You Won't Believe How Easy This Homemade Peach Ice Cream Is!

This homemade peach ice cream recipe is a blissfully cold, creamy delight featuring one of the best summer flavors. Its custard-style base, gently cooked with egg yolks, sugar, and milk, has a super smooth texture that’s then studded with juicy chunks of peaches, so you get real peach flavor in every spoonful.

Homemade Peach Ice CreamPhoto byEasy Southern Desserts

Creamy Homemade Peach Ice Cream

It’s peach season, haven’t you heard? I love having a big bowl of ripe peaches on the counter during summer. They’re wonderful to snack on but are even better in homemade desserts. And one of my favorite sweet treats this time of year is a big bowl of delicious homemade ice cream.

This recipe is a riff on my grandmother’s famous custard! To properly make custard, you start by cooking it on the stove. It might seem counterintuitive, but trust me, it yields the creamiest, most luxurious ice cream you’ve ever had. You won’t want the store-bought stuff anymore!

To bring out that fresh peach flavor in every bite, I add juice from the peaches to the custard and then make a mashed peach puree to stir in at the end. This way, you get little bites of juicy peaches in every bite that are small enough that they don’t freeze like ice cubes.

Peaches freeze harder than strawberries, so this is a necessary step that you don’t need if you’re making strawberry ice cream. The vanilla custard base can be used not only for peach and strawberry ice cream but also for blackberry ice cream or raspberry. For each you will need to treat the fruit differently but the base will be the same.

It’s absolutely heavenly!

P.S. You’ll need an ice cream machine to make this recipe! While I grew up using the wooden crank type, I can’t say enough about the Cusinart model I use.

Pro Tip: Remember to put the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer the day before you are making ice cream. It needs to freeze for 12 hours.

Why You Should Make Your Own Ice Cream

• Versatile – You can use the base recipe as a jumping-off point for lots of different flavors.
• Simple Ingredients – Made with pantry staples and fresh peaches, no preservatives or additives.
• Refreshing Summer Treat – Forget running to the store. Once you learn how to make ice cream at home, you can have it on hand any time of year.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredients for Peach Ice CreamPhoto byEasy Southern Desserts

Dairy – Both whole milk and heavy cream are needed for the best texture. You can use half-and half but it will not be as creamy and will freeze harder. The cream keeps it from freezing super hard

Egg Yolks – You’ll need six egg yolks. You can save the egg whites to make meringue, or an omelet.

Peaches – Peeled and chopped peaches for the filling and juice. If using frozen, let them that first.

Lemon – you need lemon juice to keep the peaches from turning brown.

Pantry Staples – sugar and vanilla.

How To Make Really, Really Good Peach Ice Cream

Step One: Simmer Milk & Sugar

Add milk, cream, sugar, and salt to a saucepan and bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat.

Step Two: Temper the eggs

Whisk the egg yolks together in a large measuring cup or bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, whisking until combined. Continue slowly adding the warm milk until the egg mixture is warm. Then, slowly add the warm eggs to the hot milk, whisking constantly until incorporated.

Return to the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until it is slightly thick and coats the back of a spoon. (an instant thermometer will read 170º) Pour it through a wire sieve into a bowl. Let it come to room temperature.

Step Three: Add Peaches

Peel and chop the peaches. Add ½ cups of sugar to the bowl and let them sit for about 30 minutes. They will be very juicy. Use a potato masher or the back of a spoon to mash the peaches.

Strain all of the juice out of the peaches and add the juice only to the room-temperature custard. Refrigerate the mashed peaches to add later. Refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Step Four: Churn

Process per the manufacturer’s directions. It should take about 20 minutes to become soft-serve ice cream. Five minutes before it’s done, add the mashed peaches and let it process until they are incorporated.

Pour it into a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap until firm.

Homemade Peach Ice creamPhoto byEasy Southern Desserts

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups peaches peeled and chopped
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

• Add milk, cream, ⅔ cups of sugar, and salt to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
• Whisk the egg yolks together in a large measuring cup or bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, whisking until combined. Continue slowly adding the warm milk until the egg mixture is warm. Then, slowly add the warm eggs to the hot milk, whisking constantly until incorporated.
• Return to the heat and cook for about 5 minutes until it is slightly thick and coats the back of a spoon. (an instant thermometer will read 170º) Pour it through a wire sieve into a bowl. Let it come to room temperature for about 1 hour.
• Peel and chop the peaches. Add ½ cups of sugar to the bowl and let them sit for about 30 minutes. They will be very juicy. Use a potato masher or the back of a spoon to mash the peaches. Strain all of the juice out of the peaches and add it to the room-temperature custard. Refrigerate the mashed peaches to add later. Refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Process per the manufacturer’s directions. It should take about 20 minutes to become soft-serve ice cream. Five minutes before it is done, add the mashed peaches and let it process until they are incorporated. Pour it into a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan for firm ice cream and cover with plastic wrap until firm.

A Few Recipe Notes For Great Ice Cream

• Slowly add the warm milk to room temperature egg yolks. The closer in temperature and the slower you add the hot milk, the less likely the eggs will scramble and become unusable.
• Let your ice cream sit for a few minutes before serving. It’ll make it easier to scoop! You can also run your ice cream scooper under warm water for a smoother scooping experience.
• This recipe will fill a 9 x 5 loaf pan, it makes about 4 cups of ice cream.

How To Store Ice Cream

In The Freezer: Cover your ice cream tightly; it will stay fresh for a couple of weeks. After that it will become crystallized, still edible but not as creamy.

Here in North Carolina, I am surrounded by peach orchards. They love the sandy soil and can be found in abundance from May through September, sometimes even later. Alot of the fruit stands sell peach ice cream but it’s not near as creamy as this custard based ice cream. Theirs is made without eggs. Still delicious just not as good as what you can make at home.

Of course this means that I have lots of peaches to experiment with.

More Peach Recipes you Just Have to Try

• Peach bread pudding is divine
• Old fashioned peach cobbler with pie crust
• Peach jam, nothing better on toast
• Flaky peach dumplings

Get step by step photos and tips at Easy Southern Desserts