orange and vanilla ice cream with candied oranges in jars

A more appropriate name does not exist. This stuff is dreamy! Fresh orange is citrusy but not overly acidic. It’s sweet and floral and juicy. Paired with luscious vanilla in a cool, creamy custard, this hauntingly delicious ice cream is the stuff dreams are made of!

Here’s what you need:

To get the most out of citrus, don’t just use the juice! The juice does bring loads of refreshing acidity, but the real essence of the fruit lies in the zest!

Zest and juice the lemon and both oranges. Whisk them together with the egg yolks and sugar.

Make the custard.

In a sauce pan, combine the cream and milk, along with the scraped vanilla seeds and the remaining bean pod. Heat until very warm but not scalding. (You could substitute 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean if that’s what you have on hand.)

heating the milk and cream with the vanilla

Temper the yolks.

Slowly drizzle, with a ladle, the hot milks into the yolks while whisking. This will gently cook the yolks without scrambling them. Once about a third of the mixture is whisked in, pour the custard back into the pan with the remaining milks.

tempering the egg yolks with the hot milk and cream

Heat the custard to 165 degrees, stirring constantly.

Strain the custard to remove any bits of orange membrane, as well as the vanilla pod.

Place a sheet of plastic directly over the custard to prevent a skin from forming as it cools.

plastic laying directly on top of the custard

Let the custard chill.

It needs to cool completely in the refrigerator for several hours, and should be as cold as the refrigerator before going into the ice cream maker. If it is too warm, the ice cream will not set.

Once cold, pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn for 15 minutes or however long instructed by your ice cream maker’s own instructions. Pour the ice cream into a container and place into the freezer to finish hardening.

There are some pretty good store bought ice creams out there, but there is nothing like homemade! It’s intimidating at first, but once you get the method down, you will never buy ice cream again!

This orange and vanilla ice cream perfectly sweet and refreshing! It’s perfect on its own topped with fresh berries or candied orange slices!

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5 from 2 votes

Orange-Vanilla Ice Cream

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Ice Cream Churning Time15

Total Time45

Course: Dessert

Servings: 1 quart

Author: Christen Clark

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped out
1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar granulated
2 naval oranges zested and juiced
1 lemon zested

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Instructions

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, salt, citrus zests and orange juice. Set aside.
Heat the heavy cream and milk in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the scraped vanilla seeds as well as the remaining vanilla pod. Heat until almost simmering.
While whisking the egg yolk/ juice mixture, slowly drizzle in about a third of the hot milk mixture, then pour the tempered egg yolks into the pot and heat to 165 degrees.
Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and cover with plastic, laying the plastic directly on top of the custard. Chill for at least 4 hours, though overnight is best.
Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and churn for about 15 minutes. Scoop the ice cream into a container and place it in the freezer to harden.