Enjoy the fruits of the season with this easy and delicious strawberry ice cream made with only five ingredients. This recipe was originally published on June 27, 2013 and updated on June 27, 2020.
Ice cream is one of my all time favourite desserts to make, and when strawberries are in season, there is no better way to enjoy them than in a simple homemade ice cream.
This strawberry ice cream is one of the easiest ice cream recipes out there because it’s made with just five ingredients. Unlike my coffee ice cream, this strawberry flavour doesn’t use a custard base. There are no eggs in this ice cream.
This recipe was inspired by a conversation I had with the baker at a favourite cafe in my childhood neighbourhood. A friend and I were having coffee and could see her making ice cream; we ended up chatting with her and she let us taste the strawberry ice cream.
It was the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever tasted. She said that the ingredients were literally strawberries, sugar and cream. Done! Queue the inspiration–with sweet, local strawberries there is truly nothing better.
The thing about making homemade ice cream, especially one that doesn’t use a custard base, is that they can end up freezing a little too solid.
How to keep homemade ice cream soft
I learned a trick from this conversation with the baker at the cafe; add a touch (a teaspoon or so) of vodka to the ice cream to keep it from freezing solid.
If you’d like to learn a little more about making ice cream softer, David Leibovitz has a great piece on his website about that, you can read his tips for making homemade ice cream softer.
The key to getting the perfect strawberry texture is to use a pastry cutter or a potato masher to mash the strawberries. You’ll end up with different sized chunks and you won’t lose any of those flavourful strawberry juices.
I often get questions about whether you need an ice cream maker to make homemade ice cream; the truth is for traditional ice cream recipes you do. But you could easily make a fruit sorbet which doesn’t require an ice cream maker because it doesn’t need to be churned or try a no-churn ice cream.
Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 pound of fresh strawberries, quartered and leaves removed
- ⅓ cup sugar, more if desired (taste your strawberries for sweetness)
- ¾ teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups 35% cream
- 1 teaspoon vodka, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mash strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt together. I find the best way to do this is with a pastry cutter. Mash until mixture is liquidy and strawberries are in tiny pieces.
- Next, whisk in the cream and vodka, if using.
- Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions. Mine takes about 15-20 minutes. You can eat the ice cream right away (it will have the consistency of soft serve), or freeze for 2-3 hours and enjoy.
- When serving, allow to thaw on the counter for 5-10 minutes to allow ice cream to soften.
If you’re looking for a simple and cool treat to serve this Canada Day long weekend, give my Strawberry Ice Cream a try.
Asha
Thank you. When you say cream do you mean heavy cream or whipping
Louisa Clements
Hi Asha, so sorry for the delay this seemed to had slipped through the cracks! I use cream which is 35% milk fat–sometimes it’s called heavy cream and other times referred to as whipping cream, I hope that helps!
Lou Clements
Full disclosure, it’s your Dad here, but as an ice cream aficionado I have to recommend this strawberry ice cream recipe because it is the right thing to do!
Louisa Clements
Ha! Thank you! :)
Mel
Hi! Just wondering what ice cream maker you use. Thanks! Would love to try this!
Louisa Clements
Hi Mel, I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker! I’ve had it for years and love it. I have an older model, but this is the most recent version (looks like a great machine) here is an Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2WoNEFD (note, this is an affiliate link so I would make a small commission should you choose to buy it).
sohag
nice
Louisa Clements
Thank you!