This homemade Blueberry Pie Ice Cream is a delicious French style vanilla based ice cream swirled with blueberry pie filling, and crispy, buttery, pieces of pie crust throughout. It’s like a slice of blueberry pie wrapped up in a creamy scoop of ice cream.
This ice cream has three delicious components. First you’ll need the rich custard based homemade vanilla ice cream. Then you’ll swirl it with blueberry pie filling, and actually baked pie crust pieces.
It’s the perfect homemade ice cream flavor to enjoy all summer long, because it’s like you’re eating a fresh slice of blueberry pie served al a mode with vanilla ice cream on top.
It’s such a rich and creamy ice cream, that I know looks a bit complicated, and time consuming. But it’s not actually difficult (especially if you’ve made homemade custard before) but I also promise even if you haven’t, I’ll walk you through every single step to make this delicious ice cream recipe, easy, and totally doable for you!
Here’s why you’ll love this ice cream:
- It’s literally the richest and creamiest ice cream ever!
- Swirled the best juicy blueberry pie filling swirl throughout.
- Tastes just like a slice of blueberry pie with ice cream on top!
- Made with all natural ingredients.
Ingredients Needed:
This is a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this Blueberry Pie Ice Cream recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.
- heavy cream – you can use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream for this recipe, this keeps the ice cream super rich and creamy with the right amount of fat content.
- whole milk – this gives the ice cream the best fat levels for the best creamy ice cream.
- granulated sugar – this sweetens the ice cream base, and the blueberry sauce.
- egg yolks – help to make this custard based ice cream extra rich and creamy.
- vanilla extract – helps add a little flavor to the ice cream base.
- salt – just a little to balance the flavor.
- blueberries – fresh blueberries, or frozen blueberries work to make this homemade blueberry pie filling, perfect for swirling throughout the ice cream
- lemon juice – adds just a little liquid and tartness to the blueberry sauce.
- cornstarch – helps thicken the blueberry sauce
- pie crust dough – you can use a homemade pie crust, or store bought. You only need about half of a single crust, but I like baking up more and saving it to sprinkle on top of the bowls of ice cream.
How to make Blueberry Pie Ice Cream?
- Add the milk, and half of the cream to a pot and heat it over medium heat just until the edges start to bubble.
- While that’s heating add the eggs to a large bowl with the sugar. Whisk them together for a couple minutes until the eggs start to lighten in color. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks and whisk them together until combined. Then whisk in another 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture.
- Pour the mixture back into the pan and let it continue to heat for a couple more minutes until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
- Pour the mixture through a strainer into another bowl to strain out any egg chunks. Stir in the remaining heavy cream, vanilla extract and salt.
- Place the bowl over another bowl full of ice to let it start to chill for about 10 minutes. Stir it occasionally while it starts to cool down. Then cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to chill for another 2 hours.
- Now it’s time to make the blueberry pie filling swirl. Whisk together the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Set it aside. Combine blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a small sauce pan and heat them together over low heat until the berries burst. Press them against the bottom and side of the pan as they cook.
- Then stir in the cornstarch slurry. Continue to cook the berries for a few minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove the berry sauce from the heat and transfer it to another bowl to help it cool down. You can push the sauce through a strainer first to remove any skin pieces. Cover the sauce and let it chill in the fridge.
- Spread out strips of the pie crust onto a cookie sheet and bake them until they’re nice and golden, then let them cool completely.
- Pour the custard into a prepared ice cream maker and let it run until it’s thick, like a soft serve ice cream.
- Scoop one third of the ice cream into the bottom of a 2QT container. Then spoon some of the blueberry filling over the top, and sprinkle some of the pie crust over the top. Use a knife to lightly swirl them into the ice cream.
- Repeat with two more layers of each, the vanilla ice cream, blueberry swirl, and pie crust. Cover the container and place it in the freezer for at least 6 hours, or overnight is even better.
Tips and Tricks:
- Don’t forget to pre-freeze your ice cream machine bowl. Mine takes at least 12 hours to be frozen solid so it will churn my ice cream. Leave it in your freezer to use whenever you’re ready if you have room.
- Save some pie crust pieces in an airtight container, or zip top bag to sprinkle on top of your individual bowls of ice cream. The pieces in the ice cream will soften up a bit, so I really like the crispiness of adding more pieces at the end.
