This Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream is the best homemade ice cream recipe! Made with a delicious vanilla ice cream base with a tasty fresh raspberry swirl throughout. It’s heavenly! The perfect cool and creamy dessert!
Say hello to the BEST vanilla ice cream ever with a delicious raspberry swirl! My family and I are huge ice cream fans and this recipe is truly incredible! It’s the perfect sweet and tart dessert! You will love the thick and creamy vanilla ice cream base with a delicious ripple of raspberry swirl throughout!
I tested this recipe quite a few times over the past couple of months. At first, I tried it with all raspberries mixed in the base but with feedback from friends and family, we decided it was even better to have a vanilla ice cream base with a raspberry swirl and without seeds. This way you get the taste of sweetness in your mouth and then a little tartness from the raspberry swirl. Flavor heaven!!
How to Make Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberry Swirl:
Making homemade ice cream is simple and fun! The hardest part is the chilling time that needs to happen but it’s worth the wait!
Start by making the Vanilla Ice Cream Base:
1- Dissolve the sugar over the stove top– Add sugar and milk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the salt.
2- Stir in the rest of the ingredients– Mix in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract.
3- Chill mixture- Keep the ice cream base mixture in the fridge in an airtight container for at least a few hours.
For the Raspberry Swirl:
1- Mix together all ingredients over the stovetop- Raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.
2- Cook for 5 minutes- Mash and stir the raspberry mixture as it’s cooking.
3- Remove the seeds- Using a fine mesh strainer remove the raspberry seeds.
4- Chill the raspberry sauce- Keep the raspberry swirl sauce in the fridge until the ice cream has finished churning.
To Finish the Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberry Swirl:
1- Churn the ice cream- Add the vanilla ice cream base to the bowl of the ice cream maker and churn for about 25-30 minutes.
2- Swirl in the raspberry sauce- Add half of the ice cream mixture to your container, then the raspberry sauce, repeat then swirl.
3- Chill- Keep stored in the freezer until the ice cream hardens to your desired consistency.
4- Enjoy! The best step!
Best Tools to have to make Homemade Ice Cream:
Cuisinart 2 quart Ice Cream Maker- I LOVE this ice cream maker!! I’ve had it for almost 10 years and it still works great! When I recently made this recipe x 6 (see below) I borrowed some neighbor’s ice cream makers and it was clear this Cuisinart art Ice Cream maker is top of the line when it comes to homemade ice cream makers. I am saving up to buy another ice cream maker bowl so I can make more ice cream at once!
Heavy Based Saucepan – This is a great one. Here’s another good one but cheaper.
Fine Mesh Strainer– You’ll need this to strain out the raspberry seeds.
Freezer Ice Cream Container-I bought these ice cream containers last month and have been loving them! I love the variety of colors, how it’s easy to store in the freezer (it fits on the door!), and makes it easy to scoop the ice cream.
Ice Cream Scoop-This is a great one for getting round scoops which I love the look of!
Why This Recipe is Important to me:
This recipe took me longer than usual to post on my blog because it was emotional for me. As you may know, my sweet dad passed away last year. One month before he passed away was his birthday. The day before his birthday, I had the strongest impression to make ice cream the next day. It seemed interesting, but I knew I couldn’t deny that feeling. So the next day I was about ready to churn vanilla ice cream when my mom and dad last minute decided to come to visit me.
When they came I was churning the ice cream and asked my dad if he wanted some ice cream. He said yes! I was planning on adding Oreos for the kids but I remembered I had bought some raspberries by chance the day before and asked if he wanted raspberry ice cream. He said that sounded amazing! So I made him a big bowl and even got a picture of him. I also took a picture of both of us that day, the last I took of us together.
On their way out the door, my dad told me on the drive over he told my mom that all he wanted that night was ice cream for his birthday dessert! He said the ice cream I made was the best he’s had and loved it! I was so glad to make his birthday extra special! My mom said that he couldn’t stop talking about how much he loved the ice cream for the next 2 weeks.
Then when only a month later he passed away, I realized that God cared about me so much to make that special day happen. Food is so important to me and my dad and I shared a love of food together. Recently, I had my entire family over to celebrate my dad’s birthday with this Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberry Swirl. I made this recipe x 6. We got together and reminisced about my dad and it was incredibly special. I miss my dad every day but am grateful for this tender mercy to remember my dad in a way that is most special to me. I plan on making this recipe every year on his birthday to remember him.
Tips and Tricks:
-Make sure to put your ice cream bowl from your ice cream maker in the freezer at least 12 hours before churning. 24 is better. I just keep mine in my freezer at all times.
-Chill the ice cream base for at least 4 hours, overnight is even better!
-Freeze the container you will be putting the ice cream in for at least an hour before putting the ice cream in it. Homemade ice cream melts fast so this will help it not get very melty by the time you can get all the ice cream in the freezer.
-Use fresh raspberries if possible but frozen does work as well.
-The ice cream will be very soft when it’s done churning so be sure to plan ahead to freeze it at least a few hours before serving it. (Although if you prefer soft serve that’s totally fine too!)
-After it’s been in the freezer for about a day it tends to be a little harder than store-bought ice cream so make sure to take it out of the freezer for about 10 minutes or so before scooping.
More Delicious Ice Cream Recipes:
- Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
- Vanilla Ice Cream (Philidelphia Style)
- Roasted Strawberry & Buttermilk Ice Cream
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich
(I make a small portion from the Amazon links if you purchase directly from them but as always I only share products I love!)
Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
This Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream is the best homemade ice cream recipe! Made with a delicious vanilla ice cream base with a tasty fresh raspberry swirl throughout. It's heavenly!
Ingredients
Vanilla Ice Cream Base
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt (table or sea salt)
- 2 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Raspberry Swirl
- 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
For the Vanilla Ice Cream Base:
Pour 1 cup of milk into a medium saucepan and add the sugar and salt. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. (Do not let it get to a boil.)
Remove from the heat and add 2 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, for about 4-12 hours.
For the Raspberry Swirl:
In a small saucepan, combine the raspberries, ¼ cup sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Mash the raspberries with a fork, and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until it looks a little thicker, like a jelly.
Pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing through with a spoon to extract as much of the juice from the raspberries as possible. Discard the seeds and cool the sauce down in the fridge for about an hour, or longer.
To Finish the ice cream:
When ready to churn, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, for about 25-30 minutes. It will be like a soft serve consistency. Put 1/2 of it in a container and then drizzle on half of the raspberry sauce, then repeat the layers. Use a knife to swirl the layers in a figure 8 motion. Freeze until the ice cream reaches desired consistency.
What delicious ice cream and what a special story with your dad!
Thank you so much! I’m so grateful I have this special way to remember him each year. 🙂
I loved this recipe so much . It’s really awesome
I’m so glad! 🙂
Wow. Amazing recipe. I would love to try this.
Thank you! Enjoy!
Very good. Dad said I could make this every week. I subbed a little light corn syrup for some of the sugar to make sure it stayed nice and dippable–probably about 2-3 tablesspoons but I didn’t measure. Just left the cup of sugar a little shy and topped it off with corn syrup. Used half & half instead of milk b/c that’s what I had. I also ended up doubling the raspberries because I had a 12 ounce pack of frozen berries that had frozen into a solid mass. I put the cooked raspberries through a foodmill to try to get the seeds out. It left a lot of nice seedy raspberry pulp in the foodmill which I retained and ate on my steel cut oats for a couple of days.
Fantastic! So happy to hear how you changed it a little. This recipe is awesome!