Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream
Put those fresh summer cherries to use for our Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream! This recipe has instructions to make it with an ice cream maker or as no churn ice cream, both ways make a creamy, dreamy copycat of a classic!
Next, try our Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream!
It’s the OG Cherry Ice Cream that I know you all know of! I mean who doesn’t know the iconic Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor dedicated to the one and only Jerry Garcia? It’s one of my husband’s favorites, which is why we knew we had to make some Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream of our own with our fresh-picked summer cherries!
Our favorite way to make this ice cream is with an ice cream maker (this is the one we have and love), but we do provide instructions on how to make this without one, either by doing a little hand churning or even as a no churn ice cream!
Churned vs. No Churn Ice Cream
Churned Ice Cream – The traditional way to make ice cream is by using milk, cream, sugar, and eggs, and then mixing and freezing. The eggs (used to create a custard base) and churning the ice cream is key to creating the silky, luscious, and rich texture and flavor. By churning the homemade ice cream, you’re preventing ice crystals from forming, and also incorporating air which will create that smooth, creamy texture. No ice cream maker? No problem – you can still make your own churned ice cream, with just a little more time and attention.
No-Churn Ice Cream – This is a ton easier to make and less technical, but will still produce a creamy, delicious ice cream. In the absence of custard and the churning, you’ll instead use sweetened condensed milk and whip the heavy cream to create that creamy texture.
We’ve made this ice cream both ways, and trust me, both homemade ice creams are delicious and both make an amazing Homemade Cherry Garcia, however, if you have an ice cream maker and the time, there’s truly nothing like a traditional churned, custard-based ice cream.
Ingredients Needed
For the Traditional Churned Ice Cream
- Cherries – While it’s cherry season this is the absolute perfect way to highlight them! But don’t worry, you can get your off season fix by making this with frozen cherries, too!
- Chocolate – Chips, chunks, dark, milk, or semi-sweet, use whatever you have/like!
- Heavy Whipping Cream, Whole Milk, and Sugar – Homemade Ice Cream staples
- Egg Yolks – For the custard. But don’t throw out those whites – make yourself some meringue cookies!
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon Juice – For added acidity to your cherries while they cook down.
For the No Churn Ice Cream, just swap the whole milk and egg yolks for sweetened condensed milk.
How to Make a Churned Ice Cream
1. Make a custard base
What sets a no churn and a churned ice cream apart is the custard base. This is the base of not only this ice cream but truly any that you can imagine. In my opinion (and after making both), the custard base has a much richer, truer ice CREAM flavor.
To create the custard, you will:
- Heat milk
- Whisk egg yolks with sugar
- Add milk
- Return to heat until thickened
- Cool the custard
This is undoubtedly the most technical, hardest, and downright nerve-wracking part of the process. Things can go sideways a few ways here – you could burn your milk, your could scramble your eggs, or your custard could be lumpy. So here are our tips to getting that custard right:
- Heat your milk slooowwlly, stir it often, and use an instant read thermometer to know when it’s reached the right temp.
- Add that milk even slower to the eggs and whisk constantly, to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
- Don’t worry if some lumps form, just keep whisking!
2. Prepare the Cherries
When we say Cherry Garcia, we mean cherrrrrrryy.
To get the ultimate cherry for the Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream, we add cooked cherries, cherry syrup, and chopped fresh cherries!
- Macerate the cherries.
- Add lemon juice and then cook cherries
- Separate the syrup from the cooked cherries
3. Bring it all Together
Now it’s time to add it all to the ice cream machine!
- Add the heavy cream, cherry sauce, vanilla extract, and just a pinch of salt to the custard.
- Mix well and add to your chilled ice cream machine bowl.
- Set the bowl in the machine and let it churn until it’s the consistency of soft serve.
Note: This is also (minus the cherry sauce) the base to any ice cream you want! Just mix that custard and heavy whipping cream and vanilla to create your base and then finish it with whatever you want to create endless possibilities of homemade ice cream!
4. Add the Finishing Touches
This is when you add the cherry and chocolate to the Cherry Garcia!
Churn a bit more and then transfer, cover, and add to the freezer to set!
Until you’re ready to scoop into your favorite cone! I mean is there any cone better than a waffle cone?
How to Make it No Churn
No time for all of that? No problem, you can also make this delicious Homemade Cherry Garcia with much less work!
- Prepare the cherries / sauce.
- Whip heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form.
- Fold in sweetened condensed milk and cherry sauce.
- Fold in the rest of the cooked cherries, whole cherries, and chocolate chips.
- Add to a loaf pan to freeze.
- Done!
Easier and still delicious!
My girls are obsessed – with both versions!
While the churned ice cream maker version definitely had a richer flavor (from the custard), the no-churn also had a sweeter, slightly different texture (from the sweetened condensed milk).
Whatever version you make, you will not regret it! Serve it on cones, serve it in bowls, add it to milkshakes, or just do it like Ben and Jerry’s is meant to be eaten – out of the container with a spoon. If you’re looking for another sweet cherry treat, be sure to give our Easy Cherry Sorbet a try, too!
