Lychee Ice Cream

Lychee is a tropical fruit and it is always a delight when I find some fresh lychees in grocery stores or Costco. I made this delicious lychee ice cream at home in my ice cream maker.

I have used the Cuisinart ICE 100 ice cream maker to make this lychee ice cream but other ice cream makers will work well too. It has a smooth and creamy texture.

Ingredients

Lychee ice cream requires very few basic ingredients. This is a 5 ingredient recipe using the white portion of fresh lychees. Whole milk, sugar, and heavy whipping cream are the main ingredients to make creamy ice cream. The best part of making ice cream at home is you have control over the quality of ingredients.

Instructions

Making lychee ice cream from scratch at home is very easy, especially with an ice cream maker. Depending on your ice cream maker, you may have to prep the freezer bowl by placing it in the freezer for about 24 hours.

To make lychee ice cream from scratch, peel the lychees and discard the skin. Using a small knife cut through the white part and remove the seed. Be careful during this step so that the lychee chunks still have all the juice. Blend the white lychee pieces, milk, pinch of salt, and sugar well until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

Now add in the heavy cream and gently mix it with a spatula, there is no need to blend the cream in the blender as the ice cream mixture will be churned in the ice cream maker. Optionally, chill the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Churn the mix in the ice cream machine for about 25-30 minutes until the lychee ice cream has a soft-serve consistency. Freeze it in a freezer-safe air-tight container for about 5-6 hours before serving.

Substitutions

Low-fat milk - If you are running out of whole milk or want to make ice cream with low-fat milk, you can easily substitute it for whole milk. the difference will be that the ice cream will not be as creamy and may take longer to churn.

Storage

Homemade ice cream stays best for about two weeks in the freezer. It can be stored longer up to a month however, you will see some icy crystals on top of the ice cream. But you can still enjoy it by scooping out the ice crystals.

Serving suggestions

Lychee ice cream is creamy and delicious, with a sweet and slightly tart flavor. It also has a sweet aroma. You can server it in ice cream cones or waffle cups. One of our family favorites is to make the banana split sundae.

Equipment

I have used the Cuisinart ICE 100 compressor ice cream maker. However, any other ice cream maker will work fine. If you have a larger capacity ice cream maker using a freezer bowl or the salt and ice type, you can scale the recipe to adapt to your ice cream maker.

I love the compressor ice cream maker because there is no need to freeze the bowl and I can make batch after batch of ice creams in one day. Check out these ice cream maker recipes.

If you are looking to buy an ice cream maker for your family then check out this post on which ice cream maker to buy.

Top tip

• If you are using a compressor machine, precooling the ice cream bowl for 5-10 minutes helps reduce the overall churning time.
• If you make batch after batch of ice creams in a compressor ice cream maker, after rinsing the bowl with water, pat dry it well. This prevents ice from forming on the outside of the bowl while churning which can make it difficult to remove from the machine.

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📖 Recipe