Cheesecake Ice Cream is, rich, creamy, and tangy, just like your favorite cheesecake. And of course it is chock full of pieces of graham crackers for the true cheesecake experience. An extra decadent homemade ice cream!
This version has a bit of lemon zest, which gives it an amazing fresh flavor. It’s not enough to make it overwhelmingly lemon, it just makes it taste extra special.
CHEESECAKE + ICE CREAM = HEAVEN!
Ice cream and cheesecake are two of my favorite desserts, so naturally I love it when they can be combined into one treat!
I’ve made blueberry cheesecake ice cream, and strawberry cheesecake ice cream, but I wanted to try one that tasted like straight up cheesecake. This is it!
It tastes absolutely amazing on its own, but of course it would also be tasty topped with any fresh fruit or pie filling. A perfect ice cream flavor for cheesecake fans like me. 🙂
What does cheesecake ice cream taste like?
This cheesecake ice cream is rich and creamy with a nice tangy cheesecake flavor. Rather than vanilla ice cream with chunks of cheesecake, the base is actually made with cream cheese, so every bite tastes like cheesecake, just in creamy frozen form!
How do you make homemade ice cream creamy and not icy?
Fat is what makes ice cream nice and smooth. Using cream instead of lower fat milk or other milk substitutes results in ice cream with ice crystals, because they have a higher water content.
Using eggs is another way to ensure that your ice cream is extra thick and creamy. This homemade cheesecake ice cream has fat from both cream and cream cheese, and also eggs, so it is extra creamy and luscious!
To skip my tips and tricks and just get to the printable recipe card, simply scroll to the bottom of the post.
HOW TO MAKE CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM
INGREDIENTS NEEDED:
- heavy cream – This makes your ice cream incredibly rich and creamy.
- granulated sugar – Adds a perfect amount of sweetness.
- eggs – I use large eggs.
- light cream cheese – You can substitute full fat cream cheese if you prefer, or even fat free.
- lemon juice – Adds that extra tang that makes this cheesecake flavored ice cream extra delicious. I use fresh lemon juice, but bottled should work if that’s all you have.
- lemon zest – A bit of fresh lemon zest adds a fresh flavor to the ice cream without making it taste “lemony”. This ingredient is optional.
- vanilla extract – A good quality vanilla does make a difference in this ice cream.
- graham crackers – You can’t have homemade cheesecake without chunks of graham crackers!
DIRECTIONS:
- TEMPER THE EGGS: Whisk together just 1 1/2 cups of the cream, the sugar, and the eggs together in a heavy saucepan. Bring to barely a simmer over medium low heat; remove from heat. Don’t try to rush the process by cooking too fast. High heat will scramble your eggs!
- STRAIN: Pour the egg mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any lumps. This step is optional but recommended.
- BLEND: In a large bowl (preferably with a lid), beat the cream cheese till soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the hot cream mixture.
- CHILL: Cover and chill for 4-5 hours, or overnight. You can speed up the process by placing your bowl or pan in a sink full of ice water for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. This step makes your ice cream freeze faster in the ice cream maker.
- FINISH: To the cold mixture, add the remaining 1 cup of cream, zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- FREEZE: Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Pour the ice cream into a freezer safe container and stir in the broken graham crackers. At this point you will have soft serve ice cream. Feel free to eat it immediately, or continue to step 7 for harder ice cream.
- RIPEN: Scoop into a freezer safe container and freeze for 3-4 hours, or until firm enough to scoop.
LOVE CREAM CHEESE? TRY THESE RECIPES:
- Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle
- Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese
- Turtle Cheesecake
MORE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM:
- Peppermint Ice Cream
- Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- White Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream
- Strawberry Ice Cream
- Butterfinger Ice Cream
- French Vanilla Ice Cream
Cheesecake Ice Cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups heavy cream divided
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 12 oz light cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ½ tsp fresh lemon zest optional
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 graham crackers coarsely crushed
Instructions
- Whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the cream, the sugar, and the eggs together in a heavy saucepan. Bring to barely a simmer over medium low heat; remove from heat.
- If desired, pour the egg mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove any lumps.
- In a large bowl (preferably with a lid), beat cream cheese till soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the hot cream mixture.
- Cover and chill for 4-5 hours, or overnight.
- To the cold mixture, add the remaining 1 cup of cream, zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Pour the ice cream into a freezer safe container and stir in the broken graham crackers. Freeze for 3-4 hours, or until scoopable.
