Coffee Ice Cream Recipe: 5 Tips for Making Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee ice cream is a frozen dessert consisting of milk, cream, and sugar, flavored with ground coffee and churned until it’s smooth and creamy. You can make the dessert with instant coffee, espresso, or regular coffee grinds, so long as your selection has the right grind size so you can effectively strain the grounds out before the churning process. The grind size will largely depend on your coffee choice and grinder settings.

Some homemade coffee ice cream recipes may incorporate crunchy chocolate-covered coffee beans, chocolate chips, or a touch of spice with floral ground green cardamom.

There are many schools of thought on making the best coffee ice cream. It’s all about personalization and figuring out what works best for your taste buds (and kitchen). Here are some tips to consider before making your batch:

1. 1. Medium roasts are best. When choosing the best coffee beans to deliver the right level of coffee flavor, consider how you’d experience them in a cup of coffee. Since ice cream contains both cream and sugar, the subtleties of your favorite bright, fruity light roast may be lost. Alternatively, a much darker style, like French roast, may carry over a good deal of its inherent bitterness. To find a happy balance, start somewhere in the middle, with a medium roast of your preference.
2. 2. Select the right grind size. You can make coffee ice cream with regular coffee grinds, fine espresso powder, or granules of instant coffee—the key is both grind size, or what you’ll be able to strain out, and the quality of flavor. Inexpensive instant coffee won’t result in a dynamic flavor profile, but use it if it works for you.
3. 3. Use the right amount of coffee. When making coffee ice cream, you’ll need to use more coffee than you would in your typical morning brew because the ice cream base will dilute it. A good rule of thumb is to use as many scoops as you might when making an iced coffee, keeping dilution in mind.
4. 4. Try the no-churn method. If you don’t have access to an ice cream maker, you can use the “no-churn” method by hand whisking the ice cream base while it freezes. To prevent ice crystals from forming, press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the surface of the ice cream between stirs.
5. 5. Use an ice cream maker. Take the traditional route by using an ice cream maker to make a batch of smooth, creamy ice cream at home.