Baileys Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

Whether you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day or simply love a boozy dessert, this homemade Baileys ice cream is your perfect treat. With its ultra creamy, velvety texture and loads of sweet Baileys flavor with just the right touch of vanilla, every bite of this luscious Irish cream ice cream is pure decadence.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Boozy dessert goodness for Baileys lovers: Does any one phrase make your ears perk up like boozy dessert? Call us a dessert-loving lush, but when I hear those two magical words together, I'm the first to line up for a helping. Since you're here, I have a feeling you're the same way — get ready for ice cream bliss.

The most luscious, rich ice cream: Any kind of spirit lowers the freezing point of ice cream, which makes for a smoother texture because the ice cream doesn't freeze quite as hard. Don't be surprised if you start adding spirits to more ice creams. And make sure you also check out my bourbon-pumpkin ice cream or amaretto ice cream once you fall in love with that extra creamy texture.

Perfect for so many occasions: With that big dose of Irish cream, this ice cream is perfect for St. Patrick's Day, but it's also a reader favorite during Christmas. And, of course, it's always popular during those sweltering summer months. This is one recipe you'll turn to over and over again.

Ingredients and Equipment

Let's make sure we're organized. Here's everything we need to make this homemade ice cream.

Baileys Irish Cream: Baileys is the most popular brand name for Irish cream, but you can also use an Irish cream from another distillery. You can also make your own homemade Irish cream liqueur.

Whole milk: For the richest flavor, we want to use whole milk, not a lesser-fat variety. That fat content is important to creating the perfect base.

Heavy cream: Like the whole milk, we want full-fat heavy cream instead of half and half. You might also see this called heavy whipping cream.

Sugar: To really allow the Baileys flavor to shiner, we use white granulated sugar rather than brown sugar, which has added molasses.

Egg yolks: Since this is a traditional churn ice cream recipe, we use egg yolks. No need for the egg whites here, so you can save those for another use.

Vanilla extract: Baileys has a prominent vanilla flavor, and this helps enhance that sweet touch.

Ice cream maker: This is not a no-churn ice cream. I'm partial to my Cuisinart ice cream machine, but you're welcome to use another brand.

Step-by-Step Instructions

If you’re venturing into the homemade ice cream territory for the first time, it may seem intimidating, but I promise it’s super simple. Let's walk through the process, shall we?

Step 1: We start out by cooking heavy cream, whole milk and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, and the milk mixture comes to just a simmer (photo 1).

Step 2: From here, we whisk lots of rich yolks with vanilla extract until the eggs begin to lighten (photo 2). About three minutes of whisking by hand is my rule of thumb when I make ice cream.

Step 3: With the yolks ready, we scoop in about half a cup or so of our warm cream mixture and give it a whisk (photo 3). We repeat this a few more times. This gently cooks the eggs, so we don’t get scrambled egg ice cream.

Step 4: We put everything back on the stove and cook until the hot cream mixture thickens enough to cover the back of a spoon (photo 4). I find this takes anywhere from about six to 10 minutes.

Step 5: And just like that, our ice cream base is now ready, so we pour it into a mixing bowl and place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface like so to prevent a film from forming on our custard (photo 5). We pop the custard into the refrigerator to chill and then churn.

Chilling the custard is crucial to ensuring it properly churns, so never skip this step. I recommend chilling overnight.

We pop the custard into the refrigerator to chill and then churn. Chilling the custard is crucial to ensuring it properly churns, so never skip this step. I recommend chilling overnight.

Step 6: When the custard is nice and chilled, we pour it into our ice cream maker and churn. Toward the end of churning — and only then — we add the Baileys (photo 6).

Step 7: At this point, we spoon the ice cream mixture into an airtight container and freeze the mixture (photo 7). The ice cream will be a soft-serve consistency immediately after churning, but it will firm up after freezing.

In just a few hours, we get to dig in to the creamiest, dreamiest homemade ice cream. You will fall in love with every spoonful.

Related: For more St. Patrick's Day desserts, you'll also love my Baileys mousse and Irish whiskey chocolate cake.

How to Serve and Topping Ideas

Of course, this ice cream is plenty delicious on its own in a serving bowl. Scoop it up, add a spoon, and everyone will be perfectly happy.

• Chocolate sauce or hot fudge
• Sprinkles
• Grated dark chocolate
• Chopped Baileys truffles
• Whipped cream
• Toasted nuts

That said, I plead with you to please serve this ice cream with my fudgy stout brownies and bourbon caramel sauceif you're looking for the best dessert of your life. Every St. Patrick's Day, that's exactly how I serve this ice cream, and everyone goes nuts. The sweet Baileys, explosion of chocolate and rich caramel sauce were made for each other.

Brownie sundaes are dessert perfection, but a boozy brownie sundae? It's almost too much goodness in one dessert. Almost.

How to Store and Prevent Freezer Burn

You should always store your ice cream in an airtight container. Air is the enemy of ice cream. If air gets to the ice cream, it will form ice crystals, which throws off that ultra smooth texture.

I simply use a heavy-duty,freezer-safe plastic container with a sealable lid. That keeps the ice cream nice and protected. With proper storage, the ice cream should stay fresh for two weeks, assuming it even lasts that long.

Recipe FAQs

Variations and Substitutions

I find this ice cream perfect as is, but if you'd like to put your own touch on it, here are some alternative ideas.

• Use another spirit or liqueur, such as dark rum, Irish whiskey or hazelnut liqueur — feel free to experiment.
• Add chocolate chips with the Baileys during the churning process.
• Give it a caffeinated boost with some espresso powder or instant coffee granules when heating the milk and cream.
• Whisk in ½ cup cocoa powder during the first step to make it a chocolate ice cream.
• Swap brown sugar for the white sugar.

Expert Tips

Don't let the milk mixture boil: As soon as it simmers, we want to turn off the heat. Boiling can cause the milk to separate, so we want to make sure it doesn't get hotter than simmering.

Wait until the very end of churning to add the Baileys: The alcohol can interfere with the churning process if it’s added too soon, so we save this step to the last minute.

Plan ahead: Making ice cream calls doesn't necessarily take up a lot of hands-on time, but we need to freeze our ice cream maker bowl, chill the custard and freeze after churning. This isn't a dessert you can make at the last minute.

Perfect Pairing

Big fan of Baileys, eh? You’ll love this ice cream with my Baileys Irish coffee martini. Or if you’d rather skip the double dose of Baileys, give it a try with this simple but delicious Irish whiskey smash. Obviously, Irish whiskey and Baileys go together beautifully in co*cktails, and the same concept applies here.

Whether you're gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day or simply love a boozy ice cream, I hope you try this homemade Baileys ice cream. This perfectly creamy ice cream is always a crowd favorite, no matter the occasion.

Cheers!

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