Creamy, homemade, raw-milk ice cream couldn’t be easier. It all starts with raw dairy, blended with rich pastured eggs, sweetened with honey or maple syrup, and deepened with a splash of vanilla. It’s mixed together and transformed into the yummiest ice cream.
There is a new queen on the farm. My sweet Jersey, Miss June. If you missed the whole story, we had a surprise calf three months early that we totally weren’t prepared for. Read all about it here.
Now we that we have moved beyond the shock and awe of all of that, we have transitioned to copious amounts of milk. Morning milking was my favorite farm chore with our goats, so we did what anyone would do: we hurried out and got not just one milk cow, but two. One for now, and then we also have a young heifer we will eventually breed and milk once she is older.
Now that we are getting gallons of milk every single day (which is more than we can drink in a day), we are having to find ways to use it up and preserve it for later.
Thankfully, there are many delicious ways to use up that milk and cream. From yogurt to kefir, to butter and sour cream, and obviously ice cream, we are enjoying this new blessing. Now that we are about to have such an abundance, we can start cultivating the skill of cheesemaking. I cannot wait. Also, skimming the fresh cream and pouring it into your coffee in the morning… there’s nothing better.
June has earned her Queen of the Farm title due to the fact that she turns grass into butter. Truly a magical accomplishment, if you ask me.
Have I convinced you yet to get a family milk cow? Best homestead purchase, hands down. You can read why we chose raw milk here.
Back to making homemade, raw milk ice cream.
Tips:
- This recipe is really just a starting point, as you can make so many variations. Add shaved chocolate to make chocolate chip ice cream, or strawberries or raspberries for a fresh, creamy blend. I’m including a chocolate version below.
- Make sure your ingredients are cold. If they are too warm, they may not form the creamy crystals needed to create this frozen dessert.
- For a chocolate raw milk ice cream, add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder to the blender and blend thoroughly to make sure there are no chunks of cocoa powder in the mixture.
- If you don’t have access to raw milk, you can substitute it with whole milk, and cream for heavy whipping cream.
- I know some people are not as comfortable drinking raw milk and raw eggs. If this is you, you can mix together all the ingredients over a double boiler and slowly heat the ice cream base to cook the eggs. Then place in the fridge to cool completely before placing it in your ice cream maker.
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Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons
What to do if you don’t have an ice cream maker:
Place the mixture in a glass baking dish and freeze for about an hour. The mixture will begin to freeze around the outside; stir around the outside to incorporate the frozen parts into the rest of the mixture. Freeze for an additional 30 minutes and scrape down the sides again. Repeat until the ice cream is fully and evenly frozen, stirring it every 30 minutes or so.
Why is my homemade ice cream not creamy?
This is usually due to either not freezing fast enough, or too much water forming large ice crystals. When making ice cream, you want to use whole milk and cream, rather than 2% or skim milk, because it has more fat contributing to smaller ice crystals and a better/creamier texture.
How To Make Raw Milk Ice Cream:
Place ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into an ice cream maker and follow instructions according to the ice cream maker directions. Usually this takes about 15-25 minutes.
Serve or store in a container with a lid, and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. To prevent ice crystals forming, you could place plastic wrap over the top the of the ice cream and press it down gently. This just helps prevent air from reaching the surface.
Find More Delicious Desserts:
- Sourdough Cherry Cobbler
- Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- Berry Crisp Made With Einkorn
- Honey Lavender Ice Cream
- Lemon Sourdough Pound Cake
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars!
Raw Milk Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole raw milk
- 2 cups raw cream
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
Instructions
- Place ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour into an ice cream maker and follow instructions according to the ice cream maker directions. Usually this takes about 15-25 minutes.
- Serve or store in a container with a lid, and place in the freezer.
Notes
- For a chocolate raw milk ice cream, add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder to the blender and blend thoroughly to make sure there are no chunks of cocoa powder in the mixture.
- If you don’t have access to raw milk, you can substitute the milk for whole milk, and cream for heavy whipping cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Does this need to be placed in refrigerator to get cold again after blending? Mine never froze and kept churning liquid. The bowl (frozen) and contents were cold out of fridge.
I typically don’t, but depending on the temperature of your ingredients, if your ice cream maker recommends it, or you are having issues with it freezing, I would. It wouldn’t hurt.
This is my family’s favorite treat! I shared the link in my blog post about how we transitioned from being vegan to eating a traditional diet and how raw milk was a big part of that. Thanks so much for your content Lisa! (And for your blog masterclass which gave me the courage to start my own blog)
Glad you love it! Thanks for sharing. How fun! Good luck blogging.
Made the chocolate version this weekend and it was delicious! I subbed a half cup plus 1 TBSP of brown sugar Allulose for the maple syrup, to make it diabetes-friendly. Has anyone turned this into coffee ice cream? I’d love to know how!
My guess is use instant coffee instead of chocolate!
I just use the cream off the top of my milk or if I want more my herdshare just sells bottles of cream I can buy.
