How to make homemade cherry ice cream
Homemade cherry ice cream is just a few steps away with my easy no-churn recipe that is the most Summer dessert you can imagine.
Loaded with swirls of cherries and hints of almond in a creamy dreamy base and a splash of vanilla sugar, this ice cream beats the pants off of any store-bought cherry ice cream you can get your hands on. And if you want to double your cherry love, put a scoop on your favorite summer cherry pie.
| Taste | Texture |
| Sweet cherry, almond | Creamy, smooth, with chunky cherries and almonds |
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 25 min | 8 hrs 25 minutes | 6 cups | Easy |
Why you’ll want homemade cherry ice cream in your freezer
- Frozen cherries: As much as I will happily sit pitting cherries for a good bit, it’s really nice to use whole frozen cherries here. There’s no pitting, no washing, or stemming, so you can get right into making everything straight away. This means too that you can make this ice cream even at Thanksgiving since you can buy frozen cherries year round.
- Almond love: Since cherries are stone fruits as are almonds, the two go together like proverbial peanut butter and jelly. The subtle almond flavor both from extract and whole almonds makes the cherry flavor brighter and more delicious than it already is.
- Natural pie pairing: You’ll definitely want to add a scoop of this ice cream on top of flag berry slab pie, apple strudel, or apple crumble bars. The extra fruit flavor will make your pie all that much better.
- No eggs: All of my no-churn ice cream recipes are egg-free. If you can’t eat eggs, this is always a win.
- No ice cream maker needed: I believe ice cream recipes should be easy or else you’ll never try them! You do not need a space-hogging ice cream maker or messy buckets of ice and salt to make this ice cream.
No-churn Cherry Ice Cream ingredients
- Whole cherries, pitted (frozen makes this easy)
- Vanilla sugar (or granulated sugar + vanilla extract)
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Almond extract
- Heavy cream
- Flaked or slivered almonds
Equipment
- Loaf pan: you can use a disposable pan or whatever size you have on hand.
- Blender or food processor
- Stand mixer + whip attachment or bowl + hand mixer
How to make fresh cherry ice cream
- Chill: Chill a mixer bowl with the whip attachment and the heavy cream in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Make the cherry base: While the cream is chilling, chop the cherries into small pieces. Mix the cherries with the vanilla sugar.
- Cook: Pour the cherries into a small skillet. Cook the cherries over medium heat until the juices start to thicken. It’s not necessary to cook the cherries down until they turn into jam, but you do want some of the juice to evaporate and start to make a syrup.
- Blend: Blend the sweetened condensed milk, almond extract , and little less than 1/3 cup of the cherries. Set aside the rest of the cherries to cool.
- Whip the cream: Beat the cream in the chilled bowl until it holds its shape.
- Finish the ice cream: Fold the cherry base into the cream, mixing by hand until you have a consistent color throughout. Drop spoonfuls of the cherries over the top of the cream along with most of the almonds. Stir 3 or 4 times to distribute the color. Save a few cherries and almonds for the top of the ice cream. Smooth the mixture into a loaf pan. Top the ice cream with the rest of the almonds and cherries. Drag a spoon or a knife through the mixture at random to make swirls with the cherry juice.
- Freeze: Cover the pan with plastic wrap and then freeze overnight until firm.
Cherry ice cream FAQ
Absolutely. It will take a little more effort to prep your cherries, but they will be delicious. Treat yourself to a good cherry pitter and the work will go quickly. Pick a sweet variety like Bing, or ask at your farmer’s market if you can get other varieties!
I would only use canned cherries if they are packed in water. Most of these types of cherries are tart pie cherries, so increase the vanilla sugar to 1/2 cup to balance the tartness. This will give you a sweet and tart ice cream. Avoid cherry pie filling as it has thickeners and usually too much sugar.
Cooking the cherries concentrates their flavor, plus it thickens up the juices making for awesome swirls in the finished ice cream. You can skip this step, but the ice cream will be icier and not be as pretty.
Yup. Check the recipe notes for several ideas, including a copycat Cherry Garcia recipe.
Recipes to pair with your cherry ice cream recipe
- Soft chocolate sandwich cookies: These cookies make the ultimate ice cream sandwich! The softness of the cookie matches the creaminess of the ice cream so very well.
