Strawberry Ice Cream (No Churn)

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 🍓🍓

• Strawberry Cake – really easy cake recipe

• Strawberry Cheesecake

• Chocolate Covered Strawberries

• Fresh Strawberry Bars

• Strawberry Crumble

• Upside Down Strawberry Cake

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

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Strawberry Ice Cream (No Churn)

Author: Nagi

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 1 hr

Total: 1 hr 20 mins

Dessert

5 from 32 votes

Servings6 - 8 people

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Recipe video above. This is flavour money can't buy! Incredibly creamy, not a speck of iciness in sight, with beautiful fresh strawberry flavour. No ice cream maker required!

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:

1. The cream used here must be cream for whipping. Some creams can't be whipped, they are just for pouring. The tub will say if it's whippable or not. Measurement is for un-whipped cream.

2. 12 - 18 hours freezing: Only 1 minute or so required to make scoopable. 24 hours+ freezing: Will require 3 to 5 minutes until it becomes scoopable. But don't worry, it doesn't melt into a puddle of liquid like sorbet, it softens like store bought ice cream.

3. Other fruits: I haven't tried this with other fruits with similar textures but this is the method I would recommend over stove top reduction of fruit puree that I use for my Mango No Churn Ice Cream. Reason is that you get better flavour from roasting, but you can get away with stove reduction with mango because a) it's one of the most intense flavoured fruit b) it's hard to roast mangoes effectively because it's peeled.

I think this roasting technique will work really well for peaches, nectarines and plums. I'd probably cut each peach into 6 or 8 wedges (with skin) then chop each wedge into 3 pieces or so. Then proceed with this recipe. The roasting time will be affected by how juicy the peaches are as they vary greatly, so go by eye and look for the thickened syrup you see in the video when I scrape the strawberries into the food processor. 

Keywords: Strawberry Ice Cream

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