Homemade vanilla ice cream and homemade lemon curd join forces for this Vanilla Swirl Lemon Curd Ice Cream recipe. A lemon fresh dessert that is a perfect Summer dessert.

It’s a blast to be making ice cream again. For absolutely no reason that I can think of it has been awhile since I’ve done so. My favorite dessert, I find it unbearably delicious. I crave it constantly and luckily it’s really very easy to make.
I recently made homemade lemon curd for a tart recipe and had an ample dollop of it left over. And with my new project of cleaning out the garage freezer, I finally had room to freeze my ice cream maker cylinder and make my first batch of vanilla ice cream. And why not swirl it with lemon curd.
The lemon curd flavor hangs out beautifully in the background. And with the creaminess that can only come from a custard-style ice cream made with egg yolks, full fat milk, heavy cream and vanilla, the combination is divine.

To make this ice cream, I churned my vanilla ice cream recipe in my Ice Cream Maker without adding the lemon curd. Once the ice cream was just a bit more than soft serve consistency, I transferred it to a loaf pan. Then I added big drops of lemon curd over the top of the ice cream and used a spatula to swirl it, making wide swaths. I covered the pan and transferred it to the freezer.
Just keep it there until you’re ready to serve. Three scoops seems just right.

Recipe for Vanilla Swirl Lemon Curd Ice Cream:
I hope you give this ice cream recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite ice cream recipe, or a recipe using lemon curd, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
Love making homemade ice cream? You won’t want to miss:
- Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream
- Caramelized Banana Ice Cream
- Maple Syrup and Candied Pecan Ice Cream
- Snickerdoodle Ice Cream
- Lemon Snowballs, Fresh Lemon Dessert

Vanilla Swirl Lemon Curd Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup lemon curd
Instructions
- Warm the milk in a small pan.
- Whisk the eggs with the sugar in a separate bowl. Slowly add warm milk to sugar mixture continuing to whisk.
- Pour mixture back in the pan and heat slowly until thickened, stirring constantly. It should look like very liquid pudding. Do not boil! Let cool to room temperature add cream and vanilla.
- Chill overnight. Follow directions on ice cream maker for churning.
- When ice cream is just thicker than soft serve, transfer from ice cream make to a loaf pan. With a spatula, swirl in the lemon curd to make wide swaths.
- Cover and place container in freezer until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
For your convenience this post contains an affiliate link for the Ice Cream Maker.
While I don’t have an ice cream maker, I can certainly top some vanilla ice cream with a little lemon curd. Thanks for the inspiration.
What a perfect idea! If one were lazy (ahem), one might even buy ice cream to mix the lemon curd in.
I can’t even tell you how much I love this idea! Lemon curd and vanilla ice cream in the same place is genius.
Lemon curd! Say no more — gotta try this. Thanks!
That sure does look good and refreshing