Salted Honey Ice Cream combines mellow sweetness with a subtle twang of salt. It can be scooped straight from the freezer and it is exceptionally creamy. This uniquely flavoured ice cream with honey & sea salt is chilly bliss.
Don’t miss my dark chocolate honey ice cream – it’s magical.
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- Taste: The honey lends a mellow sweetness to the ice cream and duets perfectly with the subtle twang of salt.
- Texture: This ice cream is incredibly soft & velvety. It’s also scoopable straight from the freezer.
- Unique: I bet you cannot find honey ice cream, let alone salted honey ice cream in the freezer aisle at your supermarket.
- Ice cream churner not essential: we provide step-by-step instructions to make this salted honey ice cream recipe either by hand or in a machine.
Salted Honey ice cream is a spin-off idea of mine from my Cinnamon Chocolate Cake with Salted Honey Buttercream as it was so well received by readers.
This honey sweetened ice cream is made using just 6 ingredients and the result is one of the creamiest, most sublime flavour combinations I’ve ever come across in ice cream form.
Ingredients notes
Honey: This is a magical ingredient in ice cream and, in this recipe, it takes the place of regular sugar completely. Honey does not fully freeze so the ice cream it creates is softer than typical ice cream.
Egg yolks: These help create a rich and thick custard base.
Milk & Cream: I use equal measures whole milk (full fat milk) and double cream (heavy cream) in this recipe for honey ice cream to ensure it is luxuriously creamy.
Sea salt (optional): Use sea salt flakes rather than salt grains.
Step by step instructions
Full instructions and measurements are given in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the ice cream base
- Put the milk and vanilla bean paste into a medium-sized pan (heavy based) over a medium heat. Heat until warm then add the honey and stir through until dissolved. Take the pan off the heat.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl for 2-3 minutes until thicker and paler.
- Pour the warm milk onto the yolks, whisking continuously. Pour the custard mix back into the pan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
- Take the pan off the heat. Grind the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine. Tip into the custard and mix well
- Pour the custard into a bowl or jug, cover with clingfilm (to stop a skin forming) and cool. Once cold, transfer to the fridge to chill overnight (or for at least 4 hours)
- When ready to churn remove the clingfilm, pour in the cream and stir until thoroughly combined. Follow the instructions below to churn your ice cream either a machine (go to step 7) or doing it by hand (go to step 9).
Churning the ice cream using a machine
- Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Serve immediately or transfer the ice cream into a freezer-proof container, cover the surface directly with greaseproof paper or foil and store in the freezer. (It should be scoopable straight from the freezer – unless your freezer is exceptionally cold).
Churning the ice cream by hand
- Pour the ice cream into a suitable freezer-proof bowl, cover and put it in the freezer for 1-1 ½ hours. The sides should be beginning to freeze, but the centre will be soft and slushy.
- Remove from the freezer and, working quickly, use electric beaters to beat the ice cream until the ice crystals are uniform. Cover and place back in the freezer.
- Repeat this process 5-7 more times at 1 hour intervals – the better the texture will be the more the process is repeated.
- Cover the ice cream with greaseproof paper or foil and freeze for a further 3 hours or overnight.
- Serve straight from the freezer.
Expert tips
Top Tip: When making any homemade ice cream always ensure both the churning bowl of your ice cream maker and the custard base are sufficiently frozen/ chilled before churning begins.
- If churning your honey ice cream by hand make the custard base and let it chill overnight before starting the churning process the next morning. This leaves plenty of time to fit in 6-8 churns with electric beaters.
- And if churning by hand, set a timer between each churn to ensure it is not left too long between each churn otherwise, ice crystals will form.
- Putting the ice cream into a chilled container rather than one at room temperature means the ice cream will melt less at the point of transfer.
- Eat within 2 weeks to enjoy this ice cream with honey and salt at its prime. It’s still safe to eat after this time but the flavour and texture may begin to deteriorate.
Frequently asked questions
Any! I like to use runny honey, but set honey can also be used. Popular choices include clover honey, acacia honey, lavender honey and orange blossom honey. They all have their own distinctive flavour, so whatever honey you use will impart that flavour into your ice cream.
Honey – classified as liquid sugar – does several things to ice cream:
1. It gives a little extra body and creaminess to the ice cream.
2. It also lowers the freezing point of ice cream, so the mix doesn’t freeze rock solid. That’s why it is scoopable straight from the freezer.
