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Lychee ice cream scoops in a glass bowl and decorated with mint leaves.
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4.50 from 2 votes

Lychee Ice Cream Recipe - Creamy & Luscious

This homemade lychee ice cream has an amazingly smooth and creamy texture with a lovely sweet flavor of lychees. It's easy and yummy!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Churning, Blending & Freezing Time10 hours
Total Time10 hours 25 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Asian
Servings: 1 quartz
Calories: 1607.6kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

  • 175 ml full fat milk
  • 325 ml heavy whipping cream (at least 35% fat)
  • 75 g sugar
  • 15 lychees (canned)
  • a pinch of salt
  • ¼ teaspoon lychee essence (optional)

Instructions

Making the lychee syrup

  • Drain the canned lychees and add 10 fruits into a food processor (reserve the remaining five to be added into the ice cream later). Process them until fine. Add a few tablespoons of the syrup from the can if necessary.
  • Strain the lychees with a fine mesh sieve or a cheesecloth. Squeeze the pulp to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the pulp.
  • Pour the lychee juice into a small pot. Add sugar and cook on low heat until the syrup thickens to a consistency of honey.
  • Turn off the heat and let the syrup cool down slightly.

Mixing the ice cream solution

  • Add milk into the syrup. Stir well to mix the syrup and the milk.
  • Add cream and lychee essence (if using) and mix well again.

Method 1: Slow churn ice cream machine or ice cream maker method

  • Chill the solution in the refrigerator until it is thoroughly chilled. This should take at least 2 hours. If you want to get it chilled faster, place it in the freezer for about 1 hour. You can also leave the solution overnight in the fridge if you are not in a hurry, but do not freeze it.
  • Pour the chilled ice cream solution into an ice cream maker bowl and churn according to the manufacturer instructions.
  • Turn on the machine and let it churn the ice cream.
  • At about 3 quarters of the churning time, chop some lychees into small chunks and add them to the ice cream.
  • Let the ice cream continue to churn until the churning time is up. At this stage, the ice cream should be perfectly churned. But it may still be a little soft (like a soft-serve ice cream consistency).
  • Transfer the lychee ice cream into a container and freeze it until completely set before serving.

Method 2: Blender Ice Cream Method

  • Follow the steps above for making the lychee syrup and mixing the ice cream solution. Once the ice cream solution is ready, pour it into a container and freeze until it is completely set. This should take at least 4 to 6 hours. Let it freeze longer if required to ensure the ice cream is all set. You will need to break the ice into smaller chunks and it will be easier to break if the ice cream is frozen in a thin layer. For this purpose, pour the solution into a wide container.
  • Once fully frozen, break the ice cream into chunks with a spoon. Add the ice cream chunks into a blender and blend until the ice cream turns into a smoothie-like consistency. At this stage, you will have to work quickly to avoid the ice cream from melting too much. Do not blend for too long. Suffice if the ice cream reaches a smoothie like consistency.
  • Pour the blended ice cream into its container. Add chopped lychees and mix well. If the ice cream solution appears a little too melted, place it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours to harden it a little, before adding the chopped lychees. Mix thoroughly to distribute them. Adding the fruits when the ice cream is too soft will result in the fruits sinking to the bottom.
  • Let the lychee ice cream set in the freezer for at least 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Serving the homemade ice cream

  • Scoop the ice cream into serving cups with an ice cream scoop. The ice cream should not be too hard to scoop if you use the exact same quantity of ingredients mentioned in my recipe card below and the ice cream is frozen at -13 degrees Celsius.
  • But if it is hard for some reason, do not worry. Leave the ice cream container out for a few minutes. It should be a lot easier to scoop your ice cream then.

Notes

When using the blender method, if the frozen ice cream (before blending) is too hard to break with a spoon, leave it out for a minute or two to soften it slightly before trying again.
It will also help to pour the solution into a wide shallow container for freezing. Thin ice will be easier to break.

Nutrition

Calories: 1607.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 117.2g | Protein: 16.5g | Fat: 124.7g | Saturated Fat: 78.7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 31.2g | Cholesterol: 391.1mg | Sodium: 159.1mg | Potassium: 839.3mg | Fiber: 1.9g | Sugar: 115.9g | Vitamin A: 5098.4IU | Vitamin C: 109.2mg | Calcium: 446mg | Iron: 0.8mg