Peaches and Cream Ice Cream

Take advantage of fresh peaches while they are in season. This Old Fashioned Peach Ice Cream captures perfect peach flavor.

This is a creamy, rich tasting ice cream with bits of peaches throughout. 

This Homemade Peach Ice Cream is a Summer Delight

Over the years, I've refined this recipe to achieve the perfect balance of creamy texture and peachy sweetness. Each scoop of this ice cream captures the essence of ripe, juicy peaches, making it an irresistible treat for warm summer days. The process is straightforward, allowing the natural flavors of the peaches to shine through, enhanced by a touch of vanilla.

Growing up, my family often made vanilla ice cream, but it wasn't until I had children of my own that I ventured into making peach ice cream. Inspired by the abundance of ripe peaches from our local orchards, I wanted to create a dessert that captured the essence of summer. This old-fashioned peach ice cream recipe is the result, combining the nostalgic process of homemade ice cream with the vibrant, sweet flavors of fresh peaches.

Sharing this recipe has allowed me to connect with many of you who share a love for creating delicious, homemade treats. Your comments and feedback are a testament to the joy this peach ice cream brings to your tables. Whether you're making it for the first time or it's become a family favorite, I hope this recipe continues to bring smiles and sweet moments to your home.

Peach Ice Cream Recipe Ingredients

• Peaches - Use the very best peaches you can find. I prefer to use yellow freestone peaches. The pit in a freestone peach easily comes out and doesn’t stick to the fruit. When fresh peaches are not in season, you can use frozen peaches. Select chopped frozen peaches and don’t thaw before using.
• Sugar - Granulated sugar is used in this recipe.
• Heavy Cream - Sometimes called whipping cream. Look for a cream that has between 30-36% milk fat
• Egg Yolks - Just the yolks are used in this recipe. The yolks help form the custard that makes this recipe rich and creamy.
• Vanilla - Use real vanilla, not imitation vanilla.

Fresh peaches

I have played around with making perfect peach ice cream for awhile and I've finally nailed it. The secret is all in the fruit and extracting as much peach flavor from the peaches as possible. 

My method is to peel and cut up all the peaches into small cubes. Then  put them into a bowl with a bit of sugar and let them sit and macerate. The sugar helped release a lot of the juices from the peaches. This peach liquid is added to the custard mixture which brings beautiful peach flavor.

Once the peaches have released a lot of their juices, I pop them into a food processor and pulse just 3-4 times. This is just enough to break down the peaches a bit more, but still leaves a few pieces. 

Just look at all that liquid! That's liquid gold! It's nothing but the juices from fresh peaches and a bit of sugar. So much yummy flavor and all that liquid and the peaches go into the ice cream.

Frozen peaches

For years, I have only made this with fresh peaches and they really do make the best peach ice cream. If you have fresh peaches available, use them. However, there are times of the year when fresh peaches aren't available and you just have to have some peach ice cream. I have discovered that you can use frozen peaches. Make certain you buy unsweetened peaches. You just want the peaches and not any sweeteners or anything else added. 

Allow the peaches to thaw and cut them up into small cubes. Add the sugar and let the peaches rest for a few hours. I find you don't extract as much juice from the peaches as you do when you use fresh, but it still works. Now we can have peach ice cream all year long! 

Ice cream maker

I used an electric automatic ice cream maker to churn this ice cream. Any type of ice cream maker will work fine, just make certain your bowl will hold 1 ½ quarts of churned ice cream. Feel free to use a hand-churned maker too!

How to Make Peach Ice Cream

This delicious homemade ice cream starts by making a custard. This isn't difficult, but you do need to follow a few steps so your custard turns out. The entire recipe with ingredients is listed at the bottom of this post.

1. Heat cream, milk, sugar and salt over medium heat
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks until they are smooth and lightened in color. This can be done with a wire whisk or an electric beater

3. Once cream mixture is hot, but not boiling. Turn off heat and remove ½ cup of liquid.

4. Slowly pour hot cream mixture into egg yolks while whisking. This helps temper the egg yolks so they don't cook or curdle when adding to the hot cream mixture

5. Add egg mixture into pot with remaining cream. Pour in slowly while whisking

6. Turn heat back on to medium heat until mixture begins to thicken and mixture reaches 185 degrees

7. Remove from heat and pour through a fine strainer to remove any bits from the egg

8. Add peaches and juices

9. Cover and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 4 hours

Peach Ice Cream Recipe Tips

• Use the best fresh peaches you can find, or if not available, use frozen peaches
• Make certain your custard is fully chilled (at least 4 hours) before churning
• Your churning bowl should be completely frozen before churning (at least 12 hours)
• Harden ice cream in freezer after churning for at least 2 hours
• If ice cream becomes too hard, just let set at room temperature for 10 minutes before scooping
• Not sure how to separate eggs? Check out this post on how to separate eggs!

Storing Homemade Peach Ice Cream

To store homemade ice cream, place it in an airtight container to prevent ice crystals from forming and maintain its creamy texture. Store the container in the coldest part of your freezer, typically the back, to avoid temperature fluctuations. Homemade ice cream is best eaten within a month. The ice cream will last longer, but you may see some slight changes in quality.

Homemade ice cream tends to become harder in the freezer than store-bought varieties. To make it easier to serve, remove it from the freezer for 5-10 minutes before scooping.

Peaches and Cream Ice Cream FAQs

More delicious frozen treats

• Mint Chocolate Chip
• Raspberry Swirl
• Orange Sherbet
• Lime Sherbet
• Strawberry Ice Cream

More recipes using peaches

• Peach Cobbler
• Peach Bars
• Peach Muffins
• Peach Salsa
• Brown Rice and Peach Salad

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop

Please check out all my delicious desserts!

This recipe was originally posted in July 2016. Over the years, I have made some slight adjustments to the recipe. I have update the recipe and instructions to show these changes.