15 minute Pistachio Ice Cream recipe: all the heart eyes
This pistachio ice cream recipe is the no-churn secret cheat code to the best ice cream ever.
Not only can you make pistachio ice cream (obviously) with it, but it’s a template for any nut butter ice cream you can dream of. And let me tell you, you’ll be dreaming as much as me about the possibilities.
| Taste | Texture |
| Pistachio, faint almond | Creamy, crunchy |
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 15 min | 8 hrs 15 minutes | 6 cups | Easy |
One might call me a pistachio nut (I’ll see myself out). I love them in all their forms and I have no qualms adding them to everything from salads to cookies and cakes to eating them straight out of the bag like a trash panda. Still, pistachio ice cream is the pinnacle of all things pistachio for me.
If it’s there on a list of ice creams at a shop, I will always choose pistachio. Invariably I got some at the end of the tour at the Blue Bell factory on our family adventures to Brenham growing up. To the consternation of gelato shop owners, I ordered it alone everywhere we went when I visited Italy (where it’s charmingly, pistacchio). To me, nothing matches it’s creaminess with the faint hint of almond flavor that accents the beautiful green nuts.
Why you’ll put pistachio ice cream on repeat in your summer baking playlist
- Holy cats, pistachio: There’s so much rich pistachio flavor in here. If you love pistachio, this is your ice cream.
- Stupid easy: Other than prepping the nuts, this ice cream comes together so quick. Even with shelling pistachios (if that’s what you’re using), it takes no more than 15 minutes to whiz everything up and get this in the freezer. If you have a batch of pistachio butter on hand, you really need just 5 minutes to get this in the freezer.
- Faint green, but no dye: I add a little bit of matcha powder to my ice cream to bump up the green color of the nuts, but not so much that it will taste like a matcha ice cream. If you do love green tea ice cream, definitely try my strawberry matcha ice cream. I like adding a little bit of color without artificial dyes.
- Pairs so well with other desserts: Pistachio is so good with anything chocolate or cherry or raspberry for that matter. If you’re bored with a scoop of vanilla on top of your pies, try pistachio instead!
No-churn Pistachio Ice Cream ingredients
- Shelled pistachios or pistachio butter and a few chopped pistachios
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- Almond extract : boosts the pistachio flavor
- Matcha powder (optional, for color)
- Salt
- Heavy cream (472 mL)
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 pistachio ice cream
- Chill: Chill a mixer bowl with the whip attachment and the heavy cream in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Make the pistachio base: While the cream is chilling, place a little more than half of the pistachios in the blender and blend to a smooth paste (see note if using pistachio butter). You can do this in a food processor instead. Scrape down the sides of the blender. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, almond extract , and matcha (if using) and the salt.
- Chop: Chop the rest of the pistachios and set them aside for finishing the ice cream.
- Whip the cream: Beat the cream in the chilled bowl until it holds its shape.
- Mix: Fold the pistachio base and the rest of the chopped nuts into the cream, mixing by hand until you have a consistent color throughout.
- Freeze: Smooth the mixture into a loaf pan. Freeze overnight until firm.
Ways to make your pistachio ice cream more awesome
- Just add chocolate: Absolutely fold in chopped dark chocolate before freezing.
- Faux-spumoni: The flavors of classic Italian spumoni (like Neapolitan ice cream but with cherry-chocolate-pistachio instead of the strawberry-vanilla-chocolate) are so so good, but spumoni can be a pain to make since you have 3 separate ice creams in a batch of spumoni. Make it simpler by folding in chopped fresh cherries and chunks of dark chocolate. You’ll get all of the flavor in so much less effort.
- Add almonds: Add in a few handfuls of flaked or chopped whole almonds in with the chopped pistachios for a double nut ice cream.
- Make the best ice cream sandwiches: Spread the ice cream between two soft chocolate sandwich cookies. Pack up each sandwich in plastic wrap and freeze until you need them. You will never eat a better ice cream sandwich.
- Serve them with pistachio biscotti: The best ice cream deserves a crunchy cookie to go with it, and you can’t get much better than these crunchy lemon pistachio biscotti!
More ice cream recipes
Pistachio Ice Cream
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
Classic pistachio ice cream made easy with a quick no-churn rendition for the smoothest most luxurious pistachio ever with no weird additives. The matcha powder is there just for color; this ice cream will not taste like tea.
Ingredients
Pistachio ice cream
- 6 ounces shelled pistachios (see note)
- 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder (optional, for color)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups heavy cream (472 mL)
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 pistachio base
- While the cream is chilling, place a little more than half of the pistachios in the blender and blend to a smooth paste (see note if using pistachio butter). You can do this in a food processor instead if you don’t have a blender. Scrape down the sides of the blender.
- Mix in the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, almond extract, and matcha (if using) and the salt.
- Chop the rest of the pistachios and set them aside for finishing the ice cream.
Whip the cream and finish the ice cream
- Beat the cream in the chilled bowl until it holds its shape.
- Fold the pistachio base and the rest of the chopped nuts into the cream, mixing by hand until you have a consistent color throughout.
- Smooth the mixture into a loaf pan.
- 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
Make it faster: If you already have a batch of pistachio butter on hand, use throw 1/2 cup of it straight into the blender along with the sweetened condensed milk, matcha, salt, and the extracts for the pistachio base.
Switch up your nut base: This recipe works for any nut butter you’d like to turn into an ice cream. Homemade cashew butter or homemade nutella would be perfect here, but any jarred nut butter will work as well. Shoot, I’d love tahini with chunks of extra dark chocolate!
Pistachio Cherry Chocolate (aka cheater spumoni): Pistachios and cherries are sooo good together! For a quick faux spumoni ice cream, fold in about 1 cup of chopped fresh cherries and chunks of dark chocolate. This is a great way to get all the flavors of spumoni without having to make 3 separate ice creams.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Ice Cream
- Method: Freezer
- Cuisine: American