- Instead of pie crust pieces, try adding a homemade crumble – use about 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 3 TBS melted butter mixed together. Mix it all together in a bowl. You can then bake it in the oven at 350 until golden (about 10-15 mins), or just put it into the ice cream as is. (If you’re worried about issues with the raw flour, you can pre-treat it, or bake the crumble as directed).
- You can also add a crumble of graham crackers to the ice cream instead of pie crust pieces. Use the graham cracker swirl from our strawberry cheesecake ice cream.
Can you make this without the eggs?
It’s actually super easy to convert a custard based ice cream recipe to be no cook, and egg free. (At least for all our custard bases). You will just leave the eggs out and make a Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream base by combining the heavy cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Then pour it into the ice cream maker and continue as directed.
Can you make this ice cream without an ice cream maker?
There are a couple ways you can make a similar blueberry pie ice cream without an ice cream maker. While, of course, I think the recipe as called for is the best way to have it – you can also use a vanilla ice cream base that doesn’t need an ice cream maker.
You can buy a cartoon of vanilla ice cream from the store, and let it set at room temperature to soften for a bit, then stir in the blueberry filling and pie crust pieces. Refreeze the ice cream after mixing it to get a firm scoopable consistency.
Or you can make a homemade no churn vanilla ice cream with sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream, and layer in the blueberries and pie pieces before freezing the ice cream.
How to store ice cream?
Store the blueberry pie ice cream in an 2 Quart airtight container with a lid, or wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and then foil for up to 3 weeks. I usually use a 9×5 bread pan, or I love these ice cream containers as well.
This blueberry pie ice cream has the most delicious vanilla ice cream base swirled with blueberry pie filling, and buttery pie pieces. It’s a must make for blueberry lovers, and blueberry pie lovers and is the perfect ice cream to enjoy all summer long.
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Blueberry Pie Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Custard Base:
- 3 cups heavy cream (divided)
- 1.5 cup whole milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 1.25 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
- 1 dash salt
For the Blueberry Swirl:
- 1 TBS water
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1.5 cups blueberries
- 3 TBS granulated sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
For the Pie Crust:
- 1/2 pie crust
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
For the Vanilla Custard Base:
- Add 1 cup of the cream, and the milk to a medium sauce pan, and heat it over medium until the edges start to bubble.
- While the milk is heating, add the egg yolks and sugar to a large bowl and whisk them together for a couple of minutes until the color lightens up.
- Remove the milk from the heat, and slowly pour 1/2 cup of the warm mixture into the egg yolks, while whisking them together.
- Then add another 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the eggs and whisk it together.
- Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and let it continue to cook over medium heat, for a couple of minutes, until the mixture starts to thicken enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
- Pour the custard mixture through a strainer into another large bowl.
- Add in the remaining 2 cups of cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Add ice to another large bowl, and place the custard mix bowl over the ice bath. Let it sit to cool down slightly for about 10 minutes, while you stir it occasionally.
- Cover the custard mix bowl and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hours to chill.
For the Blueberry Swirl:
- Add the cornstarch and water to a small bowl and whisk them together.
- In a small sauce pan, add the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice over medium low heat. Stir very often until the blueberries burst.
- Once the berries have released their liquid, add in the cornstarch slurry.
- Continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to another bowl. Cover and place it in the fridge until chilled. (Push through a strainer before putting it into the new bowl if desired to remove blueberry skins)
For the Pie Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll out a pie crust onto a lightly floured container and cut it into 1 inch strips.
- Place those pie strips onto the prepared baking pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the crust pieces are golden. Let them cool completely.
- Break into bite sized pieces.
For the Ice Cream:
- Pour the custard mix into a prepared 2QT (or bigger) ice cream maker and run it for about 25 to 30 minutes, according to manufactures directions, until it is like a soft serve consistency.
- Scoop about 1/3 of the ice cream into a 3 QT container.
- Spoon about 1/3 of the blueberry filling over the top of the ice cream.
- Sprinkle about 1/3 of the pie crust pieces over the top.
- Lightly swirl them into the ice cream.
- Repeat with another layer of ice cream, blueberry, pie crust. Then the final layer of ice cream, blueberry, and pie crust.
- Cover the container and place it in the freezer for at least 6 hours, or until frozen solid enough to scoop.
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