This homemade Cardamom Ice Cream only takes 5 ingredients and an ice cream maker (or stand mixer attachment). With a lightly spiced ice cream like this one, you can expect a creamy, rich, and indulgent ice cream. The heavy cream carries the floral aroma and warming spice of the ground cardamom perfectly, making it feel like a smooth and seamless flavor experience.

Top view of four scoops of ice cream in a white bowl next to cardamom pods.

Unlike cinnamon ice cream or pumpkin spice ice cream, this cardamom flavor is more delicate and less bold in how it comes through. I think of cardamom as a light, gentle spice and aromatic, similar to cinnamon. I’m not sure I’d call it more complex exactly, but it has a taste and aroma that feel distinct and not interchangeable with cinnamon. A funny way I think of it is that cardamom is a more pretentious cinnamon.

🌟 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Gentle sweetness and warm cardamom flavor: To me, cardamom has a lovely cozy warmth without being overpowering. When it’s used in ice cream like this, the spice adds just the right amount of heat. The combination of creamy, cold elements with warming, bright cardamom creates such a unique and satisfying flavor contrast.
Easy method: Homemade ice cream doesn’t have to be complicated. My method is perfect for beginners. Even the addition of the cardamom is simple. I add a little ground cardamom while heating the milk through, allowing the heat to release the aromatics while the milk’s fat helps carry the flavor.

For more unique yet delicious ice cream flavors try my matcha green tea ice cream, vanilla date ice cream, or my London Fog gelato.

🧾 Key Ingredients in This Recipe

Egg yolks: Egg yolks act as both emulsifiers and thickeners in an ice cream base, giving you a smooth, custard-like texture. Yolks also improve the ice cream’s stability by reducing ice crystal formation, ensuring a silky, scoopable texture.
Granulated sugar: Sugar sweetens the ice cream, it also improves the texture and consistency by lowering the freezing point to stop the ice cream from getting too hard and unscoopable.
Cream: Cream is essential for richness, smoothness, and the creaminess we love in ice cream. The fat content in the cream stabilizes air bubbles during churning, so the final result is rich but light.
Whole milk: Milk has a more watery consistency than cream, which we need to make the ice cream churnable, and it helps balance out the fat from the cream.
Cardamom pods: Pods work better for infusions than ground cardamom. If you must, you can substitute with 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom and skip both the steeping time and straining step.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

👩‍🍳 How to Make This Recipe

Pale yellow yolks in a glass bowl with a whisk.

Whisk the yolks and sugar together until pale yellow.

Spiced milk in a cast iron pot with a white rubber spatula.

Warm the milk and cracked cardamom pods until it just lightly simmers.

Pouring liquid from a teal ladle into a clear bowl with a whisk.

Temper the egg/sugar mixture with the milk/cream mixture, by pouring a little of one into the other then vice versa. The tempering step stops the egg from coagulating or being cooked by the hot cream mixture.

Candy thermometer in a purple cast iron pot.

Return to the saucepan and cook, stirring slowly and constantly, until it reaches a termperature of 170°F. Turn off the heat, cover, and steep for 10 minutes.

Cracked cardamom pods in a metal strainer over a plastic container with pale yellow liquid.

Strain the cardamom from the ice cream base.

Pale yellow ice cream base in a round, clear container.

Add the cream. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, and up to overnight.

🤩 Pro Tip – Skip the 6-hour chill

If you can’t wait the 4 hours to chill the ice cream before churning it, you can chill it quickly over a bowl filled with ice water. Just stir the ice cream to cool the base faster than your refrigerator can.

Light green stand mixer fitted with the ice cream attachment.

Add your chilled ice cream to your ice cream maker. Churn on the stir setting until it is the thickness of soft serve ice cream, ~20 minutes. You can enjoy it now at a soft serve consistency, or continue to the final step for ice cream consistency.

Transfer to a container you can freeze, cover with parchment paper if it doesn’t have a lid, and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Scoop your ice cream right out of the container and enjoy!

🏆 Tips for Creamy, Smooth Ice Cream Every Time

Chill the base thoroughly before churning: Freezing the ice cream base for 4 hours prior to churning may seem excessive, but it’s important to get that smooth, ice cream texture we want with no big ice crystals.
Use the right tools: I like to use the Ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer because it doesn’t require an additional appliance like an ice cream machine. If you do not have a Kitchen Aid mixer and prefer not to buy one, this Cuisinart is my favorite inexpensive option ice cream maker, and this Breville is my favorite high-end ice cream maker that has a compressor.

Four scoops of ice cream in a white bowl next to cardamom pods.

🍨 More Fun Ice Cream Recipes to Try

I have plenty of inventive and tasty ice cream recipes for you whether you eat dairy or not.

Green ice cream in a small glass with a metal spoon.

Vegan Coconut Matcha Ice Cream

Scoops of yellow ice cream with rose petals.

Bastani (Persian Saffron Rose Ice Cream)

London Fog Gelato Ice Cream

Three scoops of ice cream and an ice cream scooper on top of a bin of ice cream.

Vanilla Date Ice Cream (No Added Sugar)

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Author: Candice Walker