With Cinco De Mayo just a day away, I thought this would be the perfect time to unveil my cilantro and lime ice cream recipe. I had this ice cream once at a favorite Mexican restaurant of mine and decided I had to immediately hit the kitchen and start experimenting with ways to replicate this amazing dessert.
The first thought that enters your mind when you hear ice cream would probably not be – “let’s make this with cilantro and lime”! However, I was pleasantly surprised with how well these flavors match up together. The tripod of flavor includes the creamy ice cream base with the spicy cilantro herb that gets cut down by the tart lime – all lining up to create a wonderfully refreshing and delicious ice cream.
If you are looking for a dessert this Cinco De Mayo – you cannot go wrong with Cilantro and Lime Ice Cream – Trust me when I say this is one of my favorites!
Live to Eat!
- 2 Cups Cream
- 1 Cup Milk
- ½ Cup Sugar
- ½ Cup Inverted Sugar (or sub ¼ cup extra sugar in place)
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 3 Tablespoons Lime Juice (freshly squeezed)
- 2 Tablespoons Zest of Lime
- 1 Cup Fresh Cilantro (chopped)
- Place 1 cup of cream in a metal bowl and place over ice
- Place into a medium saucepan the rest of the cream, the milk, the sugar, the inverted sugar, the lime juice, the lime zest and the salt. Cook on medium heat until everything melts together.
- Add the fresh cilantro and cook the mixture until it just begins to boil. Immediately take off heat and cover for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour strain the cilantro mixture through a fine strainer making sure the press on the cilantro to extract all of the flavor (save cilantro).
- Take the strained mixture - add to blender along with ½ of the cilantro from the strainer and blend together.
- Return mixture to saucepan and reheat on medium low.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks. Slowly add the heated mint mixture **IMPORTANT: while you are adding the mixture make sure you are furiously whisking the mixture to prevent the eggs from cooking!
- Once half the warmed mint mixture is mixed with the egg yolks, pour the cilantro and egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and continue to heat on medium low heat.
- Continue to heat the mixture until it thickens enough to cover the back of a spoon and leave a tracer of your finger (SEE IMAGE BELOW).
- Once you get the proper thickness, strain the mixture again, this time into the cream you have set aside in the ice bath to stop the cooking process. You may see some small curdles of cooked egg, but that is okay as long as you strain the mixture.
- Stir the mixture and wait for it to reach at least room temperature so that it is safe to put in the fridge. At that point cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate anywhere from 2 hours - Overnight.
- Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Freeze overnight.
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I am allergic to vitamin c what can i use instead of lime?
I made this recipe last week and it was INCREDIBLE! The cilantro and lime intermingle in a way that evokes mint on the tongue. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and herbal. We ate ours with fresh berries and it enhances the flavor even further! Next time I want to mix some strawberries in while churning. I used all granulated sugar instead of inverted sugar and it turned out just fine. This is actually probably the best thing to ever come out of my ice cream maker <3
The method refers to a warmed mint mixture but no mint is listed in the ingredients????
Do I assume heavy ( whipping ) cream for the ‘cream’ portion of this recipe? Eager to give it a try. Thanks!
It would be helpful to replace “mint” with “cilantro” in the directions so as to remove any confusion about that. Also , I see tiny flecks of cilantro in the ice cream photo but when you strain it a second time they are all removed so I’m not sure about that step.