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Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: It tastes JUST like a strawberry cheesecake, but more flavorful since I roast the strawberries in this recipe.
Texture: Rich and creamy with chunks of fruity strawberries and crunchy graham crackers.
Ease: Roasting the strawberries is an extra step, but it’s so worth it and will make your house smell amazing!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: There’s no custard or eggs, and my special tricks make this one your family will request on repeat.
This Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream is about to become your new summertime favorite!
When temperatures soar to over 115°F here in Phoenix, ice cream is all I can think about.
I have a few tricks up my sleeve with this recipe, so you’ll have to trust me.
Absolutely incredible. It took all of my willpower to not eat the whole tub in one sitting. I am normally a chocolate person and typically don’t enjoy vanilla/fruity bases, and I LOVED this ice cream. The perfect recipe and a new staple in my home.
Why You Should Roast Strawberries (Trust Me!)
It may sound strange to roast strawberries, especially with my secret ingredient, but the results are positively MAGICAL:
- Toss the strawberries with sugar and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (don’t skip it!!) and roast in a low 300°F oven for about 30 minutes in order to slightly caramelize the strawberries and bring out all their delightful flavor.
- This also softens the strawberries so we get little bites of strawberry chunks, which I just love!
- The trick is to do this ahead of time and refrigerate the strawberries until they’re chilled. That way, they won’t melt the ice cream when we add them in at the end.
How to Make Soft & Creamy Homemade Ice Cream
- For luscious ice cream you need to use dairy whole milk and cream. Anything else will be watery, thin, and just not worth the effort.
- The recipe contains a small amount of corn syrup. Why? It helps to prevent the ice cream from crystalizing and getting too hard. Feel free to omit it if you want.
- Another good trick to prevent fruit ice creams from hardening (because of all the water content) is to add a tablespoon of vodka just before you finish churning.
- Lastly, if you prefer a smoother ice cream texture, feel free to use a blender to blend all of the ingredients together except the graham crackers before churning. Then add the graham crackers at the end as directed in the recipe.
How to Churn Ice Cream
- I used my trusty Cuisinart ice cream machine to make this recipe.
- If you’re using a similar machine, make 100% sure that the freezer bowl is COMPLETELY frozen before churning, otherwise you’ll end up with soup.
- That means when you shake the freezer bowl, you should hear absolutely no liquid sloshing.
- No ice cream maker? No problem. Just follow my tutorial for making ice cream without a machine here.
Storage & Make ahead
Make Ahead: You can make both the roasted strawberries and ice cream mixture up to a day ahead of time. Just store in separate airtight containers in the fridge.
Store: Be sure to use a well-sealed airtight container with plastic wrap pressed against the surface. This prevents ice crystals. Store it for up to 2 weeks. The flavors will intensify as the ice cream is stored!
To Serve: Homemade ice cream will harden with time in the freezer. For easiest scooping and the smoothest texture, allow the ice cream to soften in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound (453 grams) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 6 ounces (170 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup*
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 whole graham crackers, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Toss the strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar and the balsamic vinegar. Spread strawberries into one even layer on the prepared baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, or until the strawberries have darkened in color, are soft, and their juices have released. Transfer the strawberries and juices to a medium bowl and mash until only small pieces of fruit remain. Cover and refrigerate the strawberries until chilled, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a blender or food processor, puree the remaining ice cream ingredients, except the graham crackers, until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and press plastic wrap against the surface. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.
- Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. During the 5 last minutes of freezing, gradually add the roasted strawberries and graham crackers.
- Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, press plastic wrap against the ice cream, and freeze until firm and flavor is ripened, at least 2 hours.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2016 and updated with new photos, tips, and recipe improvements. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Can you use blueberries instead of strawberries, and if so should they be roasted with the balsamic and sugar?
Hi Shirlene! We haven’t tested this recipe with blueberries, so I can’t say for sure how they’d work here. The strawberries really shine because they’re roasted with balsamic, which gives the ice cream that tangy, cheesecake-like strawberry flavor, and that combo may not translate the same way with blueberries. If you’d like to make a simple blueberry cheesecake ice cream, a compote might be a better option. You can gently cook the blueberries on the stovetop over medium-low heat until they burst and the juices thicken slightly. The amount of sugar you’ll add to cook with the blueberries will depend on how sweet your berries are, but I’d start with a couple tablespoons and adjust from there.
Absolutely incredible. It took all of my willpower to not eat the whole tub in one sitting. I am normally a chocolate person and typically don’t enjoy vanilla/fruity bases, and I LOVED this ice cream. The perfect recipe and a new staple in my home.
Absolutely brilliant recipe, I’m dairy intolerant so subbed the dairy ingredients for coconut cream and it turned out beautifully. Perfect size for ninja cream deluxe pint containers; I added the strawberries and biscuits as mix ins. Thank you!
Oh Tessa, this is another wonderful recipe! The flavours are superb. l had doubts about the balsamic vinegar, with the strawberries, but you nailed the combination! l have made about 5 or 6 different ice cream recipes, and this is the first where the tastes meld, not too sweet, and makes the whole shebang impossible to eat all at once!! Thank you for a fabulous recipe!!
Can you tell me how much in grams are 1 quart of fresh strawberries
I’ve already find – 517 gr 🙂 tks
Oh my gosh!! I made this and ate the whole thing (not all in one day) Absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe. The balsamic vinegar peaked my curiosity wasn’t sure. My only regret not doubling.
I don’t have an image, because we ate it all. Oops! I served this at a dinner party, and everyone loved it, noting the piquant zip, but unable to identify the source (balsalmic). I used 4 cups of strawberries vs a quart, so probably a few more berries, and added them too soon in the ice cream mixer, so likely more homogenized, but it was delicious and enthusiastically recommended by my dinner guests. I also left out the graham crackers. Usually fatty foods make me feel sick, and this one did not. Thank you for working this recipe out. The extra step with the berries are a pain, but did pay off.