Lemon Ice Cream

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This homemade Lemon Ice Cream recipe is creamy, refreshing, and bursting with fresh lemon flavor! Made without eggs and with no cooking required, it’s easy to make and has the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

I don’t know what it is about lemon that makes it so universally loved, but it remains one of the most irresistible flavors. Bright, tangy, and refreshing, lemon brings a vibrant freshness that enhances everything it touches. I can never get enough of it, whether it’s a creamy lemon curd, a moist and citrusy Limoncello Cake, tender Lemon Coconut Muffins, or an icy Granita al Limone on a hot summer day. And when you combine that fresh, vibrant lemon flavor with rich cream, you get something especially irresistible: lemon ice cream!

Why You’ll Love This Homemade Lemon Ice Cream

There are plenty of reasons to keep this easy lemon ice cream recipe on repeat. Here’s why:

• Made with simple ingredients
• Flavored with real lemons
• Made without eggs
• Creamy without a cooked custard
• Easy to prepare in advance
• Perfect for a standard 2-quart ice cream maker
• Creamy, sweet, tart, and refreshingly delicious!

A trick I use to make this lemon ice cream that bolsters the lemon flavor with lemon zest without resulting in those little chunks interfering with the velvety smooth texture, is to blend the milk and lemon zest in a blender. This method pulverizes the zest and distributes its flavorful citrus oils throughout the ice cream base. You get plenty of fresh lemon flavor without noticeable pieces of zest in every bite, resulting in a wonderfully smooth texture.

Lemon Ice Cream Ingredients

This eggless lemon ice cream recipes uses just a handful of ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Heavy cream: Provides the rich, creamy base and higher fat content that gives the ice cream a smooth texture without using eggs.
• Whole milk: Balances the richness of the heavy cream and helps create a creamy texture that isn’t overly heavy. You can substitute 2% milk if you prefer, but whole milk will give you the best texture. Avoid using skim milk because its lower fat content can make homemade ice cream icier.
• Sugar: This not only adds sweetness but also plays an important role in texture. Sugar lowers the freezing point, helping the ice cream stay softer and easier to scoop. You can reduce the sugar by up to 1/4 cup, but I don’t recommend any more than that or the ice cream may freeze too hard.
• Lemon Juice: Gives the ice cream its bright, tart lemon flavor. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is a must. Choose lemons that have bright yellow skin and feel relatively heavy for their size; heavy lemons tend to contain more juice. Meyer lemon juice also can be used for a sweeter, less tart, slightly floral variation.
• Lemon zest: Adds concentrated lemon flavor and aroma without adding extra liquid or acidity. The zest contains aromatic oils that give the ice cream a much fuller lemon flavor than juice alone. When zesting your lemons, be sure to only zest the yellow outer portion of the peel and avoid the bitter white pith. Any time you’re consuming citrus zest, I always recommend using organic.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla rounds out the sharp citrus bite, adds depth, and creates a smooth, well-rounded flavor similar to a lemon cream pie or creamsicle without tasting noticeably like vanilla. You can also use vanilla bean paste. If you want a sharper, more purely lemon-forward flavor, you can omit the vanilla.
• Salt: Just a small amount enhances both the sweetness and the lemon flavor. Kosher or sea salt are best.

The Secret to the Best Lemon Ice Cream

If you want homemade lemon ice cream that really tastes like lemon, don’t rely on lemon juice alone. You need the zest, too. Fresh lemon juice supplies acidity and tartness, but much of the aroma we associate with fresh lemons comes from oils concentrated in the yellow outer peel. That’s why this recipe uses both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, because together they create a much fuller lemon-forward flavor. The trick is getting all that flavor from the zest without ending up with long pieces of lemon peel in your ice cream. And that’s where the blender comes in.

Lemon Ice Cream Variations

Once you’ve made the basic lemon ice cream, there are lots of ways you can dress it up. Here are a few delicious variations:

• Lemon blueberry ice cream: Swirl blueberry sauce or blueberry jam through the churned ice cream before freezing.
• Lemon blackberry ice cream: Swirl blackberry syrup or blackberry jam through the ice cream before freezing.
• Strawberry lemon ice cream: Swirl a concentrated strawberry sauce, strawberry jam or my strawberry rhubarb jam through the ice cream before freezing.
• Lemon raspberry ice cream: Layer raspberry sauce or raspberry jam into the ice cream as you transfer it to the freezer container.
• Lemon curd ice cream: Add small spoonfuls of lemon curd to the freshly churned ice cream and gently swirl them through with a knife before freezing.
• Lemon shortbread ice cream: Add crushed Scottish shortbread cookies during the final few minutes of churning.

