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!
Friends! Today is the 11th Throw Back Thursday. Where does the time go?
For the past (almost) year, I've been going through the archives on TEM to find the best recipes that are hidden away and have some pretty terrible photos attached to them. Once a month, I remake (and often rewrite) those recipes, retake the photos and reshare them with you. These #tbt posts have turned into some of my favorites.
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 are 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 …
{ps. I've hidden the original photos of this strawberry ice cream at the bottom of this post. You can see how the original strawberry ice cream recipe was a little icy. Not so anymore! }
Original post date: May 5th, 2012
It's my nephew's third birthday this weekend. THIRD! I know that people always say those cheesy things like, “they get big so fast.” But really, they get big so fast. He came down to spend the week with me a few weeks ago and was my partner in crime in the kitchen. His favorite ice cream is strawberry ice cream. I don't mind it, but he loves it.
I mean, he really loves it.
It was like magic for him. Hell, it's like magic for me. You pour milk into a pot, mix in some egg yolks, cook it till it forms a custard, mix in some strawberries, and then wait patiently for it to cool in the fridge. Then the real magic happens.
He helped me set up the ice cream maker, and pour in the custard then stood with his nose halfway inside the ice cream maker for the next half hour. Every two minutes he'd look up and exclaim, “Aunty Aunty look, we make ice cream!” Like magic happening before his eyes, the thin strawberry custard turned into one of his favorite things in the entire world. It's like alchemy.
Happy birthday little monkey!!
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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 + Freezing Time
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Yield: 4 cups 1x -
Category: Dessert -
Cuisine: American
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 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.
The original photos of this Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe:
This was my first ever try making ice cream! I just bought an ice cream maker from the 70s at Goodwill for a few dollars and had a lot of strawberries about to go bad, so I crossed my fingers and got down to it. It turned out great! After reading the other reviews, I decided to sub butter for coconut oil just in case the texture came out a little odd, and my final product is very creamy! I kept in the 2 tablespoons of vodka and did everything else to the letter, except that I only chilled the custard about 2-3 hours and made up for it by sticking the ice cream bucket and the churning tool in the freezer for a few hours before churning. I think it took my machine about 10-15 minutes to process this amount. It’s in the freezer going through the final freeze overnight because I got started late, but I had three of the people I live with taste test the “soft serve” stage when it came out of the maker and they all agreed it was wonderful. Thanks for helping to make my first ice cream adventure such a painless experience! 🙂
★★★★★
That’s so awesome, Emma!
This recipe worked out wonderfully! I was hesitant to put the coconut oil in to avoid the threat of a grainy consistency but it turned out perfect!
The alcohol was a great idea as it stays nice and creamy, which has been a real problem in the past.
I replaced all but 1/4 cup of the sugar with a combo of erythritol/monk fruit and it tasted just like the real thing!
Love it!
★★★★★
So happy to hear that you love the recipe, Deborah!
The way I read this recipe is to measure the strawberries after they are chopped, NOT to have 4 cups of strawberries then chop them, is this correct?
That’s right!
This was awesome! It did taste a little coconutty to me, I’m wondering if it is the type of coconut oil I used. Virgin unrefined
★★★★★
I use refined coconut oil which has very little flavor. 🙂
Don’t make this for a party 3 days ahead of time. it is so good that it will get eaten.
★★★★★
hahaha love it!
How many pints of strawberries would equal 4 cups finely chopped? And if they start out frozen, do you cook longer to reduce the water content?
You’ll need about 3 pints. If they are frozen when they go into the pot then they’ll need some extra time. Otherwise the same time works. 🙂
This is a great Recipe. Love the ice cream
Thanks, Hudspeth!
I am often disappointed in randomly searched for online recipes. However, this is seriously the best strawberry ice cream I have tried. Thanks for publishing it!
★★★★★
That’s wonderful, Jenny! Thank you for the comment!
Love the chunks of strawberries in this ice cream. I used lactose-free milk. I wish I could find a lactose-free heavy cream. I will definitely make it again and again. Easy and delicious!
★★★★★
So happy that you love the recipe, Sandy!
I have my own tried and true recipe for an ice cream base, but I hadn’t mastered strawberry yet. Your tips helped me finally get it right! I used 1T vodka and 1T strawberry extract instead of 2T vodka. And I used butter instead of coconut oil. But the strawberry puree made all the difference! It came out perfectly. I know I’ll use your recipe as a reference from now on and I’ll be using it often, because strawberry ice cream is my mother’s favorite!
★★★★★
That’s so awesome to hear! yay!!
I made this ice cream over the weekend with my kids to share the experience I had as a kid cranking the wooden bucket ice cream maker. It was a great family project but to my surprise, we made some amazing ice cream too. I got a text from my father in law (desert junkie) today that stated “ that was the best ice cream I’ve ever had”.
Thank you for posting this recipe! I will definitely be trying more.
★★★★★
Oh I remember those wooden crank buckets! Fun!!
Oh my gosh! It was definitely the best ice cream I’ve made at home! Please make more ice-cream recipes, will definitely be coming back to this website!
