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Pistachio is, hands down, my favorite ice cream flavor. Made with homemade pistachio paste, no artificial colors, and a rich, creamy base, this version is the kind of ice cream that deserves to be served in multiple scoops.

Overhead of a scoop of pistachio ice cream in a container of ice cream.

French pistachio ice cream is not the same as Italian pistachio gelato. The biggest difference is the dairy. French ice cream uses more cream, while gelato is mostly milk-based. Ice cream also churns with more air, giving it a lighter, fluffier texture. Gelato contains less air, so it stays denser and silkier. They are also served at different temperatures. Ice cream is stored slightly colder and holds its scoopable texture for longer, while gelato is served slightly warmer.

Homemade Pistachio Paste

For a true pistachio flavored ice cream I mix homemade pistachio paste directly into the ice cream base instead of just steeping the dairy with pistachios. I’ve eaten plenty of pistachio ice cream and gelato throughout France and Italy, and one thing I’ve learned is that color tells you a lot. The best all-natural pistachio ice cream is usually a soft, muted yellowish-green and sometimes even a little pale. Darker pistachio ice cream is often made with toasted nuts and a bit of almonds. If you see one that has a vibrant, almost neon green it’s usually a sign that artificial food coloring has been added.

Now, you can certainly buy high-quality, all-natural Sicilian pistachio paste (or pistachio purée) made with 100% pistachios and no additives. But that can be quite expensive. Making your own from whole pistachios isn’t exactly quick either, since shelling, blanching, and peeling each nut takes time. The workaround is to just buy the skinless pistachios ready to use.

While roasted pistachios adds a deeper, toastier flavor, they also produce a darker green, almost brown ice cream. I found that using raw or lightly toasted shelled, skinless green pistachios to be the best option. They’re more affordable, require almost no prep work, and make a vibrant homemade pistachio paste with great pistachio flavor.

If you decide to go with store bought pistachio paste instead (not butter or cream), I recommend Fiddyment farms premium pistachio butter or Callebaut pure pistachio paste. I always look for the ingredients to include only pistachios, no other nuts or oils. Read the ingredients on the package, as some mixes contain a lot of almond extract that I find takes away from the natural pistachio flavor.

Key Ingredients & Test Notes

Pistachios: I prefer buying raw, shelled, skinless pistachios to save time. Otherwise, you’ll need to shell them, blanch them briefly, and peel away the skins to preserve their vibrant green color.
Heavy Cream & Milk: This recipe uses an almost 1:1 ratio of heavy cream to whole milk. The balance creates an ice cream that’s rich and creamy yet light enough for the delicate pistachio flavor to shine.
Egg Yolks: Egg yolks naturally thicken the custard base. Whisk them thoroughly with the sugar until the mixture becomes pale and fluffy before slowly tempering with the hot cream mixture.
Skim Milk Powder: Skim milk powder is a pastry school staple that I’ve come to rely on for homemade ice cream. The extra milk proteins bind water, reducing ice crystal formation and creating a smoother, creamier texture. Be sure to use skim milk powder rather than whole milk powder, which adds extra fat and can throw off the balance of the recipe.
- Test Note: Look for skim milk powder in the baking aisle or where you find canned milk products.
Glucose Syrup: Most professional ice cream makers use some form of flavorless glucose in their creme anglaise base. It helps to minimize ice crystal formation while keeping the ice cream softer and easier to scoop straight from the freezer.
- Test Note: This recipe is formulated for the use of glucose syrup, which can be evenly swapped for corn syrup.
- I’ve also tested this with equal parts honey. Honey is an invert sugar, meaning it’s made up of glucose and fructose. It works in the same way, though I find the ice cream can melt a touch faster and it adds a little more sweetness.

Three scoops of pistachio ice cream in a bowl.

How to Make Pistachio Paste

To make homemade pistachio paste, you’ll need a high-powered food processor or blender. I use a small KitchenAid food processor, which produces a thick, spreadable paste. Mine isn’t quite powerful enough to blend the pistachios into a completely smooth, liquid consistency. That’s perfectly fine, since the paste smooths out as its whisked into the hot ice cream base.

A few tips…

I don’t add powdered sugar to the nuts, to prevent making the ice cream too sweet.
Stir the mixture with a spatula every couple of minutes.
The food processor will heat up quite a bit, let it have breaks to cool down.
Creating pistachio paste can take 10-15 minutes of blending.
Add a teaspoon of water, milk, or pistachio oil if it’s been 10 minutes and the mixture feels dry.
If the paste gets too hot it will start to darken the pistachios.

Overhead of a bowl filled with chopped raw green pistachio nuts.

Start with raw, shelled, skinless pistachios that have been chopped or slivered.

Food processor filled with chopped pistachios.

Blitz the pistachios until they turn into a grainy texture. Give them a stir and keep processing.

Pistachio paste inside a food processor.

Give the mixture a stir as the nuts start to stick to the sides. Keep blending as the nuts turn into a wasabi paste texture. Let your processor or blender take a break if it starts to get too hot.

Creamy pistachio paste inside a food processor.

Continue blending and stirring until it turns into a spreadable paste. Add a teaspoon of water or milk if the paste is dry. A bit of nutty texture is just fine.

Spoon scooping raw pistachio paste from a blender.

Raw homemade pistachio paste with a lighter greenish yellow hue.

Roasted pistachio pastes scooped by a spoon from a blender.

Roasted homemade pistachio paste with a darker brownish green color. Chopped nuts were spread out on a baking sheet and toasted for 5-8 minutes at 325F (160C).

How to Make Pistachio Ice Cream

Hand whisking skim milk powder into a pot of cream.

Heat milk, cream, glucose and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Once it reaches 113F (45C) stir in the milk powder until dissolved.

Whipped egg yolks and sugar in a bowl with a whisk.

Meanwhile whisk the lemon sugar and egg yolks together in a medium bowl until pale and fluffy.

Pouring hot milk into a bowl of egg yolks with a whisk.

Pour the warm dairy into the egg mixture while whisking to temper.

Stirring ice cream base with a whisk in a pot.

Then pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan. Stir continuously until it reaches 185F (85C) on an instant thermometer.

Pistachio ice cream mixing with a stick blender in a large glass bowl.

Remove the creme anglaise from the stovetop and pour directly into a separate bowl. Whisk in the pistachio paste, then blend with a hand blender to smooth.

Cover the custard with plastic film and refrigerate for 4 hours until or even better overnight. Aging the base longer in the fridge helps develop a deeper pistachio flavor.

Homemade ice cream being lifted from an ice cream machine.

Churn the base in an ice cream machine until thickened.

Overhead of a metal loaf pan filled with pistachio ice cream.

Transfer the soft serve ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover and freeze 3 hours before scooping.

Jenn’s Ice Cream Tips

Use High-Quality Pistachios: The flavor of this ice cream depends on the quality of the pistachios, so choose the best you can find. Making your own pistachio paste from whole nuts is also far more economical than purchasing a jar of prepared pistachio paste.
Strain the Base: Homemade pistachio paste has a slightly coarse texture. For an extra-smooth ice cream, strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve before churning. A few tiny flecks of pistachio may remain, but they’re too small to create a gritty texture on the tongue.
Add Chopped Pistachios: To add extra crunch and an even more pronounced pistachio flavor, fold in a handful of lightly toasted, chopped pistachios during the final minute or two of churning.

★★★★★ Please leave a star rating and review below if you make this recipe! THANK YOU!!