Few things compare to the flavor and beauty of ripe peaches, sweet and juicy with their sunrise to sunset yellow, orange and deep crimson colors. Add some cream, churn and freeze, and you have a simple and delicious homemade peaches and cream ice cream.
During peak season, we buy peaches at farmers markets by the crate. Besides the many we simply bite into, we enjoy them in lots of ways like stewing peaches or caramelizing peaches. This homemade peach ice cream is one of our absolute favorite ways to enjoy peach season.
While I usually make ice cream with a custard base, not so here. In the summer, I like something lighter and easier. No eggs, no cooking, quick — yet still absolutely delicious. And the peach ice cream we are making here checks all of those boxes.
Why This Recipe Gets Made Over and Over…
- Simple ingredients – All ingredients are fresh and easily accessible.
- Quick – 10 minutes to assemble. The fridge and ice cream maker do the rest.
- Easy – This is about as easy as homemade ice cream gets, as there is no cooking involved. The hardest part is waiting for it to freeze!
- Delicious, cold, sweet and luscious – Lots of reward for little work.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Peaches – Use fresh ripe peaches for the sweetest flavor and softest texture.
- You can use frozen peaches when fresh are not available. Let them thaw first, then cut to the size of your choice before mixing.
- Lemon juice – To prevent the peaches from browning.
- Sugar – If your peaches are very sweet, you can reduce the amount of sugar by 25%, or to your liking.
- Heavy cream – Cream creates a smoother, richer mouthfeel than milk because it freezes into smaller ice crystals. Plus, it doesn’t need to be heated like milk does to make smooth ice cream.
- Vanilla extract – Vanilla rounds out and enriches the flavors of cream beautifully.
- Salt – And finally, I like to add a touch of salt to exalt all flavors.
Recommended Tools
- Potato masher, or a large fork with wide tines like this blending fork, for crushing the peaches.
- Ice cream machine – Any ice cream machine will do. We use an inexpensive cuisinart ice cream maker that works perfectly.
- Ice cream scoop – So much easier and more fun than using a spoon!
Overview on How to Make Peach Ice Cream
Unlike most ice cream recipes, there is no cooking to be done here. This means less work and major time savings — in cooking, as well as in the hours it usually takes to cool down the hot mixture before churning.
Here, we just peel the chilled peaches, mash them, add lemon juice and sugar and refrigerate. Once chilled, add cream and vanilla, churn and freeze. It’s that simple!
Pro Tips
- Tip – Peeling – I like to use a sharp pairing knife. However, you can also dip the peaches in hot water for 30 seconds, then cold water, and the skin will peel right off.
- Tip – Cutting – I like to keep the pieces fairly small, as peaches have the tendency to become as hard as a rock when frozen in ice cream.
Crush the small pieces of skinned peaches.
So that it still looks chunky, similar to this.
- Tip – Crushing – Mash the small pieces of peach to a smoother, yet still chunky texture, leaving some pieces barely crushed. I like to use my potato masher.
- Tip – Chilling the mixture for at least a few hours will shorten the churning time, which will produce smaller ice crystals, giving a firm, smoother texture that will slowly melt in your mouth. You can also chill it overnight for convenience, then finish it up and churn it the next day.
- Tip – Freezing the storage container beforehand will prevent any melting during transfer, and help set the ice cream faster. The ice cream is at its best consistency for serving around 3 to 4 hours in the freezer after churning.
What to Serve with Homemade Peach Ice Cream
I can’t think of a better way of serving homemade peach ice cream than with freshly sliced peaches. Caramelized peaches and colorful stewed peaches with blueberries are other house favorites.
Serving Tips
- Tip – Let the ice cream thaw at room temperature for 5 to 15 minutes (depending on how hot your environment is) before scooping.
- Tip – Serve in chilled bowls to help keep it from melting in the heat.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2lb (about 6-8 medium) peaches, fully ripe, chilled
- 1 Tbsp (about ½ medium lemon) lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Peel the peaches with a sharp paring knife (or see notes), then cut them into small pieces (about ½ inch/1cm) and place in a mixing bowl.
- Crush the peaches roughly with a potato masher or large blending fork. The consistency should still be chunky.
- Mix in the lemon juice, sugar and salt.
- Chill – Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least a few hours, or overnight if you like.
- Once chilled, remove from the fridge and blend in the cream and vanilla extract.
- Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker (around 25 minutes if properly chilled).
- Transfer the ice cream to a chilled container and place in the freezer.
- Serve with slices of freshly cut peaches.
- To peel the peaches, you can also dip them in hot water for 30 seconds, then cold water, and the skin will peel right off.
This recipe is my version adapted from Patricia Wells’ At Home in Provence. I’ve added a dash of salt, sweetened it up a bit, toned down the lemon, and given it a generous dose of vanilla.