Oh yay! That’s wonderful to hear!
Great flavor! Can you tell me how long this will last in the freezer? Just made a batch as a gift but won’t be able to see the recipient for 2 weeks. I’ve had other homemade ice creams go funny (cheesy smell) after about 3 or 4 weeks.
★★★★★
It should last for 2 weeks. As with other homemade ice creams, the fresher the better. 🙂
Hello Kristen..this recipe looks cool..cant wait to try. What brand of ice cream maker do you have pictured in your blog? Thanks
I have a Cuisinart. It works great!
Can I use avocado oil or grape seed oil instead of the coconut oil because these are tasteless oils?
I haven’t tried it but they should both work fine. 🙂
Excellent!
★★★★★
Happy that you loved it!
Made this yesterday, added chopped up 70% dark chocolate, was AMAZING. thank you!
★★★★★
Chocolate makes everything better!!
We made this yesterday for Mother’s Day. It was a massive hit with everyone. We didn’t have enough ripe strawberries, so we used 1 cup strawberries and 3 cups of frozen blueberries. It was really delicious, super creamy and so flavorful . Thanks for a great recipe.
★★★★★
You are very welcome!!
Hi, can the mixture be left overnight or do I need to stay close to the 4 hrs chill time? Thanks!
Overnight is just fine!
Love this recipe. The vodka trick is genius. My question is about the coconut oil. I think it’s causing a grainy texture. When the mix was warm, the texture was great, but as soon as it was as chilled it seemed grainy. I thought maybe some egg didn’t get strained out. The flavor of the recipe was awesome, so that overshadowed any texture issues. The next week I made a dulce de leche ice cream. Used your coconut trick again and again had the texture issue. The next time, I made a banana pudding ice cream and I left out the coconut oil. This time, no graininess. The comment below about the freezing temperature of coconut oil being higher than milk fat made me think the texture issue could be related to that. Have you ever run into this issue before?
I’ve never had that happen to me before. That’s not to say that it isn’t the reason, but it just hasn’t happened to me.
I made it today and found it also to be grainy and it had too strong of a coconut taste. The vodka really helped the lack of a frozen consistency. I wish I hadn’t used the coconut oil.
★★★
I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t a success for you.
It looks delicious and can’t wait to make it. I have one question. We don’t drink alcohol, so can’t use the vodka. Is there another ingredient I can use so my ice cream doesn’t come icy?
I really would appreciate your wise input:)
★★★★
I would simply suggest not letting it sit in your freezer for too long. Which isn’t difficult as this ice cream is delicious. 🙂
I don’t have any vodka, would rum work the same?
The rum would add a different flavor so do keep that in mind. 🙂
The recipe says that the reason that the alcohol (vodka) is being added is to prevent the ice cream fro m becoming icy. Not sure why but my ice cream did come out icy. As far as I can tell, the vodka is not needed. I have made many ice creams and sometimes alcohol is added for flavor but it has never made the ice cream icy.
I would suggest leaving it out.
The strawberry taste was good and it was creamy.
★★★
I’m sorry to hear that the recipe wasn’t a hit for you.
My son’s fourth birthday is next week and he LOVES strawberry ice cream. Unfortunately strawberries aren’t in season yet and I don’t have any frozen (I will be more prepared next year!). I did, however, make the best low sugar strawberry jam with super ripe, amazingly flavorful Hood strawberries. Would it be possible to substitute jam..?
I’ve never tried it with jam but it just might work!
Great recipe 👌. You might want to add that if you cook the custard for too long it will separate. So it needs to be cooked only until it starts to thicken. This recipe is a keeper.
★★★★★
Happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
I think I did cook it too long. It went from velvety smooth to kind of grainy. Is it ruined or can I still safe it. Thanks.
It sounds like the eggs scrambled. It has happened to me before, too. The best thing to do is strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the grainy bits. Then you can move ahead with making the ice cream. 🙂
I loved it thank you
★★★★★
That makes me so happy to hear! Hooray!
11/07/2019
I found a recipe for strawberry ice cream years ago, and have been using it ever since. However, always on the lookout to update, I went looking for the “best strawberry ice cream”. I happened to click on yours, but with a few variations in measurements, and the fact that I don’t cook my strawberries, it was pretty much like mine.
However, I was intrigued by your “notes” for the coconut oil and vodka. I researched the coconut oil and noted that it had a saturated fat content of 90 percent. I decided to substitute olive oil. The note about vodka made absolute sense. Since I had already made my base, I added 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 tbsps of vodka. It may be my imagination, but the ice cream froze quicker in the ice cream maker. Of course, taste is the ultimate benchmark; and it was delicious!!!
Thanks again for the oil and vodka suggestion. Note: I also add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to my base. It’s not hot, but in the finished product it makes you wonder, “what is that?”. I buy as many strawberries as I can in the summer, macerate, then freeze.
★★★★★
Great idea to add a little spice!!
It’s a great ice cream recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you!
