Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Strawberry season is officially here, and that means lots of fresh strawberry desserts are in the works! I’ve been waiting with baited breath for local berries to become available; staring longingly at the roadside farm stand near our house each time we drove by. Last weekend the farm announced their berries were finally ready, and opened with a lovely display of buckets and buckets of fresh strawberries.
I picked up a big flat of sweet, bright red berries, and my first order of business was making this creamy, homemade strawberry ice cream. Frozen desserts of all kinds are a hands-down favorite in the Swoon Kitchen, but it’s pretty hard to top fresh-churned homemade ice cream, particularly when it’s bursting with fresh, flavorful fruit. Happy Eating!
Homemade Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 quart 1x
Description
Strawberry Season is here, and that means fresh, homemade Strawberry Ice Cream!
Ingredients
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together the egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla and salt, then add the milk and whisk to combine. Pour into a medium saucepan, and cook, stirring continuously, over medium heat until the custard mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10-15 minutes.
- Slowly stir in the cream, then remove from the heat and strain into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, gently pressing the plastic on to the surface of the custard. This will prevent a “skin” from forming. Refrigerate for at least an hour, until thoroughly chilled. Be sure that the custard mix is completely cold all the way through before it goes into the ice cream maker.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, mash together the sliced strawberries and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and let sit refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
- Churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions, for approximately 20-30 minutes, slowly adding the chilled strawberry mixture as it churns. The ice cream will become the consistency of soft-serve. Spoon the ice cream into a freezer-safe container, such as a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan, and let chill in the freezer for at least an hour to firm up. Depending on your freezer settings this may take two or three hours. Serve with more fresh strawberries!
yummy, sounds so good. gonna make this on the weekend. Thanks
Simon
I made this tonight for a group of friends and everyone LOVED it! As per your instructions, I made sure that everything was well chilled before putting it in the ice cream maker and it set up perfectly. The recipe made a bit more than my ice cream maker could accommodate, so mine overflowed a bit …rookie mistake on my part…I will watch it next time (yes, there will be a next time!) The flavor and texture of this ice cream is divine. Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
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Also made this for the Fourth – the picture looks so yummy, so we were eagerly awaiting, but never set, so it was a strawberry custard drink!
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Hi Shari, thanks for your comment. I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work for you! I’m a bit mystified as to why it didn’t set up for you, because I’ve never experienced that personally and I’ve known several people who’ve also made this ice cream successfully. However, I can’t stand it when a recipe doesn’t work for a reader and I’d like to get to the bottom of it!
My first thought is that either the custard mix or the ice cream maker’s bowl were not cold enough before you began churning. I may have been optimistic in the recipe about how long both of those can take – especially if your summer weather is as hot as ours! I find that the ice cream maker bowl needs at least 24hours to completely freeze and depending on how full/cold the freezer is, sometimes longer. The custard mix needs at least an hour in the fridge, or until it is cold all the way through. I find even if the mix is room temperature it can slow down the churning process.
Did the ice cream not set up at all or was it just soft prior to freezing? I generally churn for about 30 minutes (any longer and the bowl starts to defrost which becomes counter-productive), and at that point the ice cream is the consistency of soft-serve. You can definitely eat it at that point – it’s hard to resist – but it will still take another couple of hours in the freezer to firm up completely.
I hope that helps! If there’s something in the directions I’m missing or wasn’t clear, I definitely want to fix it… feel free to email me!
Made this tonight and for some reason, it never set. That is the first time that’s ever happened to me before; my ice cream maker usually turns out perfect ice cream. Hoping it sets in the freezer????? Not sure what went wrong. So sad; wanted it for the fourth tomorrow. Bummed.
Hi Julie, I’m sorry to hear it’s not turning out correctly! When I make this, the ice cream is usually pretty soft when it comes straight out of the ice cream maker – I would say soft-serve consistency. It firms up after a couple of hours in the freezer. Let me know if it sets up for you…
Your ice-cream looks absolutely gorgeous – yum!!
Thank you Rosie! It was yummy.
Wow this looks so beautiful! The perfect afternoon treat on a lovely sunny day 🙂
★★★★★
Thank you Brooke! I love any excuse to make ice cream!