How To Make Homemade Ice Cream In An Electric Ice Cream Maker
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It’s summertime, and that means it’s time to show y’all how to make homemade ice cream in an electric ice cream maker, along with some of my favorite recipes. Go big with a 4-quart mixer, and enjoy ice cream for days!
After recently purchasing a KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment, we’re making even MORE ice cream in smaller quantities. Go check out Ice Cream of the Month Club for more recipes!
Ice Cream LOVE
We are an ice cream loving family. My hubby and I like to blame our parents for this gene, as it was passed down to both of us. 😀 We grew up hitting the local DQ, and don’t ever remember NOT having a gallon of ice cream in the freezer AT ALL TIMES.
But on special occasions we brought out the old fashioned churner. You know the one you had to crank for it to freeze the ice cream. The boys usually got that job, and it’s funny how we made it mostly in the winter months, when snow served as the coolant (as opposed to the ice we use now).
Our family of four (six counting Josh’s fiancé + Zach’s girlfriend!) now uses this 4-Quart Electric Ice Cream Maker by Nostalgia, and we’ve made a ton of ice cream in it so far. There are a lot of other choices on the market, so use whatever you like best. Some of the recipes I have on the blog use this appliance, and are included below. You could easily cut these down in size for whatever sized churner you own.
Recipes using a Two-Quart Ice Cream Churner
So I’ve recently been using my two-quart machine for many of my new recipes. You could use those to adjust for a four-quart machine by increasing the quantities. However, you could keep the small recipe for a larger machine too. Below are some ideas for you to try next!
- Something fruity? Peach | Blueberry
- Chocolatey? Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Classic? Vanilla Bean | Butter Pecan | Mint Chip
- Something different? Peppermint Stick | Pumpkin | Coffee Toffee
Note: All of these newer recipes include a process to temper the eggs. We grew up eating ice cream with raw eggs, but it’s safer to temper them (which is simple). The other option is using pasteurized eggs, which are safe to eat in raw form (but may be hard to find).
What do I need to make homemade ice cream?
- 4-Quart Electric Ice Cream Maker – or whatever model you have.
- Rock Salt
– This is the exact thing I use. - Ice (or snow!) – We go through 15 pounds of ice or so.
- Ice Cream Ingredients – usually dairy, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and other optional items, such as fruit, candy, chocolate, peanut butter, etc. (depending on the kind you choose to make).
How to make homemade ice cream in an electric ice cream maker:
The following is the method we use to make our ice cream. It’s a fairly easy process, especially since we don’t have to crank it by hand!
Step 1
Prepare in advance. Place the ice cream canister in the freezer, for best results. Also, make sure you have plenty of ice and rock salt.
Step 2
Get your churning station set up. We usually place the ice in a cooler, and churn it outside on the patio. This is a great job for a teenager! 😀
Step 3
Mix the ice cream ingredients together (lots of recipe ideas below!), and pour into cold canister. This is dependent on what kind you are making. Some versions require you to mix it the day before or several hours in advance, and store in the refrigerator.
Step 4
Churn the ice cream. Place the canister into the ice cream maker, and secure the motor on top. Layer the ice and rock salt all around the canister, filling to the top. Start the motor, and churn until the ice cream is done, approximately 30 minutes to one hour, or even longer at times. You will know when it’s done because the ice cream will start to expand and rise to the top, and the motor will slow down. You will hear the motor change.
Step 5
Store the ice cream. Scoop the ice cream into a Tupperware container with a lid, and place in the freezer. The consistency of homemade ice cream is usually best the day you make it. If serving it on a later date, just set it out in advance to soften some.
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Four-Quart Ice Cream Recipes
The following five recipes are for four-quart machines.
Peanut Butter Ice Cream – This one is a new favorite around here. What’s not to like about creamy peanut butter with little chunks of peanut butter cups?
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Very Berry Strawberry Ice Cream – A healthier version to my original strawberry ice cream recipe, and simply PACKED with fresh strawberry puree.
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Double Chocolate Ice Cream – This reminds me of my dad, who loved his chocolate ice cream, and ate it with saltine crackers. I personally like to pair it with my Vanilla Bean Shortbread Cookies!
