Luscious Passionfruit Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

Why This Recipe?

Y’all. This passion fruit ice cream is one of the smoothest and creamiest I’ve ever made.

It’s also nice that there’s a very short ingredient list.

There are no eggs to worry about, and that also allows the passion fruit flavor to really shine through.

Eggs often tend to muddy bright flavors, so you won’t have that issue here. All you’ll taste is pure sweet-tangy passionfruit bite. So great!

In ice cream making, large ice crystals are the enemy of smooth, creamy goodness, and the goal is to minimize them.

One of the easiest ways to do that is to limit the amount of water in the base.

For this ice cream, I cut off the water supply in two ways.

First, I cooked the half and half, reducing its volume by 25%.

I also cooked the puree with corn starch. The starch binds up some water and also thickens up the base.

The resulting ice cream, and I guess it’s really more of a “Sicilian gelato” according to Anders over at Ice Cream Nation since it doesn’t contain eggs and uses a starch as a thickener, is smooth, dense, creamy and delicious.

It melts to a thin custard-like consistency that coats the still-frozen parts like a sauce.

What Does It Taste Like?

Passion fruit is one of those flavors that’s juicy. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water in anticipation.

Passionfruit ice cream is paradoxically creamy and tart at the same time. Think of it like a super creamy sorbet, even though it’s dairy-based.

It firms up nicely in the freezer but only needs about five minutes on the counter to a scoopable texture.

How to Make It

Ingredients

• passion fruit puree: I used Goya brand, but you could also use a confectionary passion fruit puree available on Amazon. Or if you have access to fresh passion fruit, run the pulp through a food mill to get out the seeds. You can also substitute mango puree or raspberry puree to change the flavor completely. Or try a mango passion fruit combination
• sugar: necessary for both sweetness and balance and to keep the ice cream from setting up too firmly
• half and half: provides the bulk of the liquid, body, and creaminess. I have not tried to substitute other dairy, but I think you could use whole milk as long as you up the amount of cornstarch by 2 teaspoons or so
• lemon juice: adds an additional punch of citric acid, rounding out the juiciness of the passion fruit
• salt: counteracts any bitterness. Because we want tart and puckery. Not bitter
• cornstarch: gives the final base a thicker texture to help inhibit large ice crystals. It also prevents the ice cream from setting up too hard in the freezer

Procedure

When I first made this ice cream, I allowed the amount of half and half to reduce on the stove to 2 1/4 cups to help limit water content.

Since then, I realized you can just add additional cornstarch and cook everything together at once.

I will outline both procedures, and then you can decide which best fits your time constraints.

Version 1

1. Cook the half and half and salt until weight is reduced by 6 oz. In this case, that’s 25%. Strain and chill.
2. Bring puree, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch to a boil. Keep at a low boil, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Strain and chill.
3. Whisk both the half and half and puree mixtures together until evenly combined.
4. Chill until at least 40F.
5. Churn in your ice cream maker until it is the consistency of soft serve.
6. Pack in a container and freeze for at least four hours before serving.

Version 2

In this second version, we’re reducing the amount of half and half and increasing the corn starch to make sure the base still has a velvety texture.

• Cook half and half, salt, and cornstarch together. Boil for 2 minutes. Strain and chill.
• Bring puree, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch to a boil. Keep at a low boil, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Strain and chill.
• Whisk the two mixtures together, and chill until at least 40F.
• Churn in your ice cream making until it’s the consistency of soft serve.
• Pack in a container and freeze fo at least four hours before serving.

Tips for Success

The reason I don’t combine the dairy with the passionfruit before cooking is I don’t want to risk the base curdling when the acid hits the dairy.

Cooking the two parts of the base separately takes this issue off the table.

The more you strain your base, the smoother your final ice cream will be. Is it strictly necessary to strain 3 times? No. But multiple strainings will give you the smoothest and creamiest ice cream possible.

Make sure to thoroughly chill the base before churning. The longer it takes to churn the base, the more potential for larger ice crystals.

And larger ice crystals equals grainy ice cream. Which is good for exactly nobody.

Q&A

A Note About Measurements

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You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.

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See Also

Soft Yogurt Cookies with Raspberry Glaze Recipe on Food52

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If this passionfruit ice cream doesn’t shout Summer, I don’t know what does.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today. Have a lovely day.