Gelato Siciliano Recipe

From my own long running quest to find an authentic gelato recipe that works. I am shooting for a great vanilla gelato base that I can drizzle melted chocolate into for a real-deal stracciatella (chocolate chip gelato).

Making a few slight changes from previous attempts, I ended up with a wonderfully creamy, near perfect quart of gelato. Here's how:

I simmered 3 cups of whole milk in a small saucepan with a vanilla bean. I pulled the vanilla bean out of a batch of homemade vanilla extract that has been brewing for well over a year. The bean was nice and supple with lots of little vanilla bean flecks waiting to be squeezed out into the pot of milk.

In a large glass measuring cup I poured one more cup of milk, and then added 1 cup of sugar, and 3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of corn starch, and mixed that all up. My last attempt, I used 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, and I don't think the mixture thickened up enough.

As my milk started to simmer, I took it off the heat, and poured the cornstarch mix into the saucepan with the milk and vanilla bean (stirring the whole time). Placed it back on the low-med heat, and stirred, and stirred, and stirred, until things thickened up, about 10-12 minutes. It ended up being thicker than, say, a runny milkshake---but thinner than a super frosty one.

I poured it though a strainer into a mixing bowl, let it cool off on the counter for 20 minutes or so, and then into the fridge for a couple hours, until it was completely chilled. Don't skimp here, this is another place I've run into trouble in the past.

Also, take care that your ice-cream maker itself is well prepped. Make sure it has been in the freezer for as long as possible, at least over night.

For the chocolate 'chips'....I threw a few chunks of bittersweet chocolate into a small saucepan over low heat---just until the chocolate starts to melt. Kept stirring it. Turned off the heat, and let it cool a bit. I then drizzled it into the churning ice-cream maker after the gelato really started to thicken up. Do it right, and you'll get nice chunks of chocolate all throughout your gelato.

101 Cookbooks Membership

Premium Ad-Free membership includes:
-Ad-free content
-Print-friendly recipes
-Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection PDF
-Weeknight Express recipe collection PDF
-Surprise bonuses throughout the year

spice herb flower zest
weeknight express
Available!
weeknight express
101cookbooks social icon
Join my newsletter!
Weekly recipes and inspirations.

More Recipes

101cookbooks social icon
Join my newsletter!
Weekly recipes and inspirations.

Popular Ingredients

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of its User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

101 Cookbooks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Any clickable link to amazon.com on the site is an affiliate link.