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. Chilly bliss.
Just in case you’ve any doubt about the season, I’m coming at you with another ice cream recipe. Salted Honey ice cream is a spin-off from a cake I shared earlier this year, which was ludicrously well received – remember my Cinnamon Chocolate Cake with Salted Honey Buttercream?
I was thinking about that cake in the heat wave a couple of weeks ago – when it was too stifling to move, let alone bake. Being ever so slightly food minded and far too hot, I started wondering what would happen if I took that buttercream flavour pairing and ran it through an ice cream maker.
And Salted Honey Ice Cream was born.
This ice cream is made using just 6 ingredients and the result is one of the creamiest, most sublime flavour combinations I’ve come across in ice cream form. Ever. The honey lends a mellow sweetness to the ice cream and duets perfectly with the subtle twang of salt. Chilly bliss.
Until I made Salted Honey Ice Cream, there were two contenders for my all-time favourite ice cream flavour:
- Mint Choc Chip (what can I say – I’m a true 1970’s child)
- Salted Caramel
But these two flavours are no longer top dog. They have been firmly ejected from the top spot. Salted Honey Ice Cream is my new best friend in frozen form.
Before we go further, I feel obliged to warn you that this frozen treat is a dangerous friend to make. My recipe replaces all white sugar with honey. Honey – classified as liquid sugar – does several things to ice cream:
- It gives a little extra body and creaminess to the ice cream
- It also lowers the freezing point of ice cream, so the mix doesn’t freeze rock solid
Alarm bells should now be ringing in your head. That’s creamy, scoopable ice cream direct from the freezer. No waiting for it to soften.
I smell danger.
Assuming you are exactly like me and can manage to never accidentally slide a spoon into the tub each and every time you reach into the freezer for the frozen peas, then I have a few serving suggestions. Although Salted Honey Ice Cream is a delight to eat on it’s own I can recommend the following:
- Serve 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
- Pair it with chocolate cake or a warm chocolate brownie
That’s all. I’m leaving you to think happy thoughts about honey and salt for the rest of the day. Oh and don’t miss my dark chocolate version of this ice cream – it’s magical. And should salted honey not be your bag, then take a look at the rest of my ice cream recipes for alternative inspiration. There’s Blackcurrant Ice Cream and Stroopwafel Ice Cream for a start.
Salted Honey Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 150 g ( 3 ½ fl oz) honey
- 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 ¼ teaspoon sea salt crystals
- 250 ml (1 cup) double (heavy) cream
Instructions
- Put the milk into a medium sized pan (heavy based) over a medium heat. Split the vanilla pod and drop into the pan. 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. Remove the vanilla pod. Scrape out the seeds and add back into the custard
- 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
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
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?
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.