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Like a bowl full of summer, this fresh homemade peach ice cream is packed full of amazing flavor. This easy peach ice cream recipe can also use frozen or canned peaches, giving you that summer flavor all year long.
Soft, ripe peaches in the summer are a gift straight from heaven. And they make the absolute best homemade ice cream!
You’re going to love this flavorful peaches and cream ice cream! Don’t let the overall time of this recipe intimidate you; most of it is just waiting for the ice cream base to cool down.
You can use canned peaches or even frozen if you don’t have fresh peaches.
First up, we need to peel the peaches! Cut your peaches in half (if your peaches aren’t freestone, check out this post how to cut a peach for an easy hack to cut cling peaches) and place them in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the peaches and put them in a bowl of ice water. After a minute, snag a peach and peel the skin back. If your peaches are ripe, they should peel super easily. You can get more details in our post on how to peel peaches.
Roughly chop the peaches and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar, stir, and allow them to sit for 20-30 minutes. This brings out the natural juices and sweetness of the peaches.
Add the cooled ice cream base to your ice cream maker of choice, churning until it has reached your preferred level of “doneness” (~20-30 minutes).
PRO TIPS/RECIPE NOTES:
- Make sure you are using room-temperature eggs.
- The ice cream will be a soft-serve texture when you’re initially done churning it. Eat it right then, if you can’t wait (who can?), or freeze for a few hours until solid.
- Use plastic wrap or waxed paper to make contact with the surface of the ice cream. Then cover it with a lid to prevent homemade ice cream from getting icy.
Homemade Peach Ice Cream (Fresh or Canned Peaches)
Ingredients
- 3 peaches {peeled and chopped}
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1.5 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 5 egg yolks {room temperature}
Instructions
- Roughly chop the peaches and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar, stir, and allow them to sit for 20-30 minutes.3 peaches, 1/2 cup sugar
- Blend the peaches and their juices using an immersion blender or food processor to create a peach puree. Set aside and keep at room temperature.
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the heavy cream, milk, kosher salt, vanilla extract, and sugar. Do not let it boil. Remove from heat.1.5 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 1/8 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar
- Take 1/3 cup of the sugar/milk mixture, and slowly dribble the hot mixture into the egg, whisking very quickly the whole time. Repeat 1/3 cup at a time, 2 more times until 1 cup total of the ice cream base has been combined with the eggs.
- Whisk the egg mixture into the rest of the milk, and return the pan to the stove. Cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove the ice cream base from the heat and add the peach puree to the pan. Transfer it to the fridge for 3-6 hours or until completely cooled.5 egg yolks
- Add the fully-cooled ice cream base to your ice cream maker of choice, churning until it has reached your preferred level of “doneness” (~20-30 minutes).
- Transfer the ice cream to an air-tighter container, pressing a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the ice cream, ensuring it makes contact with the ice cream.
- Freeze for a few hours for a soft-serve consistency, or overnight for traditional ice cream.
Notes
- Depending on the size of your peaches, you should yield ~2 cups of peach puree.
- Make sure you are using room-temperature eggs.
- Want to use frozen peaches? Defrost fully and drain the liquid that is produced.
- If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place the batter in a freezer-proof container. Put it in the freezer and give it a stir once every hour until the texture meets your liking.
- Recipe produces 4 cups of ice cream, which is 2 pints.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you need to use eggs? Is there substitute?
This is a custard-based recipe, so yes it requires eggs. Unfortunately, if you’re unable to use eggs you’d need to find a recipe that doesn’t require making a custard.
A no-churn peach ice cream recipe may work better for you. It usually involves whipping heavy cream and a flavoring and then adding in sweetened condensed milk. I have not tested it with this recipe so I can’t give you accurate amounts/ingredients.
I am going to try this recipe with canned peaches, what size can should I use to equal the 3 peaches? Also I don’t have a food processor or immersion blender, is there another way to puree the peaches? Thank you
Hi Betty, I can typically fit about 3 peaches into a quart of canned peaches. So, best guess would be 1 quart, drained.
Do you have a blender? You could blend then with a splash of water so that you don’t burn out the motor. Or, chop the peaches as well as you can and then heat them up and mash them with a potato masher. Your final texture of the ice cream will be a bit different, but it will still be tasty.
To add a bit of decadency to the recipe I made two addition to the peach puree.
1 tbsp of Cointreau Liquor, 1 tsp of Rose Sweeten Lime Juice. Followed the rest of the recipe as instructed. Turned out great. Had no issues freezing because wasn’t enough alcohol to keep from freezing.
Herschel, that sounds delicious! My inlaws love the flavor of Cointreau; I’ll have to try this for them sometime.
Hi! I’ve been dabbling in making homemade ice cream, but haven’t let any fruit purée soak in the base because I’ve been afraid the cream would curdle. Does that not happen? Also, do the peach chunks get icy in the finished product?
