How to make Peanut Butter Ice Cream?
In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, sugar, heavy cream, milk, vanilla, and salt. Whisk it together for a couple minutes to help the sugar dissolve a bit.
Start the ice cream mixer churning (ps don’t forget to freeze the bowl the night before) and pour in the ice cream, if some of the sugar is still stuck at the bottom of bowl, make sure to scoop it out with a rubber spatula, it will still mix in.
When the ice cream looks nice and thick, after about 25 to 30 minutes (according to your ice cream maker’s instructions), you can add in the chopped up peanut butter cups. (You can also sprinkle them in later, either way). And let it run for another 3 to 5 minutes, until they are mixed throughout the ice cream.
Melt the peanut butter in a small bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds, to get it creamy and runny so it’s easier to pour.
Scoop about 1/4 of the ice cream into a 2 quart pan (a 9×5 bread pan works great) then add some of the peanut butter, swirl it with a knife. (If you didnt add the peanut butter cups to the ice cream maker, sprinkle some in now). Then add another 1/4 of the ice cream, and repeat till you get to the top, and use all the ice cream and all the peanut butter.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap, or foil and place it in the freezer to freeze and get more solid for at least 6 hours (but honestly I like leaving it over night so it gets nice and hard like ice cream you’d get from the store.)
Scoop your ice cream up and enjoy when you’re ready to serve it.
Tips For Making Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream:
- Don’t forget to put your ice cream maker freezer bowl into the freezer at least 12 to 24 hours before you want to make your ice cream. I have an extra freezer so I just leave mine in the freezer so I can make ice cream anytime I want.
- Instead of heavy cream you can substitute half and half in this ice cream recipe to make it lower in fat and calories, though of course that will make the ice cream a little bit less creamy too.
- If you don’t want the chocolate chunks of the reeses cups you can leave those out. You could also add a variety of other candy bar pieces instead. (Some yummy choices would be chopped up snickers, reeses pieces, etc.)
- Store any leftover ice cream covered with plastic wrap, and foil in the freezer (or a container with a lid) for up to 2 weeks.
Can you make Peanut Butter Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Maker?
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make homemade ice cream in a bag instead. You’ll need a few gallon sized freezer safe ziptop bags, lots of ice, and some coarse salt.
Pour some of the liquid ice cream mixture into one of the bags, only about half way full, and squeeze out the extra air. Place that bag into a second bag to keep it sealed extra safe. Then put those bags into another bag and fill that bag with ice and 1/2 cup of coarse salt.
Shake, and massage the bag for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture starts to thicken. Add more ice and salt as needed. The ice cream will be a very soft serve at this point, to get the peanut butter swirls, and add the peanut butter cups like this recipe has, scoop the ice cream into a 2 quart sized container, and sprinkle chopped up peanut butter cups throughout. Add dollops of melted peanut butter, and swirl them through with a knife. Cover the pan, and place it in the freezer for at least 6 hours, up to overnight (I recommend overnight) to let the ice cream harden, and make it turn more into scoopable ice cream.
This peanut butter ice cream is the best peanut butter ice cream, and perfect for peanut butter lovers. Loaded with peanut butter swirls, and peanut butter cups, it’s a peanut butter lovers dream.
It’s the perfect treat for a nice warm day!
More ice cream recipes?
- No Churn Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
- Strawberry Ice Cream
- Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
- No Churn Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Vanilla Ice Cream
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Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Mix Ins:
- 1 cup chopped peanut butter cups
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Add the peanut butter, sugar, milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt to a large bowl, and stir them together for a few minutes, to help the sugar dissolve a bit.
- Pour the mixture into the 2 Qt ice cream maker and allow to run for 25 to 30 minutes, according to the directions of your machine.
- Add the chopped up peanut butter cups into the ice cream maker, and let it continue to run for another 3 to 5 minutes, until they are mixed throughout.
- Add the peanut butter to a small microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 30 seconds.
- Scoop about 1/4 of the ice cream into a 2Qt pan, and drizzle about 1/4 of the peanut butter over the top. Swirl it in with a knife. Repeat with more ice cream, more peanut butter, more ice cream, more peanut butter, more ice cream.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil, and place the pan in the freezer for at least 6 hours, up to overnight.
