Whip up the best homemade peach ice cream in an ice cream maker. Easy, no cook dessert that you can make with fresh or frozen fruit.
Peaches are in season and I am making ALL the peach recipes, including peach cobbler, peach crisp, and yes, homemade peach ice cream.
While I recommend using the ripest fresh peaches you can find for the best peach flavor, you can make this peach ice cream recipe any time of year using frozen peaches.
It's refreshing, delicious, and full of tart peach flavor. And better yet, it's not that difficult to make as long as you have an ice cream maker.
We usually make a freezer full of homemade ice cream, eat a little bit, and freeze all the leftovers, giving us ice cream for a good little while.
Just in case you don't have peaches, you can also make my favorite old-fashioned banana ice cream. Yum!
Why I Love This Homemade Peach Ice Cream Recipe
- This is a super easy recipe that you can make in 30 minutes or less. It uses simple, everyday ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!
- This is a no cook peach ice cream recipe. Just mix it up and let it churn; the ice cream maker does all the work for you.
- It can be made with either fresh or frozen peaches, although I do prefer fresh, ripe peaches when they're in season.
- This old-fashioned ice cream is soft and creamy with unbeatable fresh peach flavor.
- It makes a refreshing treat that's perfect for the summer months. My kids ask for homemade ice cream every year when the weather turns hot!
- Last but not least, it's always nice to not have to buy ice cream. Homemade is so much better!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- Eggs – If you choose to use raw eggs, do keep in mind that consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of food borne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions. But we have personally always used raw eggs and have never had any problem. That said, some people prefer to temper and heat the eggs up to at least 160ºF in order to prevent any possible food poisoning. This is a great guide on how and why to temper eggs for custard-based ice creams. You can temper the eggs with the condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk in this recipe, following the instructions in the post that I linked to above. Then just whisk everything else in as I explain in the recipe card below.
- Vanilla Extract – I prefer to use a 100% real vanilla extract rather than imitation vanilla. It makes a big difference!
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – This makes a delicious old-fashioned peach ice cream with condensed milk.
- Evaporated Milk – If you prefer, you can substitute regular milk, but I prefer evaporated milk.
- Peaches – You can use fresh or frozen peaches, although I highly recommend using fresh, ripe peaches when they're in season.
- Whole Milk – Although you can use 2% milk or 1% milk in a pinch, I highly recommend that you use whole milk, because it will make your ice cream much more creamy.
- Rock Salt – While you can find rock salt online and smaller bags or boxes at the grocery store, sometimes you can get a bigger and less expensive bag at a hardware store or feed store.
How to Make Homemade Peach Ice Cream
First of all, make sure your ice cream freezer, especially the canister, is washed out well. We store ours in the garage (or sometimes the pantry), so we always have to wash it before we use it.
Also, prep your peaches. If they're fresh peaches, you'll need to wash, peel, and pit the peaches before crushing them with a blender; if you don't have a blender, you can always just mash them up really well with a potato masher.
How to Mix Up Peach Ice Cream
Although I highly recommend using a stand mixer with a large bowl, you can definitely whisk this up by hand in a regular old mixing bowl. The key is to whisk everything together as well as is humanly possible, which is where a stand mixer shines.
- Start by creaming (or mixing) the eggs* and the sugar together.
- Then add in the vanilla extract.
- Next, mix in the sweetened condensed milk, scraping all the ooey gooey liquid out of the can with a spatula. Then add all 3 cans of evaporated milk, and add in a good-sized dash of salt, which equals out to about a teaspoon. Mix everything together well.
- Mix in the crushed peaches.
Pour the mixture into the canister of your ice cream maker.
Then before freezing, just finish topping off the canister with whole milk, making sure to fill it about 3/4 of the way full, leaving room for expansion as it freezes. There should be a fill line on your canister.
How to Freeze Homemade Ice Cream
Freezing the peaches and cream mixture to make old-fashioned peach ice cream is fairly easy, especially once you get it going.
While I always advise you to follow manufacturer instructions for your specific ice cream maker, here are a few tips. You can also read our complete guide to the old-fashioned ice cream maker for more tips and suggestions.
- Put the lid on, and place the metal canister down into the bucket of your ice cream maker.
