Homemade ice cream is easier than you think. Make this Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream in your kitchen for a sweet treat anytime you want!
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
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Homemade ice cream is a big thing here in the Midwest. It’s a huge thing in my family. We have a big 6-quart ice cream maker that gets used all summer long. But when you use a 6-quart ice cream maker, you get… well… 6 quarts of ice cream. And that is a lot of ice cream. So when I discovered that smaller countertop versions exist, I was sold!
I have this Cuisinart ice cream maker. I love that it will make only 2-2.5 cups of ice cream at a time. It’s small enough that John and I can devour it all in one sitting if we feel like it. (And who doesn’t feel like it, at least once in a while?) It’s big enough that there is still some left over… sometimes. (Stash your leftovers in a freezer-safe container like this one for easy scooping later.)
And it’s small enough that I can experiment with different flavors and recipes without going through a gallon of milk every time. This homemade strawberry ice cream is one of my favorites.
Start with 1-1.5 cups of strawberries, roughly chopped. (You’ll toss them in a blender soon, so just in halves or quarters now is plenty.) Mix the strawberries with some sugar, and put them in the refrigerator for an hour or two. When you’re ready for ice cream, put the berries and sugar in a blender or food processor. Add some vanilla and a pinch of salt (see recipe below for amounts). Blend that together until the strawberries are as finely chopped as you like. (The finer you chop them, the better it will mix and freeze in the ice cream maker.)
Pour the blended strawberries in a large bowl, and mix in whole milk. (Frozen yogurt is really similar to ice cream, but with one main difference – the type of dairy you use to get started!) Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker, and add the ice cream mix. For mine, you put everything together, turn the ice cream maker on, and then add the mix.
Let the ice cream maker go until the ice cream is ready. It should take around 15 minutes. The sound of the motor changes when the ice cream is ready. With a little practice, you’ll be able to tell when it’s ready by listening from the other side of the house.
Homemade ice cream – no matter what the flavor – has a different consistency than you’re used to in store-bought ice cream. It’s somewhere between soft serve and “regular” scooping ice cream. If you want it to freeze harder, transfer the ice cream from the ice cream maker into a freezer-safe container. Freeze it for at least an hour, or until it reaches the consistency you like. If you freeze it overnight, it might be a little too hard to scoop. Just let it sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes and it should be perfect.
With a little practice, you’ll be a pro at homemade ice cream in no time! What flavor do you want to try next?
Enjoy!
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Printable Recipe Card for Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 - 1.5 cups strawberries hulled and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- pinch salt
- 2-1/4 cups whole milk
- Optional: extra strawberries for garnish
Instructions
- Roughly chop strawberries. In a small bowl, mix the strawberries with the sugar. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Transfer the berries and sugar to a blender or food processor. Add vanilla and salt. Blend to desired consistency. The smoother the strawberries, the easier the ice cream will mix and freeze.
- Transfer blended berries to a large bowl. Mix in 2-1/4 cups whole milk.
- Assemble and turn on ice cream maker. Pour ice cream <g class="gr_ gr_837 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling" id="837" data-gr-id="837">mix</g> into the ice cream maker and let it freeze.
- When the ice cream is ready, the sound of the motor will change and the consistency of the ice cream will visibly change.
- If you want the ice cream to freeze harder, transfer the ice cream to <g class="gr_ gr_835 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar multiReplace" id="835" data-gr-id="835">a [</g>url href="http://amzn.to/2rReatk" target="_blank"]freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 1 hour. If the ice cream is too hard to scoop, let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving.
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