Basil Ice Cream

This basil ice cream is one of those flavors that you just have to make and you’ll fall in love. 

It’s light and perfectly sweetened, with notes of citrus, honey, vanilla, and a floral herbaceousness to it that is unique to basil ice cream. It’s such a good late spring/summer ice cream! 

Plus, this basil ice cream is dairy-free and refined sugar-free — although you can easily swap in regular dairy and granulated cane sugar depending on your preference. I would strongly recommend using honey as the sweetener though, it pairs so well with the basil and enhances perfectly.

Ingredients for this Basil Ice Cream

• Egg yolks: Most grocery store large eggs yield an ~18g yolk; however, if you’re using smaller eggs or eggs from the farmer’s market, the yield will differ. So if you really want to get granular, weigh your yolks.
• Heavy cream and milk OR homemade nut milk: This recipe works with both dairy and non-dairy milk/cream. I’ve left detailed instructions in the recipe card for my homemade nut milk that I use for this recipe. If you’re using regular dairy, you’ll need heavy cream and milk (ideally 2% milk).
• Honey: Feel free to swap this out for equal parts (by volume) of granulated sugar. However, I strongly recommend going with a floral honey — it pairs so well with the basil and enhances flavor.
• Basil: If you can, try to use fresh local basil (hit up your local farmers market) — there is a difference compared to basil you’d get at the store. Alternatively, you can pick up a small basil plant (Trader Joe’s has the best price and basil imo), and use that!
• Vanilla bean paste, ground vanilla, or a scraped vanilla bean: All three options work great!
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Method

Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside. Add the cream and milk or the homemade nut milk into a large pot, along with the honey, vanilla, and salt. Heat over medium heat until it’s steaming, stirring occasionally. Once hot, reduce the heat to medium-low.

Scoop about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture out, and, whisking constantly, stream it into the bowl of egg yolks. Repeat this three more times to temper the eggs. Then, whisking the milk mixture constantly, stream in the tempered eggs. Switch to a rubber spatula/large wooden spoon, and stir constantly (I typically stir the mixture every 10 seconds) until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, depending on how high the heat is.

Cool the custard. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl or pitcher to catch any egg white bits. Then place the custard base in an ice bath, stirring constantly until cool.

Pour the custard base into a high-speed blender, along with the basil. Blend on low, slowly ramping up the speed to high. Blend on high for ~30 seconds or until the mint is finely blended — avoid over blending, as it’ll incorporate air bubbles into the custard and, if you’re using dairy, potentially whip the cream. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher or bowl to catch any large bits of basil. Cover the base with plastic wrap or a lid and place in the fridge overnight.

Strain the chilled custard once more before churning to catch any errant air bubbles/basil. Churn the ice cream, then transfer to your container and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Other Flavor Pairings

This ice cream is perfection as-is, but leaving a few fun flavor pairings if you want to riff on this.

• When you’re making the custard base, add lemon zest to the base before cooking it. The oils will steep into the custard base, and the citrus pairs so well the basil. 
• Ripple a berry compote into this ice cream — raspberry or strawberry compote would work best. The tart, slightly citrusy, berries pair amazingly with the basil. You can use my fruit compote method outlined in this ice cream recipe. 
• Serve this basil ice cream with a drizzle of olive oil, it’s fabulous!

And that’s all for this dairy-free basil ice cream, so excited for you to make it. Please leave a starred rating and review, love hearing from you!

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