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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 sweet, with notes of citrus, honey, vanilla, and a floral herbaceousness 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 it perfectly.
Ingredients for this Basil Ice Cream
- Egg yolks: Most grocery-store large eggs yield ~18g of yolk; however, if you’re using smaller eggs or eggs from the farmer’s market, the yield will vary. 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 the homemade nut milk 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 its 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. Pour the cream and milk (or 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 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 basil 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 sharing a few fun flavor pairings if you want to riff on this recipe.
- When making the custard base, add lemon zest before cooking the base. The oils will steep into the custard base, and the citrus pairs so well with 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. I love hearing from you!
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Basil Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Chill Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 24 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 quart 1x
- Category: Dessert
Description
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 sweet, with notes of honey, vanilla, and a floral herbaceousness that’s so unique to this flavor.
Ingredients
- 90g (5 large) egg yolks
- 480g (2 cups) heavy cream and 300g (1 ¼ cups )milk) OR 3 ¼ cups (760 g) homemade nut milk (see below)*
- 150g (1/2 cup) honey
- 1/2 tsp ground vanilla or vanilla bean paste (or 1 fresh vanilla bean scraped)
- 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 18g fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside. Pour the cream and milk (or 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 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 basil 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. Pour the chilled base into your ice cream bowl and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Mine takes about 20 minutes to churn up – it should be the consistency of soft serve. Transfer to your container and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
Notes
*Make the homemade nut milk by blending together 4 cups (910 g) of water with 1 1/2 cups (215 g) of raw cashews and 1 cup (140 g) of raw almonds on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds or until super creamy and smooth. Strain in a nut milk bag and store in a glass jar. It’ll keep well for 5-6 days so feel free to make this ahead of time.