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Cookies and Cream Ice Cream – I love the bits of Oreo cookies in every bite. So good, and a favorite for both kids and adults alike.
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Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream – This was the first homemade ice cream recipe on the blog, and it’s so creamy with just the right amount of strawberry flavor. It’s also great as a topper for my Homemade Strawberry Shortcake recipe!
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I have so many other ideas to make new delicious flavors of ice cream. Let me know if you have some requests for me as well. Meanwhile, I’ll just be sitting here, eating ICE CREAM! 😀
Enjoy!
xoxo ~Sue
I think I have that exact electric churner. My favorite flavor that I have made several times now is a Nutella.
Have you ever put a homemade ice cream recipe in a commercial soft serve machine? Does it work??
What is the reason we need to store the mixture the day before in a refrigirator. Thanks
If you are tempering eggs, you’ll need to refrigerate in advance. Maybe not a full day, but at least a couple of hours.
It needs to be reallly cold.
Several of the neighborhood kids where I live can’t have dairy…so ice cream is kind of out for them. Have you tried to make a dairy free ice cream before?
I have not tried dairy free.
How do you make sherbert?
I haven’t made sherbet but I’ve got an orange creamsicle recipe coming soon.
I’m in the process of making diary free strawberry ice cream for my grandbabies now. Pretty easy so far but still churning… and churning lol I have never made homemade ice cream before but 2 of my grandchildren are allergic to milk so I’m trying it today. Fingers crossed 🤞
I’ve made a dairy free cherry limeade ice cream and it was yummy and my DF guest liked it!
I make peach 🍑 ice cream with 2 cans of Eagle brand milk, large can of sliced peaches I mash up and peach Nehi drink… it’s easy & delicious 😋
That sounds amazing, Sherry!
I would love your peach ice cream recipe
https://suebeehomemaker.com/homemade-peach-ice-cream/
Hello Sue I will start making ice cream for the first time. I am truly afraid I will mess it up. This will be my first time making homemade ice cream. I really don’t know how to start it. So this summer will be my first time and can you email me some tutorial for a beginner.
Thanks
How about milky way ice cream, have a good recipe for it.
I don’t have a recipe for that, but thanks for the great idea! 🙂
I’d love a Milky Way ice cream recipe, that sounds so good.
I’ll add it to my list of ice cream ideas! Thanks!
Yummy! Milky Way ice cream!
That sounds delicious!
Snickers, Butterfingers, 3 Musketeers, and any other candy bars you can think of, sounds delicious too.
I imagine you could follow the recipe for vanilla ice cream and cut the candy bars into small chunks and toss them into the mix. I can’t think of a reason why you couldn’t. The variations are endless. My husband wanted to make strawberry ice cream in the middle of winter when strawberries are difficult to find. So, he went to the grocery store and bought a large jar of strawberry preserves and voila’ strawberry ice cream, and it was delicious.. He also experimented with his next ice cream and made a flavor that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.. Not even in the stores. He used the recipe for the vanilla ice cream and added a can (or maybe 2) of apple pie filling.
Have any of you readers here ever heard of Apple Pie ice cream? I had not.. but I can tell you that it was absolutely amazing and delicious.
Happy Ice Creaming!
This all sounds interesting, Elise! Enjoy!
I have a 6 quart ice maker. Could I use your recipes and half again the amounts?
Yes that’s what I would do. Enjoy!
How long do you have to cool your ice cream base before putting it in my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker?
It just needs to be cool. So test it with your finger and if it’s cool to the touch, you’re ready to go.
I have a four qt machine, but it makes so much, and we like a variety of different flavors. Is it possible to make half batches in a four qt?
Yes, you can definitely make a smaller amount in the four quart mixer!
We love ice cream! Thanks for the tips!
Love it! I really want to try and make some with as little sugar as possible, and of course, minimal fat…Help
My lightest recipe is my Very Berry Ice Cream. You can always try using less sugar and milk with less fat content, but I don’t recommend it for best taste and texture!
