Raspberry Ice Cream

Tart, creamy and vibrantly pink, our raspberry ice cream is just as flavorful as it is easy to make. Most ice cream recipes take a bit of finesse with the egg-tempering process, but there’s no need for that technique here. As an egg-free, no-cook recipe, all it calls for is chopping the raspberries in a blender, stirring them with the other ingredients and churning away! Honestly, the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the ice cream to set up in the freezer for a few hours. But once the time’s up, you can indulge in a luscious, creamy, raspberry-filled frozen treat.

Ingredients for Raspberry Ice Cream

• Raspberries: Fresh or frozen raspberries work for this recipe; use whatever is most accessible to you. If you’re going with frozen, just make sure to partially thaw them so you don’t overwork your blender.
• Sugar: Raspberries are famously tart, so you’ll need a cup of granulated sugar to balance the tartness with some sweet.
• Heavy whipping cream: Did you know there’s a difference between heavy whipping cream and whipping cream? The latter has a lower fat percentage, so double-check that you’re grabbing the right cream at the store.
  For this ice cream, we want all the creaminess we can get!
• Half-and-half: Half cream and half milk (as the name suggests), this cream thins the ice cream mixture so it’s not verging on an oily butter flavor.
• Vanilla extract: Whenever I make ice cream, I reach for my best vanilla extract. The vanilla flavor is very present in the ice cream, since it’s not cooked and masked by carbs and other heavy flavors. Feel free to use vanilla paste in place of extract too.

Directions

Step 1: Blend the raspberries

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Place the raspberries in a blender. Cover the blender with the lid and pulse the raspberries until they’re chopped.

Step 2: Create the ice cream base

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Pour the raspberries into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar until it’s dissolved.

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Stir in the heavy whipping cream, half-and-half, and vanilla extract until blended.

Step 3: Churn

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Pour the ice cream base into the cylinder of the ice cream maker, then freeze it according to the manufacturer’s directions.

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Step 4: Freeze

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Transfer the raspberry ice cream to freezer containers, allowing space at the top for expansion. At this point, the ice cream is at a soft-serve consistency and needs to freeze a bit more to reach ice cream consistency. Freeze the ice cream until it’s firm, two to four hours.

Editor’s Tip: Once you start churning ice cream at home, you’ll want all the fun ice cream accessories to go with it. From the best ice cream storage tubs and scoops to fun ice cream sandwich molds and waffle cone makers, there are tons of gizmos and gadgets to enhance the experience.

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Recipe Variations

• Make raspberry cheesecake ice cream: Grab an inexpensive cheesecake from the grocery store, and chop a few slices into small pieces. Drop them into the ice cream churner during the last minute so they disperse evenly without fully breaking up. Or layer the ice cream into the container in four parts, placing cheesecake pieces on top of each layer.
• Add streaks of chocolate: Dark or white chocolate is best with raspberry. Add chocolate chips during the last minute of churning to evenly disperse them, or slowly drizzle a thin stream of melted chocolate into the ice cream during the last few minutes of churning for thinner, flaky chocolate chips. It’s the same technique used when making stracciatella gelato.
• Bump up the raspberry flavor: Grab a jar of your favorite raspberry jam. When the ice cream is finished churning, layer 1/4 of the ice cream into the container. Spoon a few tablespoons of jam on top, and swirl them around a bit with a butter knife. Repeat this process three more times with the rest of the ice cream.

How to Store Raspberry Ice Cream

Keep raspberry ice cream in the freezer for up to two months. I like to store mine more toward the front of the freezer, where it’s a bit warmer, than all the way in the back. When you’re ready to serve, take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften up a bit so it’s easier to scoop.

Raspberry Ice Cream Tips

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Is it better to use fresh or frozen raspberries?

Local, in-season, fresh raspberries are the cream of the crop for raspberry ice cream. They have the tartest raspberry flavor, plus they’re much easier to pulse in the blender than frozen.

Can I use black raspberries instead of red raspberries?

Yes, you can use black raspberries instead in this recipe. Just remember that black raspberries are sweeter than red, and of course you’ll have more of an indigo-colored ice cream than a pink one.