No-Churn Strawberry Ice Cream

No ice cream maker necessary! You already have all the tools you need to make this sweet and creamy no-churn strawberry ice cream.

It’s the time of year I spend months looking forward to: strawberry season. I’ve enjoyed preparing them in a lot of different ways, but I hadn’t made ice cream until recently. I knew it was possible to make ice cream without an ice cream maker, but I assumed the process was difficult and required multiple steps. In actuality, making homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker couldn’t be easier.

The key is to finely dice your berries and let them hang out with the sugar and vodka. The berries will start to break down and create that sweet syrup that will flavor the ice cream. After they get cozy for about an hour, all you have to do is mash or blend them until they’re mostly liquid, mix them with the citrus juice and heavy cream, and let the whole thing freeze.

The result is a sweet and creamy ice cream that’s overflowing with the flavor of ripe summer strawberries. It’s a delicious treat on its own, but it’s also divine served with chocolate syrup.

No-Churn Strawberry Ice Cream

adapted heavily from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients

1 lb. strawberries (about 3 cups), diced
3/4 c. sugar
1 tbs. vodka (optional)
1/2 tsp. lemon or lime juice
2 c. heavy cream

Instructions

In a medium bowl, toss the diced strawberries together with the sugar and the vodka, if using. The vodka is optional, but it works with the sugar to coat the strawberries and keep them from freezing solid in the ice cream. Set the strawberries aside at room temperature for an hour. At this point, put whatever dish you’d like to freeze the ice cream in into the freezer (I prefer a bread pan).

Using a blender or food processor (I use this hand blender), puree the berries until you have a sauce with several chunks in it. If you don’t have either of those tools, you can mash the berries until they reach the same consistency. Add the lemon or lime juice to the berries, mix well, and then add in the cream. Pour the entire mixture into your chilled dish and return to the freezer.

Stir the ice cream mixture after 30 minutes and again after an hour to make sure the berries don’t settle to the bottom. Your ice cream should be soft-set after 3 to 4 hours and frozen like traditional ice cream after 5 or 6 hours.

I’ve got plenty more strawberry treats to satisfy your berry cravings. Check out glazed strawberry lime scones or homemade strawberry sauce.

(this post contains affiliate links; to learn more, see my disclosure policy)