The Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
This really is The Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe around. It's super creamy and has tons of fresh strawberry flavor. What makes it the best strawberry ice cream? It's made with the ripest of strawberries and two secret ingredients. You will LOVE this iconic summer dessert!
I've been tinkering with this strawberry ice cream recipe ever since I first shared it with you back in 2012. It was good then, but it is great now.
When I say it's the best strawberry ice cream recipe, I mean it.
Strawberry ice cream can be a bit of a beast to master. It's often bland and can easily turn icy. THIS strawberry ice cream recipe is neither of those things. It's full of fresh strawberry flavor and super creamy.
There are three things you need to master strawberry ice cream
The first thing you need is the ripest strawberries. How do you know they're ripe? You should be able to smell them from across the room, they should taste as sweet as candy, and they should be pink (not white) when you cut them in half. Farmers' markets are a great place to find ripe strawberries.
If you're making this in the fall or winter, make sure to use frozen strawberries that have been picked in season.
The other two things you need? Read on and I'll tell you all about them in the recipe …
The second thing that you need to make the best strawberry ice cream is high fat content.
To accomplish this, we add coconut oil to the recipe. It makes it super creamy.
What kind of coconut oil works best?
You'll want to use refined coconut oil in this recipe. Unrefined coconut oil will give the ice cream a coconut-y taste and can make it a little gritty.
Opt for refined coconut oil!
Ready for the last trick to making the best strawberry ice cream?
Add some vodka.
If you've ever stored hard alcohol in the freezer, you'll know that it doesn't freeze. That's exactly why we want it in this recipe.
Adding a small amount of vodka (don't worry, you won't taste it) helps keep the ice cream soft and prevents it from becoming icy.
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The Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
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Prep Time: 10 mins -
Cook Time: 20 mins
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Total Time: 30 mins
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Yield: 4 cups 1x
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Category: Dessert
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Method: Ice Cream Maker
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Cuisine: North American
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
Cuisine:Description
This really is The Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe around. It's super creamy and has tons of fresh strawberry flavor. What makes it the best strawberry ice cream? It's made with the ripest of strawberries and two secret ingredients. You will LOVE this iconic summer dessert!
Ingredients
- 4 cups finely chopped strawberries (see notes)
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
- A pinch of sea salt
- 1 cup whipping cream
- Optional, but recommended: 2 tablespoons vodka
Instructions
- Place the strawberries and 3/4 cup sugar in a medium-sized pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, give the pot a stir and reduce the heat to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool slightly. Pour about half the strawberries into a blender and blend on high until smooth. Add the pureed and chopped strawberries into a bowl together and place them in your fridge to cool.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.
- Heat the whole milk and coconut oil in a small pot over medium-high heat until steam rises from the pot. Add the vanilla and pinch of sea salt. Whisk some of the hot milk into the egg yolks to temper them, then add the egg yolks to the pot of hot milk. Place the pot over medium heat and, whisking constantly but slowly, bring the milk almost to a boil. You want the custard to thicken to the point where it will coat the back of a spoon.
- Pour the custard into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve Make sure to use a sieve to filter out any little bits of cooked egg. Add the whipping cream, strawberries, and vodka to the bowl and whisk together well. Place the bowl into your fridge to let it cool completely, at least 4 hours.
- Once the strawberry ice cream custard is completely cold, process it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Transfer the strawberry ice cream to a freezer-proof dish and cover the top with parchment paper directly on the ice cream. Freeze until firm.
Notes
* Make sure to use ripe, in-season strawberries. If you are making this strawberry ice cream in the fall or winter it is best to use frozen strawberries.
* The coconut oil increases the fat content to make the ice cream creamier.
* The vodka prevents the ice cream from becoming icy.
* If you sprinkle fresh strawberries on top to make it look extra pretty (like I've done in the photos) they will be icy when you eat them.
I love this recipe. It’s become my go-to food gift this year. I was thinking of adapting it for cranberries, adding orange liqueur instead of vodka. Since cranberries are more tart than strawberries, how much sugar do you think I should add?
★★★★★
I think cranberry ice cream is a great idea! Since you’ll sweeten the cranberries in step 1, I would simply taste test until they are sweet enough. Maybe try adding 1 cup of sugar and then add more until it is nice and sweet. 🙂
This is by far my favorite ice cream recipe. It turns out perfect every time and is far better than any store bought strawberry ice cream. My question is, can I skip the strawberry part and just make it vanilla?
★★★★★
You could definitely use the base of this recipe and add any flavors you like. Vanilla would be dreamy!
Just added a hint of lemon juice before putting the mixture in the machine. Perfect! Thank you
★★★★★
This REALLY is the best strawberry ice cream ever!! Thank-you so much for sharing this with us. I gave this to a real strawberry ice cream connoisseur and he said it’s the best he’s ever tasted!!
Awww that is so great to hear! Hooray!
I have just given this amazing recipe a good try with refined coconut oil and vodka. I have no ice cream maker so I am just going to put it in the freezer and give it a stir every 30 mins for 1st 4 hours and maybe a stir every hour after that. Do you think that will suffice? Any tips for those without an ice cream maker please? My mum made ice cream when I was younger and she said she just gave it a stir half way through the freezing process and it was always creamy. That being said, her recipe was very different and involved egg whites beaten to soft peaks.
Just wondering, when you mentioned adding the cup of whipping cream, is that a cup of regular full milk cream that I whip to soft peaks, or a cup of dollop cream or something else? I’m in Australia so we don’t have ‘whipping cream’ here. Thanks in advance for your advice.
I think it should work well to freeze it as you’ve written. While I haven’t tried it with this recipe, I’ve done it with others in the past with success.
Whipping cream (sometimes called heavy cream) is 30-36% fat content and is what you use to whip into soft peaks. But instead of whipping it, just use the thick cream as is.
This is the best ice cream I have ever made!!! It is so creamy, my ice cream churn just kept going. I thought something was wrong. It came out ready to eat!!! I am going to try the same recipe with peaches next weekend!! The two secret ingredients really do make a difference! Thank you
★★★★★
The very best Strawberry Ice Cream. Wonderful with strawberry on top. Would tell everyone to make it.
★★★★★
I’ve been using this recipe for strawberries, blackberries, peaches and am thinking about trying figs! This is the best ice cream I’ve ever made so thank you! I would suggest one could dial back the sugar and it’s still amazing.
★★★★★