Just be careful when adding fruit sauces because watery additions can freeze icy, so thick, concentrated sauces and jams work better.

Lemon Ice Cream Recipe

Let’s get started!

First we’re going to place the whole milk, sugar, and lemon zest in a blender to pulverize the lemon zest, dissolve the sugar, and disperse the flavorful oils from the lemon peel throughout the milk. (Don’t add the heavy cream to the blender because the it can begin whipping when blended aggressively.) Blend for about 30 to 60 seconds, or until the sugar is dissolved and the zest has been pulverized. The mixture should smell intensely lemony.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl or pitcher. Stir in the heavy cream, vanilla extract and salt. *Don’t add the lemon juice. We want to avoid it curdling the milk. Wait to add the lemon juice when you’re ready to churn it in the ice cream maker. Store the lemon juice in the fridge until you’re ready to add it.

Cover the mixture and chill for at least 4 hours. For best flavor results, let it chill overnight.

Stir in the lemon juice. A little thickening is normal as the lemon juice interacts with the dairy. Pour the cold lemon ice cream mixture into a 2-quart ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions.

The ice cream is finished churning when it has thickened to approximately the consistency of soft serve. You can eat it immediately if you like soft ice cream.

For a firmer, scoopable ice cream, transfer it to an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze for approximately 4 to 6 hours. For the best flavor and texture, freeze it overnight.

Storage Tips

Here are a few tips for how to best store your homemade ice cream:

• If you’re planning on storing your ice cream beyond a few days, press a piece of plastic wrap on top of the surface of the ice cream and then secure the lid in place. This will help prevent ice crystals from forming when the ice cream is exposed to air.
• Store your ice cream container towards the back of the freezer where the temperature remains more consistent and to prevent it from warming every time the freezer door is opened. The continually warming and freezing cycle likewise causes the formation of ice crystals.
• Homemade ice cream is best eaten within 1-2 weeks, after which the texture will begin to degrade.

If the ice cream is too firm to scoop when you take it out of the freezer, let it sit for a few minutes at room temperature.

Why Add Lemon Juice Just Before Churning?

There’s a reason the zest goes into the recipe early while the lemon juice waits until the end. Lemon juice is acidic, and acid interacts with the proteins in dairy products. That’s why adding lemon juice directly to milk can cause it to curdle. This recipe has a significant amount of heavy cream, which makes the mixture more forgiving, but there’s still no benefit to letting the lemon juice sit in the dairy for hours. Instead, chill the milk-and-cream base first and then stir in the fresh lemon juice immediately before churning. This gives you the fresh tartness you’re looking for while minimizing the amount of time the acid sits in the dairy mixture.

How Much Lemon Juice Do You Need for Lemon Ice Cream?

It’s tempting to assume that adding more juice will make the ice cream taste more lemony, but more in this instance isn’t better. Lemon juice also introduces additional acid and water to the ice cream base and too much of either can interfere with the creamy texture you’re trying to achieve. With the ratio of heavy cream and milk called for in this recipe, I find that 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice is the perfect amount to provide a pronounced tart lemon flavor while keeping a good balance between acidity, sweetness, and creaminess. Want a stronger lemon flavor? That’s where the zest comes in.

How Much Lemon Zest Should You Use?

This recipe uses 2 tablespoons of finely grated lemon zest. The exact number of lemons you’ll need will depend on their size, but plan on at least 3 large lemons. Remember that when zesting, remove only the thin yellow outer layer of the peel because the white pith underneath can be very bitter.

Because the blender pulverizes the zest and the zest remains in the finished ice cream, I find that 2 tablespoons of zest provides plenty of lemon flavor without being overwhelming. You may prefer to add less or more according to your taste.

What to Serve With Lemon Ice Cream

Homemade lemon ice cream doesn’t need anything more than a bowl and a spoon! But if you’d like it to accompany a favorite dessert, here are some great pairings:

• Rhubarb Crisp or Peach Crisp
• Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Figgy Pudding
• Rote Grütze (German Red Berry Pudding)
• Victoria Sponge Cake
• German Rhubarb Streusel Cake
• Limoncello Cake
• Angel Food Cake
• German Apple Cake
• Apple Strudel
• Scottish Shortbread or sugar cookies
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Pound cake
• Blueberry or blackberry cobbler
• Blueberry or blackberry pie
• Fresh strawberries

Enjoy!

For more homemade ice cream recipes try my:

• Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
• Strawberry Ice Cream
• Honey Lavender Ice Cream
• Cherry Ice Cream
• Pumpkin Ice Cream
• White Chocolate Cranberry (or Cherry) Pistachio Ice Cream
• Granita al Limone (not ice cream but a delicious frozen Italian treat!)