- Crush a big bag of ice, gradually pouring ice around the canister. Tip: You can add up to a gallon of water if needed, as well. We sometimes do this because our motor will seize up. Adding a bit of water will help it keep turning.
- Add 2-3 cups of rock salt as you add the ice, making sure to top it off with more rock salt when all of the ice has been added.
- Let the motor run until it stops. You will need to stay with it, though, so you can monitor it closely. You'll want to keep it topped off with ice and more rock salt as the ice melts.
- Once the ice cream is frozen, the motor on your ice cream maker will stop churning. Unplug it immediately. This should signal that the ice cream is completely frozen. Wipe any excess ice or rock salt off the lid and out from around the top of the canister. Then remove the lid.
How to Serve Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Carefully remove the churning paddle, and serve the ice cream immediately.
If you’re not ready to serve it up just yet, you can always leave the lid on, remove the motor, top the canister off with ice, and place a towel or two over it to insulate it and keep it cold.
Or you can even remove the canister from the maker and put it in the freezer at this point. Just be careful not to leave it there too long, or you'll have a difficult time scooping the ice cream out of the canister.
Mmmm, my boys love this homemade peach ice cream recipe.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ's
How Do You Make Fruit Ice Cream Not Icy?
First off, what kind of milk are you using? Although you can use 2% milk or even 1% milk for this recipe, whole milk will produce a superior ice cream with a creamier, smoother texture that can't be had with any other milk.
Another possibility is that your fruit is too watery, and the excess water is freezing up in the mixture. If you suspect that this is the problem, you can cook the fruit mixture down in a saucepan on the stovetop to remove the excess moisture before adding it to your ice cream. That said, I have never had to do this myself.
More often, though, the ice cream may not be freezing fast enough. Ice cream is made up of mostly ice crystals; as it churns, the churning paddle is constantly scraping ice crystals off of the sides of the freezer bowl and incorporating them into the ice cream mixture until the entire mixture is frozen.
The faster it freezes and churns, the smaller the ice crystals will be, resulting in a creamier ice cream. If it churns and freezes too slowly, these ice crystals will have more time to grow larger and more noticeable, resulting in ice cream with a hard, icy texture.
To ensure that the mixture freezes as quickly as possible, it is important that everything be as cold as possible prior to churning. Make sure to freeze your freezer bowl canister ahead of time, and be sure that you ice cream mixture is as cold as possible before churning; an overnight chill in the refrigerator certainly doesn’t hurt anything!
When your ice cream is done churning, get it to the freezer as quickly as possible to preserve those tiny ice crystals. And don't leave it out too long after serving!
Of course, you'll need to store it in the freezer. But as far as containers, I found these super cool ice cream containers online, and I have 2 of them, so I can always have 1-2 containers of ice cream in the freezer for the kids. They work great, and they're easy to wash too. You can find more options in my guide filled with ice cream accessories and tools.
I've found that it'll generally last about 3-4 weeks, as long as it's stored in an airtight container where it won't get freezer burn.
Yes, you'll need an old-fashioned ice cream maker for this recipe. Although you can use a hand-crank ice cream maker, I recommend finding a motorized one. Your arms will thank me later….Ice cream makers are usually affordable and pretty easy to find.
What Goes Well With Peach Ice Cream?
- I like to top off peach ice cream with homemade whipped cream or a little bit of peach jam.
- I like to add fresh sliced peaches to my ice cream. They add even more peachy flavor, and the ice cream makes them freeze just a bit so they're a refreshingly cold treat.
- And of course, peach ice cream and fresh peach crisp go hand in hand. It's delicious with this Bisquick peach cobbler recipe and peach dump cake too.
- Alternatively, you can always try adding a different fruit, like bananas, nectarines, strawberries or pineapple.
More Homemade Ice Cream Recipes
- This homemade strawberry ice cream is the best way to use up fresh or frozen strawberries. If you like fruity ice cream, this one is for you!
- This easy vanilla ice cream recipe makes a great base for other ice cream flavors, and it pairs well with other desserts, like this strawberry rhubarb crisp, this apple crisp or even this fresh strawberry pie!
- My kids love homemade chocolate ice cream, and pretty darn easy to make!
- This mint Oreo ice cream is way better than store-bought!
- If you're wanting something different, check out this homemade Butterfinger ice cream. It's a lot easier than you'd think!
