Pistachio Pudding Ice Cream

This sweet Pistachio Pudding Ice Cream has a nice soft pudding like flavor and consistency, with a super pretty green color. And, this no cook ice cream is easy to make.

If you love making homemade ice cream as much as I do, you’ll definitely want to some of my favorites! Check out the recipes for Salted Caramel Ice Cream, Peach Ice Cream, Pineapple Macadamia Nut Ice Cream, and Coconut Custard Ice Cream. These are sure to become your favorite dessert recipes!

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Homemade pistachio ice cream

One of my favorite frozen treats is pistachio gelato. I love to get a little scoop full when we go out for special summer treats.

And, you know I love to make my own ice creams. So, of course, I decided to try my hand at homemade pistachio ice cream.

After discussing how to get that perfect pistachio flavor, we remembered instant pistachio pudding. So, I set about creating a fun ice cream based on the instant stuff.

I read several recipes the called for almond flavor, or chopped almonds. But, that’s almond ice cream, not pistachio. And, for the record, that box of pistachio pudding actually has almonds in it as well.

Well, the first batch I made was a custard based ice cream. And, it was good. But we thought we could do better.

And, we did! This one is super easy to make. No cooking required. And, though I didn’t try it, I’d be willing to bet you could make this as a no churn ice cream as well. Simply take the batch, place it in the freezer, stir a few times, and after a few hours have a great ice cream. But, like I said, I didn’t try it … yet!

Since this Pistachio Pudding Ice Cream is made with instant pudding mix, it takes a little while to set up in the freezer. I found I liked the texture after it froze overnight. So, if you can, wait a little while to eat it. It’s very soft if you eat it right away.

But, man is it good. Salty pistachios. Sweet pudding. All in a lovely ice cream.

Chopped pistachios

For heaven’s sake, buy the already shelled pistachios for this. If you want to sit around and shell ½ cup of pistachios, your little fingers will hurt something awful. So, save your skin, and just buy a bag of shelled pistachios. It may cost a little more, but you’ll get so much more enjoyment out of it.

And, the rest of the bag of pistachios can be used as garnish, or just to snack on!

They are healthy little nuts, after all. Does that make this ice cream healthy? Um, probably not.

To chop the pistachios, I tried a couple different methods.

Pistachios can be quickly chopped in a food processor. This will result in a bit of a finer texture to the chop. It makes for a lovely chopped pistachio filled ice cream.

Alternatively, you can chop the pistachios using a knife on a cutting board. You’ll probably get a bit of a larger chunk doing the chopping by hand.

Both ways are great. They will give a little bit of a different texture to the ice cream, so see which one you like better.

Adding the nuts to the ice cream

You don’t want to add too many of the nuts directly to the ice cream machine while it’s mixing. The nuts could get stuck on the blade, and damage the delicate inside of the machine.

To add the chopped pistachios to the ice cream, I recommend the layer and swirl method. Remove about half of the finished soft ice cream from the machine, and spoon it into a freezer safe container. Remember my favorite container is this insulated ice cream tub.

Sprinkle the ice cream with about half of the chopped nuts. Repeat, making layers with the remaining ice cream and nuts. Place the layered ice cream in the freezer to firm it up before serving. As you scoop, the nuts will get mixed in.

That’s my favorite ice cream tub (in the picture above).

It’s insulated, so it keeps the ice cream at a good texture. And the long shape makes it easy to scoop pretty scoops of ice cream. It has a nice non-slip base which helps steady the container while you scoop the ice cream.

Kitchen equipment you may need for this recipe

Note: these are affiliate links

Ice cream machine
Whisk
Vanilla extract
Mixing bowls (I love using a batter bowl for easy pouring into the ice cream machine)
Insulated freezer safe container
Ice Cream Scoop

Pistachio Pudding Ice Cream Recipe