Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe (with two secret ingredients!)
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This is the homemade strawberry ice cream recipe that dreams are made of. It’s super creamy and bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. This iconic summer treat is easy to make at home and only takes about 30 minutes of hands-on prep time. Plus, I use two unique ingredients to make this ice cream super creamy and never icy.
I’ve spent a long time dialing in this strawberry ice cream, and the secret is treating it like real ice cream. A proper homemade base starts with egg yolks—there’s no shortcut here. The yolks give the ice cream its rich flavor, silky body, and unmistakably creamy texture that sets great ice cream apart from the icy, bland versions so many homemade batches fall into. This custard-style base lets the fresh strawberry flavor shine while staying lush and smooth from the first scoop to the last.
I also add two small but mighty ingredients that make a big difference. A touch of refined coconut oil boosts the fat content just enough to make the ice cream extra creamy without adding any coconut flavor (refined is key here). And a splash of vodka—totally optional—helps keep the ice cream soft and scoopable by preventing ice crystals from forming. The result is intensely strawberry-forward, deeply creamy ice cream that tastes as if it came from a top-notch ice cream shop. You’ll need an ice cream maker for this method, but if you don’t have one, my no-churn ice cream version is a great backup.
Tips for making the best strawberry ice cream
Here are a few tricks I use to make strawberry ice cream that turns out creamy and delicious every time:
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Use very ripe strawberries. You should be able to smell them easily, they should taste extra sweet, and be pink all the way through when sliced. Farmers’ markets are ideal.
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Use frozen strawberries out of season. If it’s fall or winter, frozen strawberries picked at peak ripeness work beautifully.
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Boost the fat content. I add refined coconut oil to make the ice cream extra creamy. Be sure it’s refined so there’s no coconut flavor.
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Add a splash of vodka. It won’t affect the taste, but it helps prevent ice crystals and keeps the ice cream soft and scoopable.
Best Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe (with two special ingredients!)
Ingredients
- 4 cups chopped strawberries (see notes)
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (divided)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup refined coconut oil (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 cup whipping cream
- Optional but recommended: 2 tablespoons vodka
Instructions
- Place the strawberries and ¾ 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.4 cups chopped strawberries
- 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 ½ cup sugar.4 egg yolks
- Heat the whole milk, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt in a small pot over medium-high heat until steam rises from the pot. Then 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.1 cup whole milk, ¼ cup refined coconut oil, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla, 1 pinch sea salt
- Pour the custard into a large 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. Place the bowl into your fridge to let it cool completely, for at least 4 hours.1 cup whipping cream, Optional but recommended: 2 tablespoons vodka
- Once the strawberry ice cream custard is completely cold, process it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. When it's done, it'll have the consistency of soft serve ice cream. 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.
Video
Notes
- The strawberries. Don’t skimp on the boiling time. If they’re not boiled long enough, they will add water to the ice cream, which can cause it to be icy.
- The dairy. This recipe works with whole milk and whipping cream. If you substitute either with lower fat or plant-based options, it will turn icy.
- Use all 4 eggs. Egg yolks add fat, which makes ice cream creamy.
- Churn it well. Wait until you hear your ice cream maker slow down and struggle to churn the ice cream – that’s how you know it’s ready. If you don’t churn it long enough, it can become icy.
Nutrition
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This recipe is great! Only change I made the second time making this was I increased the strawberry content about 25% because my wife said the strawberry flavor was too faint. I also added 2 drops of red food coloring for aesthetics. This is now my go to recipe for strawberry ice cream! Thank you!
I’m so glad you love it — thank you! 😊 Increasing the strawberries is such a great way to boost that flavor, and I totally get adding a little extra color for that classic look. I love hearing it’s become your go-to — that’s the best compliment!
Hi, can you make this recipe with powdered custard or ready-made tinned custard?
I’m not familiar with powdered custard for making ice cream so I’m not sure how it will freeze. If you want to experiment, I would prepare the strawberries from this recipe but use method #2 or #3 in my no churn ice cream to freeze it – just to make sure it stays creamy.
I’ve made a lot of custard based ice cream, but I’ve never made it using coconut oil. My eggs curdled after I tempered them and put them back on the stove with the milk mixture. Had them on medium heat for about 3 minutes, and complete cooked, inedible. Does coconut oil affect this? Not sure where I went wrong seeing as I’ve successfully tempered eggs many times and did the exact same thing when tempering eggs here.
Hi Ashley! When you cooked the custard, did you whisk it constantly? Or did you let it come to a boil without whisking? Normally, if you whisk constantly, it prevents the egg from scrambling. To save the custard you can strain it through a fine mesh sieve. I hope that helps!
My first try in many years with the Cuisinart ice cream maker. To give you an example of how good this is, even the frozen edges of the ice cream bowl had no crystal in quality whatsoever, compared to other recipes without vodka of all things! Amazing texture and flavor. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Thank you for this recipe! Can you help me with two things?
1) how thick should the strawberry sauce be? Ended up simmering a few minutes longer just in case but the strawberries got way more soft than the recipe pics
2) the recipe says it yields about 1 quart but the custard itself is bout 1.25 quarts before churning. Not sure how I got so much more. Maybe packed too much strawberries into the 4 cups…
The sauce isn’t super thick, but I imagine that if you ended up with more that’s not a bad thing. Extra strawberry flavor!
Would it work to use corn syrup in place of coconut oil? Both serve the purpose of preventing ice crystals from forming and with the corn syrup there’s no chance of tasting coconut. I’d cut the sugar of course. What do you think? I want to try the recipe tomorrow.
Mary
It’s not something I’ve tried, but I think it may work. If you tried, I’d love to hear if it worked out for you!
Hello, how many qts does this recipe yield?
This recipe makes approximately 1 quart of ice cream.
Creamy, not icy – big win! I might cut down the sugar a tiny bit but otherwise followed this to a T.
Hello! I’d love to try this but what recommendations would you have for substituting the refined coconut oil? I’m allergic and I’m not sure I want to put butter in the recipe and that’s a known common substitute. LOL
In this case, I think that the best substitute would be to add an extra egg yolk.
I am excited to make this recipe; I want to substitute maple syrup for the sugar in this recipe. Do you think it would turn out well? If so, what would an equal amount of maple syrup be? Thank you!
Maple syrup will completely change the flavor of this ice cream, and I suspect it will make it icier, too.
I’ve made this recipe several times now and it’s always a hit. Definitely recommend. Thank you!
I made this exactly to the recipe. I found it to be quite a bit too sweet, which really cut away from the intensity and brightness of the strawberries. Probably won’t make it again, but if I do, I would reduce the sugar by ~25%.
I do not know if it is the best, for I try this recipe and is delicious, work perfect every time. Thank a lot.
I made this following the instructions exactly….It was fabulous! Its a keeper for sure
Your strawberry ice cream is delicious I’ve had many compliments from family and friends.
I was wondering if you could use this base to make rhubarb ice cream?
While I haven’t tried it, I think turning this into a strawberry rhubarb ice cream is a great idea. I would taste test the cooked strawberries and rhubarb first to make sure they’re sweet enough with the amount of sugar listed. You may want to add some extra because of the rhubarb.