Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Smooth, rich, and creamy this homemade vanilla bean ice cream recipe made from scratch hits the spot. Made only with four simple ingredients!

Course Dessert

Keyword homemade ice cream, homemade vanilla bean ice cream, simple dessert recipes, vanilla bean

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Additional Time 2 30

Total Time 3

Servings servings

Calories 700kcal

3 cups Heavy Cream
2 cups Half-n-Half
1 ½ cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or 1 Vanilla Bean halved and scraped, highly recommended

First, you will want to start off by combining your heavy cream, half-n-half, and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often as you don't want it to stick.
Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. This should only take about 2 or 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and add in your vanilla. I highly recommend using a vanilla bean as it just adds that extra POW to the flavoring but they can be pricy and if you already have extract on hand then that is definitely okay too.
Allow chilling in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.
When the ice cream has been cooled, pour into an ice cream machine and allow to churn until the ice cream has become thickened. This will take around 25 to 40 minutes but you will want to start checking the ice cream after 20 minutes.
The ice cream should be thick but too soft to scoop.
At this point, you will transfer to an airtight container and allow your ice cream to harden in the freezer for at least 2-4 hours.

See additional common mistakes to avoid in blog post!