Pandan Ice Cream (made with pandan leaves)

This creamy pandan ice cream is the perfect dessert to have all year round. Flavored with pandan paste and pandan leaves, this dessert gives you the best complex pandan flavor you will ever taste.

One of my favorite ingredients this year is pandan. Pandan is a plant found in Southeast Asia that is used in a variety of ways. I personally have seen pandan used in mochi pancakes, to make chiffon cakes, and even to make cookies! Since the weather is warming up, I wanted to write down my recipe for pandan ice cream. This recipe utilizes coconut milk, pandan paste, and pandan leaves to give it a rounded out pandan flavor. I hope you enjoy it! This is one of my favorite ice cream recipes to date!

What is pandan?

As mentioned above, pandan is a plant found in Southeast Asia. In cooking, we usually only use the leaves to flavor food. It can be used in drinks like soy milk, in savory foods like coconut rice, and also in desserts like chiffon cakes. Taste-wise, pandan tastes grassy, vanilla-like, and floral. Personally, I think it tastes really similar to coconut milk because a lot of Vietnamese food that utilizes pandan also utilizes coconut milk. Pandan and coconut milk are a classic combination.

How did I use pandan in this ice cream recipe?

I really wanted a rounded, complex pandan flavor, so I chose to use both pandan leaves and pandan paste. Pandan leaves give the ice cream a natural pandan flavor, and the pandan paste increases that flavor as well as gives the cream it’s signature bright green color.

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

If you want to make this recipe dairy free, use coconut milk and a dairy free heavy cream. This is what I used to make this ice cream

• Pandan leaves – Gives the ice cream a subtle pandan flavor. If you can’t find pandan leaves, you can leave them out.
• Pandan paste (or extract) – This gives the ice cream a concentrated pandan flavor and makes the ice cream bright green.
• Coconut milk – I love adding coconut milk to ice cream because it adds a creamy and rich texture. I discovered this through making my coconut ice cream. In a traditional ice cream base, you would normally use whole milk, but I wanted to give this pandan ice cream a more tropical flavor profile so I used coconut milk. Coconut milk can be substituted with whole milk.
• Heavy Cream – Adds creaminess and richness to the ice cream.
• Vanilla extract – Adds flavor to the ice cream. You can substitute with 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean.
• Egg yolks – Egg yolks add richness and creaminess to the ice cream.
• Sugar – White sugar adds sweetness to this recipe.
• Salt – Brings out the flavor of the other ingredients.

How to make pandan ice cream

Combine heavy cream, coconut milk, and pandan leaves in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Let the pandan leaves steep for an hour.

Whisk together egg yolks and granulated sugar. Remove the pandan leaves from the cream and heat the cream until hot (3-5 minutes). The cream is hot enough once smoke starts coming off the cream and the cream feels hot. Turn off the heat. Add 1/4 cup of the hot cream to the egg yolk sugar mixture. Stir until combined. Pour this mixture into the pan with the hot cream. Add the pandan paste, vanilla paste, and salt.

Turn the heat back on. Stir and heat the cream until it reaches 140 degrees F. A good way to test if the cream is done is to coat the back of a spoon with the cream. Pull your finger through it and if the trail created by your finger doesn’t break, the cream is done. Pour the cream through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. The sieve will catch any egg or milk solids in the cream.

Cool the cream down completely. Cover and let it cool in the fridge for 6-8 hours. I like to do this overnight. The colder your cream is, the creamier your ice cream will be. Using an ice cream machine, churn for 10-15 minutes until the ice cream is the consistency of thick soft serve ice cream. Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and let it freeze overnight.

Tips on how to make the perfect pandan ice cream

Tempering your eggs is the key to success

Just like in creme brûlées, it is important to temper your eggs for the cream. Add 1/4 cup of hot cream to your egg and sugar mixture. Whisk until everything is well combined and no white streaks remain. Now, it is safe to add your egg mixture to the hot cream.

Make sure your cream is cold before churning

You will get better results if your cream is cold. Put your finished cream into the refrigerator for 6-8 hours to cool it down before adding it to the ice cream machine. This might seem like a lot, but the colder your ice cream base is, the creamier your ice cream will be.

Be careful not to over churn your ice cream

The maximum amount of time you should churn your ice cream is 20 minutes. The more you churn your ice cream, the harder it becomes. A done ice cream will have the consistency of something slightly harder than soft serve.

How do you store pandan ice cream?

This ice cream can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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