Incredible Pecan Praline Ice Cream (No-Churn)

Crunchy pecan pralines and salted caramel sauce are swirled through smooth no-churn ice cream. The result is a Pecan Praline Ice Cream that is easy to make, sweet, crunchy and downright delicious!

As we’re inching closer to the Summer months, Summer frozen treats like ice creams and popsicles are at the forefront of my mind! Homemade Crème Brûlée Ice Cream, Salted Caramel Brownie Ice Cream and Chocolate Raspberry Bars are popular choices here at home. I’d love to say it’s my kids who adore ice cream, but in fact, it’s my hubby, Anthony who has an unbelievable weakness for it! It doesn't take him long to finish off my Chocolate Hazelnut Semifreddo!!

This Praline and Cream Ice Cream is fast becoming a favourite. Rightly so! It’s unbelievable. The ice cream base is a no-churn vanilla ice cream that is so easy to make and no ice cream machine is needed to make it. We’re making the pecan praline, so I wanted to keep this component simple for you.

The vanilla ice cream is then swirled with my foolproof Salted Caramel Sauce (totally optional, but I well recommend it!). The hero though is without a doubt the homemade pecan pralines which create the most amazingly sweet, nutty crunch throughout. This is unbelievable - don’t take my word for it, let’s deep dive into how we make it.

What is praline?

Before we get into the recipe and how to make it, I can hear you asking... but what exactly is pecans praline? Originating from French Settlers into New Orleans, it's a combination of sugar (usually brown), butter and cream cooked on the stovetop until thickened and a fudge-like consistency.

Nuts, usually pecans, but also almonds and hazelnuts are added to the candy to coat them, then this mixture is dropped in spoonfuls onto a baking tray and left to harden.

We’re solely using pecans as our nut of choice. When made, I guarantee it will be near impossible to not snack on these before adding them to the ice cream!

Ingredients needed

I’ve split our ingredients into two, the pecan praline and the vanilla ice cream. For the caramel sauce, use my Salted Caramel Sauce recipe, but if you don’t have the inclination to make the sauce, then buy the best quality caramel sauce that you can find.

Pecan praline

• Double cream - (Heavy cream) Double cream creates a beautiful pudginess to the candy-coated pecans. You can use buttermilk or evaporated milk in the place of cream.
• Pecan halves - Pecan halves are very commonly found here in the UK and in this recipe, we’re going to be chopping these up before adding them to the candy coating. Checkout my Pecan Tart which herbs these nuts.

No-churn vanilla ice cream

• Double cream (heavy cream) and condensed milk form the base of this recipe. How simple is that!
• Vanilla bean paste - This is how we impart the vanilla flavour into the ice cream. I prefer to use vanilla bean paste as the flavour is more intense than extract and I love seeing the hundreds of vanilla beans throughout the creamy ice cream. I specified extract in the praline, but for both components, you can use either extract or paste. Just steer clear of essence which is artificial flavouring.

Step-by-step instructions

Now we know exactly what praline is, and what ingredients are needed to make this incredible ice cream, let's veer our attention to how we create it.

First things first - if you choose to make the caramel sauce, then this is what you make before the pralines and ice cream. My Salted Caramel Sauce guide has a breakdown of images and steps so that you can easily make it. Homemade caramel is far superior to store-bought and can be made ahead of time and stored ready to use for this recipe.

Secondly, you need to make the praline. Top tips when making anything involving boiling sugar is to be prepared with your ingredients (we call this mise en place). Keep your attention firmly on the caramel and if possible, keep little kids out of the kitchen!

Lastly, make the ice cream which takes no more than 2 minutes. No joke. The fun part is layering these three together in the dish, and licking the spoon clean, of course!

*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*

Make the pecan praline

1. Toast the pecans. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Whenever I bake with any type of nut, I toast them prior to using them as this makes them more flavourful by intensifying their nuttiness. Lay them out on a baking sheet and bake them for 5 to 8 minutes until they are fragrant and darkened slightly. Then chop them into small pieces (Image 1 & 2).

If using pecan bits (pre-chopped pecans), then still toast them to get the most out of their flavour - but you’ll have to reduce the oven time to about 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Heat up the sugar. Add the brown sugar and cream into a heavy-based saucepan. I prefer to use a cast iron pan (the one in my images is Le Creuset), as the cast iron conducts the heat more evenly. Add a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and heat the ingredients over a medium flame Stir constantly as the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Heat until the mixture comes to softball stage, 115C (240F).

3. Add the butter and pecans. The minute the caramel mixture hits the softball stage, remove it from the heat and add in the butter. Stir it until the butter has melted and is well combined. Be patient - it can take a little while for it to mix together.

Add in the chopped pecans and vanilla extract and stir until coated. (Image 3 & 4)

4. Layout pecans on a tray and let them harden. Working quickly, spread the praline caramel mixture onto the lined baking tray used to toast the pecans. Then set it aside to cool down and for the praline to harden. Then you can break it up or chop it coarsely into the desired size pieces that you want in the ice cream.

Make the praline ice cream.

1. Whip the cream and condensed milk together. Into a large mixing bowl, add the cream, condensed milk and vanilla bean paste. Whip them until soft peaks form. I used a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, but this step can easily be done with hand-held electric beaters. Or you could even do it by hand if you wanted an arm workout (Image 9 & 10).

2. Fold through praline. Add ⅔ of the praline pieces into the ice cream base and fold through trying not to knock out all that lovely air (Image 11 & 12).

3. Layer components into a freezer-safe pan. You could mix the praline, caramel and ice cream altogether in the mixing bowl and pour it directly into the freezer pan. But I like to layer up the components, it makes it look more like store-bought ice cream and the ripples of caramel sauce running through are magic!

Layer ⅓ of the vanilla ice cream into the pan, then drizzle ⅓ of the caramel over the top followed by sprinkling ⅓ or the remaining praline bits onto the caramel. Use a butter knife or chopstick (like I did) and swirl the caramel through (Image 13 & 14). Repeat these layers until all the ice cream is layered into the pan (Image 15 & 16). Make sure to finish off the layering process with a drizzle of caramel and more praline bits for decoration (Image 17 below).

Any leftover caramel and praline can be added over scoops of the praline ice cream when serving. In this case, more is more if you know what I mean!!

Freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.

Frequently asked questions