Easy Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe (Video)

Sharing is caring!

This easy homemade vanilla ice cream recipe has become our family’s favorite dessert, especially in the summertime.  You can whip it up in 30 seconds or less, and within an hour you’ll have perfectly frozen soft-serve creamy vanilla ice cream.  The best part of this ice cream is that it’s made with just four simple ingredients, requires no special prep, and doesn’t have any harmful or unknown ingredients.

Our Experience

We like to make this homemade ice cream recipe with cream and milk that comes straight from our own Jersey milk cow.  It’s a great way to use up extra raw milk, and get plenty of raw dairy into our diet.  It can be made with maple syrup or cane sugar as the sweetener, making it much healthier than if you make it with white sugar.  You could also add fruit or other flavorings to it, and make any kind of ice cream you want.  You can add raw eggs or egg yolks to this recipe if you’d like, but this recipe is typically made without eggs.  Raw eggs can sometimes bother the digestion of some people in my family, so I have opted to make it without the eggs.  It still has a rich, creamy texture even without the eggs.  The reason I think it’s the best homemade vanilla ice cream recipe is because it is so fast to make, and there is no pre-mixing or cooking of the ice cream mixture required!  The ice cream maker will also churn the ice cream while you’re out doing other things, making this the easiest summertime dessert you’ll ever make!  It’s the perfect recipe for family gatherings, or just as a sweet treat on a hot summer day.

Four Basic Ingredients  

Cream/Milk

You’re gonna want about 3 cups of heavy whipping cream and 1 cup of whole milk, or a similar ratio of cream to milk.  We just grab a jar of milk out of our refrigerator that has a cream line on top, and pour the cream/milk together into our ice cream maker (see video below).  You can also use store-bought cream/ milk, or half and half.  I’ve also made this with coconut or almond milk for a dairy free option, and that is delicious as well!

Sweetener

Sugar, cane sugar, or maple syrup all work well!

Salt

Just a tiny bit of salt makes the sugar taste sweeter. We like to use Redmond real salt because it has a lot of natural minerals in it.

Vanilla

We usually use our own homemade vanilla extract.  It gives such a beautiful flavor to the ice cream.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

Tools You May Need

Ice Cream Machine – this is by far, my favorite ice cream maker.  It’s a two quart ice cream maker, which is just right for my family of seven.  You don’t have to pre-mix any of the ingredients, and it makes the ice cream in about an hour or less.  Old fashioned vanilla ice cream with no ice, no rock salt, no mess – it’s seriously the best!  This ice cream machine will pay itself off in no time, especially considering the high cost of store-bought ice cream.  It’s also important to consider all of the chemicals and other unnecessary ingredients found in the ice cream that is purchased from the grocery store.  The cost savings and health benefits make this ice cream machine a worthy investment.

Ice cream scoop

Tips:

Take a quick minute to add the ingredients to the ice cream maker and while you do chores or fix dinner, it will make the most delicious ice cream you’ve ever seen.

Try different sweeteners like maple syrup or cane sugar to make it even more healthy.

Use different add-ins like chocolate chips, fresh fruit or instant coffee granules for fun flavor combinations.

Buy the ice cream maker!  It will seriously change your life!

How To Make This Easy Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Remove insert from ice cream maker, and make sure that the ice cream paddle is in place.

Pour in heavy cream/milk until it’s about ¾ full.

Add sweetener, salt & vanilla.

Place insert back into ice cream maker.

Put the lid on.

Push power, and start.  Churn ice cream until the ice cream machine automatically shuts off.

This usually takes about 60 minutes, and when it’s done, you’ll have perfectly soft ice cream.

You can change it to the “cool” setting if you’re not quite ready to eat it, and it will keep it cool.

Serve topped with your favorite toppings.  Some of ours are homemade chocolate syrup, homemade caramel sauce and fresh fruit.  Or serve a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of cherry or apple pie.  It’s also great in ice cream cones.

Store any leftovers in a freezer container in the freezer for up to a month.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21.  I can’t wait to see what all you make!