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a ridged glass ice cream dish filled with scoops of homemade orange ice cream, garnished with an orange slice.

Orange Ice Cream

Ice Cream From Scratch
Enjoy the creamy tangy flavor of a creamsicle in this recipe for homemade Orange Ice Cream that's churned so it's smooth and creamy.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chilling/Freezing Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 45 minutes
Course Ice Cream Recipes
Cuisine Dessert
Servings 6 servings
Calories 410 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest from about 4 oranges
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup fresh orange juice from about 4 oranges
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Chill the ice cream bowl for at least 24 hours or until solid. You should not hear any water sloshing around when you shake the bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until smooth and pale yellow in color.
  • Add the milk and salt to a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the milk to a simmer and then remove from the heat. Be sure not to boil. 
  • Add about 1/2 cup of the hot milk to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk constantly until combined. 
  • Then, add the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk. Heat the saucepan on low. Stirring constantly, heat until the base has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take a few minutes. 
  • Strain the mixture into a bowl to remove any pieces of egg that may have cooked. Then, add the heavy cream, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap making sure to have the plastic wrap touching the surface of the ice cream base. This will help keep it from forming a skin while chilling. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
  • Churn the ice cream mixture in the bowl of your ice cream machine according to your manufacturer’s instructions (mine took about 25 minutes), until it is thick and the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.
  • Spoon the ice cream into a shallow container or a loaf pan. Press plastic wrap or wax paper to the surface of the ice cream. Freeze for at least 4 hours, or until solid. 
  • Let sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

  • For best flavor, use fresh squeezed orange juice, not bottled orange juice. You’ll need the orange for zest (remember, that's where most of the flavor comes from), so it shouldn't be too hard to juice the oranges too.
  • Be sure to zest your oranges before you juice them. It is very difficult to zest an orange after it has been sliced in half and juiced. I personally use a hand juicer to juice my oranges, but you can also squeeze them by hand. If you do it by hand, I recommend straining out the seeds with a fine mesh sieve before adding to the mixture.
  • Keyword orange cream ice cream, orange ice cream, orange ice cream recipe