Strawberry Ice Cream

A no-cook strawberry ice cream with big-big strawberry flavor and pretty-pretty pink color. Make it with ripe strawberries from the supermarket or if you're lucky, precious homegrown strawberries. (Frozen strawberries too!) It's thickened with cream cheese in a blender, that means no cooking and no eggs!

Easy, Memorable Homemade Ice Cream, Just Strawberries + Five Pantry Ingredients. Little Effort, Big Reward, "Plain" But Perfect. Beautiful Color! A Summer Classic, Mere Minutes to the Table. Extra Welcome When "Supper's a Little Skimpy". Budget Friendly. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Perfect When Cooking for One or Two. Easy DIY. Vegetarian. Egg-Free. Naturally Gluten Free. What're you waiting for?! So Good!!

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"Pretty In Pink"

That’s how you might describe this Strawberry Ice Cream. Made without a cooked custard, it is the simplest – and prettiest! – ice cream recipe in my large collection.

What is so seductive about pink’s pale-to-passionate variations? When I close my eyes and think pink, I find color-etched images.

Last winter, two girls emerged from the grocery store with their mother. Their hot pink bellbottoms were topped by paler pink knitted ponchos, alike but not identical as the girls themselves were sisters not twins.

And then in April, there was the blushing pink of crabapple blossoms burst open overnight along my street.

And now, in summer, the cool, creamy pink of this dessert is added to my inner gallery, of pink.

More Than a Bare Hint of Strawberry

When the local berries ripen, the local ice cream shops break out their seasonal strawberry ice creams. I just can't resist – it's the pretty color and the promise of a creamy strawberry flavor.

But those specialty ice creams are a big disappointment, they b-a-r-e-l-y taste of strawberry. There's a hint of strawberry there, surely. But me? Maybe it's the legacy of my great-grandfather whose nickname was Strawberry Bill because when strawberry season begins, I want to revel in strawberry flavor.

So call me super-excited about how super-strawberry-tasting this easy recipe turns out! I first published the recipe way back in 2005 and over the years, always intended to make it again each spring but just never got around to it.

And then I did and wow, the big strawberry flavor was a welcome surprise, a huge reminder that strawberry ice cream can really-truly taste like strawberries!

It's my go-to for strawberry ice cream, especially since the ingredients are so simple and so easily kept on hand. We love Strawberry Ice Cream just plain but with Perfect Rhubarb Pie? Swoon ...

What Do You Need to Make Strawberry Ice Cream?

• Strawberries – even good supermarket strawberries create an intense strawberry flavor, home-grown berries are over-the-top wonderful; good news, frozen strawberries are extra-easy and still good
• A touch of sugar – only a half cup, so the ice cream itself is more strawberry than sweet
• A touch of lemon juice – this keeps the color pretty and the flavors bright
• Milk & heavy cream – the dairy mix makes this a super-creamy ice cream without being overly heavy
• Cream cheese – non-fat cream cheese works; in recent years I've used the low-fat cream cheese called Neufchâtel
• Salt – this is often a needed touch, even for sweet dishes

Investing in Homemade Summer Ice Cream Treats

Do you have an ice cream maker? That's the small kitchen appliance used to "process" the creamy strawberry mixture into actual ice cream. Most units include an electric base plus a "freezer bowl" which must be put into the freezer for a couple of days before making ice cream. (Me, I have two bowls and keep both in the freezer all summer so I can make ice cream at any time.)

And if you don't have an ice cream maker, perhaps you should? At least, that's what my mom's college friend Phyllis told me way back in 2002. And she was right!

It's a great investment for about $50, a great gift too.

I really love making ice cream in the summer, turning summer's ripest fruit into a sweet after-dinner treat and, if you're inclined that way, using less sugar which lets the fruit flavor really punch through.

Here are some things you might consider purchasing. None are "required" except the processor and if you don't want a processor, look online for what food people call "no churn" ice cream recipes, no ice cream maker or any other special equipment required.

FYI the resources below are affiliate links, see My Disclosure Promise for more info. They are also products I have used in my own kitchen every summer for many years, yep, since 2002 when Phyllis first made the suggestion ...

RESOURCES

• Ice Cream Maker I'm very pleased with our Cuisinart ice cream processor, it's been going strong for, hmmm, almost twenty years. That's a long time for a small kitchen appliance! I have replaced the bowls once or maybe twice, they seem to lose their freezing power. When visiting family and friends by car, I'll even tuck the ice cream maker into the trunk, making it extra easy to stir up a special dessert.
• Metal Ice Cream Scoop So useful, homemade ice cream or not! Just warm up the scoop in hot water and it'll make perfectly shaped scoops every single time. If you have someone who's bent all your soup spoons trying to scoop ice cream? Gift him – is it always a him?! – a metal ice cream scoop.
• Ice Cream Containers Not essential but nice, are specialty containers for ice cream, especially designed to prevent freezer burn, easy to scoop the long ways for a perfect scoop. I have these long ice cream tubs from Tovolo (photo below) but they may not fit in every freezer. Tovolo also makes quart-size ice cream tubs, a more traditional shape.
• Ice Cream Cookbook Speaking of perfect scoops, there is indeed The Perfect Scoop by cookbook author, pastry chef and food blogger David Lebovitz. I turn to his inspiration all the time!

Master Recipes for Ice Cream

Over the years, I've developed two master recipes, it's really fun to explore different taste combinations, to make your very own ice cream creations.

• Master Recipe #1: Chameleon Ice Cream – so many variations, it's a little lighter than most ice cream recipes, light enough for every day.
• Master Recipe #2: Rustic Fruit Ice Cream – a no-cook base, studded with bits of fresh fruit.
• More Ice Cream Recipes.