Deffo the best! I have also made blueberry and lemon ice creams. Both are fab too. Perfect in this heatwave. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe xx
★★★★★
Hooray for keeping cool in this heat!
This turned out delicious! This is officially my favorite recipe. Thanks for posting. I added pic of finished product on Instagram.
★★★★★
I’m so happy it was a hit! And I saw it on IG. It looked so good!
Loved this recipe and will make it again but will use half the sugar as the strawberries I used were very sweet and all the sugar made the ice cream too sweet! But family loved the result!
★★★★★
Yay! So happy to hear everyone liked the recipe!
We made this strawberry ice cream last week and are absolutely in love with it! We used frozen strawberries (autumn in Australia..), left the coconut oil out completely and since we didn’t have any vodka we added some (quite a bit 😀 ) of portwine when cooking the stawberries. It really is the best strawberry ice cream we have ever eaten, soft straight out of the freezer and just flat out delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe!
★★★★★
You are so welcome! And great call on the port. I love that stuff an imagine it took the ice cream over the top!
The coconut oil works against this recipe. Fruit recipes will have more vibrant flavor with less fat, not more. If you did want higher fat, you would not want coconut oil, which freezers harder than milk fat (it’s what makes Magic Shell work). Milk fat has the best textural properties for ice cream.
Eggs are also working against the flavor here. You’d do well to use fewer.
Can you tell me if the coconut oil you use in this recipe is refined or unrefined? Also, what brand do you use that seems to have an especially mild coconut flavor? I want to make this for my daughter who doesn’t like the taste of coconut. Thanks!
I buy my coconut oil at Costco and the brand changes from time to time. You’ll want to buy refined coconut oil if you want a mild flavor. 🙂
This is a great recipe. I can’t take credit for making it as my husband did most of the work however it certainly is delicious. Love the flavor of fresh strawberries. I will reduce the amount of coconut oil next time as it was more noticeable than I like. Thanks Kristen, so good I’ll be making a second batch tomorrow.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
OK – It’s official – this IS the best Strawberry ice Cream recipe ever! I made some yesterday and served it to my wife after dinner – she LOVED it and said it was the best ice cream she had ever had! I just used a hint of coconut oil and the ice cream was beautiful and creamy – adding the vodka is inspired – it scoops easily directly from the freezer.
You are now top of my search list for recipes.
Thanks
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear you think it’s the best, too!!
Hey! Am I able to not do the coconut oil??
I find I like the extra boost of fat to help keep the recipe creamy. If you can’t do, simply omit it. 🙂
I tried this recipe but the flavor of coconut overpowers the strawberry. Especially disappointing because I don’t like coconut.
Oh no … I wonder what happened? The coconut oil I buy is very mild flavored so it never overpowers the strawberry. I wonder if your coconut oil is extra coconut-y flavored?
Extra virgin coconut is usually very coconutty. Maybe you use a more refined one which has substantially less taste.
Ice cream looks fantastic
★★★★★
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try it! My current recipe doesn’t have the egg yolks. And being low-carb, I have to use a sugar substitute of some kind. But I’m sure that will work OK for me with this recipe.
Hey Buttoni,
I made another ice cream without egg yolks the other day and it turned out awesome too. You can find the recipe here, http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2012/04/roasted-pineapple-sage-ice-cream-jenis-splendid.html Maybe you could substitute strawberries for the pineapple and leave out the sage. I would love to hear how it turns out after you make it!
I too love strawberry. I have been waiting patiently for peak season, and it is finally here. I am going to the market.
Little Monkey looks like one of my family. He made my heart turn over. Too cute.
Hi Madonna,
I’m so jealous that it is strawberry season for you already! We have another month to go before I can indulge again. I had frozen a bunch from the farmers market last summer and used the last for this ice cream. Hope you enjoy it!
I love strawberries,and this ice cream looks delicios…next on my menu 🙂 Thank’s !
Super hug!
★★★★★
Hi Angelica,
You’re so welcome! I hope that you love it as much as my little nephew did!
Strawberry ice cream isn’t usually my first pick, but FRESH strawberry ice cream? Can’t wait to make this!!
It’s not usually one of my favourites either but the fresh strawberries really made a huge difference. Tastes just like a little bit of summer. Hope you like it too!
Hey, can I do it without ice cream maker? I mean that just do all this things which are in the recipe, place it in a fridge for several hours and eat? 🙂
★★★★★
Hey Agata,
I’ve never tried it before myself but I have definitely read recipes for ice cream that can be made with no ice cream maker. From what I’ve read you can put the ice cream in the freezer for forty-five minutes. Then remove it and whisk or beat it with a hand held blender. Put it back in the freezer then repeat the process of whisking or beating it every half hour until it is frozen, about 2-3 hours. The reason you won’t want to just put it in your freezer and leave it to freeze is because large pieces of ice will form and it won’t be as creamy.
Hope this helps! Let me know how it turns out for you. I’m interested to hear!
Your nephew is adorable!!! This sounds amazing as well. Beautiful photos! 🙂
Thanks, Ali! I think so too 🙂 He’s so much fun to spend time with!