My husband has been making homemade ice cream for decades as his parents did before..he’s made Strawberry, Chocolate (actually he uses Ghirardelli Chocolate syrup) and vanilla. Your recipes are the same as my husband’s except yours has given us an another idea for Strawberry & Double Chocolate. We’ll have to try yours! Thank you.great video
I hope you enjoy!
Perhaps I skimmed it, but what’s the necessary quantified sugar if one were to concoct this recipe? I bought what I need, understand equal parts cream to milk etc etc, but im missing the amount of sugar and vanilla
I don’t really use a calculation for that. It’s just based on what I’ve liked when I test. You can definitely play around with amounts of sugar and vanilla, if you’d like.
That playing around with quantity could turn out to be very expensive in the long haul. Especially sugar.
Shared Recipes should have exact measurements of each ingredient so a person doesn’t have to play around with them.
Can you use this recipe in a hand crank machine
Yes, you can. That’s what we used when I was a kid!
hello there! I was given an old signature ice cream maker and it doesn’t turn on 🙃 now I am so excited im just going to buy one lol. Do you have a recipe for mint chocolate chip? 🙏
I don’t have that exact recipe but you could follow directions for my Cookies and Cream ice cream and just use chocolate chips instead of Oreo cookies.
Butter pecan ice cream recipe PLEASE!!!
I will work on that one in 2021! Stay tuned! 🙂
I have enjoyed your other foods but i want ice cream but no ingredients
To find the recipe, click on one of the links to a specific kind of ice cream. That will take you to the ingredients.
Can these recipes be made sugar -free? My son is diabetic and loves to eat all flavors of ice cream.
Hi Ann. I have not tested any of my ice cream recipes without sugar, so I, unfortunately, can’t recommend modifications.
I have several mango trees that give me all the mangoes I could wish for and am looking for dessert recipes to make use of this fruit. I also grow papayas and banana
You could try following the strawberry ice cream recipe and use your mangos in place of the strawberries.
Do you have a recipe for plain vanilla ice cream without using eggs
I always use eggs in my ice cream, but you could make the cookies and cream recipe and just leave out the Oreo cookies. I don’t recommend leaving the eggs out.
My family goes through a lot of I’ve cream. We have 7 kids who all love it and 2 adults who love it! Has making your own ice cream at home saved you any money? Cost you more money? Or does it even out? I would love to make home made ice for our family but not if it’s going to cost us more money bc we already spend more on it than we should. What are your thoughts on that?
I haven’t compared the pricing of ingredients versus the containers of store-bought ice cream. A lot depends on the brands you buy, but you could definitely do a comparison.
It’s about the memories for our family not so much the savings
Ice cream brings back all the memories for me too!
i have ice-cream machine bur i couldn’t make the ice-cream . can you tell me how . thank you
There are links in this post that go right to several recipes for different kinds of ice cream. Click on one of those, and you’ll have everything you need.
I mis-typed, sorry. How much sugar, and how many eggs needed for strawberry ice cream? Thank you
The recipe is linked in this post, but you’ll need four pasteurized eggs (or four eggs – but you’ll need to temper them) and 1 1/4 pounds strawberries.
I am looking for a few recipes. Can you send several to me. I remember one we had a kid was made with Big Red soft drink in it.
There are several recipes on my blog under SWEETS. They are also linked in this post. Enjoy!
I love all of the recieps on here… Gonna be making banana ice cream tomorrow.. Thanks again
Great! Let me know how that turns out for you!
I would like that one my mom used to make banana ice cream it was so delicious but she passes away when I was 18 n never got her recipe
Banana ice cream sounds delish!
I like to fix pineapple ,fresh peaches
Looking for a homemade banana ice cream recipe with electric maker. Can you help?
I’m sorry, but I don’t currently have a homemade banana recipe.
I looking for a homemade vanilla icecream recipe without eggs. I would like simple and few ingredients. Do you have one?
I use eggs in all my homemade ice cream recipes. If you decide to try it, you can make my homemade cookies and cream recipe and just not add the Oreo cookies.
Have you every tried chocolate chip mint flavored. How would you make that flavor homemade.
I have not made mint chocolate chip, but I think you would need to use some mint extract and maybe add some green food coloring for added color. Good luck!
So many choices…….. Love it!