Vanilla goat milk ice cream. Custard style. No cow milk used.

These vanilla and chocolate goat milk ice cream bases are luscious on their own, and can be dressed up with your favorite add-ins. Both are a smooth and creamy custard style, so they’re a great way to use eggs and goat milk from local farms or from your own backyard.

A billy goat shares a pasture with a flock of sheep at a small farm in Massachusetts.

The hard part of making goat milk ice cream without any cow milk products, is the cream. Goat milk is naturally homogenized, so you need either a cream separator, or the patience for a slow, natural separation process, and a low yield. I’ve got neither the mechanical separator nor the patience, so I don’t use cream.

Instead, I add goat cheese and powdered goat milk, to increase the fat and protein content of whole goat milk. And, of course the eggs add velvety smoothness when cooked with the milk into a custard.

To make it even richer, you could use 6 yolks instead of 3 whole eggs, but I don’t like to develop recipes with just yolks, for fear of encouraging waste of the whites. (An exception is my Chocolate Goat Milk Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe, in which I the yolks in the ice cream and the whites in the cookies.) And this recipe makes quite a rich ice cream as written. All in all, it makes a very “creamy” all-goat milk ice cream, using readily available ingredients.

I’ve tested both of these recipes with Meyenberg whole goat milk, to make sure that the flavor is good with ingredients that are available to most people. And it’s not just “good”, it’s decadent. But if you’ve got your own goats or a local source, all the better.

The smoothest texture is achieved by using an ice cream maker. I swear by my Cuisinart, which I have been using for over a decade. I also love our zeroll scoop (comes in several sizes), and, for toting homemade ice cream to parties, these quart sized paper containers:

Add-ins

Each recipe makes a little less than a quart, so be careful not to go overboard with additions. About 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, crumbled cookies, chopped cookie dough, or chocolate chips is enough. For homemade chocolate chips that are pleasantly crunchy but not jaw-breaking, see my recipe for “soft chocolate chips” on this page.

Vanilla goat milk ice cream

Yield: a bit more than 3 cups

• 3 large, whole eggs
• 2 oz. fresh goat cheese (chevre) – a smooth and spreadable kind works better than a crumbly cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp dry, full fat goat milk powder, such as Meyenberg Whole Powdered Goat Milk, Vitamin D, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 3)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups whole goat milk
• 1 tbsp tapioca syrup (may substitute with corn syrup, but NOT high fructose corn syrup)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate goat milk ice cream

Chocolate goat milk ice cream with walnuts. An all goat milk, custard style ice cream.

Yield: About 3 and 1/4 cups

• 3 large, whole eggs
• 2 oz. fresh goat cheese (chevre) – a smooth and spreadable kind works better than a crumbly cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder (choose a brand you know you like; flavor varies substantially from brand to brand)
• 6 tbsp full fat, dry goat milk powder
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 2 cups whole goat milk
• 2 tbsp tapioca syrup (may substitute with corn syrup, but NOT high fructose corn syrup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

How to make goat milk ice cream

1. In a small-medium bowl, whisk eggs until yolks and whites are well combined. Set aside.
2. In a small-medium bowl, warm goat cheese until soft, and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. For chocolate ice cream only: Whisk dry ingredients in a small bowl, until mixture is free of lumps. Set aside.
4. Add the 2 cups of milk and tapioca syrup to a 3 or 4 quart saucepan, and heat over medium-high, stirring frequently, until it reaches a simmer.
5. Add dry ingredients to the hot milk, and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat.
6. Temper the eggs by drizzling a generous cup of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, while vigorously whisking the eggs.
7. Carefully pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the hot milk, while whisking the milk.
8. Cook over medium-low, stirring constantly (preferably with a heat proof spatula, but a spoon will do), scraping all portions of the bottom of the pan, until mixture thickens and reaches a temperature of 170-175 degrees F. It should be obviously thicker than uncooked milk, and should take 7-14 minutes. Remove from heat.
9. Gradually add some (about 1/2 to 1 cup) of the hot custard into the softened cheese, whisking after each addition until smooth.
10. Pour the cheese mixture into the saucepan, and whisk until combined.
11. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl.
12. Pre-cool in cold water bath for about 30 minutes, or place directly in refrigerator. Stir occasionally during first 30 minutes of cooling.
13. Cool completely, at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
14. Stir in vanilla extract, and churn in ice cream maker, such as Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic 1-1/2-Quart Ice Cream Maker, White according to manufacturer’s direction.
15. Transfer to a 1 quart freezer storage container, stirring in any desired additions as you do so.
16. Store in freezer.
17. Enjoy!

Have you made goat milk ice cream? I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to share your experiences, or just post a comment or question!

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