As a follow-up to a blog from earlier this week regarding toxic chemicals like propylene glycol, aka antifreeze in commercial ice cream, this recipe plus video shows you how to make homemade vanilla ice cream with wholesome, nutrient-dense ingredients.
There is simply no substitute for making ice cream yourself. I’ve often advised people over the years that the best use of your time in the kitchen is making things you can’t easily buy. Wholesome, healthy ice cream is one of these “things”. Bone broth is another important one, by the way, on the savory side of the spectrum!
Even organic ice cream is loaded with refined “organic” sugar. The homemade version contains Grade B maple syrup, a much healthier and more mineral-rich choice.
Not only is the sugar non-refined in homemade ice cream if you use Grade B maple syrup, but much less sweetener is used as well. For example, in the recipe below, 1/2 cup of homemade vanilla ice cream contains approximately 12g of sugar (in the form of maple syrup). The same amount of Julie’s Organic Ice cream (vanilla) contains 18g of sugar and Haagen Daaz plain vanilla contains 21g of sugar!
That is a lot less sugar in the homemade vanilla ice cream!
Of course, the cream you would source for homemade ice cream is higher quality too. Low temp pasteurized or (preferably) fresh cream from a grass-based dairy farm would contain far more nutrition than the cream from even organic cows, which are frequently still confined eating highly unnatural “organic” feed.
You will immediately notice that when you make your own ice cream, it is much more satisfying and you won’t eat nearly as much as supermarket ice cream. The lower butterfat content in supermarket and even organic ice cream results in eating more – much, much more. Believe me, ice cream manufacturers know this fact very well!
You eat more, they SELL more! Cha-ching!
Julie’s Organic Ice Cream, for example, contains cream and the second ingredient is skim milk. Remember – pig farmers feed their pigs skim milk to make them very, very fat). A lower butterfat content in your ice cream will cause you to eat more, a LOT more, which is why homemade ice cream with high butterfat will satisfy you quicker and you will eat far less.
If vanilla ice cream is not your thing, check out this recipe for dairy-free peanut butter ice cream.
How to Make Vanilla Ice Cream (+ Video Tutorial)
The video in the recipe below shows you how easy it is to make vanilla ice cream yourself.
Try drizzling this no-cook homemade chocolate syrup on top for a healthy treat with no compromises!
What a huge difference from commercial brands Twistee Treat or Jack Nicklaus Ice Cream, which is artificial almost everything! Even organic brands contain nearly double the sugar and are low butterfat to encourage overeating and check the politically correct nutrition box.
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
How to make homemade vanilla ice cream using only wholesome ingredients that contains about half the sugar of even organic or premium brands at the store.
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks preferably pastured
- 3 cups heavy cream preferably raw and grassfed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup dark
- 1 Tbl vanilla extract
- 1 Tbl arrowroot powder
- 2 Tbl vodka optional (to soften and improve scoopability)
Instructions
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Beat egg yolks briefly in a large, glass bowl. Do not use regular store eggs. Preferably use local, free range or pastured eggs washed in warm, soapy water before cracking. Organic store eggs are ok in a pinch.
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Beat in remaining ingredients and pour into your ice cream maker. Follow your ice cream machine directions for how long the ice cream is churned.
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When the ice cream is frozen and ready (about 15-20 minutes for my machine), pour into a shallow, glass baking dish. Cover with a lid and keep in the freezer.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Do not use ultrapasteurized cream as it is highly allergenic and basically undigestible.
Thank you, I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far.
Hi Sarah,
My all time favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. Could I substitute peppermint extract for vanilla extract and add chocolate chips (everything organic & non-GMO, of course) and do everything else as in the video? Thanks!
We have actually have made mint chip ice cream before with this recipea as the base. Here’s how we did it:
First, we juiced about 2 cups of fresh mint leaves (from our herb garden) in a juicer. Add this juice to your ice cream batter, along with 1 (4 oz) bar of your favorite organic chocolate, broken into small bits with a hammer (we like the whole foods brand; organic, and no soy lecithin). Just fold it all together and churn it like you normally would! It is SO yummy.
Hi Mary, awesome, way to go!
We actually haven’t ever made chocolate ice cream and all the recipes out there require heating the cream to get the cocoa to blend it before putting it it the ice cream maker. What you would do to maintain the rawness of the cream is to take a small amount of the raw cream and heat it on the stove with the cocoa/chocolate whatever (based on whatever recipe you are following) and blend it in and then blend that heated chocolate cream in with the rest of the raw cream before putting in the ice cream maker. So, you just add one additional step. Adding a small amount of hot cream to a much greater amount of cold cream will not alter the enzyme balance significantly since only a small amount of cream was actually heated and it won’t heat up the rest of the cream much at all. Hope that makes sense!
I make chocolate ice cream with Sarah’s Vanilla Ice Cream recipe by melting 1 cup dark chocolate chips and adding that to the mix while I am beating it before I put it into the ice cream maker. It has been loved by all that have eaten it and it doesn’t compromise the raw cream.
Ooo, that sounds delicious!
Thanks for the tip! That’s just what I was wondering.
Hi Sarah-
We just made and tasted our first batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum! My girls actually prefer “soft serve” so we didn’t have to wait to freeze it before we enjoyed it (though we did freeze what we did not eat). The girls loved helping to make it and checked the ice cream maker every few seconds to see if it was ready. I know you don’t need to clutter your blog with various ice cream recipes, but Brooks wants me to ask, “How do you make chocolate ice cream?” (Okay, I want to know, too.) The raw cream costs a pretty penny, so I’d rather ask than experiment.
Thank you – again – for your blog and all that you do to share your Traditional Foods wisdom.
Blessings,
Mary
I have made this 3 times already. The first time I ran out of arrowroot, so I just left it out, it was fine that way too! So now I am making it without arrowroot. I don't have access to real raw cream, so I just use harmony organic half and half, it is not very expensive and the ice cream is very scoopable with it, I don't have to wait for 10 minutes in order it softens up in order to eat it. Also, I do have access to raw whole milk, so I make my kids a shake with this ice cream in a blender:
1 scoop of ice cream, 1 cup milk, sometimes some organic chocolate powder. They love it and it is nutritious!
I just love this ice cream recipe. I noticed that someone asked about making it without an ice cream maker. I don't have one either but I have found a way to make it and it is great. I freeze the heavy cream in a large pyrex baking dish so that it is thin enough for me to just chunk it out after it is frozen. I put that and the other ingredients in my Ninja blender contraption and whip it all up. I then put it in a pyrex dish for the freezer and it has been great. Of course I don't have the maker kind to compare but we are definitely in love with this. I have made the vanilla….. I have added frozen peaches…… and I have uses some of my homemade chocolate syrup to make those flavors. Just wanted to share
Has anyone tried making this with Stevia?
Hi Lauren, I wouldn't leave out the egg yolks unless you are allergic to eggs. They add significant nutrition to the ice cream and should be included if at all possible. Just get good quality eggs and wash them in warm, soapy water before cracking and there is little to be concerned about.
I have become obsessed with your wealth of information and am lucky enough that my son's yoga teacher is on a traditional eating journey as well to help me through with my many questions. I am just having the hardest time switching to raw milk, butter, local eggs etc. Any suggestions? And you said it is possible to leave out the egg yolks, what will be the sacrifice?
Thanks
Thanks for the suggestions. I live in Canada and have been scouring every resource. After "ice cream" shopping with hubby and pointing out the labels and ingredients plus with how much he likes it, I think he's on board with shelling out the money for a good ice cream maker. It will pay for itself in no time in quality, taste and better health!