Rum Raisin Ice Cream – Creamy, custardy ice cream with a hint of dark rum and rum-soaked raisin sprinkled throughout.
Today’s ice cream recipe is a classic one – Rum Raisin. It’s a flavor that I only began loving as an adult (along with butter pecan). It’s so rich and creamy and, well, boozy. It reminds me of ice cream that my dad would have when I was a kid. He’d add a little liquor to his store-bought ice cream and, though I obviously never tried any, the smell alone was memorable.
Rum Raisin does have actual rum in it. It adds depth and richness that you just can’t get from artificial flavoring. However, the good news about making your own ice cream is that you can control the ingredients. So if you don’t want a lot of alcohol in your Rum Raisin, you can just add a splash for flavor.
OK- before I give away too much, let’s take a look at the ice cream, huh?
How is this ice cream made?
Rum-soaked raisins
Rum raisin is unique from other classic ice cream recipes because it has dried fruit and alcohol in it. The dried fruit actually gets soaked in the rum to:
- Plump up the fruit and keep it plump, even when frozen
- Flavor the rum
To soak the raisins, they get cooked in rum for a couple minutes and then steep for a couple hours to really bring out the flavor and let that rum seep in. The rum then gets strained out and will be used in the base of the ice cream.
Ice cream base
The base of the ice cream is made from a custard. It consists of cooked egg yolks, sugar, milk, and heavy cream and then gets finished with a splash of that rum that we strained out of the soaked raisins. The rum not only adds incredible flavor but since alcohol doesn’t freeze, it changes the chemistry of the ice cream to make it even creamier, even after freezing for hours.
The ice cream then gets frozen in an ice cream machine. When the ice cream is almost finished freezing, the rum raisins get sprinkled in.
Tips & Tricks
- Make sure that you’ve read the instructions for your ice cream machine before beginning the process. My machine requires me to freeze the bowl for 8 hours before use so I’d hate for you to go through the whole process and then have to wait overnight because you missed a crucial step.
- This ice cream is actually a custard because it’s made with cream AND egg yolks. The eggs yolks need to be cooked to thicken them up and make them safe for consumption. Because the mixture is warmed up, we need to cool it down to (1) keep it from cooking and getting too thick and (2) to get the chilling process started. We cannot add a warm mixture to the ice cream machine or it will never freeze.
Rum Raisin Ice Cream
Ingredients
- ¾ cup milk whole
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup dark rum
- ⅔ cup raisins
Instructions
For the rum-soaked raisins:
- Add the raisins and dark rum into a small sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until simmer. Let simmer for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Cover and let sit for a couple hours and up to a day in advance.
- Once the raisins have finished soaking, strain the raisins to remove the excess rum. Do not discard! We'll use the left-over rum in the ice cream.
For the ice cream:
- Place milk, ½ cup of cream, sugar, and in a medium sauce pan. Heat until the mixture is steaming, but not boiling.
- Remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl until combined. Very slowly whisk in warm milk. Transfer mixture back to saucepan and set over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture begins to slightly thicken and is 170 degrees. Mixture should coat the back of the spatula. Remove from heat immediately so the mixture doesn't scramble.
- Place remaining 1 cup heavy cream in a large bowl and place strainer over bowl. Pour thickened yolk mixture through strainer to remove lumps. Stir with cream. Add 2 tablespoons of strained rum.
- Chill mixture until completely cold, about 4-6 hours. Once chilled, ice cream base is ready for your machine. Freeze ice cream according to machine instructions. When the ice cream has about 5 minutes left to freeze, add the strained raisins to the mixture.
- Once mixture is ready, scoop into storage container and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze ice cream until solid, about 8 hours.
Pin for later:
More recipes you’ll love:
Dublin Mudslide Ice Cream
Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Rum Cake
This rum and raisin ice cream was so delicious and easy to make. We had this for dessert last night, so YUM!
Yum! Such a delicious summery treat. Loving the flavour combination with the rum and raisin. Pinning for later.
I remember rum raisin ice cream being a favorite of my Dad. I can’t wait to make this one for him. Thanks for the recipe to try.
I haven’t had Rum Raisin Ice Cream since I was a kid, sitting on my Grandma’s porch, and I’m not even kidding! Yours looks custard-y rich and I love that you soaked the raisins first…so good!
Love this! Such a fun flavor, and a really special summer treat. The rum is a great flavor for ice cream!
I made this last night and it was such an amazing recipe. That mild rum flavor and unique creamy texture was a hit, thanks again for the recipe.
My love for rum raisins began as an adult also, and this is just the recipe I needed! Can’t wait to try it. I will probably eat most of it on my own, haha!
I love rum. I love raisins. I love rum and raisin ice cream. I love your rum and raisin ice cream. I am going to make your rum and raisin ice cream. I grew up on this as a kid and I actually own an ice cream machine. Thanks for the recipe.
I always love making ice cream for everyone but never tried to make an ice cream like this, I will definitely try this I am sure all of my friends will love this.
Perfect summer adult late night treat! I’ve never had anything like this and very much looking forward to it
Oh wow! I love Rum Raisin Ice Cream but I always just buy. I never made one.
This looks so delicious! I love making home made ice cream, but I have never made rum raisin, can’t wait to try it!!!
This Raisin Ice cream looks gorgeous. I’ve been craving for ice cream recently and I am glad to check this recipe. I guess I need to shop for raisin.
I love rum raisin! I never thought to make it myself. I’ll have to try!
This looks so delicious! My husband loves rum and raisin ice cream so this is going on my “to make” list!
Rum is one of my favorite ice cream flavors! I can eat this refreshing ice cream every day in the summer!
I love raisins in ice creams and I eat crazily if I get this chance. Your ice cream literally made me drooling and craving for it. One of the BEST recipes to make.
I love rum-based dessert recipes, but I have never thought of adding dark rum while making the ice cream. What a great idea it is! Bookmarking for later.
I really dont understand all those raisin haters – I think they just have not tried rum raisins yet! This, I would devour with many ohhs and ahhs!
Wow. This ice cream looks so creamy and delicious. Rum raisin is one of my favorite flavor.