Rum raisin ice cream at home
Rum raisin is vanilla or custard ice cream studded with plump raisins soaked in rum, boozy, fruity and rich.
Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. What the badge means
Rum raisin is vanilla or custard ice cream with plump raisins soaked in rum. It sits in the regional and international section of our flavor library.
It is hard to find, so this page covers what it tastes like, how to make rum raisin ice cream at home, what to serve with it, how common it is in U.S. surveys and what the nutrition figures show.
What rum raisin tastes like
Rum raisin tastes boozy, fruity and rich. The base is vanilla or custard ice cream, so the background is creamy and mellow. It's a good match for the warm notes of rum.
The raisins are the star. They soak in rum until they turn plump and soft, and each one carries a little of that rum flavor into the scoop. You get smooth ice cream with chewy bits of fruit in every bite.
The color follows the base: pale cream for a vanilla base, a little deeper yellow for a custard base made with egg yolks. The dark raisins show up as small spots through the ice cream.
Where rum raisin comes from
The sources we use do not record who first made rum raisin or when.
What we can say is how the raisins get into the ice cream. In factory ice cream, pieces such as fruit, nuts, candy and cookies go in as the ice cream leaves the freezer. At that point about half of its water is frozen, and it is about as soft as soft serve, according to H. Douglas Goff’s Ice Cream Technology e-Book from the University of Guelph.
That is why home cooks fold rum-soaked raisins in at the end of churning. The ice cream is firm enough to hold the fruit in place, so the raisins spread through the batch instead of sinking. Drain them well first, since alcohol keeps ice cream softer.
How to make rum raisin at home
For rum raisin, use a French custard base, made with egg yolks. The Base Builder sets that style up for you and sizes it to your machine, in grams and cups. A Philadelphia base, with no eggs, also works. The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
Soak the raisins in rum for a few hours or overnight, then drain them well. Fold them in at the end of churning. Alcohol keeps ice cream softer, so add only a little of the soaking rum, if any. Factories add pieces like fruit as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve, and that is why home cooks add them at the end of churning.
If you already have a rum raisin recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.
Base formula
Open the Base Builder: French custard (egg yolks)
Other styles that suit it: Philadelphia (no eggs)
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
What to serve with rum raisin
Rum raisin goes well with warm gingerbread. The spice and the warm cake bring out the rum and the fruit, and the ice cream melts into the cake. Sliced bananas are another good match, on the side or under the scoop. A cup of coffee works too: the bitter, roasted flavor balances the rich custard and sweet raisins. Serve it after a holiday meal or alongside any spiced dessert.
- warm gingerbread
- bananas
- coffee
How common rum raisin is
Our badge for rum raisin is a waxing crescent, 2 of 5, labeled "Hard to find": look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. The badge shows how easy it is to find, not how much people like it.
In IDFA's April 2026 survey of 2,205 U.S. adults, rum raisin ranked 37th of 40, with 2% picking it as one of up to five favorites. In the same survey, 0% named it their single favorite. In IDFA's April 2024 survey of 2,203 U.S. adults, it ranked 35th of 40, with 3% picking it as one of up to five favorites.
How it ranks in surveys and order data
| Survey | Result |
|---|---|
| IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 points | Ranked 37th of 40: 2% picked it as one of up to five favorites |
| IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 points | 0% named it their single favorite |
| IDFA survey, April 20242,203 U.S. adults, online, April 16-18, 2024, margin of error +/-2 points | Ranked 35th of 40: 3% picked it as one of up to five favorites |
- Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
- Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
- Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
- Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
- Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.
Nutrition, roughly
FoodData Central has no record for rum raisin itself, so these figures are for a plain vanilla base, not this flavor. Regular vanilla has 207 kcal, 11 g fat and 21.2 g sugars per 100 grams. A 1/2 cup (66 g) portion has about 137 kcal. Rich vanilla has 249 kcal and 16.2 g fat per 100 grams. Raisins, rum and sweeteners change the numbers.
Nutrition per 100 grams
| FoodData Central record | Calories | Fat | Saturated fat | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat | 207 kcal | 11 g | 6.79 g | 21.2 g | 3.5 g |
| Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 | 249 kcal | 16.2 g | 10.30 g | 20.6 g | 3.5 g |
FoodData Central has no record for rum raisin itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.
Questions people ask
What base should I use for rum raisin ice cream?
Use a French custard base made with egg yolks. The Base Builder sets up that style for you. A Philadelphia base with no eggs also works if you prefer a lighter ice cream without yolks.
When do I add the rum-soaked raisins?
Fold them in at the end of churning. By then the ice cream is about as soft as soft serve, which is when factories add pieces like fruit. Drain the raisins well before you add them.
Can I pour the soaking rum into the ice cream?
Use only a little. Alcohol keeps ice cream softer, so too much rum can leave it too soft to scoop. Drain the raisins well and add just a small splash of the soaking rum, if any.
How long should raisins soak in rum?
Soak them for a few hours or overnight. That gives them time to plump up and take on the rum flavor. Drain them well before you fold them into the churned ice cream.
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Plan and make it with these
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Recipe Scaler and Converter
Ice cream recipe converter: cups to grams
Scale an ice cream recipe by a factor, a batch volume or your machine, and see every line in grams and cups.
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Scoop size chart
Ice cream scoop sizes and the disher number chart
The number stamped on an ice cream scoop tells you how many level scoopfuls fill one quart, so a #8 holds 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) and a #16 holds 2.
Sources
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice cream preferences of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 7 to 9, 2026) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
- Ice cream survey of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 16 to 18, 2024) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
- Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
- Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.