FAQs
It depends on how bad it is. If it’s a whole bowl full, you’ll need to start over. If it is just a few bits, no problem. Just strain those out before you chill the custard.
Just keep whisking – vigorously! Or use a blender – here are some great tips.
Yes! See recipe notes.
You can, whole milk will just provide a richer flavor. 2% milk also runs a higher risk of crystallization when freezing.
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream
Equipment
- or Stand Mixer / Hand Mixer and Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs cherries
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Add the churn of ice cream maker to the freezer to chill.
Prep Cherries
- Pit your cherries. Divide 1 lb and 1/2 lb.
- Add 1 lb of pitted cherries to a small sauce pan and add 1/4 cup of the sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes to macerate (or release it's liquids).
- 1/2 lb of cherries, roughly chop and set aside.
Create the Custard Base
- Prepare a custard ice bath by adding ice to a large bowl with a medium sized bowl placed on the ice. Set aside.
- Add milk to a 3 quart pot and heat on medium low, stirring reguarily to prevent scorching.
- Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks with 1 cup sugar.
- When milk is heated to 195° F, slowly add it to the whisked eggs and sugar.
- Transfer this mixture back to the pan and continue to cook over a medium heat and whisk constantly until it is thickened. If it gets lumpy, just keep whisking. If you don't whisk constantly you may scramble your eggs.
- Strain custard into the medium sized bowl in the ice bath. Cover with plastic and cool in fridge for 2 hrs.
Create Cherry Sauce
- After 30 minutes, add lemon juice to cherries and cook pan over medium heat, until a syrup begins to form from the cherry juice. Approximately 30 minutes.
- Pour cherries into a sieve over a bowl to separate cooked cherries from cherry sauce and set both aside.
Create Ice Cream
- Once custard has cooled, add heavy whipping cream, cherry sauce, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt to it. Whisk well until it's all incorporated and a smooth consistency.
- Add to chilled ice cream churn and set the machine to churn for 20 minutes until it has a soft serve consistency.
- Add chopped cherries, cooked cherries, and chocolate chips to churn. Return to ice cream maker and churn for another 15 minutes.
- Transfer to a freezer safe bowl or container, cover with plastic wrap, and add to freezer to freeze for 3-4 hours.
- Enjoy!
what did I do wrong?? recipe fail. everything was cold, and it just didn’t freeze. too much cherry juice? that’s the only not specific measurement. and the added salt was tiny. next question…. what do I do with cherry custard cream? any salvage recipes for that?
Hi Lisa! I’m so surprised it didn’t freeze – how long was it in the freezer for? Dependent upon your freezer, you may need to freeze for longer, like overnight.
About how much cherry sauce is created? I have cherry syrup left from candying sour cherries that I was hoping to use to flavor icecream.
Hands down the best homemade ice cream base recipe I have tried! It’s so creamy and is maintains the perfect consistency even after freezing. The cherries weren’t frozen either, and I like the texture of the shaved dark chocolate. Fantastic!
Keaton! Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 😀
We have a batch chilling and we`ll be churning it later today. We have our fingers crossed. My fresh cherries didn`t cook out but MAYBE one forth of a cup of syrup, does that sound about right??
Made this twice. Oh so yummy!
A couple of suggested modifications:
Only use 1/2 the cooked cherries
Use Almond extract instead of vanilla extract
This ice cream was amazing! My only issue was I had too many cherries. I think about 3 cups would do it; 2 cups cooked and maybe 1 cup fresh chopped cherries. My 2 quart CUISINART ice cream maker was about run over. I used a chopped up dark chocolate bar. Turned out perfect. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! Will definitely make again!
Thanks so much for sharing, Debra!
Loved this recipe! I used it as a layer in an ice cream cake for my wife’s birthday and the strong cherry flavor and color were a hit.
Oh I love to hear that, Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing, and what a lucky wife!!
Too much sugar, liquid and fruit. I have always successfully substituted whole/2% milk on ice cream recipes but it didn’t work here. Churned for 45-50 minutes then had to pour sloppy mix into freezer container. Tasted delicious but I would recommend cutting back sugar as it was overly sweet for me. I plan to make adjustments and hope to yield better results.
Hi Denise, what did you sub the milk for? We recommend following the recipe without any subs (except for fruit / chocolate) to ensure the right results.
Very good recipe. I think it is a mistake to use chocolate chips. They taste waxy in the ice cream. Better to melt the chips, add a bit of warm water and spread on wax paper. You can chop up the chocolate and add to the ice cream maker when it is set. The chocolate melts faster when it is in your mouth, avoiding the waxy taste.
Came out perfect my family loved it so cherry delicious better than store-bought ice cream
So wonderful the hear, Christine! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
Hi! I’m excited to make this tonight. How much is one serving size in your recipe? I’m planning on making this in a six quart old fashioned ice cream maker and trying to figure out how much to make. Thanks!
Hello! We made this recipe in a 2 qt machine, so you could totally double it to fit into your larger 6 qt. machine. Enjoy – let me know what you think!