Homemade Bourbon Ice Cream
Homemade Bourbon Ice Cream! This deliciously boozy ice cream is flavored with a good shot of bourbon. Enriched with egg yolks, it’s a grown-up treat.
Table of contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
To learn all about the basics of making homemade ice cream, check out my Vanilla Bean Ice Cream post. But first, let’s talk about this fabulous Homemade Bourbon Ice Cream.
Any time you add liquor to ice cream or sorbet you have to balance flavor versus texture. Alcohol lowers the freezing point of ice cream. If you add too much liquor the ice cream will never freeze to a scoopable texture.
My challenge in creating this recipe was to make an ice cream that had a good bourbon flavor, but could still form a nice scoop after freezing.
For the first test I replaced a 1/2 cup of milk in my base recipe with 1/2 cup of bourbon. That batch was very very tasty but wouldn’t freeze any firmer than a milkshake. Not that there’s anything wrong with a Bourbon milk shake…
So I reduced the bourbon to 1/3 of a cup and added back an ounce of the milk. I figured the extra water in the milk might help the ice cream firm up a bit without muting the flavor of the bourbon too much.
With 1/3 of a cup of bourbon the ice cream has a nice boozy flavor and it still manages to freeze to a scoopable texture. Admittedly, the ice cream is fairly soft, even after a night in the freezer. But I’m fine with that trade off.
If you prefer a firmer ice cream or a milder bourbon flavor you can reduce the liquor to 1/4 cup.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Milk/Cream – Using a combination of milk and cream results in an ice cream with plenty of fat for creaminess, but enough water from the milk for the ice cream to freeze firm enough to scoop. You can use half and half in place of the milk and cream.
- Bourbon – I tested this recipe with varying amounts of Bourbon. At 3 oz the ice cream has a great Bourbon flavor but it does set fairly soft. If you want a firmer set use 2 oz of bourbon.
- Salt – The tiniest bit of salt rounds out the flavor of the ice cream.
- Egg Yolks – Homemade ice cream made with egg yolks has a luscious custardy texture and it melts more slowly than ice cream made without eggs or yolks.
The Process
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Mix the egg yolks with the sugar. Heat the milk and cream to scalding.
- Scrape the vanilla beans out of the pod and add them to the cream.
- Pour the scalding cream into the egg yolks. Return the mixture to the pan and cook until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Strain the custard back into the bowl from the yolks.
- Remove the vanilla bean pod. Save the pod to make Vanilla Sugar.
- Stir the bourbon into the custard and chill completely before running it in your ice cream machine.
How to serve Bourbon Ice Cream
Bourbon Ice Cream is the perfect accompaniment to Apple Pie, Apple Dumplings, Peach Dumplings, Peach Pie or Peach Cobbler.
More unique homemade ice cream recipes:
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Bourbon Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 12 oz heavy cream (1 1/2 cups)
- 10 oz whole milk (1 1/4 cups)
- 1 vanilla bean (split)
- 6 each egg yolks
- 8 oz granulated sugar (1 cup)
- 1/8 teaspoon table salt
- 3 oz bourbon (1/3 cup)
Instructions
- Combine 12 oz heavy cream and 10 oz whole milk in a small saucepan. Scrape the seeds from 1 vanilla bean and stir them into the cream along and add the vanilla pod. Heat the mixture over medium high heat until scalding hot.
- While the cream heats up, whisk together 6 each egg yolks, 8 oz granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon table salt in a small bowl. Once the cream mixture is scalding hot, pour it into the bowl with the yolks and whisk to combine
- Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and heat over medium low, stirring constantly. Cook the custard until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spatula or wooden spoon. Do not allow it to come to a boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and strain the custard back into the bowl from the yolks. Stir 3 oz bourbon into the custard. Cover the bowl and chill until very cold. At least 4-5 hours or over night.
- Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream machine.
- When the ice cream is ready, scoop it into a container and smooth to an even layer. Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream, cover tightly and freeze until firm. Because of the alcohol this ice cream will take a bit longer to freeze and will be a bit softer than usual.
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