Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Creamy Homemade Peach Ice Cream made with caramelized brown sugar peaches, heavy cream, and vanilla bean. Super creamy peach ice cream made in an ice cream maker and packed with fresh peach chunks for the perfect summer treat.

Growing up my mom always made peach ice cream in the summer. Churning in one of those old nostalgic rock salt machines, until just thick enough to devour. This recipe is full of version of childhood summer memories eating old fashioned peach ice cream, but made even better with brown sugar sautéed peaches, rich heavy cream, and vanilla bean.

Key Ingredients

1. Fresh Yellow Peaches
   • Use fully ripe yellow peaches for the best peach flavor. Underripe peaches may taste dull and have a mealy texture when frozen.
   • Yellow peaches are my go-to for ice cream with a slightly more acidic profile than white peaches, which balances well with the richness of the custard.
   • White peaches can be used, but give a more delicate flavor and won’t give this ice cream it’ signature peachy flavor.
2. Unsalted Butter
   • Adds flavor and buttery richness to the cooked peaches, making the ice cream taste like homemade peach cobbler without the dough.
3. Heavy Cream (32–35% fat)
   • The higher the fat, the richer and more scoopable the ice cream. This gives you that ultra-luxurious texture of nostalgic ice cream.
4. Whole Milk (at least 3.6% fat)
   • Balances the richness of the cream while keeping the custard smooth and scoopable.
5. Granulated Sugar
   • Sugar sweetens the custard base and provides structure to the final texture of the churned ice cream, for a creamy consistency.
6. Light or Dark Brown Sugar
   • Brown sugar plays a key role in deepening the peach flavor while sautéing. It caramelizes slightly as it cooks with butter and peaches, giving taste notes of toffee and molasses similar to peach cobbler.
7. Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract
   • Just a touch adds warmth and complements the caramelized notes from the brown sugar and buttered peaches.
   • Adding vanilla after cooking the custard, ensures the aromatic compounds aren’t lost to heat, preserving its flavor.
8. Large Egg Yolks
   • Yolks make the French custard base rich, velvety, and classic.
9. Milk Powder is optional, but I find adding just 2 tablespoons to the mixture makes the ice cream even creamier and helps prevent ice crystals from forming. You can find it in the baking aisle of most stores.

Equipment Needed

• Ice Cream Maker: I use a simple 2-quart Cuisinart ice cream maker that comes with a freezable tub. This is so much easier than the old retro style machine, that uses rock salt, like the one my Mom brought out every summer.
• Freezer-safe containers: A metal bread pan will work perfectly for storing a batch of ice cream, or you can pick up a container made specifically for ice cream found at most kitchen supply shops.

How to Make Peach Ice Cream

1. If your peaches are ripe the peeling should easily peel off. You can also use a vegetable peeler or briefly blanch them on hot water for easier removal of the skin.
2. Add the mashed peaches into the ice cream during the last few minutes of churning.
3. This ice cream recipe requires churning your base in a machine, my favorite to use is this Cuisinart Electric Ice Cream Maker.
4. Some of the peach mash may get stuck to the plastic agitator as it mixes, but don’t worry you can stir again before pouring into the final container.
5. When the ice cream has thickened, remove and fold in your remaining peach chunks you’ve been keeping in the fridge.

Helpful Tips

• Tempering Eggs: No need to ladle hot milk into a separate bowl. Once the cream mixture reaches 113℉ (45℃) on an instant thermometer, whisk in the sugar, followed by the egg yolks, while continuously whisking. This lower temperature won’t cook the eggs and you don’t have to make a mess with extra bowls.
• Don’t Over Cook: Heat the custard base until it reaches between 175℉ (79℃) and 180℉ (82℃) on the thermometer. Stir continuously with a whisk or silicone spatula to prevent over-cooking the custard at the bottom of the saucepan. Immediately remove from heat and strain through metal sieve into separate bowl.
• No Ice Bath: You don’t need an ice bath for cooling down the bowl of warm custard. After straining, I let the hot ice cream cool to room temperature, occasionally stirring to prevent a skin. Of course if you want to cool it faster, placing the bowl in another larger bowl of ice and stirring will do the trick.

Storage & Leftovers

Store ice cream in an airtight freezer safe container, I love using my Tovolo Ice Cream Tub. Peach ice cream is best eaten with 2-3 days, but can last up to 2 weeks in the freezer. Without the use of commercial stabilizers it won’t last as long as store bought without crystallizing.

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