The fresh strawberry flavour in this will blow your mind! A no churn Strawberry Ice Cream that’s incredibly creamy, no ice crystals and perfectly scoopable. 5 ingredients, easy to make, no ice cream maker required!
HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
OK, so you might know an ice cream specialist or a fancy pants restaurant that makes a stellar strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberries, and it really truly tastes of strawberries. So it’s a bit bullish to say this homemade strawberry ice cream recipe has flavour money can’t buy.
But if we’re talking about everyday strawberry ice cream sold in tubs at supermarkets and even gourmet stores, then this is off the charts compared to them.
And the reason is simple. The flavour and colour in this recipe relies solely on a whole heap of fresh strawberries that is intensified with roasting. Whereas supermarket ice cream uses artificial flavouring – and artificial colouring!
No churn ice cream
A traditional ice cream starts with a sweetened mixture of cream and eggs which is then poured into an ice cream machine which churns as the ice cream gradually freezes.
This no churn version is made with condensed milk and cream that requires no ice cream maker and yields an ice cream remarkable similar to churned ice cream. To read more about this no churn method, including the difference between No Churn and ice cream made using an ice cream maker, pop over to the no churn Mango Ice Cream recipe I’ve previously shared.
Iciness is the bain of fruit ice creams
If you’ve ever tried a homemade strawberry ice cream recipe before and been disappointed by the crunch of ice crystals from the strawberry juice, be prepared to jump for joy because this is the recipe of your dreams!
Avoiding this problem is actually quite simple – just roast the strawberries. Not only does it remove water which causes the ice crystals, it actually intensifies the strawberry flavour (oven trumps stove for flavour).
And the added bonus for strawberry ice cream is that the caramelisation of the strawberries deepens the pink colour of the ice cream!
How to make no churn strawberry ice cream
Here’s a summary of how to make this magical strawberry ice cream – the numbers correspond to the process photos above and below:
1. Halve strawberries, sprinkle with just a bit of sugar (just to kickstart the juicing process), then roast on a low heat for 1 hour.
2. Scrape into a food processor and blitz. Do not – I repeat, DO NOT taste test. Every drop is precious and I don’t trust you to stop at one tiny taste! 😂 (OK, I mean me, not you)
3 & 4. Once cooled, whip with condensed milk and vanilla to combine and aerate.
5 & 6. Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the strawberry and cream mixture together – do not beat furiously and destroy all the fluffiness!! Watch video for folding technique (pretty please!)
7 & 8. Pour into container then freeze for 12+ hours.
What comes out of the freezer is quite extraordinary. It looks like store bought ice cream. It scoops like store bought ice cream. It’s creamy like store bought – no ice crystals at all.
It even holds its shape when it softens like store bought ice cream – unlike other shortcut ice creams that seem to go from rock hard to a puddle of liquid in an instant with only a split second window of opportunity when it’s scoopable.
But most of all for me, the thing that makes homemade strawberry ice cream so precious is that true taste of strawberries which, in this world of artificial flavourings, is actually quite rare.
The flavour of this really will blow your mind.
REAL strawberry flavour – in vast quantities. When was the last time you tasted that – other than eating fresh strawberries?? – Nagi x
PS Also – no churn Mango Ice Cream. The flavour…. swoon…
More strawberry recipes 🍓🍓
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Strawberry Ice Cream (No Churn)
Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2 lb strawberries , ripe, hulled and halved
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g / 13 oz)
- 2 cups / 500 ml cream , full fat, for whipping (Note 1)
Instructions
Roast Strawberries:
- Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan) with shelf in the middle.
- Pile strawberries on a tray. Sprinkle over sugar. Toss through, then spread strawberries out on tray.
- Roast for 45 minutes, rotating tray halfway. Remove from oven, toss strawberries, then return to oven for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it – don’t want juices to become toffee and stick to tray.
- Remove from oven, use spatula to scrape into a food processor, being sure to get all the juices and caramelised bits off the tray.
- Blitz until smooth as possible (caramelised bits won’t blitz smooth), scrape into bowl then cool completely.