Why I Love This Recipe & You Might Too

• BIG STRAWBERRY FLAVOR You know how some recipes just don't really taste like what's in them? Not here. This recipe is allll about the strawberries and it actually tastes like strawberries!
• SIMPLE, EVERYDAY INGREDIENTS If you find pretty strawberries, you may already have all the remaining ingredients on hand! I love not having to make another stop! I love using up what's already on hand!
• NO-COOK Many ice cream recipes, including others in my own collection, call for heating the milk and cream ingredients, then "tempering" whisked eggs with the hot milks, then finishing the cooking on the stove. It's not difficult. But it's fussy. And all you want is to dig into some ice cream, right? In this recipe, the cream cheese does all the thickening, no need to cook a single thing!
• Ready to get started? Here's your recipe!

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How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this recipe inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

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STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Processing time: 20 – 30 minutes
Makes 6 cups

• 1 pound (454g) cleaned and hulled fresh strawberries (or 16 ounces frozen strawberries, thawed)
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup milk (skim milk works, all the way up to whole milk)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces (225g) cream cheese (non-fat works, all the way up to full-fat), cut in 8 chunks, preferably at room temperature
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Place the berries, sugar and lemon juice in a blender and purée until smooth. (If there’s not enough liquid to purée, add a bit of the 1 cup milk.) Add the remaining milk, salt and cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add the cream and blend until just blended. Process in an ice cream maker until just thick, there's no need to chill first. Best served immediately but can be frozen and served later.

ALANNA's TIPS If you're using fresh strawberries, start with a two-pound container to yield a full pound of edible berries after trimming and hulling. There's a lot of waste! If you like discernible chunks of fruit, reserve and roughly chop about a fourth of the berries. Add them during the last few minutes of processing. For a soft, lusciously creamy result, prepare the berry mixture in advance and refrigerate, then run the ice cream maker about 30 minutes before you want to serve. Skim milk and non-fat cream cheese were once stock items in my fridge. Now I'm more likely to have 2%, whole milk and low-fat cream cheese. Still good, promise, just a little richer! Don't be alarmed if the ice cream starts to crawl up the ice cream maker as begins to firm up, there's just a tad too much but at least here, it never actually spills out.

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. Confused about salt, these days? No wonder, it is confusing. Check my FAQs for an explanation. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2005/06/strawberry-ice-cream.php .

NUTRITION INFORMATION for STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
With skim milk & non-fat cream cheese Per Half Cup: 134 Calories; 8g Tot Fat; 6g Sat Fat; 28mg Cholesterol; 101mg Sodium; 13g Carb; 1g Fiber; 11g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 6 & myWW green 6 & blue 6 & purple 6 & future WW points

With whole milk & low-fat cream cheese Per Half Cup: 140 Calories; 8g Tot Fat; 5g Sat Fat; 29mg Cholesterol; 99mg Sodium; 13g Carb; 1g Fiber; 11g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 6 & myWW green 6 & blue 6 & purple 6 & future WW points

This recipe has been "Alanna-sized" with reductions in fat, sugar and portion size and increases in nutrient-rich fruits and low-calorie flavorings. But call me super-shocked that the richer whole milk and Neufchatel version has the same points as the skim milk and non-fat cream cheese. Cool, eh? The power of math.

Weight Watchers people, at first I was dismayed to see how many points Strawberry Ice Cream adds up to in points, especially given the non-fat and lower-fat dairy plus such a high proportion of strawberries. But then I started checking the point values of store-bought ice creams, they're often double the points. We do need to budget for ice cream but there's room in a day's menu for my Strawberry Ice Cream and it's completely satisfying.

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Seasonal Eating: Mid Summer Across the Years

KITCHEN PARADE
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~ more Recent Recipes ~

A VEGGIE VENTURE
Roasted Beets with Feta & Lemon Red Onion Beets Spinach Quiche with Red Pepper & Feta Roasted Red Pepper & Olive Tapenade Mini Tarts Feta Stuffed Zucchini Lemon Mint Cucumber Water Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing Beet Pesto How (and Why!) to Use a Benriner (Japanese Mandoline / Mandolin) Broccoli & Bok Choy with Coconut & Curry Product Tip: Ajvar Red Pepper & Eggplant Spread on FinnCrisp Tuna & White Bean Dip Chilled Green Bean Salad with Rosemary & Garlic Oil (this week's healthy favorite!) Sweet Potato Wedges with Rosemary & Lime Juice Easy Mini Kale Pizzas (Spaghetti Sauce "Doctored" with Kale) Finnish Summer Potato Salad Baked Eggs with Ratatouille Vegetables
~ more Recent Recipes ~

If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, you'll love A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables with more from-scratch recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, home to the famous Alphabet of Vegetables and vegetables in every course, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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You Scream, I Scream ...

• THE MASTER RECIPE Rustic Fruit Ice Cream An easy, no-cook rich, creamy and fruity ice cream, here peach but also blueberry, strawberry and banana.
• & ANOTHER Master Homemade Ice Cream Recipe (Skinny) Very Vanilla, Chocolate Mint, Coffee Spice, Coconut, Raspberry & More.

• THE RECIPE Spiced Banana Ice Cream Rich-tasting banana ice cream made memorable with a trio of pantry spices. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Buttered Pecan Ice Cream Old-fashioned goodness featuring native Missouri pecans.

• THE RECIPE Homemade Frozen Yogurt with Blackberry Sauce Just five ingredients!
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Fruit Sorbet aka "If You’ve Got Three Ingredients and Five Minutes, You’ve Got Sorbet".

• THE COLLECTION Ice Cream Recipes Ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, granita & more plus toppings.
• AND ANOTHER "Summer Easy" Sweet Endings Less Cookin'. More Livin'. That's the summer's motto.

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ strawberry recipes ~
~ cream cheese recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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