- Last but not least, here's how I make homemade ice cream with raw milk from our Jersey cows. Nothing compares to the richness of fresh, raw milk ice cream!
If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. And subscribe to my email list too!
Old-Fashioned Homemade Peach Ice Cream
Equipment
- blender optional
- Potato Masher optional
- Stand Mixer optional
- Airtight Storage Container optional
Ingredients
Ice Cream:
- 6 eggs*
- 3/4 cup pure cane sugar
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 36 ounces evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups crushed peaches washed, peeled, and pitted
- 5 cups whole milk
Freezing Supplies:
- 16 pounds ice
- 3 cups rock salt
Instructions
- Cream (or mix) the eggs* and the sugar together using a mixer.
- Then add in the vanilla extract.
- Next, mix in the sweetened condensed milk, scraping all the ooey gooey liquid out of the can with a spatula.
- Add both cans of evaporated milk.
- Add in a good-sized dash of salt, which equals out to about a teaspoon.
- Mix in the crushed peaches, mixing everything together well.
- Make sure your ice cream freezer, especially the canister, is washed out and ready.
- Pour the mixture into the metal canister of your ice cream maker.
- Finish topping off the canister with whole milk, making sure to fill it about 3/4 of the way full, leaving room for expansion as it freezes. Your metal canister should have a fill line.
- Put the lid on, and place the metal canister down into the bucket of your ice cream maker.
- Crush a big bag of ice, gradually pouring ice around the canister.**
- Add 2-3 cups of rock salt as you add the ice, making sure to top it off with rock salt. You will need to stay with it, though, so you can monitor it closely. You'll want to keep it topped off with ice and more rock salt as the ice melts.***
- Let the motor run until it stops. Once the ice cream is frozen, the motor on your ice cream maker will stop churning. This should signal that the ice cream is completely frozen.
- Unplug it immediately.
- Wipe any excess ice or rock salt off the lid and out from around the top of the canister. Then remove the lid.
- Carefully remove the churning paddle.
- Serve the homemade peach ice cream immediately. If you’re not ready to serve it up just yet, you can always leave the lid on, remove the motor, top the canister off with ice, and place a towel or two over it to insulate it and keep it cold.
Look at the sodium content?
Are you sure it’s it’s 14,000 plus ?
Where is this much salt coming from ?
Maye, that does seem like a lot of salt. I will look into it. Thank You for pointing that out!
Mam, you definitely have a 6 qt ice cream maker. Still made it. Just had to adjust.
I used fresh peaches but not much peach flavor.
Hmm, do you need to use more fresh peaches?
Do you have a recipe for the peach icecream without using raw eggs?
What size freezer is this for?
Tammy, we use a 4-quart freezer.
Then it doesn’t fit. I have a 3/4 full canister without a freaking drop of milk. I followed your recipe to the letter too. So where did you drop the ball….or should one try 1/2 your recipe and perhaps 2 cups of milk per batch and have 2 gallons of finished product. Personally I wonder if you ever did this.
Robert, I’m sorry this happened to you. Our freezer is a 4 quart freezer, and we always fit this entire recipe inside the bin. In fact, we generally have some room left. With all due respect, are you sure that you didn’t mis-measure an ingredient? If so, you may just try cutting the recipe in half.
Is it possible you have too much evaporated milk? The recipe calls for 36oz but the instructions say to add BOTH can of evaporated milk. The cans are 12 oz cans which would be 24oz
Ricky, that is possible. I will look at my cans and double check the size. Thanks for bringing it up.
This ice cream did not have any peach flavor. Probably because we didn’t have fresh peaches. We used frozen and a can of peach’s. Texture was great, very custard like. Needed more syrup or sugar. Thanks
Yeah, it’s so much better with fresh peaches, especially really ripe, fresh peaches. They’ll have the most flavor.
Haven’t tried it yet but use RAW egg? There is no tempering the eggs?
Amanda, we use raw eggs, but if this concerns you, you can still make this recipe by tempering the eggs.
This is almost like my mom’s recipe. She always added a tablespoon of lemon juice. I did the same. We never had issues with the eggs doing it that way.
Can’t wait to try all the Fresh Fruit Ice Creams!
Thank you, Brenda! I hope you enjoy!