Sweet Corn Ice Cream is made with fresh corn, then served with a salted caramel sauce. This is the perfect homemade summer ice cream!
If you love the salted caramel in this sweet corn ice cream, then you also need to try this Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Fudge and Toasted Coconut.
What is the strangest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever had? Are you a plain chocolate or vanilla person, or do you look for something a little bit different??
At the beginning of the summer, I was flipping through my copy of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. And there I saw something that I wanted.
Right then.
Caramel Corn Ice Pops.
I had never had sweet corn ice cream, but these ice pops made from sweet corn ice cream with a caramel center just called out to me. And so I made them. And I had some issues. They didn’t work out completely for me, but I still loved the idea. I mean, who doesn’t love caramel corn? Sure, corn isn’t your typical ice cream flavor, but it’s naturally sweet, so it’s only natural that it would make a good ice cream. The good thing about those failed ice pops is that I knew that I loved the flavors, I just had to figure out how to make it work for me.
And thankfully, this recipe did work for me!! It wasn’t as creamy as I was hoping for, but YUM. The sweet corn ice cream on it’s own was delicious, but add in the salted caramel sauce and it was completely divine.
And really, if you served this ice cream to someone that didn’t know there was corn in it, they probably wouldn’t be able to put their finger on the flavor. But once you know it’s there, there is definitely a distinctive corn flavor. I loved every bite of it! Move over, plain vanilla ice cream – there is a new favorite in town!!
Ingredients
Make sure to scroll down to the recipe card below to see the full ingredient list and amounts.
For the Ice Cream
- Corn: Ideally, you will want fresh corn. But frozen corn will also work. I wouldn’t use canned corn.
- Half & Half and Milk: The original recipe is made with both half & half and milk. For a richer, smoother ice cream, you can use cream instead of milk.
- Sugar: This is granulated sugar.
- Salt: The salt will help to balance the flavors.
- Egg Yolks: The egg yolks will give you richness and help with the stability of the ice cream. They also help to give you a nice, thick ice cream.
For the Salted Caramel:
- Butter: I normally use unsalted butter, but since this is salted caramel, salted butter will also totally work.
- Sugar: You need granulated sugar.
- Vanilla: A good vanilla extract will give you the best flavor.
- Salt: I like to use a coarse salt – usually Kosher salt. You don’t want to use table salt for this.
Tips and Tricks
You can eat this straight from the ice cream machine, but it will be more like a soft serve. Freeze for a harder ice cream.
I was hoping for beautiful ribbons of caramel that showed through in the ice cream, but my caramel was still too warm when I incorporated it, so make sure you make the caramel sauce plenty of time ahead of the ice cream!
You can also skip adding the caramel to the ice cream, and just serve it all alongside.
More Frozen Treats
Mango Sorbet
Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake
LOOKING FOR MORE FREE RECIPES?
Subscribe to my free recipe newsletter to get new family friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more family-friendly inspiration on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Salted Caramel
Ingredients
For the ice cream:
- 2 cups corn kernels
- 1 cup half and half
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- dash of salt
- 3 large egg yolks
For the salted caramel sauce:
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
Instructions
- Combine the corn and the half and half in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl. Reserve the liquid and discard the solids.
- Add the 2 cups of milk, sugar, salt, and egg yolks to the liquid. Whisk all together well, then pour into a large saucepan.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat until thick, but don’t let it boil and stir constantly. This should take about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Let the mixture cool for 20 minutes, then cover and transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely. (This is best if you let it sit overnight.)
- Meanwhile, to make the caramel, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is a deep golden brown.
- Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in half of the cream. (Be careful – it will splatter!)
- Stir in the rest of the cream, the vanilla, and the salt.
- (If there are any lumps at this point, return the pan to low heat and whisk until they are dissolved.)
- Let the caramel cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator.
- Once the custard is completely chilled, remove the caramel from the refrigerator to come to room temperature.
- Place the custard in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacture’s instructions. Once done, stir in about 1 cup of the caramel sauce, then place the ice cream in the freezer to finish freezing.
- Serve the ice cream with the remaining caramel sauce.
Recipe Notes:
Salted Caramel from The Perfect Scoop Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.
newlywed says
What an incredible, original idea — thanks for sharing!
Eden says
i’ve had salted caramel corn bread. its deadly. now i must try this.
Tessa says
This sounds different, but good. I may have to try it!
Kim says
Mario Batali’s latest book has a whole section of crazy good-looking gelatos and he has a recipe for sweet corn gelato in there that looks as equally amazing as yours. I’ve been wanting to give it a try forever. This looks stellar!
peabody says
Love what you did with the corn ice cream! Yum
Lucy@acookandherbooks says
I just made Roasted Cherry Goat Cheese Ice Cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. I have Sweet Corn Blackberry bookmarked to make next. Your sweet corn ice cream and salted caramel sauce look absolutely wonderful!
Pam says
Pretty cool ice cream! Only RR could come up with something like this! I’d love to try it but know I would devour it all!
natalie (the sweets life) says
I’ve seen several corn ice cream recipes–I’m so intrigued and must try sometime!
Katrina says
This sounds amazing! Sweet corn?! Awesome.
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
wow what an idea!
Joanne says
I’ve really been wanting to make corn ice cream and that salted caramel sauce is just the kick-in-the-butt I needed!
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
I can imagine why this is so amazing, love the idea of it completely and realizing I have some cream in the fridge I need to use…thinking I need to make some salted caramel sauce. To eat with a spoon.
Probably the most unique ice cream I’ve ever had was one with Guinness Beer in it. I expected to hate it but it was soooo good. Although ever better was the chocolate with Jack Daniels at the same place. Not as unique but amazing.
Tara @ The Butter Dish says
WHODA-Thunk-it!!!??
this would make such a great twist to Movie Nights. 🙂
Have to try this one D!!!
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
I saw a version of corn ice cream earlier this summer on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody and thought that it was such a crazy idea it must be good. Now that I see your version with the salted caramel sauce I know I must make this soon!
Bev Weidner says
Oh now THAT looks incredible. Dear heavens of the babies.
briarrose says
Coolest flavor ice cream ever! This sounds delightful.