Blueberry Ice Cream! Delicious and creamy homemade ice cream made with whole berries. Fresh fruit makes an ice cream with big blueberry flavor and gorgeous color.

To learn all about the basics of making homemade ice cream, check out my Vanilla Bean Ice Cream post. But first, let’s talk about this fabulous Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream.

To make blueberry ice cream with great berry flavor I tried two different approaches.

First, I turned to my wonderful Strawberry Ice Cream recipe. You can read through that entire post, but the reason I use freeze dried berries in that recipe is to get all of the berry flavor with no added water. Too much water makes ice cream rock-hard and not scoopable.

For the second batch I used fresh blueberries. I cooked the berries to release the juice, then stirred the cooked berries into the ice cream base. The cooked berries replaced the whole milk that I usually add to my ice cream.

two bowls of blueberry ice cream with text overlay "made with fresh blueberries" and "made with freeze dried blueberries".

There was quite a difference in color between the two recipes and there was a marked difference in flavor.

The ice cream made with freeze dried berries was tasty but a bit one-dimensional. The batch made with fresh-cooked berries had a beautiful, full-blueberry flavor. Fresh Blueberry Ice Cream was the winner.

Why do fresh blueberries make a great ice cream while fresh strawberries don’t? Compared to fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries are not as watery and they become especially flavorful when lightly cooked.

If you’re curious and want to try the ice cream made with freeze dried blueberries, you can follow the recipe for my Strawberry Ice Cream. Just replace the dried strawberries with the same amount of dried blueberries.

But in my opinion, fresh blueberries make the best Blueberry Ice Cream.

Scroll through the photos to see how to make Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream:

a pot of blueberries before and after cooking. — 1. Combine the berries with sugar and crush some of the berries to release juice. 2. Bring the mixture to a boil. 3. Cook until most of the berries have popped and the juice is boiling thickly.

a bowl of egg yolks and a pot of heavy cream. — Make the ice cream base.

Three photos showing blueberries added to custard. — 1. Add the cooked blueberries to the warm custard. 2. Stir to combine. 3. Chill the mixture until very cold then churn in your ice cream machine.

Now that you’ve got some delicious ice cream, did you know you can make your own Ice Cream Cones?

More unique homemade ice cream recipes:

I’m slightly obsessed with blueberries. You too? Great. I’ve got a huge collection of blueberry recipes for you.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 reviews

Blueberry Ice Cream Recipe

By: Eileen Gray

Delicious and creamy homemade ice cream flavored with blueberries. Fresh berries makes an ice cream with a deep blueberry flavor and gorgeous color.

Prep Time10

Bake Time10

Additional Time6

Total Time6 20

8 servings

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Ingredients

16 oz blueberries (3 cups)
8 oz granulated sugar (1 cup, divided)
12 oz heavy cream (1 1/2 cups)
5 egg yolks

Instructions

Combine the blueberries and half the sugar in a small saucepan. Use the back of a ladle or a meat pounder to crush about half of the berries to release the juice. Cook the berries over medium heat until the juice comes to a boil. Cook about 5 minutes until most of the berries have popped and the juice is boiling thickly. Transfer the berries to a bowl.
16 oz blueberries, 8 oz granulated sugar
In the same pan, heat the cream over medium high heat until scalding hot.
12 oz heavy cream
While the cream heats up, whisk together the yolks and remaining sugar in a small bowl.
5 egg yolks, 8 oz granulated sugar
Once the cream is scalding hot, pour it into the bowl with the yolks and whisk to combine
Return the entire mixture to the saucepan and heat over medium low heat, stirring constantly. Cook the custard until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spatula or wooden spoon. Do not allow it to come to a full boil. Remove from the heat and strain the custard back into the bowl from the yolks. Stir in the blueberries.
Cover the bowl and chill until very cold. At least 4-5 hours or over night.
Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream machine.
When the ice cream is ready, scoop it into a container and smooth to an even layer. Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream, cover tightly and freeze until firm.