Creamy, nutty, sweet, and somewhat savory, this homemade Black Sesame Ice Cream has got it all! Enjoy the unique flavor of Japanese ice cream at home with my easy recipe.
Have you tried Japanese flavored ice creams such as Green Tea Ice Cream and Red Bean Ice Cream? I have another Japanese-flavored ice cream for you today, and it’s Black Sesame Ice Cream (黒ゴマのアイスクリーム).
Sesame seeds might seem unusual ice cream flavor, but for Japanese and Asian cuisine, black sesame flavor is commonly used in desserts.
Black Sesame Flavored Desserts
Popular desserts include black sesame macarons, purin (pudding), chiffon cake, mochi, bread, ice cream, and more. Chinese cuisine has black sesame sweet soup and mochi dumpling with black sesame filling. Black sesame is unique in the way it changes the dynamic of a dessert completely. Ordinary-looking desserts are transformed into a peculiar dark gray color, and it surprises you with a unique nutty toasty flavor.
Black Sesame Paste
One of the key ingredients for this black sesame ice cream is the black sesame paste. A jar of black sesame paste is sold at Japanese grocery stores or on Amazon.
With toasted black sesame seeds, you can make the paste yourself easily using a food processor.
Japanese Black Sesame Paste vs. Black Tahini
The black tahini is a common ingredient used in Middle Eastern cuisine. It is also called the sesame paste or sesame butter, but the difference is black tahini doesn’t require toasting the sesame seeds. After being pulverized into a paste, it is mixed with sesame oil and a little bit of salt.
For making Japanese sweets, you should be able to substitute with black tahini but bear in mind that it is unsweetened and may have a more pronounced bitter flavor. It is also more liquid because of the sesame oil. So you will want to add some honey and make any necessary adjustments if needed.
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Black Sesame Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp toasted black sesame seeds
- 1⅔ cups whole milk
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 3 Tbsp black sesame paste (or learn How to Make Black Sesame Paste from scratch)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 200 ml heavy (whipping) cream (¾ cup + 4 tsp)
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- If the black sesame seeds are not roasted yet, put the sesame in a (nonstick) frying pan over medium heat and stir until they start popping. They will release a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat and cool.
- Grind 2 Tbsp toasted black sesame seeds very finely.
- Whisk ⅓ cup sugar and 3 large egg yolks together until pale yellow.
- Add in 2 Tbsp honey, the ground black sesame seeds, and 3 Tbsp black sesame paste. Whisk until well combined.
- Microwave 1⅔ cups whole milk until hot throughout (or bring it to simmer in a small pot) and add to the sesame mixture in a slow stream. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mixture into the small pot. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and reaches around 176ºF (80ºC). Don’t exceed 181ºF (83ºC) since the egg yolk will cook. To avoid salmonella, the egg must be cooked for at least 1 minute over 167ºF (75ºC).
- Remove from heat and cool down the pot in a large bowl filled with iced water. Add 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
- Clean the stand mixer bowl and now whisk together 200 ml heavy (whipping) cream (¾ cup + 4 tsp) and ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt until peaks form.
- Add the whipped cream into the cooled sesame mixture.
- Fold in but do not overmix it. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.
- Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions (usually about 25 minutes). Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze it for several hours before serving.
- If you are not going to use an ice cream maker, then transfer the mixture to a container and put it in a freezer. Stir every few hours (3–4 times) to break up the ice crystals until it’s completely frozen.
Once again I am confused about the quantities. Naomi would you be so kind as to indicate weigh doses in grams rather than cups, Tbsp and tsp ? It is really hard to measure weight in volume units and, even harder to get the cup/tsp sets here in Italy. I would realy like to make this ice cream tomorrow, but I would also make sure it tastes the way it should.
Thanks in advance
Rita
Hi Rita! I’m currently traveling so I can’t measure it. Please use regular tbsp and tsp (to eat food) if you don’t have a regular measuring spoons. The latest recipes include grams but back then most of my readers were just Americans… 🙂
I like this Ice Cream Recipe
could you please let me know supplier / manufacturer of roasted black sesame & black sesame past and black sesame ripple sauce?
Best Regards
Nady Salah
Hi Nady! I don’t have the names with me, but you can find in Japanese grocery stores, Japanese online shops, and Amazon.
I have listed online shops here that might be helpful. (last category). 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/
Hey Nami,
I tried black sesame ice cream before in Japan, but it was made with soy milk. Would your recepie still work if I substituted the milk with soy milk?
Hi Adrian! That’s very unique! I think it’ll work, but I haven’t tried it before so I’m not sure if the ratio will be the same though… Try and let us know?
Hey Nami, best ice cream ever!
Lovely way of preparing such an unique taste. We changed some ingredients according to our own interest; like oat milk instead of cow milk and no extra honey for the mixture..