The peach chunks DO get hard in the finished product. As someone with sensitive teeth, I avoid those bits. 🙂
The cream doesn’t curdle unless you combine it when it’s very hot and the peaches are very cold. (Hot) cream tends to curdle when it reacts with cold items. That’s why I always prewarm it when adding to soups, mashed potatoes, etc.
That makes sense. Thanks! Do you think I could puree all the peaches (including the 1/3 cup you’d otherwise set aside for chunks), or would that be too much?
You absolutely could puree them all!
What size ice cream freezer do you use for this recipe? I am getting a 6 qt and want to make a freezer-full. Thank you!
I had to go look it up but it appears mine can produce 2 quarts at once (aka a half-gallon).
Making this after patiently waiting for several days until I had time to enjoy the process🙂. Two things:
I made my own plumped vanilla beans by placing the bottoms in bourbon. Hoping it won’t be a problem to use. Second, I was concerned that the blanched-ish peach chunks may brown prior to being added to the ice cream maker tomorrow. Have you ever added lemon juice or cut lemons to boiling water??? Would that work or should I add to actual chucks. Or just wait and prepare just prior to adding?
Love your ‘just good friends talking food in the kitchen’ tone! Fingers crossed….cause life without ice cream would be a sad existence indeed!
Hi Becki, I haven’t added citrus to the water because the blanching and sugar acts as the “preserving” agent.
Can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you! The vanilla beans sound tasty.
I had an abundance of ripe peaches and made several batches of this ice cream. It is absolutely delicious as soon as it comes out of the ice cream maker. However, after it’s spent a few hours in the freezer it becomes rock hard and darn near impossible to scoop—even after allowing it to thaw for half an hour.
Hi Dana, sadly, homemade ice cream doesn’t have the stabilizers to keep it soft like storebought.
But it should not be rock solid even after being out of the freezer for 30 minutes. A few things to check: did you use heavy cream and whole milk, or something with a lower fat content? The fat helps keep things a bit softer. Did you adjust the sugar? Heavy cream percentages can vary from country to country. Look for something with the highest milkfat possible.
The family loved this peach ice cream recipe!!
So happy to hear that Samantha! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. 🙂
Why would you not use the juices from frozen peaches when you are ultimately going to purée the fruit?
David – Dallas
Hi David, most of the liquid that comes from defrosting frozen produce is water and not pure juice. Blending with the peach water/liquid is going to dilute the peach taste and produce an ice cream that gets icy instead of creamy.
Fantastic peach ice cream! It’s not too sweet and just the right amount of peaches. I took the egg whites and made ginger meringue cups to serve the ice cream in. Delish!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and the ginger meringue cups sound amazing! Do you have a tutorial for those?
I’m a little confused by your instructions. In the ingredients section you state 1/2 cup of sugar. Below in the instructions you say add sugar without a specific amount, however, above that you directions state 2 tbsp of sugar added. I’m very confused by that. What am I doing with the sugar?
Hi Leanna,
The 2 tbsp was a typo. I’ve updated the post to reflect the correct amount. You’re simply adding all the sugar with the milk and cream and heating it on the stove. Apologies for the confusion!
My mother made the BEST peach ice cream I suspect that this is fairly close to her recipe, simple and basic. Unfortunately I can’t do dairy anymore, so I will never know. It looks delicious.
I’ve had great luck replacing milk and cream with cashew milk and cashew cream for ice cream!
Do the puréed peaches go through the strainer or directly into the custard?
I almost bit my 7 year old when she tried to steal mine!
That looks so good! Makes me wish we had a peach tree! I want to plant a whole bunch of them if we move south
You could move east too; peaches grow awesome on the other side of the Cascades. I wish I could grow pluots here. Have you ever had a pluot?
I’m going to give this a go, we used to have a favourite peach ice cream but you can no longer get it 🙁
I’m not sure if this would work with ice cream but if you have a food processor I’ve found you can let sorbet freeze solid, cut it up into blocks then put it in the food processor until it’s smooth. Sometimes I have to do the freeze/blend twice but it’s easier (for lazy people like me) than remembering to get up and stir it.
I say give it a try. If it doesn’t work, you can always just eat the peach ice cream batter and call it a day! 🙂
About to try this,but it would be super helpful to know the quantity this recipe produces.Not number if people it serves(heck,my husband could probably eat the whole thing!lol),but rather,the volume (pint,quart etc).Th as nks!
I did have that info in there before; it looks like there was a glitch with the recipe software. Apologies! I’ll update the post.
It creates 8, 1/2 cup servings, so 4 cups total (AKA 2 pints). Between you and me, a half cup of ice cream as a serving is freaking laughable. But that is industry standard.
I needed this in my life! THANK YOU!!!!
You are most welcome!