I mess with my recipe every time (with eggs, whole eggs, or just yoks) so it never comes out the same twice though it is always yummy.
When you say raw cream, it is heavy cream (really thick-like put through the separator twice) or regular cream like skimmed off your milk? I can get both from my cow-share, but I don’t know which you would use. I was thinking if the fluid cream I wouldn’t need the milk, just add the cream? Yet if doing the heavy cream, add the milk?
I just use the cream off the top of my milk or if I want more my herdshare just sells bottles of cream I can buy.
I mess with my recipe every time (with eggs, whole eggs, or just yoks) so it never comes out the same twice though it is always yummy.
I use the cream off the top of my milk or if I want to make a bigger batch my herd share sells pints of cream I can buy.
I also change up my recipe every time (no eggs, whole eggs, or just yolks), and though the texture changes I always enjoy it.
Thank you for this comment! We’re still working with a kiddo with an egg allergy and I know how to sub out in baked goods but ice cream had me stumped! 🙂
We tried this recipe out today and it was delicious and simple. Definitely adding cocoa next time (:
I sure wish I could get my hands on raw cream! The milk I can but not cream. I’d be making this for my dogs because they never get pasteurized dairy.
Millers farm online has the best ever. A2 A2
Hi,
Is it necessary to use whole milk and a separate amount of cream if we are using raw Jersey milk? the cream line is almost half of the jar…can I just pour from the jar without shaking and use that?
I’m pretty sure when she says ‘raw whole milk’, that doesn’t mean raw milk that still has all the cream in it. Once you’ve skimmed the cream off the top, that is generally considered to be ‘whole milk’ at that point. So you would use 1.5 cups of that, plus 2 cups of the cream that has been skimmed off. Trying to just shake your jar of milk that still has the cream in it could potentially work, but would definitely give you inconsistent results since the cream levels would be inconsistent from jar to jar (and would quite likely not be the same ratio of milk to cream as what’s in the recipe).
Raw whole milk will still have all the cream in it. 2% has some cream skimmed. And skim has all the cream skimmed. So the cream in the recipe is in addition to the whole (unskimmed milk)
Whole milk = milk will full cream content. Cream has not been removed.
Hello! Excited to try this! Why do most recipes call for cooking the ingredients in a sauce pan before adding to a ice cream machine? And this one does not?
I wanted to keep the milk raw to retain the vitamins and other health benefits.
Hi Sara, most recipes cook ingredient in a sauce pan to cook the eggs (make a custard) to get rid of any bad bacteria.
The point of buying raw milk is because it hasn’t been pasteurized, ie cooked. Making a custard defeats the purpose.
The reason is to kill bacteria in the EGGS. From my understanding salmonella is on the egg shell (dirty eggs) so if your eggs are clean that’s a good start. Quality eggs is also a must when eating raw, pasture raised > organic. Just like grass fed beef > organic. Obviously if you can check both boxes that’s perfect, but around here I often have to choose one.
Second part of using raw eggs is to be careful cracking them. I’ve got my own technique, and that’s cracking one at a time into a bowl to separate the yolk by hand. It is easy and lets you pull the excess white globs that are attached to the yolk. Not sure if that incidental amount even matters in the batter, but that’s me. Rinse repeat, and if you get any shell in one of the eggs, just use that for scrambled/fried etc. And really this is just a precautionary measure, if you are young and healthy using clean quality eggs being this rigorous is not necessary, but I’m very particular about how I do things so.
That’s really it when making raw ice cream, the eggs are what people are worried about. Which yea, most eggs I wouldn’t eat cooked, let alone raw.
The safest raw eggs are from unwashed eggs. We in America wash off the protective coating naturally on eggs and then must refrigerate to avoid bacteria growth that we let in through the pores. Countries that do not wash eggs keep them out on the counter because “bad stuff” cannot get in.
Hi there, what if we don’t have an ice cream maker? I have a kitchen aid stand mixer and of course a freezer if that’s helpful. I have a bunch of raw dairy that I have to use and I would really love to make this!
You could just put it in a 9X13 dish, cover with an airtight lid and freeze overnight!
CAN YOU MAKE VANILLA ICE CREAM WITH A STAND MIXER?
Yes. There are several ways you can learn how to make vanilla ice cream at home with a stand mixer. The easiest may be using the KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment, which is specially designed for this task. You can also use a stand mixer alone to mix and aerate your ice cream mixture and then freeze it for 6-8 hours.
A stand mixer is an easy solution for an ice cream as smooth and decadent as the one at your local creamery. If you’re using a stand mixer without the ice cream maker attachment, all you have to do is whip together the cream until stiff peaks form, then add in all your other ingredients and pour the mixture into a freezer safe container and freeze overnight. Get even more recipe ideas from our list of KitchenAid® Mixer Uses. If you don’t have a stand mixer, explore a collection of colorful KitchenAid® stand mixers to find the right one for your needs.