Yes, you can. To do this reduce the honey (try 125g). As honey helps create that magical soft & scoopable consistency, be mindful that using less honey will result in a firmer ice cream.
Yes, you can. It will be a delicious honey ice cream, still as soft & scoopable as the salted version and just as sweetly mellow.
Yes, provided your ice cream maker can handle the extra volume (find out firstas if you add too much liquid to it then it will not freeze properly).
Serving suggestions
Although this ice cream is a delight to eat on its own, I can recommend the following:
- Serve it alongside fresh strawberries – the honey-salt-strawberry combination is magical
- Go a step further and pile those strawberries and the ice cream on top of Muscovado Meringues or onto English-style pancakes.
- Pair it with a warm chocolate brownie.
- Use it as a float on rich honey hot chocolate.
More ice cream recipes
Should salted honey not be your bag, then take a look at the rest of my ice cream recipes for alternative inspiration. Here are a few options:
Have you made this recipe for ice cream with honey & sea salt? Please take a moment to leave a review to let me know how you got along with the recipe.
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📖 Recipe
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Salted Honey Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 150 g Honey
- 250 ml Whole milk
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 5 Egg yolks large, free-range
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Sea salt flakes
- 250 ml Double cream heavy cream
Instructions
- Put the milk and vanilla bean paste into a medium-sized pan (heavy-based) over a medium heat. Heat until warm.
- Add the honey a stir through until dissolved. Take off the heat.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl for 2-3 minutes until thicker and paler.
- Pour the warm milk onto the yolks, whisking continuously.
- Pour the custard mix back into the pan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Take off the heat.
- Grind the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine. Tip into the custard and mix well.
- Pour the custard into a bowl or jug, cover directly with clingfilm (to stop a skin forming) and cool. Once cold, transfer to the fridge to chill overnight (or for at least 4 hours).
- When ready to churn remove the clingfilm, pour in the cream and stir until thoroughly combined.
Making the ice cream using an ice cream maker
- Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- Serve immediately or transfer the ice cream into a freezer-proof container, cover the surface directly with greaseproof paper or foil and store in the freezer. (It should be scoopable straight from the freezer – unless your freezer is exceptionally cold).
Making the ice cream by hand
- .Pour the ice cream into a suitable freezer-proof bowl, cover and put it in the freezer for 1-1 ½ hours. The sides should be beginning to freeze, but the centre will be soft and slushy.
- Remove from the freezer and, working quickly, use electric beaters to beat the ice cream until the ice crystals are uniform. Cover and place back in the freezer.
- Repeat this process 4-8 more times at 1 hour intervals – the better the texture will be the more the process is repeated.
- Cover the ice cream with greaseproof paper or foil and freeze for a further 3 hours or overnight.
- Serve straight from the freezer.
Notes
- Ensure both the churning bowl of your ice cream maker and the custard base are sufficiently frozen/ chilled before churning begins.
- If churning your honey ice cream by hand it’s best to make the custard base and let it chill overnight before starting the churning process the next morning. This leaves plenty of time to fit in 6-8 churns with electric beaters.
- And if churning by hand, set a timer between each churn to ensure it is not left too long between each churn otherwise ice crystals will form.
- Putting the ice cream into a chilled container rather than one at room temperature means the ice cream will melt less at the point of transfer.
- Cover the top of the ice cream with parchment to help stop ice crystals from forming in the freezer.
- Eat within 2 weeks to enjoy this ice cream with honey and salt at its prime. It’s still safe to eat after this time but the flavour and texture may begin to deteriorate.
Ellie
I made this ice cream recipe for the 3rd time, the whole family loves it. Works well with vanilla extract too! Wanted to ask do you reckon I could make a lemon curd version using the same ingredients? Perhaps swap the honey for lemon curd? Or will it not work. Many thanks!
Jane Coupland
Hi Ellie, thanks so much for your comment – I’m thrilled you’re enjoying this ice cream so much – have you found the chocolate version yet?
I’m not convinced that things would work out well if you replaced the honey with lemon curd. There’s nothing to stop you from trying it, but honey is a bit unique in the world of ice cream making, rendering the ice cream super soft and creamy whilst delivering mellow sweetness. Lemon curd is typically made from white sugar, butter, egg yolks and citrus, so my hunch is that a simple swap might not achieve the best results. You might be better finding a dedicated lemon curd ice cream recipe instead – wouldn’t want you to waste your ingredients.
