by 
Delicious homemade old-fashioned strawberry ice cream made with fresh strawberries. This slow-churned ice cream is bursting with fresh strawberry flavor.
Everything you need to know about how to make a creamy and delicious strawberry ice cream.
Why make strawberry ice cream
Strawberry ice cream! This homemade ice cream is rich and creamy and full of fresh strawberries!
Making churned ice cream isn't hard, but you do need to plan ahead. The actual hands-on time is minimal but there is chilling time and hardening time to plan for as well.
This recipe is best when you have the absolute best strawberries. I'm talking straight out of the garden fresh. You want strawberries that are fully ripened and are full of flavor.
The strawberries you find in the grocery store are often picked well before they are ripe and then ripen while they are shipped. Those will not have enough flavor for this ice cream.
We went to a local farm and picked fresh strawberries. I made this ice cream that same day!
You can see how ripe these strawberries are. When you cut into them, they are juicy and flavorful.
Key ingredients
- Heavy cream
- Whole milk
- Vanilla
- Fresh strawberries
- Sugar
- Eggs - just the yolks
Making strawberry ice cream
- Combine milk, cream, sugar and salt in a sauce pot and place over medium heat. Stir often to avoid scorching
- Separate egg yolks from whites and whisk yolks for 1-2 minutes until they are light in color. You will not use the egg whites in this recipe.
- Once the milk becomes hot and almost to a simmer, but not boiling, turn off heat
- Take ¼ cup of the hot milk and slowly whisk into the egg yolks. This tempers the egg yolks so they don't scramble
- Whisk the egg yolks into the hot milk and return heat to medium
- Cook until it becomes a custard and the temperature is between 175° - 185° or when the milk mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon
- Remove from heat and strain using a fine sieve. Cover and store in the refrigerator until fully chilled - at least 4 hours!
- Cut up strawberries into small pieces and combine with sugar. Cover and refrigerate strawberries. Stir strawberries 1-2 times while chilling to help make certain the sugar is well distributed. The berries will begin to release their juices during this time.
- Combine fully chilled custard mixture, strawberries and their juices and vanilla
- Add to a fully frozen ice cream mixing bowl and churn for 20-30 minutes until mixture is frozen and thick
- Remove from churning bowl and place in a freezer container. Cover and freeze for 1-2 hours until ice cream is no longer soft
Ice cream recipe tips
- Fully read through recipe instructions before beginning. There are a lot of steps and it helps to know ahead of time what will be happening.
- Make certain ice cream bowl is fully frozen. My bowl takes at least 12 hours in a deep freeze to fully freeze. If bowl isn't fully frozen, ice cream will not freeze and churn properly. I often store my bowl in the freezer so it's always ready for another batch of ice cream!
- Use the very best strawberries you can find!
- Soak the strawberries in sugar allowing the juices to be released. Use both the strawberries and the juice in the ice cream.
- Once ice cream is done churning, remove from churning bowl and freeze in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This helps harden the ice cream. You can eat the ice cream right away, but it will still be soft.
- If ice cream is too hard to scoop, let set out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.
- Store in a covered container in the freezer
Time saving tip
Making homemade ice cream takes a bit of time. However, if you're short on time you can reduce the chilling time for the custard.
Once the custard is made, strain into a deep bowl. Place the bowl in an ice bath so the sides are covered with the ice water, but there is not danger of the water spilling over the sides into the custard.
Stir often until custard is fully chilled.
Strawberry Ice Cream Faqs
Ice cream won't go bad in the freezer, however, it may start to form ice crystals and it will lose its creaminess. Try to eat homemade ice cream within two weeks of making.
Store in a covered container.
This strawberry ice cream is slightly pinkish which comes from the juice released from the strawberries. The juice adds the color, but also adds flavor to the ice cream.
More strawberry recipes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be certain to check out all my frozen treats!
Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 ½ cups diced strawberries
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Combine milk, cream, sugar and salt in a sauce pot and place over medium heat. Stir often to avoid scorching2 cup heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, ¾ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Separate egg yolks from whites and whisk yolks for 1-2 minutes until they are light in color. You will not use the egg whites in this recipe.4 egg yolks
- Once the milk becomes hot and almost to a simmer, but not boiling, turn off heat
- Take ¼ cup of the hot milk and slowly whisk into the egg yolks. This tempers the egg yolks so they don't scramble
- Whisk the egg yolks into the hot milk and return heat to medium
- Cook until it becomes a custard and temperature reaches 175°- 185° or when the milk mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon
- Place a fine sieve over a bowl and strain custard. Cover and store in the refrigerator until fully chilled - at least 4 hours!
- Cut up strawberries into small pieces and combine with sugar. Cover and refrigerate strawberries. Stir strawberries 1-2 times while chilling to help make certain the sugar is well distributed. The berries will begin to release their juices during this time.2 ½ cups diced strawberries, ¼ cup sugar
- Combine fully chilled custard mixture, strawberries and their juices and vanilla1 teaspoon vanilla
- Add to a fully frozen ice cream mixing bowl and churn for 20-30 minutes until mixture is frozen and thick
- Remove from churning bowl and place in a freezer container. Cover and freeze for 1-2 hours until ice cream is no longer soft
Notes
- Fully read through recipe instructions before beginning. There are a lot of steps and it helps to know ahead of time what will be happening.
- Make certain ice cream bowl is fully frozen. My bowl takes at least 12 hours in a deep freeze to fully freeze. If bowl isn't fully frozen, ice cream will not freeze and churn properly.
- Use the very best strawberries you can find!
- Soak the strawberries in sugar allowing the juices to be released. Use both the strawberries and the juice in the ice cream.
- Once ice cream is done churning, remove from churning bowl and freeze in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This helps harden the ice cream.
- If ice cream is too hard to scoop, let set out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.
- Store in a covered container in the freezer
- Once the custard is made, strain into a deep bowl. Place the bowl in an ice bath so the sides are covered with the ice water, but there is not danger of the water spilling over the sides into the custard.
- Stir often until custard is fully chilled
- Churn ice cream as directed
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Valentina says
I can't get enough strawberries. I usually buy 3 to 4 baskets at a time at my local Farmer's Market on Sundays and they are typically gone by dinnertime. That said, I would certainly use my will power to same some for a creamy ice cream like this one. 🙂 ~Valentina
Kathy says
Fresh strawberries are hard to resist! I usually find myself nibbling on them right away.
Enjoy the ice cream! 🙂
David @ Spiced says
There are few things that scream summertime like homemade ice cream! I love a good churned ice cream, and this strawberry ice cream looks fantastic, Kathy! In fact, I could go for a bowl of this one tonight after dinner. Great use of those berries for sure!
Kathy says
You just can't go wrong making ice cream! 🙂