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Rich and creamy homemade strawberry ice cream with real strawberry flavor! You’ve asked and we are answering!
I’m actually not an obsessed ice cream fan like Cade is (I’m more of a strawberry shortcake kinda gal!), but I’m learning that really good ice cream, especially on a crazy hot day (cue summer 2021) is exactly what the doctor ordered. Sadly, I’ve never found a strawberry ice cream recipe I’m 100% obsessed with. The strawberries were always too icy and the flavor was lacking.
Table of Contents
- The Best Ice Cream Maker
- Ingredients for Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
- How to Make Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
- Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?
- Can I Use Other Berries?
- Substitute for Vanilla Beans
- How Much Ice Cream Does This Recipe Make?
- How to Store Homemade Ice Cream?
- More Ice Cream Recipes You’re Sure to Love:
- Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
I’ve tried everything, jams, puree, syrups, Nestle powder and no, I’m not kidding. I’ve even just macerated or cooked strawberries and dumped those in but everything fell flat. The taste was sort of there, but the water content ruined everything.
And then freeze dried strawberries popped into my mind! Just like we use in our strawberry cookies!
And the rest was history. It absolutely is a game changer. All that fresh strawberry flavor, but not a single icy, bland berry!!
The Best Ice Cream Maker
You absolutely have to use this ice cream maker and these containers. I think it’s a tad annoying to freeze the bowl but it’s the only ice cream maker we’ve found that the bowl stays frozen, the buttons allow you to choose what you’re making, a timer goes off when it’s done AND the top closes to keep the cold air in and extra air out thus creating a thicker, creamier ice cream.
Speaking of creamy texture, egg yolks are the only way. Check out our other ice cream recipes and you’ll see that it’s the absolute most important ingredient to make a thick, creamy and rich consistency for that custard base.
Ingredients for Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
It doesn’t take many ingredients at all! Here is your grocery list:
- Heavy Cream
- Half and Half
- Vanilla Bean Pods
- Sugar
- Egg Yolks
- Freeze Dried Strawberries
Sometimes freeze dried strawberries are a little tricky to find. I’ve had the most luck finding them in the snack section or the healthy food section at the grocery store. I actually just saw some at the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago. Blew my mind but I snatched those babies up!
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
You won’t believe how simple it is to make homemade ice cream. Here are the basic steps:
- Heat: Combine all the ingredients except the eggs and strawberries to a saucepan over medium low heat. Heat the mixture just until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Then remove the pan from the heat.
- Whisk: Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until they become pale yellow.
- Blend: Add some of the strawberries to a blender and blend until they are powder.
- Temper: Remove a few tablespoons (5ish) of the hot cream mixture and add it to the eggs one tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly.
- PRO TIP: This slowly warms up the eggs without scrambling them. We don’t want that! This process is called tempering.
- Combine: Then slowly add the egg mixture into the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly still, and return the saucepan to the stove over medium low heat.
- Whisk: Add the strawberry powder and whisk vigorously to combine everything.
- PRO TIP: If you aren’t happy with the color, you could add a couple drops of red food coloring for a brighter pink color. I haven’t felt like it ever needed it though.
- Stir: Crumble up the remaining strawberries and add them as well. Stir constantly until thickened.
- Chill: Remove from the heat and chill in the refrigerator until completely cool.
- Add: Add the mixture in your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions for your ice cream freezer.
- Freeze: Scoop into an ice cream container and then place it in the freezer for several hours. Serve and enjoy!
All of these instructions can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?
Yes, but I don’t recommend it. The water and juices in the strawberries (frozen or fresh) makes the ice cream come out icier than I like. But if you can’t find the freeze dried strawberries, fresh or frozen could be used.
Can I Use Other Berries?
You can definitely use any freeze dried fruits you can find! Raspberries are also fabulous!
Substitute for Vanilla Beans
If you don’t have vanilla beans, or simply don’t want to buy them, use vanilla extract as a substitute. 1/2 to 1 teaspoon will work great!
How Much Ice Cream Does This Recipe Make?
This recipe makes about 8 servings about 1/2-3/4 cups each. Perfect for dessert for the whole fam!
How to Store Homemade Ice Cream?
We are totally sold on these ice cream containers. They make scooping so easy and they are airtight which keeps the ice cream nice and fresh. It keeps in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
This is the best, creamiest, and most flavorful strawberry ice cream you will ever have. It will make an obsessed ice cream fanatic out of anyone! Homemade ice cream with real strawberry flavor just doesn’t get any better than this! This is the best strawberry ice cream recipe out there!
More Ice Cream Recipes You’re Sure to Love:
- Biscoff Cookie Butter Ice Cream
- Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
- Berries and Cream Ice Cream
- Lemon Curd Frozen Custard
- Key Lime Pie Milkshake
- Cookies and Cream Frozen Custard
- Copycat Pinkberry Chocolate Crunch Sauce
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches dipped in Milk Chocolate
- Apple Pie Fried Ice Cream Cake
- Loaded Salted Pretzel Ice Cream Sundae
- Mint Chocolate Stracciatella Ice Cream
- Nutella Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- All our ICE CREAM RECIPES here!