Wendy Fiero
This was my first ice cream attempt as well as my first time using honey. It turned out delicious although it was a tad too sweet for me but great for my husband. While making the “custard mixture” I was concerned because I didn’t know that I had to stir it for about 15 minutes. This would have been helpful to put this in the recipe since I was afraid of doing something wrong since it took so long to thicken. Also, I didn’t have a wooden spoon but a rubber one was fine.
Thank you for the hard work you put into your recipes. I enjoy the blog part too.
Jane Saunders
Hi Wendy and thankyou for your lovely comment. This is a post I’ve got on my radar to update with more useful information – blogging times have changed somewhat since this recipe was published and it could indeed be alot more informative than it currently is. Nevertheless, I’m pleased you made it and enjoyed it – have you spotted the chocolate version too: https://www.littlesugarsnaps.com/dark-chocolate-ice-cream/
Lindsay Howell
First ice-cream recipe I’ve ever tried. Came out magnificent. Tiny bit too rich for my liking, I can literally only eat one scoop. Would it still work with half the honey? I think I’m going to be trying a whole lot more of your recipes! Thank you!
Jane Saunders
Hi Lindsay, so pleased you like it, even if it’s not entirely to your tastes (although a dessert you can eat only in small portions is kind of a win for health!). To cut down the richness you could reduce the salt – it has a massive impact. I’d avoid reducing the honey as it will alter the texture of the ice cream considerably. This is one of the richest ice cream recipes on here (alongside the chocolate version of this salted honey heaven). For something a little less rich try my salted caramel ice cream perhaps?
Ellie
I made this ice cream for the first time last week, hands down the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted! Very chuffed. Will be making it again, but want to ask can I use pure vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean pod? Or will the flavour not be as good? Thanks!
Jane Coupland
Hi Ellie – thankyou 🙂 There’s something quite magical about this ice cream (I’m totally hooked).. By all means use vanilla extract or, better still, vanilla bean paste. And have you spotted the chocolate version of this ice cream… it’s drawing with this one for best ice cream ever for me. There’s also salted honey hot chocolate on here too, and salted honey with meringue and strawberries… I could go on!
Barry Morgan
Can you replace the full Milk with an alternative like Almond Milk? My wife does not react well to dairy.
Jane Saunders
Ohhh, that’s a great question. I’ll be honest and tell you that I’ve not tried making it with non-dairy milk. However, from what I see in articles online, cashew milk and almond milk are quite popular choices when it comes to homemade ice cream. (I think coconut milk would detract from the flavour in this recipe). I’d start with one of those options and maybe make a half batch to test it out before committing to the full amount.
Some recipes also suggest adding in some coconut oil to help keep it soft and creamy. However, the honey should help on that matter in this instance, so coconut oil s possibly not needed.
Hope this helps – if you try it do let me know how you get along and which milk you use. This is a relatively old recipe post now and so adding in some info on catering for non-dairy and vegan readers would be something I’d like to add in the near future. Feel free to ask me any further questions too.
This remains the top choice of ice cream for 50% of my household, so I’ll bookmark working on a non-dairy version ASAP.
Jane Saunders
Updated response:
Hi Barry, I trialled 2 non-dairy versions of this ice cream over the weekend.
First I used almond milk and removed the egg yolks. It was not pleasant – it was watery and had an off-putting colour about it.
I then trialled a version that replaced the milk and cream with almond milk but kept the egg yolks in (in fact, I increased the yolks to 6 to add a little extra creaminess back in given the cream was being removed). The taste was great and the texture was satisfactory. I say satisfactory because I know how smooth and creamy the dairy version is. But all in all, this version worked out fine.
I’ll be doing a bit more research to see if I can improve it further, but thought you would appreciate the update – definitely go with 6 yolks and almond milk if your wife can handle eggs. Don’t make it without the eggs though – it’ll be a waste of good ingredients 😉
Lindsey
Really Delicious, Was not too sweet for me. I used 1/4 teaspoon table salt since I didn’t have crystals. It did melt quickly but that was okay since we gobbled it up quicker.
Jane Saunders
So great to hear – So great to hear. Sounds like you got the salt level just right.
Wayne Braniff
This a great recipe turned excellent.
Jane Saunders
Thanks for taking the time to rate and comment – it really helps me and I love hearing how readers get along with my recipes.
Jeanette
I love the creaminess and honey flavour. On its own, It’s a bit too sweet for my tastebuds but goes great with fresh strawberries or a teaspoon of crunchy peanut butter!
Thankyou
Jane Saunders
Thanks so much – it’s delicious with strawberries.