can leave it in the freezer overnight before you dig in.
Invest in quality ingredients. Your ice cream will only be as good as the ingredients you use to make it! Use the best quality vanilla bean paste, seeds, and heavy cream that you can find (and afford!).
Get creative. Consider folding in chocolate chips, nuts, crushed-up peppermint, or even peanut butter swirls. That’s the beauty of this homemade ice cream recipe — it serves as a blank canvas so that you can add your favorite extras.

Make-ahead instructions: You can feel free to make this recipe up to 2 weeks before you plan on serving it! The texture will become grainy if you leave it in the freezer any longer.
Freezing instructions: Store your ice cream in an airtight container in your freezer. It must be covered in order to avoid freezer burn!
Storage instructions: As mentioned, you can store this dessert in an airtight container in your freezer. You can also wrap the container in aluminum foil to ensure that it stays fresh.