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1 Cup Half and Half
- 1 1/2 Vanilla Bean Pods, scrapped (discard the pods and only use the insides)
- 1 1/4 Cups Sugar
- 6 Large Egg Yolks
- 2 1/2 Cups Freeze Dried Strawberries, divided
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium low heat, combine the heavy cream, half and half, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds. Stir occasionally, heating the mixture until bubbles form around the edges. Remove from heat.2 Cups Heavy Cream, 1 Cup Half and Half, 1 1/2 Vanilla Bean Pods, 1 1/4 Cups Sugar
- Meanwhile, whisk 6 egg yolks together, vigorously until pale yellow. Set aside.6 Large Egg Yolks
- Add 2 cups of the freeze dried strawberries to a blender and blend until it is a powder, set aside.2 1/2 Cups Freeze Dried Strawberries
- After you have removed the cream mixture from heat, remove a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture from the pan, and slowly, whisking constantly, pour the hot cream mixture into the eggs. Do not add the eggs straight or they will scramble at the bottom.
- Once you have added about 5 tablespoons of the hot mixture return the pan with the cream mixture to medium-low heat and slowly whisk in the entire egg mixture.
- Add the strawberry powder, whisking vigorously to combine and then crumble up the remaining strawberries into the pan as well, stir to mix. Heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (*see note). Don't cook hotter than 160 degrees.
- Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator (for several hours or overnight). Once the mixture is chilled freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions (a 4-5 quart machine).
- Scoop into an ice cream container and freeze for at least four hours before serving.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I bought some fresh strawberries as the final touch. It sounds like I should stir them in after the ice cream is set, just before I freeze it. I’m wondering if the newly frozen strawberries will give off too much water while served. Maybe sprinkling some sugar on them to spark their flavor.
Hi Linda! You can definitely sprinkle a little sugar on them and let them macerate for a little while before adding them to the ice cream. I would honestly just sprinkle over the top of each serving when you serve it. Freezing them into the ice cream will change the texture of the ice cream and make it more icy.
I have one of those ice cream makers, and it’s amazing!! Especially in the winter when you don’t want to deal with the ice and salt inside! We have an extra freezer in the garage so we always keep the inside container in the freezer so it’s ready to go anytime!! The whisked egg yolk is definitely the secret to the creamiest ice cream! I can’t wait to try this one!
Yay! We would love to hear what you think!
Made this today and it was delicious! I also had a tough time getting the powdered strawberries to incorporate and had to use an immersion blender. It seems it would be easier to incorporate with the cream and half and half at the beginning before heating (as is done with cocoa, which is also hard to incorporate). Did you experiment with adding it at the beginning, and did it fail in some way?
Thanks for the support! I haven’t experimented with that but I should! I love the idea!
I did it today and it worked perfectly. I added it to the cream only in the pan, whisked well until blended (which took no time at all), added milk, sugar, etc., and proceeded with the rest of the instructions. Hope this is helpful!
That’s perfect! Thank you so much for the feedback!
I tried this & it was not a good result. The powder balled into globs until I dispersed with a mixer. I added the larger pieces later, but they were broken up & dispersed by the freezer’s action. I can’t see how to get the nice large pieces of berries in your picture.
Hi Roger! The large chunks of strawberries were added after the ice cream was frozen just for aesthetic purposes for photographing. Let me know if you have any other questions I can help with!
Sounds like a wonderful recipe. Fried dried strawberries are very expensive, at least where I live. Can you use fresh? If so, how many fresh strawberries and would the sugar remain the same?
Hi Susan! Yes, the flavor won’t quite be the same and the texture will be icier. The sugar shouldn’t change.
This uses 1 ¼ cups of sugar, five times more than your other ice creams. Is that because the powder is kind of tart? I worry it will be too sweet. I have everything ready to go, so I hope you have a chance to reply.
This uses 1 ¼ of sugar, five times more than your other ice creams. Is that because the powder is kind of tart? I worry it will be too sweet. I have everything ready to go, so I hope you have a chance to reply.
Hi Ellen! Yes, the amount of sugar largely depends on the add-ins being added. The freeze dried strawberries are quite tart. A lot of our other ice cream recipes also have 1 1/4 cups of sugar (aka…Berries and Cream and Biscoff). You can definitely reduce the amount of sugar if you are worried about the sweetness.
You say in the ingredient list to discard the vanilla bean pods, but in the instructions you say to add the pod and seeds to the cream mixture in the saucepan. Do you add the pods and remove them later?
Hi Susan! Sorry for the confusion and for the delay! You scrape the vanilla pods and discard the pods, using only the seeds. I’ve clarified that in the recipe card. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
My family (not me!) doesn’t like custard. How do I go about making this ice cream without using the egg yolks? Thanks for your help! 💜
This honestly doesn’t taste custard-y at all! The egg just makes it super creamy delicious!
I never thought of using freezedried! That’s phenomenal! My biggest problem now is my hubbie is lactose intolerant! Any ideas?
Oh shoot! I haven’t worked with lactose free milks to know what would work. I’m so sorry!