This easy homemade Pistachio Ice Cream recipe is luxuriously creamy with the perfect balance of sweet vanilla flavor and hints of nuttiness from crushed pistachios.
If you enjoy homemade ice cream as much as I do, don't miss my Orange Ice cream, Oreo Milkshake, or Chocolate Milkshake!
If you've tried Pistachio Ice Cream before, chances are good that it's your FAVORITE flavor, and making it homemade is easier than ever. I use my Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker attachment, but I've also tested this recipe in a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.
If you're wondering what Pistachio Ice Cream tastes like, rest assured that it's sweet and creamy like ice cream should be, with subtle hints of savory nuttiness from the pistachios. The vanilla extract and almond extract really give the flavor a delicious boost, and the egg yolks help the texture to be extra creamy and custard-like, like you'd find at a high quality ice cream parlor.
Ingredients for Pistachio Ice Cream:
- Egg yolks – are essential for the soft and creamy texture in the ice cream and added thickness.
- Granulated sugar
- Heavy cream and evaporated milk – the cream and evaporated milk give the ice creamy it's soft, creamy taste and texture. You can replace the evaporated milk with whole milk (or 2%, but it won be as creamy).
- Salt – to bring out flavors.
- Vanilla extract and almond extract – the best highlight flavors with pistachio.
- Whole shelled pistachios – I like to buy them already shelled. We use half of the pistachios to flavor and color the simmering milk, and then stir pistachio pieces into the ice cream at the end.
How to make Pistachio Ice Cream:
- Add ½ cup pistachios and ¾ cup sugar to a food processor and process until finely chopped and blended.
- Add evaporated milk and cream to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the pistachio mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until almost simmering and sugar has dissolved, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add egg yolks to a bowl and whisk well. Slowly whisk 1 cup of hot milk mixture into the yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and cook, stirring continuously, until thickened, about 8-10 minutes. (Do not allow the custard to boil.)
- Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl; discard what’s left in the strainer. Cover mixture and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until completely chilled. (Depending on the your ice cream maker, you may need to freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker overnight as well).
- Stir in almond and vanilla extract and then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze/churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Stir in remaining ½ cup pistachios. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.
Homemade ice cream will keep in the freezer for 1-2 weeks (much longer than that and it may start to form ice crystals on top).
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Recipe
Pistachio Ice cream
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup evaporate milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup whole shelled pistachios , roughly chopped, divided
Instructions
- Add ½ cup pistachios and ¾ cup sugar to a food processor and process until finely chopped and blended.
- Add evaporated milk, cream, and salt to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the pistachio mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until almost simmering and sugar has dissolved, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add egg yolks to a bowl and whisk well. Slowly whisk 1 cup of hot milk mixture into the yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and cook, stirring continuously, until thickened, about 8-10 minutes. (Do not allow the custard to boil.)
- Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl; discard what’s left in the strainer. Cover mixture and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until completely chilled. (Depending on the your ice cream maker, you may need to freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker overnight as well).
- Stir in almond and vanilla extract and then pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze/churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Stir in remaining ½ cup pistachios. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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Hey Lauren,
Thank you for your recipe. I absolutely loved it! Just curious if you could possibly use the same recipe but with macadamia nuts – to make a macadamia ice cream instead?
Ahh I love that you loved it and yes, macadamia would be so good here! You can absolutely swap the pistachios for macadamias using the same method: blitz ½ cup with the sugar for the base, then stir in the other ½ cup at the end for crunch. The almond extract adds a nice depth, but you could skip it or swap in a tiny splash of coconut extract
I got hooked on Bluebell Pistachio Almond Ice Cream, like, hooked man. Saw this recipe and just wanted to say thank you for posting it, it’s going on the grocery list for this weekend… God help me, I’m about to be exposed to a gallon of this stuff. I don’t have the willpower needed to control myself around it, maybe I shouldn’t…
I made this ice cream base today, and it’s currently chilling in the fridge to be churned. It is already DELICIOUS. A few changes: I increased the serving size to 15 so that it makes enough to max the KitchenAid ice cream maker bowl without overflowing it. I subbed half & half for the evap milk. I used Pistachio Paste (not cream– 100% pistachios) in the cooked cream along with the sugar. No sieve needed. I went with the original amounts of vanilla and almond extract from the recipe. Finally, I made some pistachio crumble from a different recipe to add to the cream as it is being churned. Can’t wait to try the finished product tomorrow.
How was it?
Thank you so much for this recipe. Pistachio ice cream is a household favorite that I haven’t been brave enough to tackle, until now! The flavor and texture were amazing. It was a wee bit rich so I think I will try it with an 80/20 split on the heavy cream to whole milk and see how that turns out. I didn’t have the issue with the almond extract that others mentioned but that might be because I went with a dash vs a measured teaspoon. Thank you and I can’t wait to try more recipes from this site.
This looks delicious! Do you think I could make this in a ninja cremi?
Yes, you should be able to!
Great recipe but I agree with others, the almond extract is overpowering. Better roast some almonds and grind them along the pistachios and add about 1ml of extract for subtle but more complex favour. Would be great to have the recipe in metric, cups and spoons are a no go on my kitchen, too inaccurate for solids.