Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream with White Balsamic
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Imagine opening your freezer and finding the most delectable, rich, creamy, summer-fresh vegan strawberry ice cream. It’s time to turn this delightful daydream into a decadent frozen treat because there’s no shadow of a doubt that your future self will thank you (and thank you, and thank you again).
It’s safe to say that life is better with this vegan strawberry ice cream recipe. The funny thing is, you may be surprised at some of the ingredients, like white balsamic vinegar, cashews, and coconut oil. But this no-churn vegan ice cream is bound to be your new fave.
What’s vegan strawberry ice cream made of?
If your interest or perhaps confusion peeked around white balsamic vinegar in strawberry ice cream, let’s talk about some of the eyebrow-raising ingredients for this vegan strawberry ice cream recipe here (promise, it all makes perfect sense!)
- Raw cashews: you’ll need 2 cups of raw cashews for this vegan strawberry ice cream recipe. If you’re used to making vegan food, you’ll know the magic of cashews and their ability to become a creamy, dreamy texture when blended well.
** You will need a strong blender to accomplish this and about 2-3 hours of soaking your cashews in a jar or container with water to soften them up.
- Strawberries: ah, the star ingredient! You can use frozen strawberries, just be sure to thaw them first before dicing and including them in the recipe.
- Coconut oil: To help achieve the level of creaminess you’ve come to expect from ice cream, use coconut oil.
- Agave nectar: ¼ cup of agave syrup will add some sweetness to the recipe. You can substitute it with maple syrup, but the flavor will change.
- White balsamic vinegar: White balsamic is quite sweet and just a little bit tangy, kind of like strawberries. When you put the two together something magical happens and the balsamic makes the strawberries taste even more like strawberries.
Tips to make the perfect vegan strawberry ice cream
- This dairy-free ice cream recipe is best made in summer, when fresh strawberries are in season. If you’re craving it in the winter, lean into white balsamic vinegar to bring out the strawberry flavor of the berries you have in store.
- To make things easier and more efficient, you can use an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream machine – that’s ok! – You can still make it. To make this without an ice cream maker, pour the vegan strawberry cream mixture and the remaining roasted strawberries into a shallow pan, then place it in your freezer. Every half hour, remove the pan and use a fork to scrape the cream, stirring until smooth and free of hard, icy spots. You will need to do this at least 4-5 times. The texture won’t be quite as smooth and creamy, but it will still taste delicious.
- A high-powered blender or food processor will also be your friend for this recipe. If you don’t have one, consider straining the strawberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve after blending to make it super smooth.
Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Imagine opening your freezer right now and finding the most delectable, rich, creamy, summer-fresh vegan strawberry ice cream. It's time to turn this delightful daydream into a decadent frozen treat, because there's no shadow of a doubt that your future self will thank you (and thank you, and thank you again).
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw cashews (see notes)
- 6 cups diced strawberries
- 6 tablespoons coconut sugar (divided)
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup agave syrup
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Put the cashews into a jar and cover them with water. Let them soak for 2-3 hours.2 cups raw cashews
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the strawberries with 4 tablespoons of coconut sugar and spread them out in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast the strawberries for 25 minutes then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. Once they are cool transfer the strawberries plus all the juice to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until cold.6 cups diced strawberries, 6 tablespoons coconut sugar
- Drain and rinse the soaked cashews. Add the cashews, HALF of the roasted strawberries and all of their juices, the remaining 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar, coconut oil, water, agave, white balsamic, vanilla, and sea salt to a blender or food processor. Blend until the cream is very smooth.OPTIONAL STEP: If you don't have a high-powered blender, you may want to strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve so that it's super smooth.⅓ cup coconut oil, 1 ½ cups water, ¼ cup agave syrup, 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate it until it is cold.
- Once the mixture is cold, process it according to your ice cream maker's directions. Add the remaining roasted strawberries near the end and let your ice cream maker stir them in. (See notes on how to make this without an ice cream maker.)
- Once the ice cream looks like soft serve, transfer it to a freezer-proof container and it freeze until it's firm. Let the ice cream soften for a few minutes before you serve it.
Notes
To make this without an ice cream maker pour the cream and the remaining roasted strawberries into a shallow pan and put the pan in your freezer. Every half hour remove the pan and use a fork to scrape the cream and mix it up, making sure there are no hard icy spots. You will need to do this at least 4-5 times. The texture won’t be as smooth and creamy, but it will still taste delicious.
White balsamic vinegar has a delicate flavor that really complements the roasted strawberries. If you don’t have any, you can omit it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving = ¼ cup, Calories: 232kcal (12%), Carbohydrates: 22g (7%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 16g (25%), Saturated Fat: 7g (44%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Sodium: 62mg (3%), Potassium: 259mg (7%), Fiber: 2g (8%), Sugar: 14g (16%), Vitamin A: 9IU, Vitamin C: 42mg (51%), Calcium: 22mg (2%), Iron: 2mg (11%)
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Sounds amazing! Is there a reason you use water instead of something creamier like coconut cream or milk? Does it not need it because of the cashews and coconut oil? I’m hesitant to add water to ice cream due to crystallization. Thanks!
It’s surprising that it doesn’t turn icy, but it doesn’t. Cashews are super fatty, I think that’s why. But you could easily use coconut milk if you wanted extra creaminess and some coconut flavor!
Best dairy-free, egg-free ice-cream I’ve ever tried! Not truly vegan with honey in it, but I imagine this would be easy to substitute. Made a half batch based on the quantity of strawberries I had on hand, which worked very well. Very intense sophisticated flavour, barely any coconut taste (even using virgin coconut oil instead of refined). Very pleasantly surprised by texture despite not using an ice-cream maker (though it was a lot of extra work!). Used equal quantity natvia (granulated combination of Stevia and erythritol) instead of coconut sugar and skipped adding it to the roasting stage (just roasted strawberries on own and added sweetener straight to blender), very good, not too sweet.
I also added 1/2 to 1 TSP xanthan gum for extra creaminess.
Would be great with dark chocolate. Might try to modify next batch to be a bit lighter in flavour, to pair with Oreos or white chocolate (being a half-batch, I may have just overdone the balsamic).
Thank you, you have restored my faith that vegan ice-cream that isn’t icy or oppressively coconut flavoured is possible!
Wow, wow, wow, WOW! This recipe sounds amazing and your photos have left me drooling. 🙂
Wondering if maple syrup will produce the same texture or if it will add too much extra fluid to the mix…. only one way to find out. Ingredients on the shopping list for next weekend.
I haven’t tried it with maple syrup, but I suspect it will still work out great. I’d love to hear how it turns out for you!
I am gonna try this, Please say me good luck, This looks so delicious. Everyone will happy if i make this for them.
Good luck, Rahul! I hope you like this ice cream as much as I do!!
Thanks for not running away! I haven’t yet made a raw cheesecake, although I’d love to at some point. The cashews with the coconut oil do give the ice cream creamiest texture … just like dairy-based ice cream, but so much better. 🙂
Thank you! It’s crazy how much I’m in love with it. 🙂
I always thought that no churn ice cream would be difficult but I made some a while ago (only cause I’d already made one batch in my ice cream maker and it needed to be re-frozen) and I couldn’t believe how easy it was. If I had known that before buying an ice cream maker I prob wouldn’t have forked out the cash. 🙂
So happy you don’t think it’s gross! It really is so delicious!!