Nutrition
Love cheesecake and ice cream? Now you don’t have to choose between them. With this cream cheese ice cream, you get the best of both worlds!
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Rating 5 starts, but to be fair, I changed the recipe quite a bit because I used it as a base for a different flavor: Carrot Cake ice cream!
Instead of cream, I used half yogurt (goat yogurt, to be specific) and half almond milk to keep it the right texture- the yogurt also adds a little more tang. I also added ground a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half teaspoon of cardamom, coriander, and ginger each at the same time as the lemon and vanilla to get the right flavor. The only other change I made to the base is I used slightly less sugar (maybe 1 cup to 1 and 1/4 cups).
Now, for the carrot aspect: I grated 2 large carrots (medium-sized grate), and added it to a saucepan with about a half a cup (or as much as it takes to cover the carrots) of Trader Joe’s carrot juice- which I liked especially for this concept because it has turmeric and black pepper in it, which adds more of that warm carrot cake flavor to cold ice cream. I also added about a tablespoon of sugar and let it simmer until the juice became a syrup. I did this step before making the ice cream and also chilled it overnight. I added it in at about the last 2-5 minutes as the ice cream churned.
I was a little worried I was about to commit a culinary crime, but it turned out excellent! I make experimental ice cream flavors as a hobby, and when I brought this to a warm Thanksgiving day, people said it was the best ice cream I had made yet!
Thanks for sharing your adaptations! Your carrot cake ice cream sounds simply amazing! 🙂
this ice cream has great potential but it is absolutely sickenly sweet. I took two bites and got a sore throat. good flavor. will make again and try to do half the sugar.
We like our ice cream on the sweet side, sorry it was too sweet for you. Definitely try it with less sugar and see how you like it!
Do I need to separate the egg yolk from the egg whites?
No, for this recipe I use the whole egg. If you prefer, you can use 4 egg yolks instead.
How many quarts does this recipe make?
It makes about 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream, but it depends on how much air your ice cream maker incorporates into the ice cream as it churns.
Hi,
I do have an ice cream maker. At what point do I pour the ingredients to churn?
In step #6, after you have added the last cup of cream, lemon, zest, and vanilla.
Can you add the sugar last with the remainder of cream or does it need to be cooked with the cream and egg?
I like to cook it with the cream and egg. Not only does it ensure that there won’t be any sugar crystals, the sugar crystals make the yolks whisk up smoother. When I tried cooking just the cream and eggs for a similar recipe, I had more troubles with the egg/cream mixture being lumpy.
Do I have to use an ice cream maker machine?
Since the cream is cooked with the egg, you can’t beat it like you can for most no churn ice cream. So I don’t think this recipe would work well without an ice cream maker. If you used a pasteurized egg mix (or aren’t worried about raw egg consumption), you could just beat all of the whipped cream. Then you could just pour it into a container and freeze it.
I’m excited to make this as a substitute to Blue bunny cherrific cheesecake – icecream, which is my boyfriend’s favorite. Unfortunately we don’t have a store that sells them. To add cherry, I was planning on adding liquid cherry swirl at the end with graham crackers before I freeze it. Is that what you would recommend?
I’ve never seen that flavor at my store either, but it sounds amazing! And yes, I would add the swirl with the graham crackers. I bet it will be delicious!
Hello! I’m in the process of making this right now, so far so good! I was wondering though why we have to chill it in the fridge overnight, and then add the lemon and additional cream. Why do we break it up that way? Thank you!
Sometimes adding lemon juice to warm milk or cream can curdle it, so I like to stay on the safe side and add it after the mixture has cooled. But you could add the cold cream first, then stir in the lemon juice and zest and chill everything together.
Hey this looks great! I wanted to know the quantity of ice cream you get from this recipe. I need to make a gallon. Thank you!
If you need a gallon, I’d double it.
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Sorry that you had a bad experience. Unfortunately ads are the only way that website owners can provide free content. Some like to use pop up ads, but I hate those, so I have more ads within my content. My site was actually loading slower than usual because my image optimization tool was malfunctioning but I wasn’t aware of it. Hopefully it’s better now.
I am in love with this ice cream! It tastes so rich and decadent, such a great treat!
So happy to hear that you loved it as much as I did! 🙂
This homemade cheesecake ice cream recipe is truly AMAZING! I never knew how easy it is to make homemade ice cream. So rich, creamy, and sweet!
Once you figure out how easy it is to make ice cream at home, it’s hard to stop! haha
Happy to hear you tried something new and loved it. 🙂