Ice Cream Mixture:
- Add condensed milk and vanilla into strawberries. Beat well for 1 1/2 minutes on high to aerate and combine.
- Place cream in another bowl. Use electric beater to beat into stiff peaks – about 3 minutes on high.
- Add a dollop of cream into the strawberry mixture. Fold through gently, don’t beat in furiously (see video for technique). When mostly mixed through, add another dollop and for through about 5 times.
- Tip strawberry mixture into the cream bowl. Gently fold through until it’s a uniform pink colour – about 15 to 20 folds max. Some streaks is ok.
Freezing & serving:
- Pour mixture into a container (preferably glass with airtight lid), smooth top.
- Place sheet of baking paper on surface and press out air bubbles (stops icicles forming). Cover with lid, freeze 12+ hours.
- Remove from freezer, remove paper. Scoop with ice cream scooper and serve in cones or bowls!
Recipe Notes:
LIFE OF DOZER
If you’ve ever had a long haired dog with gastro 💩, you will totally understand the Man Buns and French Braid situation going on here. The amusement is an added bonus.😂
Brilliant, another genius hack! Will be making this this weekend, it looks mouth watering delicious. Poor Dozer, having to suffer from gastro and global internet humiliation!!! Hopefully, he was compensated with lots of treats!
Global Internet Humiliation is is Day Job 😂
We’ve got great local strawberry ice cream, but coffee and peach are hard to find. Do you have recipes for either of them?
Coffee and peach are favorites of mine also, and I agree, difficult to find. I thought it would be worth trying Nagi’s strawberry method to make a peach version, and will try that if I can score some great peaches this year. Hope this year will be a better peach year in the US than last year!
I have a friend on Long Island where they grow the best peaches I have ever tasted. I’ll ask her how they are this year. In the Boston area, they are in the supermarkets, but I haven’t checked out farmers markets.
Thanks! I’d love to know! I’d just picked up a couple at a farm store in Amherst, MA to test, but haven’t tried one yet. Some years have gotten some very good, extra-large peaches at the annual Peach Festival in Wilbraham, MA in August. Native peaches seem to have such a short season their peak period seems to pass in a flash, especially in off years, so updates are appreciated! What part of LI has the great peaches? I’m about a 3 hr. drive to the western/near end of LI.
My peach loving friend lives in Calverton, which is near the Hampshire us. I don’t remember exactly where the peach farm was, but a call to the Cornell university agricultural extension place there would probably be able to provide you with information you need. Stop & Shop has some peaches in including some very expensive locally grown ones they didn’t look so hot . They had very large peaches which were $.88 a pound. I meant to go back and grab one just to see if they were any good. I forgot as I do dude over chicken thighs for my supper tonight. I’m using another of Nagi’s recipes.
The Amherst peaches are “ok”… Small, juicy, but just shy of peak sweetness. The quest continues!
My friend in Calverton told me the name of the peach farm is Davis Peach Farm. The address is 561 Hulse Landing Rd, Wading River, NY 11792. She bought a peach at a fruit stand nearby and thinks it was grown locally. She said it was very good.
Thank you for the address, David! I really appreciate it. Hope we’ll both score some perfect peaches this season.
Thanks for the Calverton info!
I’m new here. Thanks for the Wilbraham information. I didn’t know about the Peach Festival.
Sorry! They’ve changed it to a peach Blossom festival and held it in June this year! I didn’t know they’d done that! The blossoms are nice, but I’m more interested in the fruit. There are plenty of peach orchards and pick-your-own farms in the state, including some not far from Boston. They have websites online, and the state website has a list of all the pick-your-own farms of every type.
Thanks. I did discover that, too. In any case, I will be out of state in the middle of August, but I will be looking for peaches as they come in.
I haven’t tried this with peach but am very confident it will work GREAT. Quartered then roasted per recipe. Coffee is one I have not tried yet but if you just use strong coffee in place of the strawberries the same recipe works fine for all flavourings! N x