This rich, creamy strawberry ice cream recipe is made without eggs and without an ice cream maker, and with just 3 simple everyday ingredients. If you've ever thought you could make better strawberry ice cream than the icy stuff you can buy, this recipe is for you!
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Why we love this recipe for no churn strawberry ice cream
Have you ever eaten Neapolitan ice cream & just left most of the strawberry ice cream behind to wither, even though you love strawberries? Even commercially prepared strawberry ice cream is so often icy and lacking in nearly any flavor, even though it's suspiciously bright pink.
This recipe is super simple, made of strawberries, cream and sugar requires absolutely no special equipment (a simple handheld mixer to whip the cream will do) and will ruin you for anything less, forever more.
Why does ice cream get icy?
Ice cream gets icy for a couple simple reasons. Too much moisture in the mixture can mean large ice crystals in your cream. That's often the case with strawberry ice cream since strawberries have a high water content.
If there's too little sugar or too little fat in your ice cream, without any additions that keep the mixture from freezing solid, your ice cream could also be in trouble.
One way to keep your ice cream from getting overly icy is to make it in an ice cream machine that freezes the mixture quickly. The faster the ice cream is frozen as it's spinning, the smaller the ice crystals will be and the creamier the result.
How to make strawberry ice cream without a machine
What if you love my 3-ingredient homemade vanilla ice cream, no ice cream machine required, and want to make a strawberry version? You can do it, but you'll need to concentrate those strawberries.
I roasted the strawberries to concentrate their flavor and turn their juice into a syrup. That way, the strawberries have much less moisture to turn into ice crystals, and the strawberry flavor is super intense.
Rather than waiting for the berries to release their moisture on their own, we roast them for 20 minutes, and then break them open with the back of a spoon before roasting for 10 more minutes. The liquid mostly evaporates and what's left behind is pure strawberry goodness.
The roasted berries are then pureed with a bit of the sweetened condensed milk called for in the total recipe. Thick, sweet, intense strawberry flavor is our handsome reward.
I do often roast 2 pounds of fresh strawberries, rather than just the 1 pound called for in the recipe. Then, I puree half of the roasted berries with a bit of granulated sugar and reserve it to serve on top of each scoop. As long as you're roasting berries, you may as well make the most of it!
The rest of the story goes a lot like we have come to expect from this no-machine ice-cream method. Whip some heavy cream, fold in the strawberry sweetened condensed milk, and freeze until firm. Scoop this perfectly smooth and creamy ice cream right out of the freezer. Stay cool, and enjoy!
Ingredients and substitutions
This really isn't the sort of recipe that can be made with simple substitutions. But let's talk about it!
Dairy-free: In theory, you should be able to replace the sweetened condensed milk with dairy-free sweetened condensed milk and the heavy whipping cream with chilled coconut cream. They even make canned dairy-free sweetened condensed milk, so you wouldn't necessarily have to make your own.
But I really don't recommend doing any of that! If you'd like to make dairy-free homemade strawberry ice cream, I'd begin with my dairy-free no-churn ice cream recipe as a base. It calls for gelatin, which really helps the ice cream stay creamy and not get icy.
Sugar-free: Since sugar is one of the few ingredients that doesn't freeze solid, it's very difficult to make homemade ice cream without it—especially without an ice cream maker. If you can find a way to make sweetened condensed milk with a sugar substitute like monkfruit granulated sweetener, it might be worth a shot!
Roasted strawberries: If you don't want to go through the trouble of roasting the strawberries, you can cook them on the stovetop instead. Place them in a medium-sized, heavy-bottom saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the berries are broken down and any liquid is thickened. Note that roasting tends to be easier than cooking the berries since it requires much less hands-on cooking time.
No Churn Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh strawberries rinsed, hulled and patted dry
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 ½ cups (20 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream chilled
Instructions
Roast the strawberries.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
- Place the strawberries on the prepared baking sheet in an even layer on the baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and roast the strawberries for 20 minutes.
- Remove the strawberries from the oven and, with the underside of a large spoon, press firmly on each strawberry on the baking sheet to crush it enough to release some juice.
- Return the strawberries to the oven and continue to bake until they are very soft and their juice is reduced to a thick liquid (about another 10 minutes). Remove the strawberries from the oven a final time.
Blend the strawberries.
- Place the roasted strawberries (reserving a few roasted strawberries for garnish, if desired) into a blender or food processor, add about 2 ounces of the sweetened condensed milk, and blend until smooth. The puree will be thick and slowly pourable.
- In a small bowl, place the remaining 12 ounces of sweetened condensed milk and the strawberry puree, and mix to combine well.
Finish the ice cream.
- Place the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer) and beat on medium-high speed until slightly stiff peaks form.
- Add the strawberry mixture to the whipped cream, and fold together until only a few bright white streaks remain.
- Pour into a 2-quart freezer-safe container with a lid, and smooth the top.
- Cover tightly and place in the freezer until firm (at least 4 hours). Serve cold.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Lillian K Stroter says
I just made your strawberry ice cream. You should be ashamed of yourself making it impossible to complete the recipe without licking the beaters and the spoon. It was great fun and looking forward to making the dairyfree one because I must. Keep up the good work. I have all of your books and I keep your emails, too.
Lillian S.
Nicole Hunn says
Hahaha you had me there for a minute, Lillian! People do get rather upset with me about silly things from time to time. I’m so glad you’re enjoying making the ice cream recipes. I think you’ll love the DF one. :)
Mary Sherwood says
Made this for my hubby for Father’s Day! Flavor was delicious. So creamy but a little too rich for us. I may try some of the other options. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes! I’m a huge fan!
Nicole Hunn says
It is definitely very rich, Mary! No churn does tend to be quite rich. Stay tuned for some ice cream recipes made in an ice cream machine that are lighter. Coming soon!!
Pamela says
Great recipe. I like to use a Yonanas machine. No sugar, no cream. Just freeze bananas, strawberries, peaches, other berries, chocolate if you wish. Put in machine and push down chute and out comes delicious gluten free, dairy free, sugar free treat if you omit chocolate bar. I first tasted this when I was at a stand on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. They served frozen bananas over berry, gluten free oatmeal crisp with berry glaze over top of the banana ice cream. Yum!
drleonesse says
Oooo, oooo! Peach!
John Lachett says
Yeah…so I’m totally leaving my husband for you…LOVE YOU
Your GFF,
John L
Misha says
SO trying this next week!
I made both your chocolate and vanilla ice cream this past week and it was FABULOUS :) In fact, the chocolate is so rich I can barely eat more than 3 bites (great for my weight, lol)
The vanilla was superb over brownies, too (and in Coke as a float!) :) We drizzled some toffee syrup over to add punch and variety and it was simply divine. Can’t wait to try this one!
And please don’t stop now – what other flavors can you come up with? ;)
John Lachett says
Oh I never even THOUGHT about using it in a float!!
You are a genius and I bow to you.
(franticly looking for root beer)
John L
Misha says
Hahaha!! I’m terrible aren’t I??? I’ve loved floats since I was a little girl (always thought I should have been born in the 50’s with sock hops and poodle skirts) and this vanilla ice cream is SO DREAMY in a float!!!!! Enjoy ;)
JoAnn C. says
It’s good sandwiched between two waffles too.