Nutrition
This peanut butter ice cream was first posted on October 27, 2011. The photos and text were updated for clarity on May 12, 2021.
Linda says
I recently purchased my ice cream maker and went online to search for some worthy recipes. This turned out great and the texture and flavor is absolutely awesome!! I was looking for something that would leave a creamy feel on the tongue and this recipe did not disappoint! This is a winner!! Thank you for sharing!
Kyra says
I just made this tonight and we ate it straight out of the ice cream maker with no add-ins (didn’t have pb cups). It was delicious and maybe too rich…? I could only have a few bites because it was so rich. Anyone else have this problem? I LOVE pb so I was surprised. Do the mix ins and freezing overnight help with that?
Dan says
I have a 4 quart ice cream maker. Can I just double the ingredients to make the 4 quarts?
Aimee says
I assume that should work well
Darlene says
So creamy and peanutty. Best peanut butter Ice cream recipe ever! Much better than store bought.
Madeleine says
Every single LMLD recipe I’ve ever made has been a crowd-pleasing winner and this one is the latest gift that keeps on giving. Thanks for always making me look good with your homerun desserts!
Cindy says
How to make it without ice cream machine
Aimee says
You could try our no churn peanut butter ice cream recipe instead : https://lmld.org/no-churn-peanut-butter-fudge-ice-cream/
Robin Holt says
We used ‘Biscoff Cookie Butter’ and Trader Joe’s cookie butter in this recipe. We found it helps to warm the cookie butter, milk, and cream together first to really help get them thoroughly mixed. We then let that cool in the refrigerator overnight and mix in the other ingredients. We are also using twice as much vanilla bean paste as this recipe calls for. If you have ever had the cookie butter ice cream at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas, you will find these adjustments to the recipe even better than their original
We also occasionally drizzle in some cookie butter at the end of the ice cream freezing to create a swirl and often top with another drizzle of warmed cookie butter and broken up Biscoff cookies.
Aimee says
That sounds amazing! So glad you loved it.
Lori Thompson says
This sounds delicious but in other words, you made a completely different ice cream. LOL
ST says
Look no further… this recipe is a winner! Delicious.
Aimee says
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it!
Mary Jo Looney says
Just found your peanut butter ice cream. I used Trader Joe’s mixed nut butter. It is simple to make and tastes so good!
Aimee says
Yay! I’m so glad! We have a monthly ice cream challenge going on if you happened to get a pic, email it to me at aimee@lmld.org
Ashlee @ I'm Topsy Turvy says
It sounds sooooo good! I'm featuring this ice cream this week as the treat of the week. thanks for linking up to Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
Kate says
I saw this on Savory Sunday and I cannot wait to try it…. Any tips for those of us without ice cream makers?
eula says
get a cheap ice cream maker
Little Mommy says
Oh my goodness. I saw this and am officially your newest follower. Looks insanely good!
Rolled Up Pretty says
Oh my yum, this is the best idea ever! I am dying right now, I want some NOW! Thanks for sharing and you rock for linking up to my blog! Come link something cool up again next week 🙂
Easy To Be Gluten Free says
I know I would love this! Everyone thinks I am weird because I eat peanut butter on ice cream but it is so good! And it's perfect timing for this recipe because it is National Peanut Butter month!
Aimee says
@ Lori, I changed the main text color to black. Thanks for letting me know that you had problems reading it, I had no idea. If you have any other problems or suggestions for me, please let me know 🙂
Jenn says
I LOVE peanut butter and Snickers is my favorite candy bar! So, this sounds absolutely amazing!
Lori says
I love your recipes but the yellowish green color you use to write your recipes I can't read!!! I don't know if anyone else has this problem but I always have to click and drag my mouse over the recipes to highlight them and then I am able to read them. Thanks so much for all your yummy food!!!
Silvia Orozco says
Can you use natural peanut butter?
Aimee says
I think it should work fine for this one, but I haven’t tried it
GrainCrazy says
That looks really yummy! 🙂