Homemade Italian Gelato Recipes with the Ice Cream Maker 🍨 (2024)

Homemade Italian ice cream recipes

Many think that ice cream is a difficult dessert to make at home, and wait until summer to enjoy an artisanal Italian ice cream at the ice cream parlor.
But if you follow a recipe with balanced ingredients and use the ice cream maker correctly, you can quickly and easily make ice cream yourself like the one from the ice cream parlor; as you can see by the photos and videos that we publish on our pages.

The first time we used an ice cream maker was at my grandmother's house in the 80's, and the ice cream she made was amazing. Over time we perfected the recipes and we brought the tradition with us even when we went abroad.

On our website All Italian we publish gelato recipes for the most popular flavors found in Italian ice cream parlors, the 🔊 gelateria.
Our ice cream recipes contain fresh ingredients: we only use eggs when necessary, we make fruit flavors with or without milk and we obtain an ice cream with a fairly low calorie intake: usually around 200 kcal per 100 grams ice. Because it is made with fresh ingredients, the taste of homemade ice cream is comparable to that of the ice cream parlor.

In our ice cream recipe book, now in its second edition, we make more special recipes, such as variegated ice cream (🔊 gelato variegato) and flavored ice cream (aromatizzato).

Ice cream recipes without eggs

Egg is a thickener in ice cream and is used in artisanal gelato from the ice cream parlor. Most food bloggers also include eggs, usually in large numbers, in the ice cream recipes they make at home.
But you can make your own ice cream even without eggs and get an equally creamy ice cream. And the preparation without eggs is shorter and faster. In addition, eggs change the taste of ice cream, which is why we are careful when combining them with other ingredients; for example, we do not use eggs in fruit ice cream.

On All Italian we have published these ice cream recipes without eggs:

Milk ice cream without egg

In Italy we call fiordilatte the milk ice cream without egg. It is the taste of the white ice cream of the HB Cornetto.

Without eggs we make Italian ice cream with whipping cream, whole milk and sugar. You can also make it with lactose-free ice cream, in the same amount of whole milk.

Yogurt ice cream

To make yogurt ice cream we do not simply add yogurt to fiordilatte, but we rebalance the ingredients.

We use whole yoghurt, which is rich in fat, which allows us to include less whipping cream.
Our homemade frozen yogurt does not contain eggs, which would change its taste.

Coffee ice cream

We make coffee ice cream with milk, whipping cream and sugar: one of the tastiest flavors we published on our website.
Without eggs, coffee ice cream has the full taste of Italian espresso mixed with milk.

In our recipe book we make a variation with honey, which is very reminiscent of the Coppa del Nonno, a brand of coffee ice cream that is famous in Italy.

Stracciatella ice cream

Stracciatella ice cream is essentially fiordilatte ice cream flavor with the addition of chocolate flakes; and just like fiordilatte we don't add eggs.

Chocolate ice cream

Some flavors can be made with or without eggs: our chocolate ice cream recipe without egg is ready in less than one hour, and it's delicious.
We make it with cocoa powder; another option is to melt a bar of chocolate, as we do in our recipe book with white chocolate ice cream and with chocolate-hazelnut bacio.

Pistachio ice cream

Just like chocolate ice cream, there are many ways to make pistachio ice cream.

On our site we use fresh pistachios mixed with milk and whipping cream, without egg.
This way you get an ice cream that is as tasty as pistachio ice cream from the best ice cream parlors (and really green in color!).

In our cookbook we also make it in two other versions: one with egg and flavored with honey; and also in a vegan version, without egg and with coconut milk instead of cow milk.

Fruit ice cream

Homemade creamy fruit ice cream is tastiest if it does not contain eggs; such as strawberry ice cream or mango ice cream.

In our recipe book we make many more ice cream flavors without eggs: for example, cottage cheese ice cream or ice cream with goat milk.
Also in many cookie ice cream flavors, which are already rich in ingredients, we don't use eggs: we've made ice cream with sandwich cookies, hazelnut paste biscuits, Chocolate chip cookies and Amaretti cookies.

Ice cream recipes with egg

Other ice cream flavors that we make at home are more complete and fuller in taste thanks to the eggs.For example, basic ice cream recipe with egg, that we in Italy call 🔊 gelato alla crema and has the characteristic light yellow color. To make this ice cream we only use egg yolk and no egg white.

When the recipe contains egg, we heat the mixture to prevent bacteria from being present in the ice cream. While we heat the mixture, we also take the opportunity to aromatize (aromatizzare in Italian): for example with vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks or edible lemon peel.

When the recipe contains egg, we heat the mixture to prevent bacteria from being present in the ice cream. While we heat the mixture, we also take the opportunity to aromatize (aromatizzare in Italian): for example with vanilla pods, cinnamon sticks or edible lemon peel.

Creamy ice cream recipes with fruit

We do not use egg yolks in fruit ice cream, because they change the taste and because the preparation would take longer. To make creamy ice cream, we use milk and whipping cream, and then fruit - which can be fresh or even frozen.

We have published various fruit ice cream recipes on our website:

• Strawberry ice cream (🔊 gelato alla fragola)

• Mango ice cream (🔊 gelato al mango)

• Pear ice cream (🔊 gelato alle pere)

All these recipes are very easy and quick, because you do not have to heat the mixture. We show the step-by-step preparation for each recipe.

👉 We have also published creamy cherry ice cream and passion fruit ice cream in our recipe book.

Vegan ice cream recipes

Sorbets made with fruit pulp, water and sugar are certainly vegan ice creams. But often those looking for a vegan ice cream actually look for a creamy gelato like fiordilatte, but without milk and whipping cream.

There are many ingredients that you can use as an alternative to dairy products thanks to the amount of fat and sugar. On our site we have published the recipe for vegan coconut ice cream, white and creamy, made with coconut milk, water and sugar.

In our ice cream recipe book we have experimented with more vegan flavors:

• Avocado - apple - kiwi. You can use avocado as an ingredient to make vegan ice cream actually creamy.

• Carrot - apple - ginger: a special sorbet ice cream, fresh and spicy.

• Vegan chocolate ice cream. We make dairy-free ice cream from dark chocolate, which we can also flavor with mint flavor while we prepare the recipe.

Low calorie ice cream recipes

So there are different ways to make vegan ice cream, but it is not that easy to make low-calorie ice cream.
In fact, sugar isn't just used to sweeten ice cream; but above all it is essential to create the structure of the ice cream, and also to prevent it from freezing in the freezer.

Making creamy ice cream without sugar (or a very similar alternative) is difficult, but we can of course pay attention to the ingredients we use in ice cream recipes.

Many cooking sites, often not specialized in ice cream, make "ice cream" recipes at home without an ice cream maker - mixing condensed milk and whipping cream. This way you obtain a mixture that does not freeze completely in the freezer, but is actually too high in calories and has little to do with Italian ice cream.

The ice cream recipes that we publish on all Italian sites usually contain around 200 cal for milk ice cream flavors, such as fiordilatte and yogurt ice cream.
Very creamy flavors such as cookies ice cream make 250 cal; fruit sorbets produce much less, about 100 cal per 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) of ice cream.