Stracciatella Gelato

Stracciatella is probably one of the most traditional and popular Italian gelato flavors. It has a smooth and creamy texture and the lightly scented vanilla together with the chocolate flakes is just heaven. And now you can make it at home!

Stracciatella Gelato

As said, Stracciatella is one of the most popular gelato flavors in Italy – actually, I will go as far as saying in the world. I have never come across a gelateria not selling Straciatella, that is unless it was sold out of course.

This gelato was originally created in Bergamo in northern Italy back in the 60ties and was an inspiration from Stracciatella soup.

Some say that Stracciatella gelato is like American chocolate chip ice cream, which it is…but it’s really not!

You see, instead of the chocolate chunks, in Stracciatella you find these fine flakes of chocolate throughout the ice cream. Normally you achieve this by adding a thin stream of melted chocolate into the ice cream during the last minutes of churning. But today I’ll show you another great way to get a similar result.

How to make Stracciatella Gelato

Make egg mixture – Mix the egg yolks and around 1/3 of the sugar together in a small bowl. Give it a good beating so you end up with a light yellow and airy mixture.

Heat the cream – Take a saucepan and add the cream, milk, remaining sugar, skimmed milk powder, and salt. Put it on middle heat and slowly whisk everything together. Keep whisking until the sugar, milk powder, and salt are completely dissolved.

Temper the eggs – When the cream mix starts to simmer, add around 1/4 of the heated cream into the eggs mixture. I always use a big ladle for this. While adding the cream, keep whisking all the time, so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.

Cook the whole mixture – Add the tempered eggs back in the saucepan and heat up the whole mixture. Again – we don’t want it to boil just simmer, so use medium heat and take the time. Keep whisking!

It’s ready – To find out if your mixture is ready, do the following: Coat the back of a wooden spoon and trace a line across it with your fingertip. If the line remains visible, your mixture is done; if it doesn’t, cook it a bit longer.

Cool down and add vanilla – Once the mixture is ready you want to cool it down to room temperature as fast as possible to avoid any further cooking. I always do this by filling my sink with cold water, pour the mixture into a bowl and place it in water. Keep stirring it around until it has cooled down. Now add the vanilla extract to your mixture and place it in your refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight.

Churn ice cream – Add your mixture to your ice cream maker and churn it.

Chocolate flakes – Melt your chocolate and spread a thin layer on a piece of baking paper. Put it in your freezer until completely hard again. Then take it out, fold the paper like a snowball and gently cross the chocolate into small pieces. Put everything back in the freezer until the ice cream is ready.

Ice cream is ready – Once the ice cream is finished churning, add it to a container and place it in your freezer for 45 minutes. After this, gently stir in the chocolate flakes in the ice cream, using a spoon, and place it back in the freezer until firm.

Now make yourself a nice scoop of Straciatella. Enjoy!