Our far away favorite recipe, very good result in the ice-cream machine.
Thank you and greetings from Belgium
Hi Can! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe with ingredients that you like. Awesome! Thanks so much for your kind feedback! Merry Christmas to you and your family! 🙂
I’m making this now. Hope it turns out! I love black sesame flavoured anything!
Hope you enjoy(ed) this recipe Blainie! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this. Every now and then I get a craving for Black Sesame Ice cream and never thought to make it…I just put peanut butter in vanilla ice cream and tried to get at the richness that way. Thank you for posting this. My kids and I will try it!
Hi KV! Hope you and your kids will enjoy this ice cream! 🙂
Hi, I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you for posting it. I’m just wondering whether it would be possible to use thick yoghurt instead of the heavy cream ?
Thank you.
Hi Chris! I’ve never tried making this with yogurt, but I’m afraid it may not work… If you ever tried it with yogurt and went well, please share it with us! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Could I just clarify what you mean by “200 ml (Take away 2 Tbsp. of 1 cup) heavy cream”? Do I use all 200 ml of the heavy cream or would I need to remove some of the cream?
THanks.
Hi YJ! It is 200ml. For those of you who need a cup measurement, I wrote “Take away 2 Tbsp. from 1 cup (which is about 200 ml)”. Sorry it was a bit confusing. 😀
Thanks, Nami!
I made the ice cream last night and tasted it this morning as I couldn’t wait for it to harden in the freezer! The ice cream tastes good though it’s a bit too sweet for my liking. Also, I used corn starch instead of eggs as I didn’t have a thermometer…and I learnt that I need to add in the corn starch when the milk is still cold, so that I wouldn’t get lumps in the mixture!
Sifting may help too! Hope you can adjust the sweetness next time to get perfect flavor for your taste. Thank you so much for writing feedback. 🙂
wow nice photos
I just made this tonight and we already ate half of it even if it wasnt that hard yet (just 1 hr in the freezer) because we couldnt wait :))) it smelled and tasted so good! I am making this again in the summer 🙂
Hi Lorely! Haha, I know, waiting is hard, especially when you make it at home! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, and thank you very much for writing your feedback!
I’ve made this ice cream twice. My mom requested this for desert for this Mother’s Day.
Instead of eggs, I substituted with cornstarch because I just don’t feel comfortable with the uncooked eggs.
Thank you for this great recipe. I have a feeling this is going to be a favorite when friends andfamily gathers a my place.
Hi Amanda! Thank you so much for writing your feedback. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and I’m glad to find out that it works without eggs. Thank you for trying this recipe! 🙂
Oh, I forgot to mention that I used your homemade black sesame paste instead of the store brought one. Homemade taste so much better than the store brought.
Thanks Amanda! It’s always nice to know we can make it from scratch rather than store bought which sometimes has preservatives and other unnecessary things. 🙂 Thank you once again! xo
Sorry to butt in, but how much cornstarch did you use? I’m not so sure about making it with eggs just yet.. Thank you!
I adore your blog, Nami 🙂 Inspires me to cook!
I used 4 Tablespoon of cornstarch. Add it to the milk and heat, stirring until the mixture thickens.
I agree. Nami inspires me to create in the kitchen. 🙂
Thanks so much for answering! And thank you for the kind words! xo
Hi! I tried both cornstarch/custard powder and egg method.. the taste is very different.. but texture seems the same.. the egg method seems to bring out the black sesame flavour and sweetness more but the cornstarch/custard seems to tame down the sweetness. But love this recipe.. its a winner for everyone!
Thank you for your feedback Stt! Many of my readers will appreciate it. Thank you!
Thanks Christine! I love that readers can talk to each other. 🙂
this sounds wonderful. would love to try it!
This recipe looks delicious and I’d like to try it. I was wondering if the ice-cream maker you used was one of the cheaper Cuisinart type $50-60 models or one of those expensive $400 ice cream makers. Do you think that the difference in price makes a difference in the quality of the finished product.
Hi Cheryl,
No, I don’t have such expensive ice cream maker. 🙂 Mine is this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KYSLMW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003KYSLMW&linkCode=as2&tag=jusonecoo-20
I don’t think it makes a huge difference. I really like mine and enjoyed using it. 🙂
Ohhh Nami, thank you thank you thank you!!! Love this post! Love your blog!
Thank you so much Dewi! 🙂
Nami-san!
I love your recipes, and they always turn out perfectly 🙂
I loved your kurogoma ice cream, and I also made a variation with kinako as well.
Thank you for the wonderful recipes!
Hi Aya-san! Thank you for trying this recipe and I’m glad it went well! Kinako version sounds delicious too! I’m happy to hear you enjoy my recipes. Thank you for taking time to write your feedback. 🙂