This homemade strawberry ice cream is so fresh and creamy. This recipe uses both a fresh strawberry puree and a cooked strawberry sauce for the best strawberry flavour!
Jump straight to the recipe!
The perfect strawberry ice cream, for me, has a ton of strawberry flavour throughout, with little chunks of strawberries. I found that the best way to get this is to add both a puree strawberry mixture and a strawberry sauce into the custard base.
The puree makes the ice cream a light pink throughout and full of strawberry flavour.
The strawberry sauce is made by cooking strawberries, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. The strawberries get mushy when they are cooked down and then then are easily mashed up with a potato masher. The sauce gives the ice cream little chunks of strawberries throughout.
Ingredients
- Milk - Use whole milk for best flavour.
- Heavy whipping cream
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Large egg yolks - you will need 6 for this recipe!
- Strawberries - you will need a total of 3 ¾ cups
- Lemon juice - use freshly squeezed lemon juice for best flavour.
How to make ice cream
Add the milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, granulated sugar and salt to a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream into a medium sized bowl and top that with a small strainer. Add the egg yolks to a small bowl.
When the saucepan ingredients have reached an almost scalding point, pour some of it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly in order to temper the eggs. Pour the eggs into the saucepan and whisk over medium heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon; about 170°F.
Pour the custard through the strainer and into the reserved heavy cream. Stir it all together and then place the bowl over another bowl of very cold water or an ice bath. Let the custard cool until room temperature and then store it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to churn the ice cream, add the strawberry puree and sauce to the custard and stir to combine. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream machine, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream into an airtight container and store it in the freezer.
Strawberry puree
Puree the strawberries and sugar in a food processor or blender. Puree until you have a thin sauce. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Strawberry sauce
Place strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Keep cooking for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally, and then smash the berries up with a potato masher. Cook over medium heat for another 5-8 minutes, or until the sauce has been reduced by half.
Frequently ask questions
When the ice cream comes out of the ice cream maker, it is soft serve consistency. Scoop the ice cream into a container, cover, and place it into the freezer. The ice cream will be of the right consistency after about 8 hours. Store the ice cream in the freezer for up to 3 months.
A chocolate sauce would be so good with this ice cream. Strawberries and chocolate are a perfect match!
You can use a bit of alcohol to soften the ice cream. This ice cream is pretty soft on it's own though and the berries are not frozen because they have been cooked before being added to the ice cream. Still, if you want to use alcohol, 1 tablespoon is recommended.
This ice cream won't be a bright pink colour unless you add food colouring to it. The ice cream will be a bit pinker in colour if you use very fresh strawberries. My strawberries had some white in the center.
Possibly, however I have never tried making dairy free ice cream my self.
yes you can use frozen strawberries for both the sauce and puree. I would recommend picking the sliced frozen strawberries in stead of the whole ones, to make it easier. Thaw the strawberries at room temperature before using them in the recipe.
Yes, I like to make the custard base the day before churning the ice cream. Store it covered in the refrigerator over night.
Tips
- 1 cup of chocolate chips or nuts can be added to the ice cream.
- Save fat and calorie cutting for later. Ice cream needs a high fat content to create a creamy texture. Using less fats will create a grainy texture.
- The custard needs to be chilled before going into the ice cream maker. 4 hours to overnight is the recommended time.
- If you don't have an ice cream maker, I highly recommend one. You can still make this recipe without one though. Rather than pouring the mixture into a machine, pour it into a shallow container and place it in the freezer. Mix it every 15 minutes until is the consistency of soft served ice cream. Cover and store in the freezer until it is ready.
Here are some other recipes to try
- HOMEMADE VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM
- HOMEMADE MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM
- OLD FASHIONED APPLE PIE
- BEST PECAN PIE RECIPE
- BEST EVER CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIES
📋 Recipe
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
Ice Cream Base
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream divided
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg yolks
Strawberry Puree
- 1 ⅓ cups strawberries hulled and chopped
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
Strawberry Sauce
- 1 ⅓ cups strawberries hulled and chopped
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine the milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat the ingredients over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream in a medium bowl and set a mesh strainer over the bowl.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl. When the milk mixture is heated through, temper the egg yolks by pouring a ¼ cup of the milk mixture into the eggs, whisking continuously, so the eggs heat up slowly. The eggs can turn into scrambled eggs if you do not whisk continuously.
- Pour the tempered eggs into the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture, and whisk constantly over medium heat. The mixture will be ready when it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon, or the temperature reaches 170°F.
- Immediately strain the custard into the prepared cold heavy cream and stir to stop the custard from cooking. Place the bowl of custard over an ice bath and allow the custard to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to churn, 4 hours or overnight.
- To make the strawberry puree, place strawberries and sugar into a food processor or blender. Puree until you have a thin sauce. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
- To make the strawberry sauce, place strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Smash the berries with a potato masher. Continue cooking until the mixture is reduces by half, about 5-8 minutes. The sauce is ready when it is deep red in colour, and thick. Remove it from the heat. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- When ready to churn the ice cream, stir in the strawberry puree and sauce. Transfer the ice cream to an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacture's instructions.
- Store the ice cream in an airtight container and place it into the freezer for several hours or until it is ice cream consistency.
Notes
- 1 cup of chocolate chips or nuts can be added to the ice cream.
- Save fat and calorie cutting for later. Ice cream needs a high fat content to create a creamy texture. Using less fats will create a grainy texture.
- The custard needs to be chilled before going into the ice cream maker. 4 hours to overnight is the recommended time.
- If you don't have an ice cream maker, I highly recommend one. You can still make this recipe without one though. Rather than pouring the mixture into a machine, pour it into a shallow container and place it in the freezer. Mix it every 15 minutes until is the consistency of soft served ice cream. Cover and store in the freezer until it is ready.
Did you try this recipe? Comment below to let me know ☺️