Homemade Maple Bacon Ice Cream

Creamy maple bacon ice cream has that sweet and salty combination we have all come to love. It’s reminiscent of breakfast but in a creamy scoopable dessert. Serve it with waffles for an extra fun treat!

Fresh sweet maple syrup and salty savory bacon come together in this unique ice cream recipe. The combination really works to make a tasty frozen confection.

It is great served on its own. Or top it with some crumbled bacon.

Candied bacon would be a great topper as well, or a drizzle of maple syrup. Or serve a scoop on top of a waffle (with more bacon and syrup of course) for a memorable waffle sundae.

MiMi originally developed and shared this recipe with us back in 2015. As this year’s maple seaon wrapped up, it seemed like putting some of that delicious sap into ice cream was in order.

So we dug out this recipe and whipped up a batch. It is definitely a fun one!

Maple Syrup

Using a mix of brown sugar and maple syrup to sweeten this ice cream gives it great depth of flavor. Both add that bit of warmth in addition to sweetness.

We added a bit of maple flavoring to the mix to make sure the flavor was pronounced, but it os not completely necessary. You could add a little vanilla or just leave the extract out entirely if you would like.

My father-in-law started making maple syrup several years ago. The last few years my parents and brothers have harvested maple sap as well.

It is definitely a labor of love harvesting all of that sap and boiling it down into what we know as syrup. I made a quick YouTube video showing the steps to make maple syrup if you are interested.

All of that to say we appreciate our maple syrup more now that we know how it’s made. It is definitely good to the very last drop!

Of course you can leave the bacon out of this recipe and just make maple ice cream if that is your preference. Either way, it is bound to be good.

The Bacon

Adding bacon bits to the ice cream is a fun way to add a bit of smoky salty savoryness to the mix. It adds a bit of texture too.

You want to make sure to cook your bacon on the crispier side. Then chop it pretty fine.

The ice cream is better with little flecks throughout rather than having bigger chunks of frozen bacon fat. The texture and flavor is better if you take the time to get the bacon right.

Why are there eggs in homemade ice cream?

The eggs do a few things to help your final ice cream’s texture. The eggs work as an emulsifier, which helps to keep the mixture homogeneous instead of the cream rising to the top.

Plus the egg yolks help to add a richness to the ice cream. They help to get that extra creamy texture.

We usually use super fresh eggs from my parents’ chickens and we have never had an issue. However using pasteurized eggs is the safest way to include the eggs.

You could leave the eggs out entirely, but it will change the texture of the ice cream. It will still taste amazing, it just won’t have quite the same mouthfeel.

You could also cook your base like a custard and then chill it before you add it to your ice cream maker. Do whatever you are most comfortable with.

Mimi’s original post from 2015

For family dinner this week we had breakfast for dinner. I made breakfast patty melts.

Family dinners always include dessert. I wanted to make a dessert that had breakfast flavors but I have been on an ice cream making kick.

It seems homemade ice cream is a family favorite. That’s when I came up with the idea of making a maple and bacon flavored ice cream.

I love these two ingredients together. I adjusted my vanilla ice cream recipe in a way I thought would be good and was pleased when it worked out. This makes a nice smooth ice cream.

If you like this recipe, you are going to love MiMi’s honey maple pecan pie. It uses our two favorite sweeteners to make a classic pecan pie without the corn syrup.

More great homemade ice cream recipes

Peanut butter banana ice cream is super creamy and delicious. The flavor combination of peanut butter, honey and bananas is a classic for good reason. It’s that sweet, salty depth of flavor that draws you in. 

Monster cookie ice cream is peanut butter cookie dough ice cream base loaded with bits of frozen monster cookie dough. Your taste buds will be screaming for more ice cream!

Pink velvet ice cream is a creamy delicious lightly chocolate ice cream with a swirl of cream cheese frosting. If you like red velvet cake you are going to love this pink velvet ice cream.

Did you make this great recipe? Please leave a review in the recipe card below!