Homemade Butter Pecan Ice Cream Recipe

This ice cream recipe does have eggs, but whether they are raw or not depends on you.

My favorite homemade ice cream recipe is custard-based, made with lots of vanilla and eggs. In the past, I would make our ice cream with a pasteurized-in-the-shell egg (which made it perfectly safe to consume raw eggs), but since these eggs no longer seem to be available, I do now cook my custard-based ice cream recipes before adding them to my ice cream maker. 

So for this recipe, you have 2 choices for the eggs:

1. Use the eggs raw. (My mom always did it this way, but I can’t bring myself to serve raw eggs to my family.)
2. 2nd choice is to cook the ice cream base and let it cool completely before adding it to the machine. (After cooking the ice cream base, I transfer it to another bowl and place that bowl in an ice bath, stirring continuously for a few minutes to help it chill. Then put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour, chilling it enough for the ice cream maker.)

I’ve updated the directions in the recipe card to include instructions for cooking your ice cream base, so here they are in case you choose to go this route:

1. Combine the vanilla and 2 milks in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs together for a minute or two, add sugar and continue mixing for another minute until eggs and sugar are completely combined.
3. Gradually whisk half of the milk mixture into eggs. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 6 to 8 minutes.
4. You may wish to pour the cooked egg mixture through a sieve to remove any cooked egg chunks.
5. To quickly cool the ice cream base, set the bowl of custard in an ice bath and stir til chilled.
6. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour; ice cream base can be refrigerated up to 2 days ahead.
7. Add ice cream base to the ice cream maker and process according to your machine’s instructions.

I do not recommend the “egg beaters” type pasteurized egg product as all the fat from the yolks has been removed. Egg yolks have a lot of fat and fat, which freezes differently and is less hard than water, making ice cream soft and creamy. 

Plus, ice cream made with real eggs has a deliciously rich custard flavor

When making homemade ice cream, you’ll need milk and cream. Milk comes in different fat levels – Heavy whipping cream (36% fat, light (or regular) whipping cream (30% fat), half n half (around 11%), whole (3.25%), 2%, and skim (0%).

I have read that anywhere from 12 to 23% fat is the optimal fat level for homemade ice cream, and I agree that a combo of heavy cream and whole or half-n-half gives a fantastic result. When making ice cream for just the family, I just use what is in the fridge, but my preference is half whole milk and half half-n-half. For guests, I will step up the fat level to half heavy cream and half whole milk.

You can make the ice cream base and store it in the fridge for a few days. I would not process the ice cream too much in advance. Due to the lack of stabilizers in homemade ice cream, it will become icy after a prolonged time in the freezer.

Yes, you can make this recipe no-churn. The results will be a little less creamy but still very yummy!

Add the ice mixture to a suitable container and place it in the freezer. Stir the ice cream mixture every 30 to 45 minutes over the next 4 hours. Once the ice cream has set, gently mix in the pecans and any other desired mix-ins. Cover the container with plastic wrap and continue freezing until the desired consistency is reached.

The best ice cream maker is the one you already have, lol! However, if you are in the market for a new ice cream maker, I have to tell you I recently upgraded to the kind that uses a bowl you keep in the freezer. (This one ==>>Cuisinart ice cream maker.) And I can’t tell you how wonderful and easy to use this new machine is! 

The machine makes slightly less ice cream than my old one that required ice and rock salt, but I’m ok with that since it is just so ridiculously easy to use. Ice cream in 25ish minutes from start to finish? Sign me up!

It’s on my wishlist to purchase a second bowl for the machine, so I can make two different flavors right in a row! 

Yes, make your ice cream base as directed, add it to a Creami container, and freeze. Then process as directed, adding your mixins at the end.