- Easter Brownies: Omit the decoration on top and bake the batter in an 8×8 pan for 18-20 minutes. These rich fudgy brownies will make a perfect brownie sundae with this ice cream.
- High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies: for a more substantial ice cream sandwich.
- Chocolate cookie dough bark: Take a nod from gelato shops and top a cup of your cherry ice cream with a cookie.
- Dark chocolate shortbread cookies: just like the cookie bark, but in cute shapes. You could pop one in your ice cream cup or use them for a slightly crisper ice cream sandwich.
Homemade cherry ice cream
- Total Time: 8 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
Better than a its store-bought equivalent, this cherry almond ice cream has gorgeous swirls of cherry juice in a cherry vanilla almond base ice cream along with chunks of real cherries and flaked almonds. The only thing that would make this ice cream any better is a slice of cherry pie to go with it.
Ingredients
Cherry Almond ice cream
- 10 ounces whole cherries, pitted (frozen makes this easy)
- 1/4 cup vanilla sugar (see note)
- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups heavy cream (472 mL)
- 1/2 cup flaked or slivered almonds (50 g) (optional if you don’t like nut chunks in your ice cream)
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Instructions
Chill
- Chill a mixer bowl with the whip attachment and the heavy cream in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Make the cherry puree
- While the cream is chilling, chop the cherries into small pieces. Mix the cherries with the vanilla sugar and then pour the cherries into a small skillet.
- Cook the cherries over medium heat until the juices start to thicken. It’s not necessary to cook the cherries down until they turn into jam, but you do want some of the juice to evaporate and start to make a syrup.
- Blend the sweetened condensed milk, almond extract, and little less than 1/3 cup of the cherries.
- Set aside the rest of the cherries to cool.
Whip the cream
- Beat the cream in the chilled bowl until it holds its shape.
- Fold the cherry base into the cream, mixing by hand until you have a consistent color throughout.
Finish the ice cream
- Drop spoonfuls of the cherries over the top of the cream along with most of the almonds. Stir 3 or 4 times to distribute the color. Save a few cherries and almonds for the top of the ice cream.
- Smooth the mixture into a loaf pan. Top the ice cream with the rest of the almonds and cherries. Drag a spoon or a knife through the mixture at random to make swirls with the cherry juice.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze overnight until firm.
- If you’d like, transfer the ice cream to a freezable lidded container like a Pyrex or one of Tavolo’s ice cream tubs for longer keeping.
Notes
Vanilla sugar substitute: If you don’t have vanilla sugar on hand (you can make your own with this recipe), toss the cherries with 1/4 cup of regular granulated sugar. Blend in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in with the almond extract when you blend the cherries.
Dairy-free cherry ice cream: Use coconut sweetened condensed milk in place of the regular sweetened condensed milk and use a container of frozen coconut whipped cream in place of the heavy cream.
Make it smooth: Feel free to blend ALL of the cherries and the almonds if you want a truly smooth texture in your ice cream. While I love the contrast of the cherry swirls and chunks, I know that that’s not for everyone. You’re running your blender, and you get to make those decisions on your own!
Flavor variations:
Copycat Cherry Garcia recipe: Chop a 3 ounce bar of dark chocolate and add it to the ice cream when you fold in the almonds and cherries. Add 1 tablespoon of good Dutch-process cocoa powder (like Droste or Hershey’s Special Dark) to bump up the chocolate flavor.
Boozy Black Forest Cherry Ice Cream or Cherry Amaretto Ice Cream: In place of the almond extract, stir in 1 tablespoon of Kirsch for black forest or 1 tablespoon of amaretto for the cherry amaretto.
Faux Spumoni version 2: In my pistachio ice cream recipe I gave the idea of stirring cherry chunks and chocolate into the pistachio ice cream to get all of the flavors of spumoni in one ice cream. In this version, stir in a couple handfuls of chopped pistachios and a bar of dark chocolate into the cherry ice cream for the same idea.
Cherry Limeade: Omit the almonds and the almond extract. Stir in the zest and juice of 1 lime into the cherry puree.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Ice Cream
- Method: Freezer, Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
